1 Samuel 17:17-30

David wasn’t looking for a fight, but he found one

(17:17-19) Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. ¹⁸ Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them. ¹⁹ They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”

Were the brothers truly “fighting against the Philistines”? Later in the chapter, it seems they were actually hiding from Goliath. They accompanied Saul to battle (v.13), but as Saul refrained from engaging, so did the brothers. Instead, they remained on the edge of the Elah Valley, gripped by fear.

(17:20-21) Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. ²¹ Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other.

David could have left the fighting to the entire army, which was preparing itself for war.

(17:22-24) David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. ²³ As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. ²⁴ Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.

Goliath’s voice was so loud and piercing that it interrupted David’s conversation. This is likely matched by the fact that the Hebrew army was dead quiet, listening to Goliath’s taunts. The entire Israelite army was afraid of Goliath. Just looking at him caused them to panic.

(17:25-26) Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.”

²⁶ David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

Youngblood compares the Israelites lack of faith with David’s powerful faith:[]

(17:27) They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

The people don’t seem to hear the conviction in David’s words. They continue to focus on the temporal rewards.

Temporal rewards will motivate people to do many things. But they are limited. The problem with temporal rewards is that they don’t lead to the kind of courage and heroism needed to fight a giant. After all, what use are temporal rewards if you’re dead? Only eternal rewards would lead you to risk your life for the sake of God and his people.

(17:28) When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”

Why is Eliab angry with David? Eliab was a seasoned warrior, and he was older than David. He probably felt threatened by David’s audacious faith.

(17:29) “Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?”

David points out that he was only asking questions. Is it wrong to question the ferocity of this Philistine through the eyes of faith?

(17:30) He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before.

David apparently was going around and asking about this to multiple groups of men. Maybe he was trying to get them to step up and do something, rather than taking on this role himself. Instead, all the soldiers were repeating the same message: Saul will pay a lot for anyone who will kill Goliath. So far, there were no takers.