Scholars tell us that David wrote Psalm 144, and Psalm 8 for that matter, after he slayed Goliath (גָּלְיַת/gālyaṯ, from a root meaning: to uncover or remove). Psalm 144 opens, “Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle” (Ps. 144:1). Goliath was the champion of the Philistines. He was a giant of a man; some suggest nearly ten feet tall; giant indeed. Yet, by faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, David faced the giant while others hid (1 Sam. 17:48-51). The Lord had prepared David’s hands for war.
As giant as Goliath was, in this week’s opening Torah portion of Devarim (Deuteronomy), Moses, in his first discourse, reminds his people of their history and trials. Trials including the fear of giants. In the Torah, we find three words that are sometimes translated as “giant”: Anakim, Rephaim and Nephilim. In Deuteronomy 3:11, the Torah references a giant larger than Goliath: Og, King of Bashan.
In Deuteronomy 3:11 we read, “For only Og the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, according to the common cubit.” Og was the sole survivor of a remnant of giants called רְפָאִים/Rephaim. Rephaim comes from a root meaning to “heal” but in this usage, vigorous or invigorated is probably meant.
As I studied this portion, the detail about Og’s bed struck me. I mean, 3500 years later, why do I care about the size of Og’s bed and that it was made of Iron? The Torah suggests that Og’s bed was around 14 ½ feet long. Some rabbinic commentators suggest that Og was at least ten feet tall, making him taller than Goliath. Yet, by Deuteronomy 3:11 Moses has already told Israel that Og was defeated, as the Lord delivered him into their hand (3:3). Why this later reminder?
The children of Israel wrestled with the idea of giants. In Numbers 13, Moses sends twelve spies into the Promised Land to “spy out the land” (Num. 13:21). They reported that the land was as the Lord promised, but the people are Nephilim, descendants of Anak, a giant (Num. 13:33/Deut. 1:28). Their cities are big and fortified, the land is hard, and the fruit is proportional to the size of the giants, as it is carried between two men (Num. 13:23). To ten of the spies, in sight of this large landscape, they looked as grasshoppers (Num 13:33) in their eyes. As we know, this report led to a rebellion, and a judgment leading to the death of the exodus generation in the wilderness.
With all that Israel had seen and experienced in the wilderness, the provision, the victories and the grace of the covenant Lord, deep down, somewhere in their hearts, the bed of Og was still occupied. The giants were still out there, but where?
Og is long deceased, but giants yet remain. At least from our perspective. The giants that we face in life today speak to our feeling of insignificance, but more precisely, smallness. Smallness, especially in light of what we cannot name or control. The giants we face in life have many names, and yes, in most cases they are very serious. Nevertheless, in order to defeat the giants of today we must know who we are in Messiah Yeshua/Jesus. We must rely on how we are described in God’s unchanging Word to rely, as David did, on those skilled hands that sent the stone into Goliath’s head, killing him. David slew his giant, and so can we.
Dear readers, many of you have giants out there, just beyond your sight, your grasp, bumping around in the forest that have either been named or they possess a potential name that brings dread into your heart. In Psalm 8, the other psalm penned by David after facing Goliath, he writes, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens” (Ps. 8:1). The name of the giant “out there” is not above the name of the King of glory. Goliath was not greater than David, and neither were greater than the Lord.
The apostle Paul encourages us, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11). Where can our giants hide?
In His name, through Messiah, what have we become? Again, to Paul, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Ro. 8:37). Beloved, more than conquerors. David praised the Lord for the skill to face Goliath, again meaning uncover or remove. David took the stone and skillfully used it. But dear friends, our Stone has taken us and He now skillfully uses us to stand against the darkness of this age, including our own giants (Eph. 6:10-20).
Where are you giants sleeping? Where has your giant rested? In Messiah those giants are uncovered (Goliath), and they are slain. They are no more. As we have died in Messiah, those giants are now dead, we are raised in His life now to live in Him as the promise (1 Cor. 1:20). He has brought you out of the darkness of the giants and into His marvelous light. No matter how strong Og’s bed might be, even as iron, it cannot overcome the One Who has slain the giant called “death,” as Christ is the King of all kings.
Maranatha. Shalom.
the mountain mensch 