(33) And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. (34) And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: (35) And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. (36) Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. (37) David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.
The offer of David, no doubt, gave courage to the whole army of Israel. For it should be observed, that Israel had been long accustomed, when at any time the Lord was about to deliver his people, to expect that deliverance in some unthought of way. And frequently the deliverer was altogether such as no human foresight could have provided. See in the case of Deborah, in the Book of Judges, Judges 4:1-9. And Samuel had taught the people to recollect other cases. See 1 Samuel 12:6-11. But in the fears and apprehensions of Saul concerning David's youth, opposed to Goliath's strength and experience in war, we see how much his carnal heart was looking to an arm of flesh. The argument upon which David laid the greatest stress, in assuring him of victory, was not so much his former conquests over the lion and the bear, but because this Philistine had no interest in the covenant of God with his people, but had openly defied God himself. It is very encouraging in all our conflicts, when we see that we are not only on the Lord's side; but that in reality the battle is the Lord's and not ours. David told the Philistine so, before he engaged him. (See 1 Samuel 17:47.) We have a beautiful example of the same kind; 2 Chronicles 20:5-15. But how much sweeter still, is it to eye Jesus in all these things, as going forth in the deliverance of his tried ones, from the mountains of leopards, and from the lions dens. Song of Solomon 4:8.