DAVID AND GOLIATH

1 Samuel 15:1-17:58

Key Verse 17:45

1. Read 15:1-35. What does this passage tell us about the problem(s) Saul has as a shepherd (24, 30; Pro 29:25)? 

2. Read 16:1-13. Samuel is a nearly perfect man. Yet what does this passage tell us about the weaknesses of Samuel as a shepherd (2, 6, 7)?  Yet how did he overcome them? 

3. Read 16:14-23. This passage describes David serving Saul, rather than Saul serving David. Why did this happen? What does this passage tell us about the key to shepherding over the flock of God (Zechariah 4:6; Luke 4:18)? 

4. Read 17:1-16. How did Goliath terrorize the Israelites? What do the following words like "battle", "fight", "kill", "subjects", "overcome", or "serve" tell us about the stakes involved in the battle faced by every child of God  (Gen 1:28; Gal 5:1)? What is "your Goliath"? 

5. Read 17:7-26 and think about the two questions David asked (26). What do these questions show us about the way David saw the confrontation (1Pe 1:7; Heb 11:6; 2Co 5:7)? What can we learn from David in serving the flock of God?

6. Read 17:27-37 and consider what David said to Saul in vs. 34-37. What does his testimony tell us about David as a shepherd? 

7. Read 17:38-58 and describe the "tools" David used to defeat Goliath. What wisdom is there for us to learn in dealing with our enemies? What can we learn from the following words of David? 

1) "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..."; 

2) "This day the Lord will hand you over to me..." 

3) "The whole world will know that there is a God in Israel"; and

4) "All...will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is Lord's."