David and Goliath

I have touched on this before, but it occurs to me to weigh in on one of the most well-known stories in the Bible: David and Goliath. It is interesting to me that out of all of the army of Israel, there was not one man that had faith enough to stand against the giant. Of course, part of that was because it was God's plan. He wanted to show Israel that He intended to use David, but still... Also, part of it was that David had faith as a little child. None of the men in the army had that. The Bible tells us that David's father, Jesse, had eight sons, and the three eldest were in the army, but David was the youngest. It was understood, in those times, that if you were old enough to serve, then you did. Now, if David was the youngest, and only the three eldest were old enough to serve (which was thirteen, by the way), then how old was David? And how desperate was King Saul to let this youngster fight the giant?

We don't have to look too deep into this story to see that God intended for this to be an unconventional battle. First of all, David didn't carry a sword or a spear: he took a sling and five stones. Why five? I don't know; if the first one had missed, he probably wasn't going to get a chance to sling a second one. Some have suggested that it's because there are five letters in the name, "Jesus," but that wouldn't be true in Hebrew. David also refused armor; to be honest, though, the armor would have been ridiculous: I don't think that they made armor in David's size. King Saul tried to give David his own armor, which was just that much worse: Saul stood taller than the rest of Israel, David would have had a hard time just walking in Saul's armor.

It has been suggested that Goliath was probably a victim of gigantism, a disorder of the pituitary gland that, in addition to causing abnormal growth, also frequently causes the bones of the skull to come together--usually leaving a "soft spot" in the front of the head. This would certainly explain how one stone from David was able to sink into the giant's head and kill him. Some would have you to believe that somehow makes David killing Goliath less than miraculous. I would have to disagree. If Goliath had such a soft spot (and I will admit that it seems likely that he did) such a thing must not have been common knowledge: Surely Goliath could have had a helmet crafted that would have protected his vulnerability. Further, I suspect that David was really just aiming for Goliath, not some alleged soft spot, and trusting that God would guide the stone. David didn't know about the soft spot, wouldn't have known where it was if he had known about it, and probably couldn't have hit it on purpose if he had known where it was. Tell me that's not a miracle.

The lesson, of course, is that sometimes things loom large in our lives, but God has a simple solution. Sometimes His solution makes about as much sense as sending a boy into battle against a giant, armed with a toy (let's face it, a sling was not considered a weapon--ever know anybody else in the Bible to carry a sling into battle?--no, it was a kid's toy). Is God telling you to do something that just doesn't make sense? Do you trust God? Don't misunderstand me--make sure it's God, but be ready to step out in faith.

Making a Miracle out of a Molehill

In the book of Jonah (and I hope most of us are familiar with the story), God sends Jonah to go warn Nineveh that He is about to destroy them. Jonah, either out of a severe dislike for the Ninevites, or just a fear of being the sacrificial messenger (killing the bearer of bad news was not uncommon in those days), or maybe a little bit of both, went the other way. He caught a ship to Tarshish, but, on the way, a severe storm blew in, threatening the ship. Jonah, realizing that God had sent the storm because of his disobedience, instructed the ship's crew to throw him overboard. God prepared a whale to swallow Jonah (and that must have taken some preparation, because normally a whale, even as big as it is, cannot swallow anything even close to the size of a man) and keep him alive until Jonah repented. Jonah did repent, and went to Nineveh, and the Ninevites repented, and God spared them. Jonah, not quite getting it, went to a nearby hill overlooking the city, and waited for the light show that never came. God had to deal with him all over again about being grateful that his work had paid off.

Now, I have had some people try to tell me that there is a hidden miracle in Jonah. They use to verses together to show that Jonah was able to go three days' journey in one day. The second part of Jonah 3:3 says, "...Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey." In Jonah 3:4, it says, "And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey..." So, apparently, Jonah was able to move at three times the speed that was humanly possible.

Or was he? Let's examine that a little more closely. First of all, a days' journey is not how far a man could run in a day; it's how far a man could lead a fully laden pack mule in a day (taking frequent breaks, stopping for meals, etc.). If it's urgent enough, you can maintain a pace three times faster than a pack mule (well, a lot of people could have, then, but with today's more sedentary lifestyles, not so much). It's generally considered that a days' journey was about thirty miles. For purposes of comparison, the Western States Endurance Run is an annual 'ultramarathon' held in California's Sierra Nevada. It is a 100 mile course, and you have to finish in thirty hours to get an award (a bronze belt buckle). If you finish in less than 24 hours, though, you get a silver belt buckle. Many people do. Think about that for a minute. Right here, in present-day United States, there are people that can run more than 3 days' journey in one day. Yet it's considered a miracle that Jonah ran three days' journey in one day.

Or did he? Let's look at the verbiage again. Jonah 3:3 tells us that Nineveh was an exceeding great city (how great was it?) of three days' journey. If the first part of the sentence is talking about how big Nineveh was, why would the second part of the sentence change the subject to how far away Nineveh was? I think part of the confusion here is cultural. We generally think of a city a bunch of buildings connected by roads. In ancient times, a city was everything enclosed by the city walls. What's the difference? Well, again, we don't think of farmland as being part of a city, but, if you leave the farmland outside the city walls, you're just inviting an attack at the beginning of harvest. If I have a grudge against you, or maybe I just don't care about you one way or the other but my crops aren't doing well, but your crops are outside your walls, all I have to do is attack you, and, while you and yours are huddled inside the walls, my troops and I can harvest your crops. Yes, you could put archers on the parapets, but I can have my archers shooting at your archers... The bottom line is, that Nineveh was a huge city, even by today's standards, but it was pretty much self-sufficient. They grew their own food, milled their grain, they had craftsmen building things that they needed, and all of that inside the walls of the city. That way, they could continue to live while under siege.

Now, Jonah 3:4 says that Jonah began to enter into the city a days' journey. Again, we are talking about a distance, not an amount of time. My best guess is that when Jonah got to the city, he got inside the gate, and (a) didn't find many people there (a soldier or two to make sure he didn't help himself to the food growing there), and (b) realized that if he started preaching fire and brimstone right there, one of those soldiers would draw a sword or pick up a rock to throw at Jonah, and he would be right back outside the gate headed for another whale... So he walked thirty miles into the city. Now there is a crowd to preach to, most of them don't have swords, and he's too far from the gate to make a run for it anyway. So he preaches; probably hoping that they will kill him quickly so that he doesn't have to suffer very long.