Facing Overwhelming Odds

In my prior post, Prepare for Battle, I mentioned the battle between David vs Goliath found in 1 Samuel 17 which I would like to talk about in this post.

You may or may not remember the story of how David when he was in his teens went to visit his brothers carrying a care package from their father.  Here is a summary of the story I found at http://christianity.about.com/od/biblestorysummaries/p/davidandgoliath.htm:

The Philistine army had gathered for war against Israel. The two armies faced each other, camped for battle on opposite sides of a steep valley. A Philistine giant measuring over nine feet tall and wearing full armor came out each day for forty days, mocking and challenging the Israelites to fight. His name was Goliath. Saul, the King of Israel, and the whole army were terrified of Goliath.

One day David, the youngest son of Jesse, was sent to the battle lines by his father to bring back news of his brothers. David was probably just a young teenager at the time. While there, David heard Goliath shouting his daily defiance and he saw the great fear stirred within the men of Israel. David responded, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of God?"

So David volunteered to fight Goliath. It took some persuasion, but King Saul finally agreed to let David fight against the giant. Dressed in his simple tunic, carrying his shepherd's staff, slingshot and a pouch full of stones, David approached Goliath. The giant cursed at him, hurling threats and insults.

David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied ... today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air ... and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel ... it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands."

As Goliath moved in for the kill, David reached into his bag and slung one of his stones at Goliath's head. Finding a hole in the armor, the stone sank into the giant's forehead and he fell face down on the ground. David then took Goliath's sword, killed him and then cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. So the Israelites pursued, chasing and killing them and plundering their camp.

Here is some additional information:

When David first went to Saul, Saul sort of laughed at him, but then gave in.  He offered David his personal sword and shield, which David found too cumbersome.  David chose instead weapons familar to him.

In researching this battle here is an interesting piece of information I found at ChristianAnswers.com for you to consider about David and his sling:

Surprisingly, a good slinger hurled a stone as far and accurately as a good archer. Roman military texts recommended archery target practice at about 200 yards (183 meters). Slingers are known to hurl their projectiles even farther, as much as 440 yards (402 meters) (a quarter of a mile / 0.40 km).

As for accuracy, one ancient writer noted that the best slingers "would wound not merely the heads of their enemies, but any part of the face at which they might have aimed." Experiments demonstrate that missiles leave a sling in excess of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h).

The best method of releasing a stone from a sling is by an underhand motion.

 I do not have any proof for what I have to say next but I can imagine from the scriptures that Goliath had his shield bearer go before him because he knew how accurate a warrior with a sling was.  I imagine that he would peek out from behind his shield and taunt David. Then with perfect timing given to David by the Holy Spirit he left go a stone and brought down the giant with one stone.

The stone that David used was probably about the size of a tennis or soft ball.  

While typical slingstones used by the Greek and Roman armies were the size of golf balls, different cultures liked different sizes. In fact, at some ancient Greek and Roman battle sites, archaeologists believe they can differentiate which slingstones were standard equipment for which army.

During all periods, it was important for an army's projectiles to be uniform in size and weight. Otherwise, a slinger would need to compensate with each toss. Each army standardized the size and shape for maximum accuracy, speed and distance.

This story about how a teenage boy, David, brought down a giant of a man, Goliath, is full of history and supernatural involvement by God.  To me it backs up my earlier post about 1. Know who your enemy is, 2. Know your weapons and 3. Know who has your back.  Our enemy is Satan and his team of fallen angels, our weapons are the word of God, the fruit and gifts of the spirit and those things found in Ephesians 6, and the one who has our back is the Holy Spirit.

I hope you found this informative, encouraging and helpful.