I was listening to a sermon about how to be\u00a0a man after God’s heart. He was speaking about love,\u00a0and\u00a0he said David loved Saul\u00a0even when Saul tried to kill him and searched for\u00a0him for years.\u00a0Even if Saul\u00a0became David’s enemy, David would never\u00a0do the same against Saul. He loved Saul and he’d never become his enemy.\u00a0Then he spoke about David’s duel against Goliath, and David says,\u00a0 “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied … today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air … and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel … it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”<\/p>\n
Didn’t David break the\u00a0rule of loving your enemies?\u00a0If you love\u00a0a person you don’t kill\u00a0him or her, right?<\/p>\n\t
David didn’t count Goliath as a personal enemy. Goliath had chosen to be an enemy of Israel. David saw it as a manner of honor to stand bold for God. “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?<\/em>” (I Samuel 17:26). David was so certain that this was the right thing to do, that he volunteered to accept Goliath’s challenge. “The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine<\/em>” (I Samuel 17:37).<\/p>\n You also need to see that Goliath was not an honorable man. A mere boy came out on the field to face him with no weapon of war and no armor. He did have a shield-bearer, but that was about it. “And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him; for he was only a youth, ruddy and good-looking. So the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!” Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’S, and He will give you into our hands”<\/em>” (I Samuel 17:42-47). An honorable man would have refused to attack a boy. But also see that this confrontation wasn’t about David but about God.<\/p>\n “Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men. For they speak against You wickedly; Your enemies take Your name in vain. Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies<\/em>” (Psalms 139:19-22).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n When Jesus spoke about not hating your enemies, he was talking about taking personal vengeance. “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust<\/em>” (Matthew 5:44-45). You see this in David, rarely did he attack those who attacked him. He would defend his countrymen and his God with his life but refused to harm men like Saul, Absalom, or Shimei who attack him personally. “They reward me evil for good, to the sorrow of my soul. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting; and my prayer would return to my own heart. I paced about as though he were my friend or brother; I bowed down heavily, as one who mourns for his mother. But in my adversity they rejoiced and gathered together; attackers gathered against me, and I did not know it; they tore at me and did not cease<\/em>” (Psalms 35:12-15).<\/p>\n Think about it this way. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God<\/em>” (John 3:16-18). God loves everyone, even those who made themselves to be His enemy; yet, God’s love does not preclude justice being served when there is a refusal to accept God’s love. David’s encounter with Goliath was a matter of justice and not a need for personal vengeance.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I was listening to a sermon about how to be\u00a0a man after God’s heart. He was speaking about love,\u00a0and\u00a0he said David loved Saul\u00a0even when Saul tried to kill him and searched for\u00a0him for years.\u00a0Even if Saul\u00a0became David’s enemy, David would never\u00a0do the same against Saul. He loved Saul and he’d never become his enemy.\u00a0Then…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[111,65,720],"class_list":["post-28209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-david","tag-love","tag-vengeance"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14676,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-david-a-young-man-when-he-killed-goliath-and-not-a-boy\/","url_meta":{"origin":28209,"position":0},"title":"Was David a young man when he killed Goliath and not a boy?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In studying I Samuel 17:38-40, I am wondering if David is not a young boy as some stories depict him, but instead, he is a young man. Saul was the tallest man among the children of Israel and we see that he is now giving his armor to David\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11863,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-did-saul-actually-die\/","url_meta":{"origin":28209,"position":1},"title":"How did Saul actually die?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 30, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I want to know how Saul died. In I Samuel 31:4 the Scripture says that Saul fell upon his own sword and in verse 6 it says Saul, his three sons, and his armorbearer died that same day. Then in II Samuel 1:10. the Scripture says an Amalekite stood\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2785,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-did-david-and-jonathan-show-their-love-for-each-other\/","url_meta":{"origin":28209,"position":2},"title":"How did David and Jonathan show their love for each other?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 30, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How did David and Jonathan show their concern (love) for one another? Can we act like them too? Answer: \"The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul\" (I Samuel 18:1). They made a covenant with each other \"Then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90134,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/david-old-and-full-of-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":28209,"position":3},"title":"David, \u201cOld and Full of Years\u201d","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Tol Burk We are introduced to David as a young man, too young to fight Goliath (according to man's standards). But it doesn't end there-David is one of the very few that we see from youth to old age. Age changed things in his life, but his faith in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29823,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-saul-ask-whose-son-david-was-after-his-battle-with-goliath\/","url_meta":{"origin":28209,"position":4},"title":"Why did Saul ask whose son David was after his battle with Goliath?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm reading in I Samuel 16:21. 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Hamilton Text: Psalms 56 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is far too easy to read the stories in the Bible and not think about the feelings of the people involved. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Joshua was chosen to follow Moses as leader of Israel, but he must have been very nervous - Joshua 1:2,9 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28209\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}