Starring Goliath — the gigantic mason jar, filled with pride and contempt.
King David — the humble shot glass inspirited with sobriety, self control and the absolute will to accomplish victory for the God of Israel.
Disclaimer: By this comparison of King David to a shot glass, I am in no way being demeaning, all I am citing as a visual example is the size of the shot glass, small even though it may appear, it's source of strength is from The Creator. The reference is purely symbolic in nature.
A Mason Jar is nothing but the brutal beastly system, amalgamated in a fragile form that appears threatening. But its devastation would be a fracturing, shattering and busting end, if followed the blueprint in the Torah and you do as King David did.
The background of the story is such —
Saul is king over Israel. The army is camped against their very persistent enemy — the Philistines. The Philistines send one of their men (who happens to be a giant named Goliath) with very vividly described demographics and he’s hurling threats against Israel and their God, without fail and daily. Here goes one of his croaks —
I Samuel 17:8-11 JPS Tanakh 1985
"He stopped and called out to the ranks of Israel and he said to them, “Why should you come out to engage in battle? I am the Philistine [champion], and you are Saul’s servants. Choose one of your men and let him come down against me. If he bests me in combat and kills me, we will become your slaves; but if I best him and kill him, you shall be our slaves and serve us.” And the Philistine ended, “I herewith defy the ranks of Israel. Get me a man and let’s fight it out!” When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and terror-stricken."
This Philistine giant was a Mason Jar intoxicated with alarming levels of pride and certainty to bring shame to the heritage of Jacob chosen by the Most High God — the God of Israel. Conquering Israel, to him, meant to be victorious against the one they serve and are powered by. The astronomical claims and threats he breathed were not against the people per se, but against the Most High.
I Samuel 17:16-19 JPS Tanakh 1985
"The Philistine stepped forward morning and evening and took his stand for forty days. Jesse said to his son David, “Take an ephah of this parched corn and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers, and carry them quickly to your brothers in camp. Take these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand. Find out how your brothers are and bring some token from them.” Saul and the brothers and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, in the war against the Philistines."
If there's anything one must glean from the enemies of Israel, it would be the sheer will and zeal to annihilate us. The lengths they'd go to show up, despite the exhaustion is momentous.
We must inhabit a superseding zeal in comparison to these adversaries and fight back for an unparalleled victory to survive, knowing how hyper-focused and prompt the enemy tribe is in doing their purpose, which is to take us out completely — root and stump.
Our stance as the sober shot glass, filled with sobriety, self control, and the will to decimate the enemy tribe.
We are immensely equipped to comprehend and wage war against this abusive system. Behold, this system is the Goliath screaming defeat and limitation into our minds for 40 days which can be equated to a tyrannical entity in our own lives, speaking defeat, limited thoughts and taking actions to weaken us for an exhaustive season, only to watch us get on our knees, but we must press forward.
I Samuel 17:25-27 JPS Tanakh 1985
"And the men of Israel were saying [among themselves], “Do you see that man coming out? He comes out to defy Israel! The man who kills him will be rewarded by the king with great riches; he will also give him his daughter in marriage and grant exemption to his father’s house in Israel.” David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills that Philistine and removes the disgrace from Israel? Who is that uncircumcised Philistine that he dares defy the ranks of the living God?” The troops told him in the same words what would be done for the man who killed him."
King David, like a diligent school boy, with the strategic sense of a Lion from the tribe of Judah, was building up his mental game to face the giant. The incentives seemed uncapped and he felt greatly turbocharged to bring the giants head home. Knowing, other than being spiritually anointed king and blessed by the Creator there were very real time, immediate rewards to solving the giant problem — namely, Goliath.
I Samuel 17:32-37 JPS Tanakh 1985
"David said to Saul, “Let no man’s courage fail him. Your servant will go and fight that Philistine!” But Saul said to David, “You cannot go to that Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth!” David replied to Saul, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep, and if a lion or a bear came and carried off an animal from the flock, I would go after it and fight it and rescue it from its mouth. And if it attacked me, I would seize it by the beard and strike it down and kill it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and that uncircumcised Philistine shall end up like one of them, for he has defied the ranks of the living God. "HASHEM,” David went on, “who saved me from lion and bear will also save me from that Philistine.” “Then go,” Saul said to David, “and may HASHEM be with you!”
Saul's options were down to the last cranny. Among all the shivering soldiers, it was quite a bummer for Saul that a newbie — shepherd part-time delivery boy, has armored up with zeal and fervor to floor the big mouth Goliath. Saul was despondent, and mentally outlawed by Goliath who'd been yapping his way since more than a month. But King David was the fresh pair of feet on the turf, ready to go against this animalistic entity, who by his carnal nature was showing no signs of caution and calculation before uttering foolish words against heaven under heaven. King David likened and reduced him to be lesser than a beast, as he was only a Lawless Philistine, overestimating his capacity to go against the God of Heavenly armies.
Saul was somewhat convinced by the audacious confidence of little David, and he blessed him in the name of Hashem, which was his true spear and shield.
I Samuel 17:38-39 JPS Tanakh 1985
"Saul clothed David in his own garment; he placed a bronze helmet on his head and fastened a breastplate on him. David girded his sword over his garment. Then he tried to walk; but he was not used to it. And David said to Saul, “I cannot walk in these, for I am not used to them.” So David took them off."
Saul tried to prep King David to accept the challenge he willfully took on, but the known and conventional approach was not what King David was inspirited to adopt. He was more comfortable with the eccentricity that he was born with — to go unassisted and unharnessed, so that the glory of the Most High be magnified.
Like the prayer, commonly recited by the people of Israel:
“You delivered the mighty into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few.”
King David was a true warrior showing up to the battle lines with his physical guard down but his spiritual fortress before him, which was the Most High God.
I Samuel 17:40-44 JPS Tanakh 1985
"He took his stick, picked a few smooth stones from the wadi, put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s bag and, sling in hand, he went toward the Philistine. The Philistine, meanwhile, was coming closer to David, preceded by his shield-bearer. When the Philistine caught sight of David, he scorned him, for he was but a boy, ruddy and handsome. And the Philistine called out to David, “Am I a dog that you come against me with sticks?” The Philistine cursed David by his gods; and the Philistine said to David, “Come here, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.”
Goliath — his main weapon?
His mouth.
From which proceeds his spurious threats and curses.
In his whole fallacious narration, Goliath was damn right about the dog part. Let’s give that to him.
He had a truck load of stratospheric claims, but substance barely worth a penny. King David knew his eccentric approach would confuse the slothful giant.
The 5 stones, in my understanding, were the foundational stones of the 5 books of the Torah, which was all King David needed to bring this giant to gravitate head first to the ground.
I Samuel 17:45-47 JPS Tanakh 1985
"David replied to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the ranks of Israel, whom you have defied. This very day the LORD will deliver you into my hands. I will kill you and cut off your head; and I will give the carcasses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. All the earth shall know that there is a God in Israel. And this whole assembly shall know that the LORD can give victory without sword or spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and He will deliver you into our hands.”
King David knew just what he had to do post cutting through the powerless noise of Goliath. He boldly proclaimed his allegiance as he was perusing through the weakness and vulnerabilities of this clanging vessel and found many. King David was a youthful face, synonymous to the calm before the storm, which was divine judgment proceeding for Goliath speedily.
I Samuel 17:48-51 JPS Tanakh 1985
"When the Philistine began to advance toward him again, David quickly ran up to the battle line to face the Philistine. David put his hand into the bag; he took out a stone and slung it. It struck the Philistine in the forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground. Thus David bested the Philistine with sling and stone; he struck him down and killed him. David had no sword; so David ran up and stood over the Philistine, grasped his sword and pulled it from its sheath; and with it he dispatched him and cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their warrior was dead, they ran."
King David, the size of a shot glass before Goliath, stood steadfast in his stance, leveraging the slingshot, to knock this giant off with one stroke of defiance embodied in a smooth stone. It sunk deep into the giant's forehead, and King David didn't delay to run at the giant, take his own sword and behead the blasphemous tyrant.
A tyrant can only pressure you into submission with the resources and momentary power he gloats and bathes in. No one man is indispensable in the eternal scheme of things. This is a myopic invitation for a blindsided opening that can be exploited by an absolute newbie appointed and empowered by the Creator to do the honors and floor this giant with his gigantic ambitions of immortality and oppression.
Goliath was too used to being the bully, the bulletproof warrior. He wasn't trained with enough resistance or faced with an enemy matching up to his caliber. He kept getting away with picking on the ones "appearing" weak, without any backing, until he was hit with an avalanche of judgment and shame all at once, as he tasted the floor for the first time and the floor was all he tasted after it. Humiliation was not common to this giant who was used to garnering honor and worship, to the point of invincibility. He was already in treacherous waters, as all mortals — gigantic or petite — fall the same.
Don't let anyone pose a different truth of being 'holy' and 'noble' while suffering for this thankless purpose to be a minion to this evil system. Don't let any bully on the block coerce you into substandard choices for yourself.
King David didn't have to embrace Goliath with hugs and kiss the foot of a blasphemous tyrant, just ‘cause he was deemed stronger in the flesh. The stance he took was stark opposite to the giant hurling blasphemies against the Living Most High God and His army.
History speaks for itself. Goliath is reserved as a quintessential precedent of a tyrant and his end. While King David has always been known for his strength in the Father. His might was not of this world, and even as a youth, he bolted lightnings on lawless giants and beasts in likemanner.
King David didn't flinch, though he felt fear strongly, but fear is spirit soluble in my opinion. The greater the spirit of victory to overcome, in the obedience of the Torah, the smoother the stone and chances for survival.
Happy Mason Jar Breaking!
