17 January 2018
Memorial of Saint Anthony, Abbot
The story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17) stands as one of the most well-known stories in all of the scriptures. We find the story particularly attractive because our sympathies often lie with the “little guy,” the “underdog” who faces daunting forces and, against overwhelming odds, comes out on top. While that is part of this story, that is not actually the point of the story. Perhaps we would grasp the point better if we did not think of it so much in terms of David and Goliath, but rather in terms of David and God and Goliath and God.
Goliath neither serves nor honors the God of Israel. Israel does not seem terribly confident in the power of Israel’s own God either: Israel quakes at the sight of Goliath. David, on the other hand, having been anointed by Samuel and guided by the Spirit of the LORD, knows not only that the God of Israel will not forsake his people, but also that the LORD wants to use his own people to manifest his glory in the world.
The great mistake that modern purveyors of “David and Goliath” stories make is that they want David, not Goliath, to get the glory. But David wants no such thing; he wants God, not himself, to get the glory. The fact that David and Goliath are so mismatched should help make it clear that David does not beat Goliath on his own. Rather, it is the power of God working in and through David that defeats the Philistine champion. Nonetheless, God wishes this glory to be accomplished in and through the least of men—this ruddy youth—in the least of peoples (cf. Dt 7:7). God does not strike down Goliath for David; rather, he wishes for David to do what he can, and then guides the stone so that it is miraculously effective in bringing down its target. Likewise, God does not intend to do everything for us in such a way that we have nothing to do, but rather he demands that we do what we can, that we launch the stone that we can launch, in obedience to him. If we act from this loving obedience, then God will see to it that all things ultimately work for our good and his greater glory.