Mighty Warrior

By Thomas Ratliff

Mighty Warrior is the biblical story of David and includes quite a bit of background information. The biblical story of David is an amazing story of how God anoints a young shepherd boy as the future king of Israel. The next twenty years of David’s life are one adventure after another where God molds and prepares David to be a great king and to protect and deliver Israel from all her surrounding enemies. This story is based on the fulfillment of a promise and the future savior of the entire world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
• Release date: Mar 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662920349

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The writing of this book was inspired by the reading of the Bible and is completely based on the Bible. The books of the Bible used to write this book are 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, Genesis, Joshua, Judges, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Ruth. The New International Version (1983) and the English Standard Version (2016) translations were used.

IN THE BEGINNING

Long ago, in a land far away, a baby boy was born in the land of Israel. This baby came into the world in the usual way, but there was something very special about this baby. This baby boy was born into a poor family and his parents named him David. David was the youngest of eight brothers and two sisters and grew up at a time when the nation of Israel was very unstable. Israel was surrounded by many hostile nations including the Philistines to the west, the Amalekites, Geshurites and Girzites to the southwest, Zobah to the north, the Ammonites and Moabites to the east and the Edomites to the northeast. The Israelites were very primitive and did not have the technology and the skill in battle and warfare that these surrounding enemies had. In those days, the spoils went to the victor and whoever was the meanest and the strongest conquered and looted his neighbor. All these enemies of Israel wanted to destroy her, take her land and enslave her. Israel’s enemies had tried to destroy her many times in the past. They had often come close to succeeding but could never quite finish the job. It was a miracle that Israel still existed at all. If you were to ask the surrounding nations why the nation of Israel still existed, they would probably tell you it was because of Israel’s God. Israel was different from all the other nations of the world in that Israel only had one God. All the other nations had many gods. But Israel’s God was very powerful and very dangerous and the other nations recognized this.

Israel’s oldest enemy was the Amalekites, and Israel’s fiercest enemy were the Philistines. The Amalekites waylaid the Israelites on their way out of Egypt and on their way to this land. When the Amalekites attacked Israel, the Israelites had no experience in warfare or fighting. All the nation of Israel knew were being slaves and being dependent on their task masters for everything. By all logical thought, the Amalekites should have massacred the unprepared and overmatched Israelites but Israel’s God miraculously delivered them.

The Philistines were Israel’s fiercest and the most techno­logically advanced enemy. Not only were the Philistines big and strong and ruthless, they also had the technology of metallurgy and could make spears, swords, shields, and armor. The Israelites were very primitive in comparison and fought with their hands, clubs, arrows and slings. The Philistines guarded this technology and great advantage they had over the Israelites. The only way Israel could get a metal weapon was to take it off a dead Philistine.

When David was born, Israel had a king, and the king’s name was Saul. King Saul was a mighty warrior with superior physical attributes. King Saul had organized Israel into a militaristic nation. King Saul had taken the best of everything Israel had, including men, horses, land, livestock and skill. Saul had assembled a mighty army and he led this army to war against Israel’s surrounding enemies.

King Saul was Israel’s first king, and Saul had only been king for ten years when David was born. Before Saul became king, Israel had never had a king. During that time, Israel was unlike all the other nations of the world in that she had no king and Israel’s people were free.

For some reason, Israel’s God had chosen Israel long before she was a nation. Almost nine hundred years before David was born, there was a man named Jacob who had 12 sons. Jacob’s father’s name was Isaac and his grandfather’s name was Abraham. Israel’s God revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and changed Jacob’s name to Israel. Israel’s God must have had big plans for the nation of Israel, because Israel’s God protected her, and Israel’s God kept the nation together. The nation of Israel now numbered in the millions and lived in a great and bountiful land. Israel’s God had rescued her from 400 years of slavery in Egypt and had brought the nation of Israel to this great land and had given this land to the Israelites.

The God of Israel would only speak to and through certain men and women. Men that the God of Israel spoke to were called prophets and women were called a prophetesses. There were many false prophets and prophetesses. These were people who claimed to have the spoken word of the God of Israel but really didn’t. When David was born, there was one true prophet of the God of Israel living in the land. He was an old man, the last judge of Israel, a former leader of Israel, and his name was Samuel.

SAMUEL

Forty-five years before David was born, a man named Eli and his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the God of Israel. A woman named Hannah could not have any children, and Hannah prayed to her God daily for a child. Hannah made a vow to the God of Israel that if He would give her a son, she would dedicate him to her God. Hannah’s prayer was answered, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Hannah and her husband named the baby Samuel. After the baby was weaned, Hannah brought young Samuel to Eli the priest and dedicated Samuel to the God of Israel. Hannah left Samuel with Eli and Samuel grew in stature and in favor with God and with men.

Eli’s sons Hophni and Phinehas were wicked men and very corrupt. One day, a true prophet of God came to Eli with a message. You and your ancestors have served me as priests, and your offspring were also intended to serve me as priests, but no longer! Because of the wickedness of your two sons and also because of your culpability, all your descendants will die in the prime of life and in the coming years your line will no longer serve me as priests and another family line will take your place. And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you -- they will both die on the same day!

Years later, the young boy Samuel ministered before the God of Israel under Eli. In those days, the word of the God of Israel was rare. One night when Samuel was lying down in the tabernacle where the Ark of the Covenant was, the God of Israel called to Samuel and Samuel ran to Eli’s room and said, Here I am.

Eli said, I did not call you, go back to bed.

Again, the God of Israel called, Samuel! And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, Here I am; you called me.

My son, Eli said, I did not call you; go back to bed!

The God of Israel had not yet revealed himself to Samuel, and Samuel did not know Him. The God of Israel called to Samuel a third time and Samuel again went to Eli and said, Here I am, you called me again.

Eli then knew it was the God of Israel who was calling Samuel and Eli told Samuel, The next time He calls you, say, ‘speak for your servant is listening.’ Samuel went back to his room and lay down.

Again, the God of Israel called to Samuel and Samuel responded, Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.

Then the God of Israel spoke these words to Samuel: I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. At that time, I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family – from beginning to end!

The next morning, Eli called to Samuel, but Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision. But Eli demanded, What did the God of Israel say to you last night? Do not hide it from me! So, Samuel told Eli everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, He is the God of Israel; let Him do what is good in His eyes.

The God of Israel was with Samuel as he grew up and all of Israel recognized that Samuel was a prophet and that the word of God was spoken through Samuel.

THE TABERNACLE

Three hundred years before Samuel was born, the Israelites had been slaves living in Egypt. The God of Israel raised up a prophet named Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery and into the Promised Land where they currently resided. While the Israelites were in the desert south of the Promised Land, the God of Israel said to the Prophet Moses, "Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from each man whose heart prompts them to give. These are the offerings you are to receive from them: gold, silver and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ram skins dyed red and hides of large aquatic mammals; acacia wood; olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.

Then have them make a sanctuary (tabernacle) for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. The God of Israel gave very specific instructions to Moses on how to construct the tabernacle.

The inner room of the tabernacle was called the Holy Place. On the south side of the Holy Place was a lampstand that had seven lamps that were kept burning every night. On the north side of the Holy Place was a table made of acacia wood and overlaid inside and out with gold. On this table were 12 loaves of consecrated bread which were replaced once a week (Saturdays). Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place. The Most Holy Place had a golden altar of incense and the gold-covered Ark of the Covenant.

The priests would regularly enter the outer room to carry on their ministry. Only the high priest entered the Most Holy Place once a year on the Day of Atonement and never without blood which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

The Levites were to set the tabernacle up and they were to take it down and carry it when the Israelites traveled from place to place until the tabernacle found a permanent home. The tabernacle was located in Shiloh when Samuel was a boy.

THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

The prophet Moses led over 2 million Israelites out of Egypt where the Israelites had been enslaved for 400 years. Moses was a direct descendent of Levi (Jacob’s 3rd son). The God of Israel designated all the descendants of Levi (Levites or the tribe of Levi) to conduct God’s ministry. The God of Israel designated Moses’ older brother Aaron and Aaron’s sons to be His priests (Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas were direct descendents of Aaron). The Levites and the priests were given no land. They were to be supported by the other 12 tribes of Israel. The 12 tribes of Israel were given land to work and produce. They were commanded to give their first 10% to the God of Israel. This 10% (first fruit) was designated to support the Levites and the priests.

Moses was a prophet and the God of Israel talked to and through Moses. The God of Israel gave the nation of Israel rules to live by called The Law. Israel had a moral code, unlike all the other nations where the most powerful and the most ruthless ruled. The God of Israel gave the Israelites ten very important commandments to