Jehovah Tsaba - The LORD of Hosts
Part of The Names Of God
September 9, 2020

JEHOVAH TSABA - THE LORD OF HOSTS

Text: 1 Samuel 17:1-50
17 Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim.
2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines.
3 And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.
4 And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
5 And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.
6 And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders.
7 And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.
8 And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.
9 If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.
10 And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.
11 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.
12 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.
13 And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.
14 And David was the youngest: and the three eldest followed Saul.
15 But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.
16 And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.
17 And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp of thy brethren;
18 And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge.
19 Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.
20 And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the trench, as the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle.
21 For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army.
22 And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren.
23 And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and David heard them.
24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid.
25 And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father’s house free in Israel.
26 And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?
27 And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him.
28 And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.
29 And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?
30 And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner.
31 And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul: and he sent for him.
32 And David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
33 And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.
34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:
35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.
36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.
37 David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.
38 And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.
39 And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.
40 And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.
41 And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him.
42 And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.
43 And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44 And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.
45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
46 This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
47 And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hands.
48 And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came, and drew nigh to meet David, that David hastened, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
49 And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.
50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.

1. Gigantic Problems

  • The armies had squared off for days with the Philistines. They had faced many threats, problems, and difficulties in this battle, but all that got

    when one man, a giant named, Goliath, stepped up and issued the challenge.

  • Most of us can handle the routine, run of the mill, common, ordinary problems of life. We don’t like them, but we bear up under them and move forward.

  • But when one gigantic problem shows up in life, that changes everything.

  • In our text you’ll note that Israel was not said to be afraid at any point in this battle until Goliath issued his challenge, then everyone became paralyzed with

    .

Tony Evans: You know you’re in a giant-sized battle not only by its massive size but also by the effect it has on you.

2. Godly Perspective

  • David’s reply to the men of Israel revealed that his perspective on the giant wasn’t the same as everyone else’s.
  • Perspective is never just what you see. Perspective is how you

    what you see.

  • The Israelites saw the same giant that David saw; but they didn’t see him the same way. They looked at his size, strength, armor, etc.

  • David looked at the fact that this man was not

    .

  • No circumcision meant that Goliath had no connection to God, no covering, no covenant relationship.

  • The power of God and of His name were not with Goliath. He had size and strength and skill and experience, but he did not have God.

  • The Israelites were filled with fear for the same reason that many of us standing in the shadow of our giants do too – we look at the

    thing.

  • We look at Goliath’s size without thinking about his status in connection to God. When we do that, we allow the size of the giant (problem) to eclipse the size of God.

Tony Evans: Sometimes God will allow you to experience a bigger-than-life Goliath so that you will experience a bigger-than-Goliath God. But you will never get to experience a bigger-than-Goliath God if your eyes are focused on the bigger-than-life Goliath.

  • Paul teaches us in Ephesians that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places. Literally, we are in two places at one time. Physically here. Spiritually there.
  • We need to know where we’re seated. You can save a lot of time and energy dealing with a gigantic problem by learning how to view things from your actual location and not simply your physical location.
  • Looking down from heaven, the giants don’t seem so .

3. Guiding Principles

  • David’s experience teaches us several things about how we are to approach the giants/gigantic problems we face in life.

    1) You can’t approach your gigantic problem using someone else’s gifting, talents, abilities, anointing, armor, etc.

    • This is what David almost did. Saul put his own personal armor on David to prepare him to go forth and meet the giant.

    2) You must approach your gigantic problem using your unique gifting, strengths, talents, anointing, etc.

    3) If you are going to overcome your giant, then you must

    it.

    • David didn’t approach Goliath with the most powerful and lethal weaponry of the day. David didn’t even mention that he had a slingshot. David said, “I am coming at you in the name of Jehovah Tsaba (The LORD of Hosts).
    • David understood something about God’s name: it was more than simply a name – it was a gateway to His

      .

    • By advancing in God’s name, David positioned himself to defeat someone who everyone thought was undefeatable.

    • David did battle in the name of the LORD. He gave the battle over to God. That doesn’t mean David sat down and did nothing. No, he did all he could do, but he did it with one truth in mind – God would give Goliath into his hands.

    • When we’re facing a giant and wondering how to overcome the problem or opposition – including internal opposition, such as addiction, fear, or low self-esteem – we’re thinking the battle is ours.

    • Many of the struggles and challenges we face simply stem from living in a fallen world. But others are strategies set in motion by Satan to ensnare us and trap us and defeat us.

    • Satan knows all of our weaknesses in the flesh and uses them against us to defeat us.
    • Fighting in our own strength means we treat the battle like it is ours to win or lose. The reality is that the battle belongs to God.

Tony Evans: Once David saw the spiritual core of the physical crisis, he could rest on God’s willingness to fight and His ability to win.

  • Our text says specifically that David did not have a sword in his hand.
  • God wants us to know that it was a orchestrated victory.
  • God never wanted David to have armor on or else David would have gotten some of the credit.
  • When God wins your battle, you know He did. And He deserves all the glory.