What VeggieTales Didn’t Teach You about David and Goliath

This post originally appeared on The King and His Kingdom.

Tell me if you’ve heard this story: once upon a time, an unknown little shepherd boy named David wandered onto a battlefield and ended up killing a massive giant with a stone and a sling. (Bonus points if his sheep tips over at the end.)

That’s a nice Sunday school story, but almost none of it is true. Let’s look at what the Bible actually says about David and Goliath. (This happens in 1 Samuel 17, if you want to check it out for yourself.)

First of all, David probably wasn’t that young.

It says in one place that he was “a youth,” but back in chapter 16 it called him a “man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence.” So…probably late teens or early twenties, but not a “little boy.”

Also, he wasn’t a random shepherd. He may not have been well known in Israel before this, but he had already been anointed as the future king. And Saul, not knowing that, had called him to the palace because of his musical skill – so he wasn’t unknown in the royal circles.

And he wasn’t a complete underdog. He says he had already killed lions and bears. He may even have already been fighting in the war – verse 15 says that he was going back and forth from the battle to feed the sheep. (chores have to be done, Philistines or no Philistines.)

Oh, and Goliath was only 9 feet tall – pretty big, but not as massive as some stories make him out to be.

As far as I can tell, the stone might not even have killed him – the wording is a little unclear. It may have just knocked him unconscious, but it really doesn’t make a difference because David immediately cuts off his head. That part doesn’t make it into most of the Sunday School stories, either.

All these details make the story a little different – but does it mean that David killing Goliath wasn’t a miracle and would have happened with or without God’s help? Definitely not!

Ultimately, David kills Goliath in defense of God’s people, and in the confidence that God will deliver them for His name’s sake. This victory is still from God, but I think it’s a victory He orchestrated by the way it was set up, not so much by supernatural power.

Instead of a story of a random little boy defeating a giant, this is the story of God’s anointed king stepping into the role God had been preparing him for his whole life. It’s not really meant to be a stand-alone story. It’s a pivotal moment in the greater story of David’s life, which in turn is an important part of the storyline of the whole Bible.

For the last few books of the Bible, there has been an endless cycle of short-lived leaders, leaving Israel in a constant state of sheep without a shepherd. This is the moment when God’s anointed shepherd steps onto the scene. He defeats the enemy and declares victory in God’s name – revealing himself as the king after God’s heart.

Not a perfect king, of course. But a shadow of the perfect King who was to come, the one who was descended from David and would defeat the Enemy once and for all.

And yes, we can also get some personal application from this passage. It’s not really about “defeating the giants in our life” because the Bible is not about us. But it’s about who God is and how He is constantly faithful to deliver His people, for the sake of His great name. And that’s the encouragement we need every single day.