RE: DAVID DID NOT KILL GOLIATH I read with rapt attention the - TopicsExpress

RE: DAVID DID NOT KILL GOLIATH I read with rapt attention the four piece article written by one Dr. Femi Aribisala titled “David did not kill Goliath” and published in the Vanguard Newspapers. The article is also posted on the internet. I have also read some things written against Dr. Aribisala’s articulate position by some Religionists and other Christians faithful who based their comments mostly on mere sentiments. Dr. Arisbisala’s position can be divided into two. The first is his unbelief in the Biblical record that David killed Goliath. The second is what I regard as the paradigm shift enunciated in the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ i.e. not paying evil for evil. I have no problem with the second point but Dr. Aribisala’s efforts to prove that David did not kill Goliath felt flat in the face of Biblical evidences. According to Aribisala, there are minor reasons why he could not believe that David killed Goliath. I think one needs not waist time on those minor reasons but go straight to the main issues raised. The points are:- a. That King Saul could not possibly leave the faith of his kingdom in the Hand of a boy. I Sam. 17: 8-9 b. That David killed Goliath twice. First with his sling and second with Goliath’s sword. c. That David could not have carried Goliath’s Head to King Saul in Jerusalem as Jerusalem at that time in history was under the control of the Jubisites. d. That David would not have run to Gath the town of Goliath as a city of Refuge. Let me start by commending the intellectual effort of Dr. Aribisala on these issues. However, I think Dr. Aribisala knows that the things of the Almighty God goes beyond scholarship or intellectual ability. This is why Dr. Aribisala over looked three small issues and therefore missed the whole story. The first is God’s anointment of Saul as a king. When Samuel poured the anointing oil on Saul; at the appointed time God gave Saul a new heart, the spirit of God came upon him and he prophesized. 1 Sam. 10:9-10. Saul was not known to be a prophet. The second point is in 1 Sam. 15:27-28. The same God that gave the kingdom to Saul has taken it away. The third point is that the same God has given the kingdom to David 1 Sam. 16:12-13. According to the Bible, Samuel again took the olive oil he has brought and pour it upon David’s head (just as he did to Saul) and “THE SPIRIT OF JEHOVAH CAME UPON HIM AND GAVE HIM GREAT POWER FROM THAT DAY ONWARD” (capital mine). It is obvious from the foregoing that no human beings no matter how wise or intellectual can adequately define, explain or quantify the manifestations of such powers on the chosen or anointed one. I am persuaded to believe that Dr. Aribisala knows that when the Almighty God has located a person for His work, it is FINISHED. This is because such a chosen person will be able to do many things successfully that ordinary persons like you and I will consider absolutely impossible. There are many examples in the Bible and even around you who is reading me now. It is the anointing on David as recorded in 1 Sam 16:13 that made Saul to have no choice but to agree with David. God was at work for His Glory. Dr. Aribisala said David killed Goliath twice. This is not so. David threw his stone and it hit the Giant and he fell down perhaps unconscious. Some philistines must have started running away in the belief that their leader has been killed. David only use Goliath’s sword to cut the Giant’s head to establish total victory over Isreal’s enemy as it was the custom of the people at that time. The conversion between the two in 1 Sam. 17:43-47 shows that while Goliath relied on his power, the ANNOITED David relied on the power of the God of Israel. There is the intellectual argument that given the war dress of the philistine at that time, there was no way a stone would have hit the Philistine Giant on his forehead. However, many believe that as David was talking about birds in the sky, the Giant looked up to see the birds, which made his helmet to move backward and at that moment, the stone hit him and he fell. Jeremiah 32:17 says “There is nothing too hard” for God to do and our Lord Jesus Christ who knows the Almighty God than any other spirit said in Mathew 19:26 that “With men this is not possible but with God all things are possible.” The third point is that David could not have carried Goliath’s head to King Saul in Jerusalem, because the Jebusites were controlling Jerusalem at that time. My take on this point is that, it is possible that the person who wrote this portion of the story lived and wrote the story in Jerusalem believing that Jerusalem has always been the Headquarters of Isrealites. In the alternative, it could be the fault of the scribes as pointed out by the “Bible Gems for friendship.” However, one point is clear. The Israelites, Jebusites and the Philistines lived together and also warred against each other several times. Genesis 21:34 tells us that Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines. Many Bible students believe that Abraham binding of Isaac and the eventual sacrifice as recorder in Genesis 22:1-18 in the land of Moriah, the first temple and crucification of our Lord Jesus Christ took place in the same area. This underscores the importance of Jerusalem to the Isrealites. Infact, Isreal Shalem in one of his articles titled “History of Jerusalem from its beginning to David” (History of Jerusalem from its Beginning to David) (biu.ac.iijs/rennert/history-2.html) pointed out that the Jebusite city was surrounded by Jewish settlements allocated to the tribe of Benjamin. Joshua 18:16 supports this view. From the foregoing, it could be deducted that some Jews including King Saul might have houses in Jerusalem. After all, King Saul for his 42 years reign never attacks Jerusalem and Goliath was not a Jebusite but a Philistine. The fourth point that David would not have run to Gath, the town of Goliath as a city of Refuge. I beg to disagree. In the first place, Dr. Aribisala does not consider the time lag. David did not kill Goliath today and ran to Gath from King Saul the following day. The crisis between king Saul and David took many years before it got to its peak, it is believed that the physical appearance of David have changed during this time. I am persuaded to believe that David thought that the people in Gath would not recognize him and that king Saul would not look for him in Gath. I think the strategy is technically sound even though it did not work out as David wanted it. The strategy is unassailable as God Almighty Himself used the same strategy to protect our Lord and saviour when he was an infant as God directed Joseph and Mary to take little Jesus Christ to Egypt, the city of King Herod who sought to kill him. Mathew 2:13-14. Finally, I would like to advise Dr. Femi Aribisala and others like him to take solace in the writing of a group called “Bible Gems for Friendship Faithful Bloggers” writing on the topic “who is Elhanan?” Wednesday January 23, 2013. (Bible gems-Pastorccleman. Blogspot/2013/01/who-is-elhanan.html) I wish to take the liberty to quote the group extensively. “The role of the Jewish scribe was to act as kind of a human copy machine, duplicating the scriptures from one document to a new document so that there would always be fresh copies for future generations. Scribes would occasionally make mistakes and some time those mistakes were not caught in the proof-reading process and would end up in the new edition of the scriptures. Such is the case with 2 Samuel 20:19.” The group went further by pointing out that “the Word of God is perfect and without error in the original manuscripts. The translation process, however, from ancient times until now is a human endeavour and subject to error. Fortunately, those errors are miniscule and do not affect doctrine and the Truth of God’s word. And where there are human errors, God in His Grace gives us the tools and talented people to uncover those mistakes and provide correction. So, between the testimony of scripture and the use of translation skills and resources not available to earlier generations, we are increasingly able to unravel the confusion that arises from a simple human mistakes and God still gets the Glory.” Need I say more. HON. EVANGELIST OLUFEMI BELLO E-mail: Femi2Bello@yahoo Twitter: @femi1956 Lokongoma Lokoja, Kogi State.