‘His purpose was that now through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord’ – (Ephesians 3:10-11)
How is the manifold wisdom of God made known to the spiritual rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms?
GOLIATH – The First Giant
‘And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span [approx 9 foot 9 inches]. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was 5000 shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. Now the staff of his spear was like a weavers beam, and his iron spearhead weighed 600 shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him’- (1 Samuel 17:4-7)
Goliath means to uncover or reveal
Gath means wine-press (could be related to nakedness/lewdness reminiscent of the story of Noah getting drunk and naked on wine from his vineyard)
Goliath revealed and uncovered the nakedness of the army of Israelites at the time of King Saul, who all cowered in fear as he mocked and taunted them
However, David recognised Goliath for who he really was when he said, ‘Who is this uncircumsized Philistine who defies the armies of the living God?’
It’s David; God’s-beloved , who put an end to the giant with a single smooth stone to his forehead…
Goliath was from Gath; one of the 3 places where Anakim (a race of giants) still remained (Joshua 11:21-22). It is possible that Goliath was a descendant of the Anakim who mixed with the Philistine population of that area
FOUR MORE GIANTS
However, Goliath wasn’t the only giant left…the Bible mentions 4 more Philistine giants; all related to Goliath from the same region of Gath. This is recorded in 2 Samuel 21:15-22
‘Once again the Philistines were at war with Israel. And when David and his men were in the thick of battle, David became weak and exhausted. Ishbi-Benob was a descendant of the giants (Rapha); his bronze spearhead weighed more than 7 pounds, and he was armed with a new sword. He had cornered David and was about to kill him. But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue and killed the Philistine. Then David’s men declared, “You are not going out to battle with us again! Why risk snuffing out the light of Israel?’ – (2 Samuel 21:15-17)
ISHBI-BENOB – The Second Giant
Ishbi-Benob means respiration, conversion or taking captive
Abishai son of Zeriuah rescues David and destroys Ishbi-Benob. Abishai means ‘father of a gift’ whilst Zeriuah means ‘pain or tribulation of the Lord’
‘For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We give great honor to those who endure under suffering’ – (James 5:10-11)
Prophets are the Gift that rescue God’s beloved (Davids) when we become weak and exhausted. We look to the prophets for examples of how to endure pain or tribulation (suffering) patiently, whilst also taking captive every thought and making it obedient to Christ. It’s in this battle with the Giant Ishbi-Benob that we realize ‘we are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. And after you have become fully obedient, we will punish everyone who remains disobedient’ – (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)
SAPH/SIPPAI – The Third Giant
The next two battles with the next two giants take place at Gob which means ‘grasshopper’. Whilst battling these giants, we can feel like grasshoppers in comparison (see Numbers 13:33)
‘After this, there was another battle against the Philistines at Gob. As they fought, Sibbecai from Hushah killed Saph, another descendant of the giants’ – (2 Samuel 18)
In some versions this third giant is referred to as Saph and in other versions Sippai. Saph means ‘tall’ whereas Sippai means ‘threshold‘ or ‘silver cup’
Sibbecai defeats this giant! Sibbecai means ‘the Lord sustains/Yah intervenes’. He is from Hushah which means –‘holding peace’ and also ‘haste’
When we are on the threshold of reaping the harvest and receiving the silver cup (represents salvation) we can become weary and tempted to give up just before the breakthrough. But it’s the lord who sustains, He is the Lord of the Harvest and we are to continue in haste to take the gospel of peace out to the people and places he is sending us to
Evangelists in the Body of Christ equip the saints to battle this third giant. The defeat of this giant in battle releases the silver cup of salvation
LAHAMI/BROTHER OF GOLIATH – The Fourth Giant
‘During another battle at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair from Bethlehem killed Lahami, the brother of Goliath of Gath. The handle of his spear was as thick as a weaver’s beam’ – (2 Samuel 21:19)
Lahami speaks of ambition, independence and strength…he is killed by Elhanan which means ‘God has been gracious’ or ‘grace, gift or mercy of God’. Elhanan is from Jair; which means ‘he shines’ or ‘he’s enlightened’
This battle reminds us that, ‘We don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that out great power is from God, not from ourselves’ – 2 Corinthians 4:5-7)
The Shepherds in the Body of Christ remind us that it’s not about human strength but the grace of God at work in us- that’s the source of this light that shines within us
UNNAMED GIANT WITH SIX – The Fifth Giant
‘In another battle with the Philistines at Gath, they encountered a huge man with 6 fingers on each hand and 6 toes on each foot, 24 in all, who was also a descendant of the giants. But when he defied and taunted Israel, he was killed by Jonathan, the son of David’s brother Shimea.’ – (2 Samuel 21:20-21)
This last of the giants, isn’t given a name…reminiscent of Revelation 13:18 where we are not told the name of the beast, but we are to call for wisdom and insight to calculate his number, for it is the number of man. That number is 666…
This giant had 6 of everything! 6 fingers and 6 toes- the number of man as opposed to the number of grace (which is 5). 6 is the number of fallen man, human effort! The Number 5 representing grace, replaces human effort with the gracious charis gifts of God as expressed in Ephesians 4:11
It’s interesting that Jonathan, the son of David’s brother Shimea/Shammua/Shimei defeats this unnamed giant beast
Jonathan means ‘Jehovah/Yahweh has given‘
Whereas Shimea means ‘that hears, or obeys, my reputation/my fame’
It’s by faith (hearing and obeying God’s Word+Spirit) that we conquer (Mark 11:22-24, Hebrews 11:1), not by human effort and strength…
It’s faith that conquers humanism.
Teachers in the Body of Christ equip the saints to win the battle over the beast through the obedience of faith. This brings fame to His Name. ‘Those who love me obey my commands’
FIVE SMOOTH STONES: Fivefold Ministry
You may recall that David, during his first battle with the Giant Goliath had Five Smooth Stones (1 Samuel 17:40), but only used one to slay Goliath. We now know what the other Four were about! David had the promise of slaying Goliath when no-one else of his generation had ever slayed a giant before. But he set the precedent and 4 others followed in his footsteps to slay four more giants in their generation!
‘These four Philistines were descendants of the giants of Gath, but David and his warriors killed them’ – (2 Samuel 21:22)
In this way, David is a forerunner of apostolic ministry. He first defeats a bear, a lion and then a giant (Goliath)…preparing the way for APEST to enter the battle coming after him. True apostolic ministry makes room for all the Ephesians 4:11 ministries…in the mission and movement of God, we need all Five Smooth Stones to fight the battle against the Giants in the Land
LIVING STONES
‘And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple…’ – (1 Peter 2:5)
‘However, he has given each one of us a special gift (grace) through the generosity of Christ. That is why the Scriptures say,
“When he ascended to the heights , he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to this people”
Notice that it says “he ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to the lower parts of the world. And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself’ – (Ephesians 4:7-10)
The above passage quotes intriguingly from Psalm 68:18. The context is Cosmic Battle;
‘Surrounded by unnumbered thousands of chariots, the Lord came from Mount Sinai into his sanctuary. When you ascended to the heights, you led a crowd of captives. You received gifts from the people, even from those who rebelled against you. Now the LORD God will live among us there’ – (Psalm 68:17-18)
No wonder the apostle Paul, who first wrote about the fivefold ministry (Ephesians 4:11) as evident in the Ephesian Church wrote of his experience planting the church in Ephesus; ‘I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost [harvest], because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me’ – (1 Corinthians 16:8-9)
Though there were many who opposed him, including ‘those wild beasts of Ephesus’ (1 Corinthians 15:32), Paul was able to use his one smooth stone to open up the way for the other smooth stones to follow as outlined in Ephesians 4:11
As we engage in The Battle for Britain to ‘Possess the Land Sworn to Our Forefathers’, we must remember that ‘the battle is the LORDS’ and He ascended on high to give gifts to men to equip us for this battle against the Giants in the Land…
Five Smooth Stones to Conquer Five Giants
[If this article stimulated you to thinking more on how ‘The Fivefold work together in new harvest fields’ – you may like this – CLICK HERE]
