Sermon: It Won’t Be the First Stone (I Samuel 17)
I would like to share with you one of the great mysteries in the Bible.
I Samuel 17: 38-39, 48-49
“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. 40 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.
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As I am sure you know, this is two snippets from the story of David and Goliath. David tries on the armor, puts on the helmet, and fastens the sword over his tunic, tries them out. They just don’t work. He wasn’t used to them. Instead he takes his sling and his staff gathers five stones from a stream. He runs out to the battle, takes a stone out of his pouch, launches it at Goliath, and kills him.
This is an amazing story of how a young man, David, with a sling and five stones, and don’t forget the staff, killed a giant of a soldier. And he did it with only one stone. But here is the mystery— which stone was it? Was it the first? Second? Third… fourth? Maybe it was the fifth one. We don’t know. But maybe we can logic it out.
Let’s think about some possibilities.
1. In terms of probability, each one is theoretically equally likely. Therefore, each has a 20% chance of hitting. Let me tell you this… I have used a sling before. In the artwork in Bible story books, they always show David using a sling over-head. Maybe that is the way he did it. I don’t know. From personal experience, that it is extremely difficult to aim that way. I would do it underhand. I suppose it could also be done overhand. Doing it this way, it is easy to control azimuth— moving towards the right or the left. But it is still hard to control height. Letting go of the strap even a fraction of a second early or late will affect the angle of release and the height it achieves. The overhead method I find even harder because you don’t have good control of either height oe azimuth. Maybe David was really really good with a sling. But clearly he knew he wasn’t perfect. That was why he chose five stones… not just one.
2. From a ballistics standpoint, the ideal stone would be the third stone. One of the odd jobs I had long ago was that I was a gunnery director officer. Our ship had Mark 42 gun. This gun used shells that weighed about 30 kilograms. We would fire at a target. My job was to spot where the shell hit and give guidance to the gunnery crew on how to adjust the gun so that the shell hit the target. I did this by bracketing. So if the first shell was long, I would intentionally adjust so that the next one would be short. Now the target was bracketed, and it was relatively easy to then adjust and hit it on the third shot. So maybe David did was able to bracket his shots to hit Goliath with the third stone.
3. From a storyteller’s point of view, the ideal shot is the fifth. It is a waste for a storyteller to leave any stones still in the bag. There is a principle called “Checkov’s Gun.” It states that if there is a gun in the first act of a play, it needs to be used in the third act. Remember, even though this is history, it is also a story— a story that people would tell their children and neighbors. The number of stones provides structure in the story where one can add details and build tension. Another good example of this is with Samson when his hair was cut. The story said that he had seven braids. One can imagine a storyteller sharing with a group. He may say, “Now Samson was sleeping, and the Philistines snuck into his room. They were so quiet because the Spirit of the Lord was mighty upon him. Samson’s hair was in seven braids. Carefully, so carefully they began to cut his braids. Samson took light his Nazarite vow and SNIP, the first braid was gone. Samson used God’s empowerument for selfish and fickle purposes— SNIP goes the second braid.” The story continues and builds until “Samson rejected Adonai, the Lord God of Israel— SNIP the final braid was gone and the Spirit of the Lord left him.”
Perhaps with David and Goliath, the storyteller used the stones to build tension. “David ran into the field of battle 15 meters from the giant he stopped. He put down his staff and reached into his shepherd’s pouch and pulled out a smooth round stone. He placed the stone in his sling, set his feet swung the sling and launched the stone at Goliath…. But he released it too early. The stone hit the ground, skittering across the rocks and settling near the feet of his enemy. Goliath laughed. David quickly reached into his bag. He found another stone… not as good as the first stone— not as round but still good. Again he set his feet and launched it. This one drifted right missing him by inches. The third stone was far from the mark, but the fourth hit Goliath straight in the middle of his chest. It made a small divet in Goliath’s armor. He laughed and bellowed, “Is that the best you got, boy?!” He started to move forward as David reached into his bag and pulled out the worst stone. While hard and smooth, it was far from round, likely to fly off-course. Still David put it into his sling, whispered an impassioned plea to God and launched it at the giant with all of his strength. The stone flew true and embedded itself in Goliath’s forehead. With that the great man fell, never again to arise.”
That would be one way… but just because the storyteller might say it that way does not necessarily mean that this is how it happened. For me, I would like to think David hit his target with the fourth stone. I don’t think it would be the first stone, but I would I feel the panic I imagine that David might feel if he got down to his final stone. For me the fourth seems about right. Here, is some of my thinking on this.
#1 God rarely gives us success with the first stone—
1A. Success with the first stone may lead us to think it is all about us. We are prone to hubris— or ungodly pride. Proverbs says that Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. And that is so true. It is not just with war heroes. Christian ministers can fall for the trap of thinking that our success is all about us. Maybe we put our name on every ministry we are involved in. Go around as celebrity ministers. Or perhaps run for president, or start calling ourselves the appointed Son of God. We ALL need a few failures in life for our moral and psychological health.
1B. Success with the first stone may lead us to think it is all about the stone. Stones are not all the same. A good stone should be as close to spherical as possible… as smooth as possible, and as dense as possible, and lacking in defects that might cause it to shatter. Certainly David would choose what he thought was best for the bag. And he would choose the best of the best as his first stone. He might think that it was that stone that brought the success.
In Christian ministry, we can also fall in love with the first stone and think that it was the secret of our success. Write books and lead seminars how we have found the secret and blame others for not being as visionary as us.
1C. Success with the first stone means we have less opportunity to learn and grow. When things are good the first time, we tend to be believe we have nothing more to learn. It is our nature. When things go wrong… we are fully focused on learning and improving. 17 years ago, the first time I was the team leader for a medical mission, in Kapangan, I left one quarter of the team in the wrong village almost sabotaging the second mission site. In the end, things came together and it was a successful trip. I can assure you, however, that I did not come back from the trip thinking I had nothing to learn.
1D. Failing with the first stone helps us rely on God more. I am sure that David prayed as he prepared to use his first stone. But I am confident in saying that he was REALLY praying by the time he got to the fourth stone. He understood that he could not depend on his skill… he could not depend on the stone he chose. He could only depend on God.
#2. You don’t know which stone will work.
David trusted God that He is benevolent and will care for His people, but David did not know which stone would work. In fact, he did not even know if any of the stones would work. That was why he also brought his staff out there with him. He was prepared to go against Goliath’s spear and sword with a stick. Even before this, he tried on King Saul’s armor, helmet and sword. According the text, he rejected them… not because of faith that they were not needed, but because he thought they would be of no help since he was unpracticed with them.
You don’t know which stone will work for you either. You don’t know what courses here at seminary will prove key in developing you for what God has for you. In fact, you don’t know what God has for you. If someone asks you— what is your sense of calling— what do expect you will be doing 5 years from now, let me give you a good answer… free of charge. You should say, “I expect to be surprised.”
#3. It is not a lack of faith to have multiple stones.
Some would say that having a back-up plan, a plan B, contingencies is a lack of faith. Some believe that if you have an outdoor activity, having a rainy day venue as an alternative demonstrates lack of faith. Faith that you can control God is not the same as having faith in God. Faith that you fully understand the mind and the will of God is not the same as having faith in God. I am reminded of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when threatened with the fiery furnace, say to the king… our God can save us even from this fiery furnace. But even if He doesn’t we will still not bow down to the golden image. That is faith in God not in their ability to control God or know His will.
#4. God will give you a chance to use the second stone. God wants you to learn and grow… so have a second stone with you. If you do, and you mess up with the first one, don’t worry. God will give you another chance. God is the God of the second stone, God is the God of the third stone… and the fourth. Maybe even the fifth stone. So be prepared.
So I don’t think we solved the mystery of which stone killed Goliath. But I hope there was value in trying to figure that out together.
