There was a challenge put before me earlier this week to dig into 1Samual 17:54 by a visiting evangelist John Skipworth, who is a co-pastor at The Assembly of West Monroe. Let me just say…amazing preacher….amazing word! You can hear the full sermon on this scripture here.
1 Samual 17:54 David took the Philistine’s hea
d and brought it to Jerusalem; he put the Philistine’s weapons in his own tent. Another version says … he put his armor in his own tent.
Can I just say…the depth that Pastor Skipworth went into on David taking the head and bringing it into Jerusalem was amazing. SO much to learn and take away. However, the backend of that scripture has just stuck with me like 15lb steak! I don’t know much about ancient warfare, much less why they did what they did, so I did some googling.
Here are my lingering questions…
WHY would David take Goliath’s armor?
WHY would he put them in his tent?
WHY did David take his armor? Stripping the enemy of his armor has to do with the way Greek soliders gained “glory” or “renown” (these are English translations that probably don’t do the initial concept justice). The Greek term was “kleos,” and in order to get this glory on the battlefield, you not only had to accomplish certain things, but you had to make sure that others saw you do so. Glory in private didn’t really count; the point was to make people talk about you.
If you killed your enemy on the battlefield, maybe people saw it or maybe they didn’t, but if you took their armor, no one could say that you weren’t an accomplished warrior. Stripping the arms and armor of the vanquished was a physical sign of the presence of kleos, or glory.(Source site)
David took Goliath’s armor…let’s stop here and make a point. Goliath name itself means “Splendor”. He was considered THE brilliant, majestic, spectacular, display of glory for the Philistines. So this means, when David KILLED the PRIDE that wanted to enslave God’s people HE not only brought freedom, but he stripped Pride of it’s glory!(soak that one in for a second)
WHY did he put them(the armor) in his tent? I am sure it goes so much deeper then I am going to take it, but here is what I see. His tent was his intimate place with God. There are several scripture references where David (after he is king) brings the ark of the covenant into his tent and offered burnt offerings.
I believe this was David’s offering to God.
ALL of the GLORY!
You see the head of the giant was to show the people of the land the enemy was defeated! The armor was to show the glory of WHO did it. David knew WHO did it and it wasn’t him, he was merely the stone thrower. David brought the armor(the glory) before God(in his secret place) and gave him ALL the Glory ..all the honor… and all the splendor. David didn’t need to be recognized because David recognized the ONE who gives the only recognition that counts! His focus was on giving God the glory. David’s public recognition would only be a reflection of what he gave to God in private.
As a prayer warrior, WHEN (not IF) God delivers the giant into your hands and you show he is no longer in charge. I ask you….WHERE will you put the Glory? Are you getting the glory on the battlefield for everyone to see? Do you believe that glory in private doesn’t really counts? Are you needing people to talk about it? Our flesh wants this so bad….recognition and honor in defeating the giant. However, we really did nothing, but throw the stone.
We must kill the pride of giants and sacrifice the glory in private. Glory shown to us in public is only a reflection of the glory we give to God in private.