In 1 Samuel 17 we have one of the most famous stories in all of Scripture. It is also a fantastic example of how Christ is foreshadowed, or pictured beforehand, in the Old Testament. David had recently been anointed king of Israel and gifted God’s Spirit to serve in that capacity (1 Sam. 16:13). Israel then faced the threat of the Philistine giant Goliath. Goliath shouted, “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.” (17:8-9). No one in Israel was up to the challenge, in fact, “when Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were terrified and deeply shaken” (17:11). Yet David, by the working of God’s Spirit, came forward with hope in the faithfulness and delivering power of the LORD. As the story unfolds, and David comes forth, it is important to note that David is characterized as a shepherd (vv. 15, 20, 28, 34-35, 40). The inspired author wants us to see that David is a King who will humbly serve the people like a shepherd serves the sheep (see vv. 34-35). David said to Saul, “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” (17:34-35). David served the sheep by delivering them from deadly threat. David went on to say, “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” (17:34-37). The shepherd David was far weaker than the lion but God used human weakness to display his greater delivering power. As the shepherd-King David was far weaker than Goliath but God used human weakness to display his greater delivering power. Indeed, God is the true Shepherd-King of his people, and David is the under-shepherd (see Psalm 23).
Jesus Christ, the son of David, said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them … I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:11-15). Jesus is the eternal king of God’s people. He also comes as a humble shepherd to serve his flock, his trusting disciples. He comes to deliver his flock from the enemy, the “wolf,” in human weakness, by laying down his life. Yet, by God’s power, Jesus’ weakness is the avenue for God the Father’s infinite power. Indeed, after the death of Jesus came the resurrection. It was through Christ’s death and resurrection, human weakness and God’s power, that we have been delivered. Sin, death, and the devil – enemies much greater, more deadly, and intractable than Goliath – have been defeated through Christ’s weakness and God’s power (see 1 Corinthians 1:23-25; Colossians 2:8-15). Our Christian life is the beginning of our experience of Christ’s deliverance and we will fully taste that deliverance when he comes again to put death, the devil, and sin down forever. Then we will sing with incredible joy “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul” (Psalm 23:1-3).
– How did King David foreshadow, or picture beforehand, our King Jesus?
– Are you growing in your faith that Jesus laid down his life to deliver the Church, and even you, from “the wolf”?
– How might the non-Christian people around us benefit from knowing that Jesus is a humble shepherd-King who comes to deliver? Use real life, concrete, people you know as examples.
