warrior profile: King David
(part 1)

In order to be a warrior that is prepared to stand in the breach against evil, we have to be trained and prepared. As a follower of Christ, my foundation is the living Jesus in me; and my moral compass is found in the Bible, His Word. 

There is much that we can learn about being a warrior from the Bible. This post will serve as installment one of several warrior profiles from times past, where we examine heroes who stood in the breach and learn from their lives, and sometimes their deaths. 

For this first profile, let’s look at the most famous warrior king from the Old Testament: King David. (David’s story begins in 1 Samuel 16, and continues all the way through the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, with parts of Kings and Chronicles as well.)

We have much to learn from David’s life, so this first post will cover only the first 3 lessons we can draw from David. 

Lesson 1: Your starting position in life does not preclude you from living an impactful life

David did not start off his life as a member of a royal family. He was the youngest of 8 sons, and was tasked as the keeper of the sheep. In his culture, he was the lowest of the low. While he was keeping sheep as a very young man, the king of Israel was Saul. Saul was not the king God intended for His people, but the king that the people demanded so that they could be like other nations. The problem was, Saul was arrogant, self-reliant, and complacent when it came to following God’s direct instructions. Because of his repeated disobedience, God told Saul through the prophet Samuel that He had chosen a new king. 

Here enters David. Though, not in the way you may expect a future king to enter. The Lord sent Samuel to Jesse, David’s father, to anoint one of his sons to be king. When Samuel arrived, Jesse presented his 7 oldest sons to Samuel, whom one by one the Lord rejected. It wasn’t until Samuel asked if there were any more sons that Jesse, almost as an afterthought, told Samuel that there was one more son. He was the youngest though, and the keeper of the sheep. Samuel told Jesse to bring him at once. 

When David arrived, the Lord told Samuel, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.”

While David’s other brothers appeared more suitable to be kings based on man’s reasoning, we learn a valuable lesson here in 1 Samuel 16:7: “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart’.” 

No matter how low you believe your starting position is, the Lord cares more about your character and integrity than what you can offer Him. 

Lesson 2: While you wait, abide and train

One would think that David’s life changed dramatically after being anointed by Samuel as the future king. But this isn’t necessarily what happened. Rather than gaining immediate status and authority, David evidently went right back out in the field and took care of sheep. It’s not clear exactly how much time passed between 1 Samuel 16:13 where David is anointed and 1 Samuel 16:14, where Saul is being tormented by an evil spirit. As consistent with ancient writings, the Bible doesn’t give us a strict chronological record when giving us a biographical look at David’s life. 

What we do know is that while David spent his time taking care of sheep, he spent it learning to play the lyre excellently, developing his skills with a sling, and becoming a fighter as he protected his sheep against wild animals. We know that David was skilled at these things, because when Saul was being tormented (1 Samuel 16:14-19), one of his servants knew of David, and described him as someone who, “is skillful in playing {the lyre}, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.” Based on this recommendation, Saul sent to Jesse and summoned David out of the field and into his service as a lyre-player and armor-bearer. 

What we learn from this is that David didn’t wait until he possessed fame, status, or fortune to start preparing to handle them. He evidently had a lifestyle of abiding with his Lord, developing his skills, and becoming a man of valor. All while doing the culturally despised job of keeping sheep. It was because of his discipline that he stood out to Saul’s servant as a fitting candidate to serve Saul in his time of need. 

Don’t wait until the moment of opportunity arrives to begin training to handle it. Start now. 

Lesson 3: When the time of testing comes, press forward

After a time, the Philistines attacked Israel. Jesse’s eldest three son’s followed Saul to the battlefield, but David, while still going back and forth between his service to Saul and keeping sheep (1 Samuel 17:15). 

Here begins likely the most famous story of David. 1 Samuel 17 introduces it this way: 

And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went before him. He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.” When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

Here we have a giant of a man (ancient measuring systems put him between 9-12 feet tall), a warrior since the days of his youth, challenging not only Israel, but Israel’s God as well. In response to Goliath’s challenge, we see each and every one of Israel’s mightiest warriors cower and hide. Not one man, to include King Saul (who was described as being head and shoulders above every man in Israel), stepped up to face the giant. 

As if being unable to join the war isn’t enough, David was sent by Jesse to be a food delivery boy to his brothers and their commander. When David arrived to the battlefield, the Philistines and the Israelites were lined up in battle formation. As David was greeting his brothers, Goliath stepped forward to issue his daily challenge, which had been going on for 40 days. In keeping with the pattern, every Israelite present “fled from him and were much afraid” (1 Samuel 17:24). 

Except for one. 

To make a long story short, David accepted Goliath’s challenge. Before facing Goliath, Saul tried to prepare David by giving him Saul’s own armor (which Saul should have been wearing to face the giant, by the way, but that’s a whole different lesson). David, armed with only a sling and 5 smooth stones, confronted the Philistine giant, telling him, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” David, running quickly toward the battle line, withdrew a rock from his shepherd’s bag and slung it at Goliath, striking him in the forehead. The stone sank into Goliath’s forehead, and he fell on his face the ground. And David, having no sword of his own, took Goliath’s sword and removed the giant’s head from his body. 

David didn’t go to the battlefield that day with the knowledge that he was about to fight a literal giant, much less to defeat him. But he was ready for it. He told Saul before the battle:

“Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

When David was confronted with his moment of testing, he didn’t shrink back, even though the entire Israelite army did. He took the skills he had with a sling and stones, and the courage he had developed for years of keeping sheep in the wilderness, and sprinted into the conflict. He took no thought for self-preservation. He was standing for the honor of his Lord, and he trusted God to protect him. 

And guess what? He did. 

Conclusion

These lessons come from only the first two chapters of our introduction to David’s life in the Old Testament. There is much more we can learn from David, but they will have to wait for future installments…

This type of post is a little longer form than usual, but if you find it beneficial, I’d love to hear your feedback. You can reach me for questions or comments at isaac@htlwarrior.com. 

Until next time, 

Be a warrior…

Stand in the breach…

Hold the line…

- Isaac C.