David’s Confidence That He Could Kill Goliath Came from Killing Apex Predators

The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who is coming up? Surely he is coming up to defy Israel. And it will be that the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.” Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?” The people answered him in accord with this word, saying, “Thus it will be done for the man who kills him.” Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger burned against David and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in order to see the battle.” But David said, “What have I done now? Was it not just a question?” Then he turned away from him to another and said the same thing; and the people answered the same thing as before. When the words which David spoke were heard, they told [them] to Saul, and he sent for him. David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” Then Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are [but] a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued [it] from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized [him] by his beard and struck him and killed him. “Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may the LORD be with you.” (1 Sam. 17:25-37)

Pretty much everyone and his dog is familiar with David’s epic downing of the Philistines’ champion, Goliath. Movies have been made about this ruddy teenager taking his simple slingshot against this blathering monster and dropping him like a bad habit.

Not only did David down the blasphemous toad, he also took Goliath’s own sword and decapitated him. Y’know, just to make certain that he doesn’t pop back up like Jason Voorhees and terrify any further Israel’s feckless “forces.”

The narrative of David smoking Gath’s greatest is the stuff of legends; an inspiring tale of faith and determination against staggering odds and, truth be told, against the disdain and unbelief of his jealous and beleaguered brethren.

I dig this story so much I did an oil painting from Gustave Dore’s famous lithograph to adorn my walls, so that when I wake up in the morning and see little David holding Goliath’s severed, blood-dripping noggin it can inspire me to not be a wuss, but rather have faith and go face the “giants” in my life. Life imitates art. And, as far as I’m concerned, it beats the crap out of a “Just Hang in There” cat poster. If you’d like to see my art go to, ‘DougGiles.Art’.

As familiar as this story is, what I’ve seldom heard pontificated upon was that David got his godly confidence to kill this foul Philistine via the prior slaying of a lion and a bear.

Did you catch that little ditty in the aforementioned text?

I did.

Check it out: God’s people, initially, tried to discourage David from taking Goliath on. They wanted him to be a scared punk like they were and just sit on the sidelines of life and complain about the problem instead of destroying the beast by facing it head-on.

Thankfully, David was not persuaded by their pathetic, pusillanimous, faith-eviscerating words. Yep, the young shepherd was having none of his puny bros fear and unbelief; and the thing that put him over the top with holy confidence was not a Christian rock song but the fact that God (his words, not mine: vv. 34, 37) enabled him to kill a lion and a bear; and the same God that empowered him to dispatch two apex predators was going to help him fell this mouthy maggot who’s talking smack about God and his people.

Now, help me here: if killing animals is a sin, then why did the Lord God deliver David from certain death by supernaturally assisting this young lad to slay these four-legged marauders? Aw, did that ruin your “God hates killing animals” fairy tale?

Oh, and by the way, it was not recorded whether or not David ate these two would be sheep stealers after he whacked them – which highlights the fact that not every animal killed in the Scripture became table fare.

I just thought I’d point that out for you.

Lastly, I hope when I get to heaven I get to watch the video of David – with the psalmist and the millions of other hunters who’re adorning heaven’s bleachers – kill the lion, the bear, and Goliath. That would be a great evening, eh?

The preceding was from my new book, The Bible And Hunting. This is a GREAT book for Christians who like to hunt, fish and argue with vegans. It’s pure fire.