1 Samuel 17:36

WE have all thought a great deal of the courage of David in meeting giant Goliath, but probably we have not given him credit for his conduct in a previous contest. We have not sufficiently noticed that immediately before the encounter with the Philistine he fought a battle which cost him far more thought, prudence and patience. The battle of words in which he had to engage with his brothers and with King Saul was a more trying ordeal to him than going forth in the strength of the Lord to smite the uncircumcised boaster. Many a man meets with more trouble from his friends than from his enemies. And when he has learned to overcome the depressing influence of prudent friends he makes short work of the opposition of avowed adversaries. Observe that David had first to contend with his own brothers. I hardly think Eliab was so much swayed by envy as has been supposed. I fancy that Eliab had too much contempt for his young brother to envy him. He thought it ridiculous that a youth so given to music and piety and gentle pursuits should dream of encountering a giant. He derided the idea of his being equal to such a task and only feared, lest in a moment of foolish enthusiasm, he might throw his life away in the mad enterprise. And therefore Eliab somewhat superciliously, but still somewhat in the spirit natural to an elder brother who feels himself a sort of guardian to the younger members of the house, chided him and told him that only pride and curiosity had brought him there at all and that he had better have remained with his sheep in the wilderness. Such a youth, he thought, was more fit among lambs than among warriors, and more likely to be in his place beneath a tree with his shepherd's pipe than in the midst of a battle. David met this charge in the very wisest way—he answered with a few soft words, and then turned away.

DAVID had lived with God. Throughout many a solitary day he had kept his father's flock among the lone hills of Judah and had worshipped the Unseen but Ever-Present Lord. He had grown into an adoring familiarity with the Most High so that, to him, the name of the one and only living and true God was a deep and solemn joy. As you may have spied far up among the ramparts of the mountains a solitary lake, whose one office it is to mirror the face of Heaven, so had David's hallowed life become the reflection of the Light and Glory of the Lord of Hosts. It had not occurred to him, in his meditations, that base men would dare to challenge the infinite majesty of God, or that proud adversaries would come forward and defy the chosen people of the Most High—but now that he hears the defiance and beholds the challenge, all his blood is up. He is amazed! A holy rage is upon him! Yes, it is true—he hears Jehovah blasphemed! How can it be? The youth's holy soul is undergoing a new experience. He is bringing his whole life to bear upon it. He reaches the conclusion that as bears and lions die when they meddle with sheep, so must Goliath fall, now that he dares to attack the Lord and His people. When David finds himself in the camp and when he hears Goliath of Gath pouring forth his blasphemies against Jehovah and defying Jehovah's people, David has no thought of having been mistaken in his former lofty adoration. He entertains no notion of adopting a lower style, but he inwardly burns with indignation against the infamous reviler. An insult against God cannot be allowed! This abominable blasphemer must be silenced. Somebody must put him down and so dispose of him that none shall ever dare, again, to do the same. David enquires whether somebody or other is not going to batter the bronze champion.