Article July 9, 1979 ISSUE

Changing the mode of battle

DIANE STAUNTON STAPLES

Picture the scene from Goliath's point of view. See I Sam. 17:38-50; He was expecting someone in armor, carrying a sword, to come out of the camp of the Israelites and meet him in hand-to-hand combat. Instead, there stood David, with no armor, carrying only a staff in his hand. Goliath was not only astonished, he was insulted! "Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves?" he roared. (Goliath was apparently referring to the shepherd's staff David carried, a staff he might have used to drive off a wild dog trying to attack his sheep.)

But Goliath was totally missing something. For in his other hand, apparently unnoticed, David held his sling. Through reliance on God, David was about to completely change the mode of battle and thus win the victory. And what was about to occur was entirely beyond Goliath's ability to foresee or comprehend.

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