And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?
The words are spoken to Eliab, David's jealous eldest brother, who has unjustly accused him of pride and of coming down only to watch the battle. David answers with a brief defense in the form of a respectful but firm question about what he has now done wrong, affirming that he has a reason to speak and act. The cause he points to is real and urgent: Israel and its armies are in peril because Goliath the Philistine is defying Israel and the armies of the living God.
He does not explain that God has sent him to save Israel or that God has chosen him to rule over it, leaving his answer as a brief defense. His concern is for Israel, God's people, and for the honor of the living God, and he acts from that concern in trust in God.
Because God's cause was at stake it was right to meet the defier, and David's strength lay in trust in God rather than in confidence in his own arguments or equipment, teaching humility and reliance on God when defending the truth. The same trust in God by which he defeated the Philistine champion later wavered, so that subsequent danger and persecution shook his faith and led him to rely on deception instead of continuing dependence on God.
The words are spoken to Eliab, David's jealous eldest brother, who has unjustly accused him of pride and of coming down only to watch the battle. David answers with a brief defense in the form of a respectful but firm question about what he has now done wrong, affirming that he has a reason to speak and act. The cause he points to is real and urgent: Israel and its armies are in peril because Goliath the Philistine is defying Israel and the armies of the living God.
He does not explain that God has sent him to save Israel or that God has chosen him to rule over it, leaving his answer as a brief defense. His concern is for Israel, God's people, and for the honor of the living God, and he acts from that concern in trust in God.
Because God's cause was at stake it was right to meet the defier, and David's strength lay in trust in God rather than in confidence in his own arguments or equipment, teaching humility and reliance on God when defending the truth. The same trust in God by which he defeated the Philistine champion later wavered, so that subsequent danger and persecution shook his faith and led him to rely on deception instead of continuing dependence on God.