Putting on the Wrong Armor

“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” – 1 Samuel 17:39

When I was around six or seven years old, I had a habit of getting in trouble and getting spanked for it. Sometimes my mom would spank me. That usually wasn’t a big deal unless a wooden spoon was involved. But sometimes, my spanking would be delayed until my dad came home. He was a policeman and worked long shifts, so this didn't happen often. He also wore a thick leather belt that moonlighted as a disciplinary tool when it wasn’t holding up his pants. But I was clever.  On this one particular day I had plenty of time to plan ahead. So when dad came home and it was time to walk my green mile down the hallway to my parents’ bedroom, I was prepared. I had put on every single pair of underwear I owned and then put on a pair of shorts overtop of them. In my head, this unconventional suit of armor was not noticeable and would protect me from the sting of the belt. I guess I didn’t think to check a mirror. My dad, undoubtedly impressed by my ingenuity, did not let on to his amusement. Instead, he decided that today’s spanking would be bare bottom. Oops. My plan was thwarted in a painful way. My armor was neutralized. It wasn’t suited for the battle between my butt and his belt.

You will probably be surprised to learn that this childhood memory reminds me of a well-known story from the Old Testament. We’ve all heard it. In fact, it’s probably one of the first Bible stories anyone who spent much time in church as a kid really learned. But we usually fast-forward to the action and miss the foundational principles leading up to it. Before there was David and Goliath, there was David and Saul.

Just hours before the giant fell and before the first smooth stone sliced through the heavy air in the Valley of Elah, another intense battle had already taken place. Inside the royal tent of the King of Israel, a young boy had done the unthinkable – he rejected the armor of an earthly king and opted instead for the armor of God.

The Armor of Saul

Saul thought he was being helpful. Who wouldn’t want to wear armor made for a king? Not only should David wear armor, but he should wear the best armor available in the nation of Israel. For Saul, this made perfect sense and was a royally generous gesture. For David, there was no disagreement on that point. But David said no. He rejected the King’s offer. He rejected Saul’s armor. But why? Well, in David’s own words:

“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” – 1 Samuel 17:39

There are a variety of views on how we are to understand David’s meaning here. The literal interpretation of “I am not used to them” is “I have not tested them” or “I have not proved them.” For some, he simply meant that he hadn’t vetted the armor. He’d never worn it in battle, so for that reason, he wasn’t used to it.

Some believe that he was acknowledging the reality that the armor, belonging to King Saul (who was nearly giant-sized himself), was just too big for him.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan takes a different view.⁽¹⁾  There is a subtle wordplay taking place in Hebrew that we can’t appreciate it our modern languages. The words “test” and “prove” in Hebrew share a root with the word “miracle.” This suggests that we should read this as a pun, or a play on words along the lines of “there is no miracle in it.”

Instead of David saying he hadn’t tested or proved the armor, he was really saying that a miracle couldn’t happen in that armor or that this armor didn’t leave any room for a miracle. It’s possible David believed that if he wore that armor, no one else would see the miracle involved. They wouldn’t see God’s hand in this victory.

18^th Century Theologian John Gill remarks that “if he had made use of this (armor), there would have been no appearance of a miracle in getting the victory over the Philistine, as was by using only a sling and stones.” ⁽²⁾ 

This is an important insight because it shifts the focus of the story from David’s physical discomfort with the armor to David’s spiritual discernment regarding the armor.

Like many of us so familiar with this story, Saul only saw the physical significance of the armor, but David saw the spiritual significance.

So, what is the spiritual significance here?

Goliath was a Nephilim, which means he was a descendent of the fallen Sons of God from Genesis 6. If that last sentence was completely foreign to you, click here to watch my two-part sermon series on the Book of Jude which will help provide more context.  

This was a spiritual fight because Goliath represented the forces of darkness. He wasn’t just a physical enemy of the Israelites; he was a spiritual enemy of Yahweh.

Young David, spiritually attuned beyond his years, had the discernment to realize that Saul’s armor would not be of any use in a spiritual fight. In fact, it would actually work against him.

In essence, when David rejected Saul’s armor, he was saying “this isn’t me.”

Like so many things in life, the choice of which armor to wear comes down to identity.

The Armor of God

In Ephesians 6, Paul instructs us to put on a different type of armor. This armor is not the armor of Saul. It is not the armor that signals to the world we are capable. It is not the armor that lulls us into believing we are self-sufficient. It is not the armor that allows us to play it safe. It is not the armor that is meant for a physical enemy. It is the armor God makes readily available to each and every believer – God gives us His own armor.

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take

your stand against the devil’s schemes.” – Ephesians 6:11

What is the armor of God? Paul is echoing Isaiah 59:17 here:

He put on righteousness as body armor, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and he wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.

In Ephesians 6:11-17, Paul makes it clear that we aren’t fighting a physical enemy – we are fighting a spiritual one. Like Saul, we so easily miss or dismiss the spiritual context of our day-to-day battles. We do this in two ways: We focus on the wrong enemy, and we tend to only fight battles we believe we can win on our own.

Like Saul, we tend to focus on human enemies to our little physical kingdoms that are held together by our own strength. When our own little kingdoms are threatened, we strap on Saul’s armor and go to war. David's desire to defend the earthly Kingdom of Israel was secondary to his desire to defend the Name of his God.

Sometimes we are so reluctant to view life through a supernatural lens that we buy into the delusion that putting on Saul’s armor is safer than putting on God’s armor. We meticulously insulate ourselves against discomfort. We avoid pain and suffering at all costs. We do not wade into water we can’t stand in. We cultivate lives that can be lived apart from the power of God. And ironically, we believe that by doing this we are mitigating risk.

Jesus refers to this as building castles on the sand. We build our own little kingdoms and then we stand guard and dare anyone, even God, to mess with them. But a kingdom you or I can hold together is a kingdom that will ultimately never hold together. And when we try to live this way, we don’t look like warriors, we look like little kids wearing too many layers of underwear, guarding our little sandcastle while the tide comes in.

When viewed through the eyes of spiritual warfare, a modern-day truth is unmistakable in this story: Few things are less effective against the forces of darkness than a follower of

Jesus decked out in Saul’s armor.

When David told Saul and his advisors that he wasn’t wearing the armor, they probably looked at him like he was crazy. And when he walked out onto that battlefield wearing nothing but a shepherd’s tunic, his fellow Israelites would have thought the same thing.

Unfortunately, it’s no different today. A Christian who rejects Saul’s armor - who refuses to fight battles only they can win and leaves room for miracles in their lives - will frequently be viewed skeptically by Christians who have settled for wearing too many layers of underwear as protection against the physical dangers of this world.

David chose to risk losing under God’s power rather than attempt to win under his own power. By refusing to wear armor that left no room for a miracle, David eliminated any possibility that the crowd would believe he had done this in his own strength. David knew that any victory would belong to God and abandoning Saul’s armor would make that clear to everyone watching. He risked it all and left room for a miracle.

Many of us have carefully curated an existence that fits comfortably inside the armor of Saul and in doing so, we have left no room for miracles. In fact, we actively avoid situations where we will fail if God doesn’t show up.

Like David, we must find our identity in our Savior. We must wear His armor. We must reject the glistening armor of this world and embrace the armor of God. We must get used to the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. These must be the traits that define us as believers. These are the hallmarks of a believer engaged in the spiritual war waging around us. Reject the armor of Saul and embrace the armor of God, for it is only when we wear His armor that the world will see the miracle in us.

The verse immediately prior to the description of God’s armor in Isaiah says this:

He saw that there was no man—he was amazed that there was no one interceding;

so his own arm brought salvation, and his own righteousness supported him. – Isaiah 59:16

1,000 years later and only 20 miles away, the better David would walk onto the supernatural battlefield of Golgotha not carrying a sling but carrying a cross. Because there was no man, God became a man. And in a life and death moment, with everything on the line, Jesus again refused to put on the armor of Saul. In doing so, he left room for the greatest miracle the world has ever known. A king offers himself up as a ransom for his people. God Himself dies. His own arm brought salvation. The forces of darkness once again collapsed under the weight of a stone. But this time it was a stone that rolled away to reveal that death had been defeated.

This son of David walked away from the battlefield victorious - not weighed down by the clanking armor of this world but triumphantly wearing His armor - the armor of God.

Just like David, we have the choice of which armor to put on.

Only one will leave room for miracles.

References:

⁽¹⁾ van Staalduine-Sulman, Eveline. The Targum of Samuel. Studies in the Aramaic Interpretation of Scripture 1. Leiden; Boston; Köln: Brill, 2002

⁽²⁾ Gill, John. An Exposition of the Old Testament. 6 vols. London, 1748–1763.