Was Goliath all that?

My pastor's focus on Goliath this morning got me to thinking about his description of the infamous "giant" and how his interpretation applies to some of the things I've seen the JFP deal with.

Those who are familiar with the story of Goliath in the Christian faith know that David defeated him with a stone and a sling. However, before you think about how big and bad Goliath was, look at this from I Samuel 17 in the Bible (New International Version):

4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall.
5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels;
6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back.
7 His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.

Okay, the dude was tall, sure enough. On the contrary, how tough could he be if he was wearing all this heavy armor and had someone ahead of him with a shield? He may have been a giant on the outside, but on the inside, he was a first-class chicken. He was afraid, plain and simple. Of course, to put up a front, here's what he said:

8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me.
9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us."
10 Then the Philistine said, "This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other."
11 On hearing the Philistine's words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

That last part was in bold because the Israelites became afraid because of what Goliath said, not by what he did. They freaked out because they saw a big scary guy. If they could see the big picture, they would have realized how much of a wuss he really was. In other words, his bark was worse than his bite.

I've been hanging out in the the JFP blogs for over two years, and I have seen all kinds of people come and go. The ones that I often remember most (even when I don't want to) are bloggers who do whatever they can to derail conversations and berate the site owner and staff. My pastor said that enemies usually don't verbally attack those who they see as weak. They go after those they see as strong in the hopes that their persistence will make the strong become weak. (I've experienced this in my personal life, so I know it when I see it.) Yet, the folks at JFP never seem to cave in. They stand their ground in order to keep this site from becoming a cesspool, even at the risk of losing a friend or two. The people pleaser in me would find that difficult to do at times, but not these guys.

Stand strong, JFP, and remember that all Goliaths are a bunch of little garden gnomes in disguise. :-)

posted by ladd on 07/22/07 at 09:07 PM

posted by L.W. on 07/22/07 at 09:49 PM