David and Goliath: 6 Lessons (1 Samuel 17 Commentary)
“The book of Samuel is one of the great literary works in human history,” writes Paul Evans in 1-2 Samuel (Story of God Bible Commentary). “Its masterfully told stories have captured the imagination of readers for millennia” (19). Chief among them is the story of David and Goliath, the quintessential underdog story.
But what does the story mean? What lessons can we draw from it to shape our lives and inform our relationship with the Lord?
Here’s a clue from Evans: “David’s faith-filled theological perspective allowed him a different vantage point on the grave situation in the valley of Elah” (194). Evans’ commentary offers a clear and compelling exposition of David’s theological perspective. Read the story from 1 Samuel 17, then consider the lessons below, and see what…
Hebrew and You with Lee M. Fields | Outlining the David and Goliath Story: Help from the LXX
Episodes and Context
Modern books have chapters placed at logical places. This helps readers to break up long stories into manageable chunks. Blank or partially blank pages mark chapter divisions. Chapter numbers and titles also clearly mark seams in a narrative and alert readers to changes in characters or scenes.
Likewise, when modern people read the OT stories, we automatically look for beginnings and endings of episodes and chunk them. Oftentimes we simply follow the chapter divisions or read headings in our English Bibles. These are helpful, but Bible teachers instruct their students that the chapter divisions are not always chunking the story the way the original author was intending.
Why is identifying episodes important? Because in interpretation context is king, and knowing where an episode begins and ends helps readers follow the author’s intention.
In the Hebrew Bible, 1–2…