1 Samuel 17:43
And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
Goliath sees David approaching with only a staff and takes it as a scornful insult to his dignity as a warrior, demanding whether he is taken for a dog to be driven off with sticks, and then he curses David by his gods and boasts of what he will do to him. His insult, curse, and boasting breathe anger, contempt, pride, and self-exalting confidence in defiance of Israel and Israel's God. In contrast David answers with no boast of his own skill or weapons but trusts in the Lord of hosts, declaring that the battle belongs to God and that God will deliver the Philistine. Putting off Saul's armor he cannot wear, he meets and kills the defier of Israel with the sling and small stones he knows how to use, showing that God gives each worker his own God-given individuality and armor rather than fashioning all after one man's pattern. A boastful opponent who asserts falsehood as truth is therefore not to be met with sharpness, severity, or self-magnifying reliance on prepared arguments, but is overcome by truth presented with dignity and special prayer under the Holy Spirit, with the Lord standing by His servant to give the victory.
Goliath's Taunt and Setting
When the giant looked and saw David advancing with nothing but a shepherd's staff, he took it as a personal insult to his dignity, demanding in effect whether he was taken for a dog that sticks should be brought against him, and feeling scorned that an unarmored-looking youth should come out to face him as if he were no worthier an opponent. His question about the staff and sticks was mockery born of anger and contempt at being met in such a way.
He then railed at David and cursed him by the gods he knew, calling down his own deities upon the youth. After the curse he boasted of what he would do to him in the fight. The insult, the curse, and the boasts together display confidence, pride, contempt, anger, and a boastful, self-exalting defiance directed against Israel, against the armies of Israel, and against Israel's God.
The taunt belongs to his insulting challenge to meet an Israelite in single combat, a defiance that stirred David to step forward to defend the honor of the living God and His people. It belongs also to the account of David's victory over the Philistine champion, a victory David himself later remembered when he took Goliath's sword for his own protection.
David's Trust and Application
In contrast to Goliath's mocking, cursing, pride and defiance, David answers not with boasts of his own skill or weapons but with trust in the Lord of hosts rather than weapons or his own strength, declaring that the battle belongs to God and that God will deliver the Philistine. Unable to wear Saul's armor, David puts it off and takes the sling and the stone, the small pebbles he knows how to use and with which he is familiar, and with them kills the Philistine who defied Israel. The truth those pebbles represent brings about Goliath's defeat and makes his weakness apparent and exposes it.
This shows that God does not fashion all workers after one man's pattern but after His own ideal, so each is to serve God in his own God-given individuality without sinking his individuality in another's. No one is free to demean and belittle, to demerit, God's workmanship because a fellow worker does not bear his likeness. No person can sink his individuality in that of another or pattern after any man's character, but each is to work with his own God-given ability in the armor God has provided. Each is to form a character after the divine likeness and similitude and to act the part God assigns in harmonious diversity under the molding of the Holy Spirit.
A boastful opponent who states falsehood as though it were truth, proud and boastful in defying with cursing and contempt, is not to be met with sharpness and severity or loss of temper. He is overcome by truth presented with dignity under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, with special prayer and with the Lord standing by His servant to give victory to the truth and turn minds to favor it. Goliath's taunts, railing, insults, curses and boasts exemplify the defiant, boastful, self-exalting spirit of those who oppose truth, felt as insult that an unarmored youth had come to face him as an unworthy opponent. Those proclaiming truth should not imitate that spirit, and ministers who provoke debate and then rely confidently on prepared arguments act like Goliath when they magnify themselves instead of humbly trusting God to give the truth victory.
The episode applies to contemptuous treatment of a younger worker as an inexperienced youth unworthy to be answered, looked down on as an unworthy opponent. Like Goliath facing the youthful David, the older man Johnson mocked the younger Healey as a beardless boy. But the younger man's calm answer exposed the arrogance, and the truth prevailed.