The Last of the Giants Text: 2 Samuel 21:15-22
Introduction: Mopping Up Operations
We come now to a section in 2 Samuel that functions as something of an appendix. The main narrative of David's reign, with its triumphs and tragedies, has concluded. What we have here are a series of snapshots, not necessarily in chronological order, that fill out the picture of his kingdom. And this particular snapshot is a catalog of giant-killing. It is a gritty, battlefield report that seems, at first glance, to be a simple record of military skirmishes. But the Holy Spirit does not include simple records of military skirmishes for the sake of military history buffs. This is theology taught by historical narrative. This is the story of God's faithfulness to His anointed, and the story of how that faithfulness is worked out through the courage and loyalty of his servants.
We live in an age that despises this kind of story. Our effete, therapeutic culture has no stomach for bronze spears, weary kings, and dead giants. They prefer their religion to be abstract, sentimental, and completely detached from the bloody business of history. But the God of the Bible is not the god of the philosophers. He is the Lord of Hosts, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came into the world to crush the head of the serpent. And the serpent has offspring. He has giants.
The world is still full of giants. They may not be Philistines from Gath with six fingers on each hand, but they are giants nonetheless. They are the towering ideologies of secularism, the intimidating structures of godless humanism, the monstrous appetites of our sexual revolution. And they all have one thing in common with the giants of old: they reproach Israel. They mock the people of God. They defy the armies of the living God. And the central lesson of this text for us is that these giants must be fought, and they can be killed. But the second lesson is just as important. The king, the lamp of Israel, is not meant to fight them alone. God has ordained that the giants will fall by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.
This passage teaches us about the vulnerability of the king, the loyalty of his men, the necessity of corporate warfare, and the final end of God's enemies. It is a story about succession, not just of kings, but of giant-slayers. It is a story about how the grace of God flows from the head, the anointed one, down to the members of his body, equipping them for war.
The Text
And the Philistines were at war again with Israel, so David went down and his servants with him; and as they fought against the Philistines, David became weary. Then Ishbi-benob, who was among those born to the giants, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of bronze in weight, was girded with a new sword, and he intended to strike down David. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine and put him to death. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, “You shall not go out again with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish the lamp of Israel.”
Now it happened afterwards that there was war again with the Philistines at Gob; then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was among those born to the giants. There was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. Then there was war at Gath again, and there was a man of great stature who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also had been born to the giants. And he reproached Israel, so Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down. These four were born to the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
(2 Samuel 21:15-22 LSB)
The King's Peril and the Lamp of Israel (vv. 15-17)
The first skirmish sets the stage for the rest.
"And the Philistines were at war again with Israel... and as they fought against the Philistines, David became weary. Then Ishbi-benob... intended to strike down David. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine and put him to death." (2 Samuel 21:15-17)
The first thing to notice is the persistence of the enemy. "The Philistines were at war again." The battle is never finally over in this life. You may win a great victory, as David did over Goliath, but the Philistines have relatives. The giants have sons. The war is a constant reality, and so we must be constantly vigilant. Complacency is a killer.
The second thing we see is the weariness of the king. David, the great warrior, the man who killed a lion and a bear, the champion who defeated Goliath, became weary. Age, the cares of the kingdom, and the cumulative toll of a life of battle have caught up with him. This is a crucial moment. The giant, Ishbi-benob, sees his opportunity. The enemy always looks for the moment of weakness, the point of exhaustion. He comes at David with a heavy spear and a new sword, intending to finish him off. The enemy's strategy is always to go for the head. If you can take out the king, the army will scatter.
But David is not alone. "Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him." Abishai is one of David's mighty men, his nephew, a man of fierce loyalty. He steps in at the critical moment and kills the giant. This is a picture of the church in action. The king, our Lord Jesus, has won the decisive victory. But the church militant, in its earthly struggles, has leaders who grow weary. Pastors, elders, fathers, they all get tired. And it is the duty of the Abishais in the congregation to step in, to help, to protect, and to fight alongside them. Loyalty is not a sentimental feeling; it is battlefield courage.
The response of David's men is immediate and wise. They make him swear an oath: "You shall not go out again with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish the lamp of Israel." They recognize David's unique, God-appointed role. He is the "lamp of Israel." A lamp gives light, guidance, and warmth. It is a focal point of identity and hope for the nation. To lose David would be to plunge the kingdom into darkness and chaos. The anointing on the king was the source of the nation's blessing and stability. His life was not his own; it belonged to the people. So they protect the lamp. This is not cowardice; it is godly wisdom. They understood that the war was bigger than one man's personal valor. The preservation of the kingdom and its God-given order was paramount.
A Roster of Giant-Slayers (vv. 18-21)
What follows is a rapid-fire account of other victories over the remaining giants, a testament to the fact that the spirit of David had spread to his men.
"Now it happened afterwards that there was war again... then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph... Elhanan... struck down Goliath the Gittite... Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down." (2 Samuel 21:18-21 LSB)
Here we have a list of names. Sibbecai. Elhanan. Jonathan. These are not the household names that David is. But they are recorded here in the annals of God's people for a reason. God sees and honors the faithfulness of His "ordinary" servants. David's courage was contagious. He had modeled for a generation what it looked like to trust God in the face of impossible odds, and now his men are doing the same. This is the essence of discipleship. It is raising up others to do the work, to carry on the fight.
There is a textual issue here that often trips people up. Verse 19 says that Elhanan killed Goliath the Gittite. Skeptics love to point to this as a contradiction of 1 Samuel 17, where David kills Goliath. But the Bible is not a clumsy book full of errors. The parallel account in 1 Chronicles 20:5 clarifies the matter perfectly: "Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite." The scribe in Samuel has made a simple copyist's omission. This is not a crisis of faith; it is a reminder that we should read the whole counsel of God and that Scripture interprets Scripture.
The last giant mentioned is a particularly intimidating specimen. He has six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. This is not just a physical anomaly; in the ancient world, it was often seen as a sign of something monstrous, something outside the created order. And what does he do? "He reproached Israel." This is what giants do. They taunt. They mock. They defy God and His people. The spirit of Goliath lives on in his descendants. And Jonathan, David's nephew, rises to the occasion and strikes him down. The family of David is in the giant-killing business.
By the Hand of David and His Servants (v. 22)
The summary statement in the final verse ties it all together and gives us the central theological point.
"These four were born to the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants." (2 Samuel 21:22 LSB)
Notice the dual agency. Who did the giants fall by? "By the hand of David and by the hand of his servants." But wait, David only directly killed the first Goliath, long ago. Abishai, Sibbecai, Elhanan, and Jonathan killed these four. So how did they fall by the hand of David? Because these men were his servants. They fought under his authority, in his name, and by the strength that flowed from his God-blessed kingship. The victory of the servants is credited to the master. The health and strength of the body is a result of its connection to the head.
This is a profound picture of our relationship to Christ, the true Son of David. Jesus is the one who has crushed the head of the serpent. He is the one who faced the ultimate giant, Satan, sin, and death, and defeated him decisively at the cross and the empty tomb. That was the foundational, definitive victory. And yet, the war continues. There are still giants in the land, mopping-up operations to be conducted. And who does God send to do it? He sends us, the servants of the King.
When we stand against the giants of our day, when we speak truth to power, when we fight for righteousness in our homes and communities, when we resist temptation, we are not fighting on our own. We are fighting "by the hand of David," that is, by the authority and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our victories are His victories. He gets the glory. We are simply the instruments, the swords in His hand. This should give us immense courage. The giants are big, yes. But our King is bigger. He has already won the war. Our task is to faithfully engage in the battles He sets before us, knowing that the outcome is secure.
The Extinguished Giants and the Unquenchable Lamp
This passage begins with the threat of the lamp of Israel being extinguished. It ends with the last of the giants in Gath being extinguished. This is the story of the gospel in miniature. The world, the flesh, and the devil seek to extinguish the light of God's kingdom. They target the king. They tried to kill Jesus from the moment He was born. They hounded Him, slandered Him, and finally, they crucified Him. On that dark Friday, it looked for all the world like the lamp of Israel had been extinguished for good.
But they were fighting against God. You cannot extinguish the source of all light. On the third day, the lamp was lit again, brighter than ever, with resurrection life. And this lamp can never be put out. "I am the light of the world," Jesus said. "Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12).
Because our King lives, we, his servants, are now called to be lesser lamps. "You are the light of the world," Jesus told his disciples (Matthew 5:14). We are to shine the light of the gospel into the dark places, to expose the works of evil, and to stand against the giants who reproach the people of God. We do this not in our own strength, for like David, we grow weary. We do this in the strength of the one who has already defeated all our foes.
The giants of Gath are all dead. The giants of secularism, of perversion, of tyranny, are all on death row. They may still be breathing. They may still be taunting. But their doom is sealed. They fell by the hand of David, and they will fall by the hand of David's greater Son, working through David's servants. Our job is to pick up the spear, gird on the sword of the Spirit, and get to work, knowing that the victory has already been won. The lamp will not be extinguished, but the giants will be.