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Big, Dumb and Ugly!
Bad Boys of the Bible
Goliath
GOLIATH HAD A BIG MOUTH.
DAVID ANSWERED WITH A ROCK.
THE BOASTINGS ENDED QUICKLY.
HEADLESS BODIES DO NOT TALK.
1 Samuel 17
I don’t know about you, but when I think of big, dumb and ugly, Goliath is one of the first people that comes to mind. The story of Goliath teaches us the dangers of arrogance, trash talk and being a spiritual whimp. His story can be found in 1 Samuel 17. To get the full effect, you really need to read this story for yourself. Go ahead. Open the book! It’s page 253 in my Bible. It’s right before 2 Samuel.
I knew it! You went right on without reading the story, didn’t you? Alright then, I guess I’ll just have to summarize it for you.
BIG EVERWHERE: On top of having a big mouth, Goliath was big everywhere else also. The Bible says that he stood over nine feet tall. (17:4) Most ceilings are between eight and ten feet high. Look up. Goliath would probably have to bend over just to be in the same room with you. The tallest NBA player would be short compared to Goliath.
But Goliath wasn’t just tall, he was also muscular. The text says that his coat of bronze armor weighed over 100 pounds. (17:5) He also carried a bronze javelin, a huge sword and he threw a spear with a massive shaft. The tip alone weighed about 15 pounds. (17:6-7) I guess what I am trying to say is, Goliath was one HUGE, bad boy!
DUMB MISTAKE: For forty days, Goliath trash talked God’s army. Every morning and evening, he would stand across the valley and hurl insults in their direction. (17:16) “Send a man to fight me!” He would say. “If he wins, we will be your slaves. But If I win, you will serve us!”
The Bible says that Saul and the rest of his army was “terrified” by his challenge. (17:11) Goliath’s trash talk was working.
For forty days, he taunted the army of Israel. Every day he grew more confident. Every day his arrogant words echoed across the valley. Never in his wildest dreams could Goliath ever have imagined the one who would finally put his trash talk in the trash.
UGLY END: After a month of listening to Goliath’s cocky boasting, (17:15-16) “little boy David” had heard enough. “I’ll shut him up!” David thought to himself and he went to the King for permission to fight.
At first, Saul brushed him off as an overconfident little boy. But when David told the King how he had killed a lion and bear while guarding his father’s sheep, (17:34-37) Saul agreed to let him fight.
Saul wanted David to wear his armor into battle, but he refused. Instead, he took with him a staff, a sling, five small stones and a tremendous faith in Jehovah God. (17:40, 45)
As Goliath approached David, and saw that he was only a boy, the giant man mocked him. He cursed him by the Philistine gods and said, "Come here and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!" (17:44)
According to the text, these are the last trash talking words Goliath ever spoke. David, on the other hand, had a few things left to say. "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 hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.” (17:45-46)
With that, David ran toward Goliath. He loaded his sling, aimed his weapon and with one well-placed pebble, he made the arrogant giant-of-a-man eat dirt. (17:49) David stood over him, drew his sword and finished him off. The Bible says that he then cut off his head and carried it back to Jerusalem. (17:54) Such an ugly way to die!
UGLY APPLICATIONS: The story of Goliath offers many applications. After reading the ones I have provided below, make a list of your own.
1. Talking trash can be terminal
In Ephesians 5:3-6 God said, “But among you there must not be ... obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving... for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient.”
In the last phrase of this passage, we find that God’s wrath comes on those who talk trash in the ways described. Trash talk can be terminal! And terminal doesn’t get any more terminal than when it is handed out by God. His terminal is pretty much final.
Consider the following questions:
Why is “obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking” “out of place” and “improper for God's holy people”?
Define the word “obscenity”. It comes from the root word obscene.
Give five examples of “foolish talk”.
Define the word “coarse” in the phrase “coarse joking”. Give examples.
In the last phrase of the scripture above, Paul calls these things disobedient. How can a person disobey by what they say? (Hey, that rhymes!)
What does it mean to take God’s name in vain?
Several years ago I wrote a book entitled, “Tattoos, Nose Rings, Bellybuttons and Other Things”. In this book, I present a 60-verse poem about a Christian’s responsibility to guard his image. Below is a part of that poem. Read it. Pray about! Apply it!
Mouth Of The South
His mouth was known all over town,
And while in school he was class clown.
His dirty jokes were sick, profane.
He often took God’s name in vain.
His little brother also swore.
His language worsened more and more.
Vocabulary skills were least,
But gutter language sure increased.
His sister, too, could be obscene.
Some things she said were just plain mean.
Her words could make a sailor blush,
A potty mouth without the flush.
The sinless ears of God’s own child,
Heard gutter talk from soldiers wild.
Since He endured that awful task,
Is image all that much to ask?
2. There’s nothing worse than a spiritual whimp.
The second ugly application from the story of Goliath comes, not from the giant but, from the cowardly king. If Goliath was the champion of the Philistines, (17:4) then certainly Saul should have been the champion of Israel.
In Matthew 17:20, Jesus said that if a person had faith the size of very tiny seed, he could move even a mountain. Now Goliath was big, but he was no mountain. If anyone should have had enough faith to silence the big mouth of Goliath, it should have been the king of God’s people. God had appointed Saul to lead yet, when push came to shove, Saul hid behind the courage of another.
But it gets even uglier. As Saul cowardly waited for little boy David to go out to fight his battle, the Bible says, “As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, ‘Abner, whose son is that young man?’ Abner replied, ‘As surely as you live, O king, I don't know.’ The king said, ‘Find out whose son this young man is.’” (17:55-56)
In other words, King Saul not only sent a boy into battle to do his job, but at the time, he didn’t even know who’s son he was sending. His spiritual whimpiness was so bad that he watched as a half-identified youngster did the job that he should have been prepared to do.
In many ways, this was the beginning of the end for Saul. His spiritual cowardliness opened the door for David to begin his journey to prominence. (18:1-9) There’s nothing worse than a spiritual whimp!
What about you? Are you a courageous champion of God’s people or are you a spiritual whimp?
DON’T PARK YOUR BRAIN,
THINK!
Name three identifying traits of a spiritual whimp.
List three scenarios in which Christians today might be called upon to be champions of faith.
Do you know anyone who should be leading but, instead, is letting others do the work for him? Why is this so ugly? What can be done to correct the ugliness?
What can you do to build spiritual muscle?
Saul used a sword. David was a “dead aim” (pardon the pun) with a sling. Each of us have been given different abilities to battle spiritual giants. What is your special ability?
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The chapter above was taken from the material "Big, Dumb and Ugly!" by Sonny Childs. This material is not yet available in book form.
Copyright 2006 by Childs Family Publications