旧约 - 撒母耳记上(1 Samuel)第17章

Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Socoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah.
Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines.
The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.
A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall.
He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels;
on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back.
His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.
Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me.
If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us."
Then the Philistine said, "This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other."
On hearing the Philistine's words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul's time he was old and well advanced in years.
Jesse's three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah.
David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul,
but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father's sheep at Bethlehem.
For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.
Now Jesse said to his son David, "Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp.
Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them.
They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines."
Early in the morning David left the flock with a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry.
Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other.
David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and greeted his brothers.
As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it.
When the Israelites saw the man, they all ran from him in great fear.
Now the Israelites had been saying, "Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his father's family from taxes in Israel."
David asked the men standing near him, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?"
They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, "This is what will be done for the man who kills him."
When Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle."
"Now what have I done?" said David. "Can't I even speak?"
He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before.
What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.
David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him."
Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth."
But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock,
I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.
Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.
The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you."
Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head.
David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off.
Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David.
He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him.
He said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
"Come here," he said, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!"
David said to the Philistine, "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.
This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.
All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give all of you into our hands."
As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.
Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.
So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine's sword and drew it from the scabbard. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.
Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.
When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp.
David took the Philistine's head and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put the Philistine's weapons in his own tent.
As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, "Abner, whose son is that young man?" Abner replied, "As surely as you live, O king, I don't know."
The king said, "Find out whose son this young man is."
As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine's head.
"Whose son are you, young man?" Saul asked him. David said, "I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem."
撒母耳记上第十七章   第 17 章 

  撒上 17:4-7> 以色列人为何惧怕一个歌利亚?此时为何看不到神呢? 

  17:4-7 以色列人出埃及以后,在旷野时大多数人都不敢进入应许之地,因为害怕那地的巨人(参民 13:32-33 )。巴珊王噩的床已超过 3.9 米 长(参申 3:11 )。此时的歌利亚身高超过 2.7 米 ,他侮辱以色列的军队,看来无人能胜过他。在以色列人之中身材最高的扫罗,心中可能特别惧怕,因为以身材来说,他似乎是可以与歌利亚相匹敌之人。不过,在神眼中,这巨人与常人无异。 

  撒上 17:9> 狂妄的人看不见神,便自认所向无敌…… 

  17:9 军队常挑选武艺最高的勇士与敌方最强的战士相斗,以避免全军作战,伤亡过多。二人较力不用大规模的流血,因为一人得胜,就算他们全军得胜。从人的眼光来看,歌利亚确实比大卫占有优势,但是他不知道,他与大卫争战就必须与神争战。 

  撒上 17:16> 以色列人与非利士人对峙了四十天之久,为什么没有一方先行进攻呢? 

  17: 16 两 军傍着山谷安营,两边都有峭壁。不管哪一方先冲下山谷,再爬上对方陡削的高岩,都会在交战之前消耗体力,处于劣势,并可能造成重大的伤亡。所以双方面都等候对方先发动攻击。 

  撒上 17:26> 从神的角度看情势,有居高临下的宽阔感和胸有成竹的胜利感,不信?试试看! 

  17:26 观点不同,看法各异。大多数观战者把歌利亚看成无敌的巨人,但是大卫看他只是个血肉之躯的凡人,还不如狮、熊凶猛。尤其是对方竟敢辱骂全能的神,神一定会帮助大卫争战。大卫从神的观点来看这个令人害怕的情势。从神的角度看问题,有助我们把棘手的难题看得简单,我们对情势看得清楚,就更能发挥作战的能力。 

  撒上 17:28-32> 在神要我执行祂的计划时,我有何思想准备? 

  17:28-32 别人的批评并不能阻挠大卫。以色列军队伫立在周围,大卫知道该采取行动了。既然有神为他争战,就没有理由再等候。别人可能抨击或嘲笑你,但是你要继续做你自己当做的事。你这样行就会讨神喜悦,祂的旨意和计划才是最为重要的。 

  神使用的平常器皿 

  大卫与歌利亚 

  17:55-58 虽然大卫有好多次在扫罗面前弹琴,但扫罗向押尼珥所发出的问话,似乎表明他对大卫所知不多。也许因为扫罗已经定规,只要大卫得胜,他就将自己的女儿嫁给大卫( 17:25 ),所以想更清楚知道他的家世。扫罗也可能因为情绪上的不稳定( 16:14 ),使他认不出大卫。──《灵修版圣经注释》