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“Nothing Is Impossible with God” July 8th, 2018 1 Samuel 17:1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49; 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10

1 Samuel 17:1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49 ~Read by a Deacon The Philistines gathered for battle in Socoh, a town in Judah; they camped at a place called Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah.

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; the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. He had greaves of bronze 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, “Today I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together.”

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When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, took the provisions, and went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the encampment as the army was going forth to the battle line, shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, ran to the ranks, and went and greeted his brothers. As he talked with them, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.

David said to Saul, “Let no one’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

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But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.” David said, “The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” So Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you!”

Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. David strapped Saul’s sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them.

Then David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them.” So David removed them. Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.

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The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field.” But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and 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. This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and he will give you into our hand.”

When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.

David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

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2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10 ~PJ

David Anointed King of All Israel

Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and said, “Look, we are your bone and flesh. For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in. The Lord said to you: It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel.”

So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.

David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.

David occupied the stronghold, and named it the city of David. David built the city all around from the Millo inward. And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.

“Nothing Is Impossible with God”

I thought you'd enjoy hearing this well-known story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel/2 Samuel, a 3000-year-old story about a young shepherd boy who felled a mighty warrior from the Old Testament of the Bible.

We start out with: For nothing is impossible with God ~for the Message Title, with an underlying subtitle of “You Can Make a Difference”.

Well, here we go with a lesson in Biblical Hermeneutics.

First, David was how old? ---in Numbers 1:3

---”from twenty years old and upward, whoever is able to go out to war in Israel, you and Aaron shall number them by their armies.”

Based on the age (of twenty) of "manhood", it is possible to make a logical guess.

1) We know that his 3 oldest brothers were at the fight.

1 Samuel 17:13

Now David was the son of the Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, whose name was Jesse, and he had eight sons. And Jesse was old in the days of Saul, advanced in years among men. The three older sons of Jesse had gone after Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and the second to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.

2) Assuming that all who were old enough to go to war went.

1Samuel 14:52

Now the war against the Philistines was severe all the days of Saul; and when Saul saw any mighty man or any valiant man, he attached him to his staff.

3) And if Shammah, the youngest of the 3 that went, was 20 then that leaves 4 brothers between them and David. If they were born a year apart then David would be 14 or 15. Obviously if they were born with more time between them then David could be even younger.

It is worth noting that both the Hebrews and Goliath thought David was a boy that was too young to fight.

Based on this line of reasoning, I think David was between 12 and 15 years old when he fought and killed Goliath, probably closer to 15 . . .

because remember, Saul put his own armor and weapons on him.

David tried in vain to walk ---- but was not used to it.

And so took it off.

And... How tall was Goliath?

Normally, we equate him with a giant, right? The Masoretic Text, the Hebrew text, that has long been accepted by the Jewish people, states that Goliath’s height was “six cubits and one span.” Taking a cubit to be approximately eighteen inches and a span to equal six, this figures to a height of approximately nine feet, six inches.

There is, however, a variation found in some ancient texts on the matter of Goliath’s height. The Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, records Goliath’s height as four cubits and one span. Current measurements translate this to about six feet, six inches. While this would shorten Goliath some, he still would have been quite a bit taller than the average man’s height at that time— There are other sources that corroborate the shorter measurement, including one Hebrew text among the Dead Sea Scrolls and the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus.

When it comes to the deviation between these measurements, it is important to note a couple things:

1) The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew. The difference may be due to how the measurements were translated into Greek for the Septuagint.

2) The measurement of a cubit is not precise, since a cubit was based on the distance from a person’s elbow to the tip of a finger. Thus, the length of a cubit would vary somewhat, according to the one doing the measuring and the length of his arm.

BUT. . . regardless of Goliath’s precise height, we know from God’s Word that he was a formidable opponent. He was not only tall—at least a foot taller than David, and possibly several feet taller—he was also strong.

His bronze armor alone weighed 125 pounds, and he carried a giant-sized spear. There was a reason that Goliath was the “champion” of the Philistines.

In the end, however, a young man named David, armed with only a simple sling, a few rocks, and faith, defeated this enemy of Israel.

David proved stronger than Goliath

because he had the almighty God on his side.

1 Sam 17:45-46a: David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the God of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This very day God will deliver you into my hands.”

We come in the name of the God of hosts. God does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is God's.

So I ask you --- How can God's presence and power help you to meet the challenges in your life?

OR--- How can YOU make a difference in the World?

So now close your eyes and picture this scene---

Two strong armies facing each other across a valley, the challenge to single combat,

the terrifying champion strutting forth.

Was he Ten feet tall? Seven feet tall? Imagine you are an ordinary-sized Israelite. Would you volunteer to fight Goliath? If you did,

what do you think would be the obvious outcome?

In what ways did David seem unsuited for the task? What qualifications did he actually have?

Can you recall other stories from Scripture in which the “obvious” does not happen?

God, working through a willing person, often reverses what appears to be a certain outcome. Or God chooses to work through a person who, judging by human standards, seems unsuited for the job.

I, certainly, as a Minister called, can relate to this feeling!

It was my Simmons College class that once said I was their idea of the most unlikely classmate they could think of to become a Minister!

But God's strength shows up in surprising ways.

Now I ask you, In your own life,

who or what seems simply too overpowering to confront?

In what ways do you feel unsuited for the task?

This story of David and Goliath comes from a time nearly a thousand years before Jesus' birth. It helped to nourish the life of Israel with hope through the years when the odds were so much against them.

It gave them confidence that God would be with them when they faced hard times and strong opposition.

The relationship with God

was not only a personal matter for individuals,

it was also a matter for their life as a nation.

They were deeply concerned about their people's faithfulness to God in economic and political life.

It was not Israel's fearful military forces that prevailed. It was the shepherd boy David, whose own brothers mocked him, as did King Saul.

So I ask you again --- How can God's presence and power help you to meet the challenges in your life?

OR--- How can YOU make a difference in the World?

From Mary Conway Kohler, . “Young People Learning to Care” (New York: The Seaury Press), 9. “If I could talk to each youngster … I would have one message to give them. I would say, “You are important to the world. You are needed. Most of all, you can make a difference in someone else's life. Begin by doing something that shows you care. That's where satisfaction in life begins. And if one day you get a feeling that says you can change the world, trust that feeling. Because you make a difference. There is something important that needs to happen in the world because of you, and it can happen if you do it.”

Sadako was 2 years old when the atomic bomb (Little Boy) was dropped on August 6, 1945, near her home by Salamis Bridge in Hiroshima, Japan. She was at home when the explosion occurred, about one mile from Ground Zero. In November 1954, when she was 12 she developed swellings on her neck and behind her ears. In January 1955, purple spots had formed on her legs. Subsequently, she was diagnosed with leukemia (her mother referred to it as "an atom bomb disease"). She was hospitalized on February 21, 1955, and given a year to live.

After being diagnosed with Leukemia from the radiation, Sadako's friend told her to fold origami paper cranes (orizuru) in hope of making a thousand of them. She was inspired to do so by the Japanese legend that one who created a thousand origami cranes would be granted a wish.

Her wish was simply to live. In this retelling of her story, she managed to fold only 644 cranes before she became too weak to fold any more, and died on the morning of 25 October 1955. Her friends and family helped finish her dream by folding the rest of the cranes, which were buried with Sadako.

A Reading - “Silly Sadako” by Mariellen Sawada

Let us pray~

O God of Life, there is much that deals in doubt and despair and death in our world, and we are often tempted to succumb to these forces. Help us always to choose life; to affirm what can be affirmed; to hope where hope is possible; and to risk ourselves to lift up human dignity. For we pray in the name of Christ, who is the way and the truth and the life. Amen.

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