David and Goliath
[May] God . . . give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.
—EPHESIANS 1:17–18 ESV
The next day of our Israel tour, we traveled by bus and then foot (uphill again!) to the Valley of Elah—the place where David famously defeated Goliath. Nobody was grumbling anymore. Not even Frank. We had learned a great truth the day before: the harder the climb, the greater the blessing on the mountaintop.
When we finally reached the ridge where the Israelites had looked out with terror across the valley to where the Philistines waited to attack, the first thing that struck me was how completely unchanged it is. There is nothing there but the imagination you bring with you. And as you recall the familiar story of David and Goliath recorded in 1 Samuel 17, you can truly envision the drama that took place there some three thousand years ago.
Ray has the extraordinary gift of enabling people to see a familiar story with new eyes.
He explained, “Many people think the miracle in the story is how David, a young shepherd boy, was able to defeat the giant, Goliath—the champion of the Philistines, Israel’s enemy. But the truth is that any shepherd worth his salt already knew how to defeat his foes. Shepherds were trained from their earliest days to protect their flocks from any enemy, including lions and bears. The Scriptures tell us that David had already done this. In 1 Samuel 17:36, David tells King Saul that he ‘has killed both the lion and the bear.’
“So while King Saul and the entire Israelite army cowered in fear for forty days, this young shepherd, who was probably between twelve and fourteen years old, spurned the king’s offer of his own armor and instead reached into the Brook of Elah, picked up five smooth stones, placed them in his shepherd’s pouch, and approached the giant without fear. David said to Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:45, ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.’”
Ray paused to let all of this sink in.
“The miracle of David and Goliath is that David had an intimate relationship with the living God!” he bellowed. “That’s what makes a miracle!”
Then Ray instructed all of us to go down to the brook and pick up a stone. By now we had learned to do what he said without questioning him. I will never forget the look in Frank’s eyes as this man who was in six Halls of Fame obediently reached down to pick up his stone, just as a young shepherd boy had done three thousand years ago.
Ray also picked up a stone from the brook. As he held the stone in his hand, he looked at each of us, as if to the core of our souls, and asked: “What is your stone? Where are you going to throw it?”
He literally “rocked” our world. Frank and I and everyone in the group were never the same again.
This experience lit a fire in my belly, and it satisfied a deep longing in Frank’s soul. Though the rest of the trip was profoundly moving and illuminating, it was this truth he learned in the Valley of Elah—that religion is nothing without relationship—that gave Frank a strong sense of peace and purpose until the day he died. Finally, at the age of eighty-two, he had found his stone.
As I stood on the mountaintop of Elah, I was filled with a sense of overwhelming awe. I was thrilled to be hearing for the first time what the ancient text truly meant. Centuries ago, Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).
And I was starting to feel free, indeed.
As Ray concluded the day’s teaching, he called each of our names, one by one, and challenged us to throw our stone wherever the Lord has placed us. “That’s why every one of us who are created in the image of the Creator is on this planet,” Ray said. “We are supposed to partner with God to bring His shalom to the chaos of this world. Genesis 1:1–2 says, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, . . . and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.’ Think of Genesis 1:2 like this: ‘Shalom hovered over the chaos.’”
Ray explained that the word shalom has been diluted through the centuries from its original meaning to now mean “peace.” But according to Ray, shalom really means God’s perfection. Shalom encompasses all the characteristics of God—His righteousness, His justice, His unfailing love, His forgiveness, His holiness, and yes, His peace as well. Shalom is everything that is inherent in the one God and everything He planned for those He created. The garden of Eden was perfect, and all of creation, including human beings, was perfect—because God was, and is, and shall forever be perfect.
“So,” Ray repeated, “we are to bring God’s shalom to the chaos of this world.”
There it was: our purpose! This is what gives meaning to our lives—what drives our passion, what fuels our very soul, and what ultimately fulfills our personal destiny.
But as we would soon discover, Ray had only begun to shake our foundations.
Come . . . to the Brook of Elah!
MORE FROM RABBI JASON
WHY DID DAVID CHOOSE FIVE SMOOTH STONES?
Over a forty-day period, the Philistine giant Goliath mocked and demoralized the army of Israel. Even worse, he ridiculed the Lord. Goliath’s actions exposed the fear and lack of faith in the hearts of King Saul and his soldiers. But then David came along, and he couldn’t tolerate the way the Lord’s name was being insulted. He couldn’t stand idly by as the people cowered in fear before this pagan blasphemer, even if he was a giant skilled in war. David was provoked to act.
So David went to Saul and said he wanted to fight Goliath on behalf of the king and his people. Saul, for good reason, was hesitant to allow young David to fight, but he conceded. He offered David his armor, but David decided not to wear it because it was too big. Instead, he would use a slingshot and five smooth stones from the river. Sounds crazy, right?
What is the significance of David using five stones? To answer this question, we need to dig deeper to understand this story from a Jewish perspective.
The name Goliath comes from the Hebrew root gimmel, lamed, hei, which means “to expose, reveal, or exile.” He revealed the fear and exposed the weakness in the Israelites and their army. If Goliath had been a professional wrestler, he could have been called the Banisher or the Exiler.
I believe the five stones are key to understanding the story of David and Goliath. The Hebrew language is alphanumeric. This means that numbers can be written with letters. For example, the number five in Hebrew is written with the letter hei (ה), which is the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. According to some Jewish mystics, the letter hei is connected to the divine breath of God that releases His creative power and potential. This is alluded to in the Hebrew text of Genesis 2:4, which says, “These are the genealogical records of the heavens and the earth when they were created, at the time when ADONAI Elohim made land and sky” (TLV). The Hebrew word translated “created” is bara, which means “created out of nothing.” In this verse, bara has the letter hei inserted into it, which is grammatically incorrect.
There is no good grammatical reason for this word to include the letter hei unless the text is trying to allude to some deeper truth. But what? Remember, the letter hei is often seen as the letter of the divine breath of God, which, along with the Word of God, is the means by which creation came to be: “By ADONAI’S word were the heavens made, and all their host by the breath of His mouth” (Psalm 33:6 TLV). So the letter hei in the word translated “created” in Genesis 2:4 alludes to the divine breath releasing God’s creative power.
This truth can also be seen in the life of Abraham and Sarah. God promised Abraham and Sarah that they would conceive a child, but years went by without their having a son. As a sign that they would bear children even in their old age, that the promise would be fulfilled, the Lord changed their names:
For My part, because My covenant is with you, you will be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer will your name be Abram, but your name will be Abraham, because I make you the father of a multitude of nations. . . . As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her by the name Sarai. Rather, Sarah is her name. And I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son from her. I will bless her and she will give rise to nations. Kings of the peoples will come from her. (Genesis 17:4–5, 15–16 TLV)
The Lord changed Abram’s name to AbraHam, and Sarai’s to SaraH. There is a one-letter difference between their new names and their old ones—the addition of the letter hei, or H in English. The Lord added this letter to their names because it represented His creative power to accomplish the impossible!
Now it should make more sense why David picked up five stones. David needed the supernatural power that comes with the divine breath in order to punish Goliath, the wicked blasphemer, to restore honor to the divine name, and to bring shalom to the chaos. This is what the letter hei—the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the number five—represents in Hebraic thought.
In other words, David needed the hei, the divine empowerment of God’s Spirit, to obtain victory and overcome the impossible!
The way to overcome the impossible has always been the same. Don’t fear the giants. The Lord is with you always. Just believe and fight! You already have the victory.