Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 58:3 (Sep 2015)
Article: David "V." Goliath (1 Samuel 17): What is the Author "Doing" with What He is "Saying"?
Author: Abraham Kuruvilla

JETS 58:3 (September 2015) p. 487

David V. Goliath (1 Samuel 17):
What is the Author Doing with What He is Saying?

Abraham Kuruvilla*

* Abraham Kuruvilla is professor of pastoral ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary on 3909 Swiss Avenue, Dallas, TX 75204. Portions of this paper were presented at the 66^th annual meeting of the ETS, San Diego, CA, November 19–21, 2014.

When Tom Sawyer, the indefatigable and timeless young creation of Mark Twain, was pressed in Sunday School to identify the first two disciples of Jesus, he burst out exuberantly: “David and Goliath!”1 Thus it was implicitly declared that the battle between these two biblical characters was the best-known story in the Bible, one that even Tom Sawyer had heard about.

Best known it might be, but not exactly the easiest one to unravel for its theological thrust, what with text-critical problems casting long shadows upon the narrative, eager preachers making analogies of Goliath to the terrorizing giants of daily life, and ambitious theologians extrapolating from David to Christ who conquers all his enemies. What is the interpreter to do, particularly the one desiring to move from the sacred page to a sermon that respects the nuances, details, and intricacies of the text?

First Samuel 17 is part of a larger portion of text, 1 Sam 16:14–2 Samuel 5, that depicts the rise of David—how and why he became the legitimate successor to Saul.2 By the end of 1 Samuel 15, we discover that Saul has been rejected by God from being king; immediately thereafter, in 1 Samuel 16, his successor, David, is anointed by the prophet Samuel, and the Spirit of Yahweh comes mightily upon this young man (16:13). But why was he chosen? God obviously saw something man did not; he, looking at David’s heart, seems to have observed David’s qualifications (16:7). What were they? What was in David’s curriculum vitae that fitted him for the task of being the regent of a nation under God? That is what 1 Samuel 17 is all about and, by extension, as we explore the theological thrust of this chapter, we will discover what it means for all of God’s people to have a heart that God looks upon with approval.

Despite all the battle cries uttered and gauntlets cast, all the fearing and fleeing, all the interludes and turns in the ...