1 Sam 17: 12Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse, and who had eight sons. And the man was old, advanced in years, in the days of Saul. 13The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone to follow Saul to the battle. The names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14David was the youngest. And the three oldest followed Saul.
The three eldest brothers represented
their father, Jesse. They didn’t represent Christ. They were in an inaccurate position
when the war broke out.
Note: God has called us to represent
Christ. To be exact representations of Christ and not Jesse.
Eliab’s name signified
that God is my father, but did not live up to that declaration. He was
the “accuser” of his brother. Some people, even those in your family, are
fake, acting all sincere but will accuse you or insult you.
Abinadab’s name signified
that the father is generous, but we never hear of this brother of David
again. Generosity can work against you if you are not pure in mind. The fact
that he was not a true brother might have something to do with his absence.
Shammah conveyed
wastefulness. He most likely squandered what was given to him and was not very
reliable. The reason Jesse had to send David to check up on his brothers. They
would not have been to happy about this and attacked him right away.
Though David was the youngest, he
already showed what kind of man he would become. His consistency gave him the
edge above his brothers.
15But David occasionally went and returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. 16And the Philistine drew near and presented himself forty days, morning and evening.
40 represents the Wilderness.
Goliath tested them for forty
days. He mocked them. Told them how useless they were. Day and night, Goliath’s
voice drowned out God’s Word from their midst. Not even Saul had the power to
contradict this man’s tongue. He rendered Israel to a eunuch state. He
castrated them; removing their manhood and left them paralyzed. (Sounds like
someone else we know but we will not speak about Jezebel now.)
With all the mocking, Israel must
have felt they were back in the wilderness and had forgotten about the manna.
In the wilderness, they received their daily bread (manna)on two tablets but
here we see they didn’t eat of this manna. They had no proceeding word
to deal with this uncircumcised Philistine.
When you do not take your daily
bread, you become powerless to fight the enemy. When you do not meet God in the
morning and evening with prayer you become fearful. You forget about God’s Word
and the power it has. You become depressed and fearful. You try to run and hide,
but Goliath’s voice holds you captive. Instead of going to Azekah, they stayed
in the valley.
They needed a David. But the
David they envisioned and the David they received did not look the same.
This applies to us today. We pray
for an outcome, but when it doesn’t look like the one we envisioned, then we
attack the God send “champion”. Just like Eliab did with his brother.
Whose word will you believe today?
Will you crumble and be dismayed?
Will you believe a mocking Goliath’s word? Or will you trust
in Christ’s words of healing and restoration?
The longer you stay in the valley, the longer Goliath will
hold you captive. Do not neglect the spoken word nor your prayers in the
morning and evening. Stay connected to God and he will show you the way through
the hedge.
The choice is yours.
Grace and peace to you.
Day Seven / Day Eight / Day Nine / Day Ten / Day Eleven / Day Twelve
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