GOLIATH IS A PIG

(1 Sam 17:14-16) And David [head of the body of believers] was the youngest [“the elder shall serve the younger” Gen 25:23; Esau and Jacob, i.e. the flesh shall serve the Spirit]: and the three eldest [wayward Christian denominations] followed Saul [head of the body of the undecided, the unconvinced]. But David went and returned from Saul [separated himself from; “Come out of her, my people” Rev 18:4] to feed his father's sheep [“feed my sheep” John 21:16,17] at Bethlehem [house of bread]. And the Philistine [Goliath: head of the body of unbelievers: he only believed in himself] drew near morning and evening [type of the morning and evening sacrifice], and presented himself forty days [the number of testing, i.e. forty years “in the church in the wilderness” Acts 7:38].

1. (Rev 3:16) So then [spoken to the Laodiceans (a people of (for) judgment); the 7^th and last church; us] because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot [i.e. in between – indecisive, not convinced], I will spue [vomit] thee out of my mouth [i.e. out of the Body of Christ].

2. (James 2:20) But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith [belief, conviction] without works [deeds] is dead?

3. David and his four brothers were obediently feeding (what works?) their Father’s sheep in Bethlehem, and were hot for God. Saul and the Israelite armies were standing (what works?) on a mountain watching and listening to Goliath [i.e. the spirit of Goliath presently manifests as television], and were lukewarm for God. Goliath and the Philistines were defying (what works?) “the armies of the living God” (1 Sam 17:26), and were cold for God. EVERYTHING IS GOD-CENTERED!

4. Philistine = Heb: rolling, migratory /// to roll (in dust): roll (wallow) self. [like a pig]

5. Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary: Epiphanes – a shorter name for Antiochus IV, the king of Syria (reigned 175-163 B.C.). He defiled the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem by sacrificing swine [pig] on the altar and by setting himself up as a god to be worshipped.

6. “and presented himself” = Heb: yatsab; has sacrificial religious connotations; used most often to indicate a sacrificial thing; an inferior presenting himself or standing before a superior, i.e. before Pharaoh, before the LORD. This circumstance goes much deeper symbolically than I am at present given to see. From the “crow’s nest” of our Gospel ship, the meaning seems to be that Goliath “presented himself” for forty days (testing) to the visible church (Goliath was walking by sight), insistently demanding acceptance by the Israelites of himself as their sacrifice (a blood sacrifice – the challenge was a fight to the death) on the brasen altar (type of the cross) in the place of (substitution – counterfeit of course) the sacrificial lamb (Jesus Christ). Who will you serve? Which sacrifice will you accept, WHICH SACRIFICE WILL YOU IDENTIFY WITH? The pig Goliath (alive to the world) or Jesus Christ (dead to the world)? Will you place your faith (belief, trust - love) in Goliath (the visible world, empowered by Satan), or in Jesus Christ (the invisible Heaven, empowered by God)?

SAUL AND THE ISRAELITES: PROFESSING CHRISTIANS

The Israelites (church congregation) were suffering from the debilitating mental disease of False Doctrine, which was manifesting itself through the internal spiritual symptom of indecision (dizziness, confusion: not in their right minds: the prodigal Luke 15:16: PIGS; the possessed demoniac Mark 5:12: PIGS), and the external physical symptom of paralysis (“sick of the palsy” Mark 2:4). Consequently, the Israelites were fixed in their position and unchanging in their beliefs. They lived for forty days (the number of testing) upon a mountain of stones (the self pride of their hearts). We are called to be farmers (Gen 2:15). Most crops are grown on plains or in the valleys. But these Israelites lived upon a mountain which was the non fruit bearing “stony ground” of “The sower soweth the word parable.” (Mark 4:14). These are professing Christians, “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Titus 1:16). These congregation members were not advancing (growing) in themselves, nor were they sowing seed (“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” Mark 16:15), because their attention was held captive, fastened upon, bound, to the hard fearsome and deceptive words of Goliath rather than to the loving words of God, i.e. they were looking at and feeding upon Goliath rather than looking at and feeding upon God, they were looking down (caterpillars – natural men) rather than looking up (butterflies – spiritual men). King Saul was their errant shepherd, “But the spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him” (1 Sam 16:14), and this unanointed man led the flock of Israelites (the church) into apostasy. They all, including Saul, lacked discernment, for they had “no root” in themselves. Saul led the flock into a pasture of stony ground where there was no nourishing food for the sheep, i.e. no life, just “the [empty] husks [i.e. seedless “the seed is the word of God” Luke 8:11] that the swine [PIGS] did eat” (Luke 15:16).

Amen

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