Who's the Hero?

Passage: 1 Samuel 17

Last year Malcom Gladwell published the book David and Goliath.  He used the familiar Bible story as the backdrop for his discussion of “Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants”.  Gladwell pitches David as the classic underdog.  And argues that a collision of circumstances – including David’s confidence and Goliath being less formidable than he seemed – led to the shepherd boy’s victory over tremendous adversity.

The problem is that this is not the story the Bible tells.  The stakes in the battle with Goliath are not David’s honor or even the honor of his people.  What’s at stake is the honor and reputation of the one true God.  In fact this is what’s at stake in every chapter of the biblical narrative.  The story of the Bible is God’s story.  The story of the God who created and rules the universe.  Who knows and owns every human life.  And whose goal is both to make himself known to humanity and to restore humanity to right relationship with God and the rest of Creation.

The showdown between the Philistines and the Israelites is a showdown between their gods.  In the ancient world this is always the case.  When the Israelites make the battle about themselves and their objectives, they always lose.  When they enter battle in the name of the LORD – Yahweh, the one true God – it doesn’t matter if they’re armed with sticks and stones.  They win.  They win because they are acting as God’s agents.  They win because they serve God’s objectives: to reveal God’s presence and God’s power to an unbelieving world.

In case we’re tempted to think otherwise, look at what David says as he walks onto the battlefield:

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. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that 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.” (1 Samuel 17:45-47)

The battle is always the Lord's.  The Lord is always the hero of the story.  If you insist on being the hero of your own story, you will lose – even when you think you’ve won.  If, on the other hand, you let God be the hero, you can’t lose.  Every battle belongs to him.