David as Warrior—1 Samuel 17: A Message Delivered to the Annual ARP Family Bible Conference

The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard wrote a book with a great title, “Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing.”[1] While I don’t agree with all the great existentialist’s philosophy, I am attracted to that title. It speaks of living a life with one holy passion. It speaks of the calling that I believe is in the heart of every one of us. The Bible says that man has eternity in his heart. I think this speaks to the nobility that comes from being made in the image of God.

The great actress Irene Dunne was once asked why she gave up acting at the height of her career? This five-time Oscar nominated actress, whom critics consider one of the greatest actresses in either drama or comedy, responded,

“I drifted into acting and drifted out. Acting isn’t everything. Living is.” ^[2]

The great Reformer, John Calvin, taught that there is an awareness or sense of God (sensus divinitatis) embedded in all human beings.[3] Calvin presupposes in his Biblical theology that man knows there is a God (see Romans 1.19-20, for instance)[4]. The knowledge of God is not enough to convert the soul but to lead to see the reality of God and thus the reality of our need of Him, an intuitive requirement to follow Him and worship Him.[5] This leads us naturally to desire to live for a purpose. And men and women and boys and girls everywhere seek this purpose. We want to live with a purpose, with a reason, with a cause.

David was a shepherd boy. But David became a warrior when Israel was faced with a giant menace, Goliath. It is in days such as these when great men and women arise. It is in days of difficulty and times of trial that heroes arise.

I want to read the story of David and Goliath from the beginning of 1 Samuel 17 through to verse 29. I will use the English Standard Version, yet at verse 29. I want to emphasize the power of that closing part of our reading by repeating it with the King James Version. For in that Elizabethan high English, we get a strong sense of the passionate response of David to his brother, and even more, the response that I believe will give you a cause to live for.

1 Samuel 17.29

“And David said, “What have I done now? Was it not but a word?”” (1 Samuel 17.29 ESV)

““Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?”” (1 Samuel 17.29 NIV)

“And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?” (1 Samuel 17.29 KJV)

I Once Had a Cause…’Kind of’

I had a cause once. I wanted to be a super hero, maybe Captain America. Then I grew up to be—six—and wanted to be an artist to draw super heroes. Then I really got an important cause, and I wanted to be a football player. That was a cause that lasted for a while, with an opportunity to play collegiate football. But that was shattered by a terrific head injury that I still lean on this day when I forget to do what my wife tells me to do. Then, I wanted to be a songwriter. That didn’t work out. I became a Naval Intelligence spy. That was going well but my impatience with the military forced me out. I became a salesman and a manager with two Fortune 500 organizations and I had a new cause. I was moving from cause to cause, but inside of me I had no joy, no fulfillment. I was becoming one o the mass of modern men that Patrick Morley wrote about.

Patrick Morley wrote in Pastoring Men,

“Men have become one of our largest neglected people groups. As a result they are prone to get caught up in the rat race, lead unexamined lives, and become cultural (rather than biblical) Christians.”^[6]

I was that man. I was caught up with a cause that was too shallow, too self-centered, and too small.  Many of you here tonight may be in that rat race. You may be one of those people leading that unexamined life and have become cultural Christians only, not really a biblical Christian. Yet some of you have even gotten involved with a church, which is just fantastic, but your vision of your involvement in that church is too small. Some of you are consumed with work or family or hobbies or even religion—but are missing a larger cause in your life that will transcend all of those things, which cannot in themselves ever bring you absolute fulfillment.

Tonight God wants you to know that He not only loves you, sent His Son to live the life you could never live and die the death that should have been yours, things that you may all know, but He wants you to know that in Jesus Christ God has given you a cause that is greater than yourself, a cause that you can live for and die for.

I am a chaplain in the Army Reserves.  There is nothing like pulling into an installation like Fort Jackson, where I teach now, and hearing the cadence of a drill sergeant. To me it sounds like music. When I was in boot camp it was not so harmonious. They are a tough group. But I thank God for them. If you have been in the Army then you know that you can instantly identify any soldier who has served as a US Army drill instructor. How? He will be wearing a patch that boldly declares, “This we will defend.”

I am telling you that what you will hear tonight will give you a patch on your soul that boldly declares, “This we will defend.” Human beings made in the image of God need a cause and in Christ we have that cause. It is greater than any political party or sports team or personal agenda. It is the most glorious cause in the entire universe! It is so because you were made by God to take your stand for Him in this world, to give your life to Him. This is to glorify Him and to enjoy Him as the first Shorter Catechism puts it.

Now the way we see this in the life of David starts when David is living in a time of a war on terror. There are no Al-Qaida operatives trying to detonate bombs in Bethany, but there was a Palestinian army that was annihilating Israel, the covenant people of God. Their secret weapon was really no secret anymore: he was a giant named Goliath, with a giant spear, a giant shield and a giant hatred of the people of God. Now Jesse’s boys, except David, were on the front line, which is quite withdrawn from the battle with this demonic opponent because of the size and strength of this enemy. David was back at the pasture, tending sheep. You can already sense that this just cannot be. That boy has got to get in the fight, in the same way that enlistments go up whenever our nation is attacked. Well, Jesse sent David to the front lines with some provisions for his older brothers, to check on them and to bring back some proof that they are all right. But David arrived at the theater of operation, assessed the situation and was absolutely incensed by it. Israel’s army were shaking in their sandals against this godless Goliath and something boiled up and over in that boy’s soul. He asked what would be done for the man who took this giant out forever. Now David was stirring up the people with this kind of talk and his older brother Eliab gets on to him.

Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.”  1Samuel 17:28

And then David responds, and I quote from the old King James:

“What have I now done? Is there not a cause?” 1 Samuel 17:29.

Now in the English Standard Version the Hebrew word debar is rightly translated “word.” Thus 1 Samuel 17:29 is translates David’s righteous indignation to Eliab’s irritation as, “Was it not but a word?” The NIV translates it, “Can’t I ever speak?” But the King James, for me, gets at the heart of it by its testy retort, “Is there not a cause?”[7] But whether it is a word or a righteous indignation that forces us to speak, it is the same thing. Every man needs a cause and in this verse and in this passage let’s glean God’s word for our lives tonight.

What is this cause that you need, that I need, that David demonstrated, that God calls us to tonight? I ask you tonight from God’s Word, “Is there not a cause?” That is our question for our lives and here is God’s answer from His Word.

As we look at how God presents David to us as a warrior against evil, we come to see what we too can have a cause to live for in this world. Let us study this part of God’s word and craft a three-fold confession based on this passage. This we will defend!

1.    This we will defend—the glory of God’s name (that is there is no greater cause to live for than to worship the Name)

David’s retort to his cynical sibling was grounded in the name of the God of Israel was being drug through the Philistine mud! They were taunting God. They were making fun. They were cursing. Goliath has challenged Israel; “I defy the ranks of Israel today. Give me a man that we may fight!” And David was that man. That boy was that man because he had a cause to fight for and that cause was the name of God.

When he finally took on old Goliath, revealed exactly what was on his mind. Look in verse 45:

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 1 Samuel 17:45

A cause that every man has here is the name of God. That name is the covenant name of God, which is not just the Hebrew Yahweh, it is the name Jesus. Peter preached to the Hebrews of Jesus Christ,

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

Paul, that one trained from childhood to revere the very name of the Almighty Covenant God of Israel, wrote to Timothy,

For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. 1 Timothy 4:10

That Savior is Jesus. That name is Jesus. And in that name is the fulfillment of all the promises of the people of God to redeem a lost race through His suffering and atonement and through His life and through His resurrection from the dead.

Some time ago, we toured a military academy and I was told that thought it was Christian; there were some boys who had come from some backgrounds that left them with some pretty limited vocabulary. And I asked my son, who was with me, what he thought about that. He told me that he had heard it before. And he hates it. He told me that he respectfully asks, for instance in the locker room of his school, that the students not use his Savior’s name. I was of course proud of him. But David is not just upset that Goliath was desecrating God’s name, it was that Goliath was defying the name of God. What does that mean? It means that Goliath was a scoffer. He didn’t believe in this God. He had heard, no doubt of Israel’s trust in this God but Goliath was saying, “Where is this God now?” He was like those who crucified Christ along with the criminals who were crucified with Him taunted,

“He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. Matthew 27:42-44

David’s cause was God’s name. This is a passion for nothing short of the worship of Jesus Christ.

My old Aunt Eva saw her boy, Mike Milton, go from sitting on her lap as a lad, hearing this very story, to leaving as a prodigal and becoming one who defied the name of God. But she also prayed for me and saw me drop like Goliath, dead in my trespasses and sins. She saw a new man arise. I thank God for that woman of God who lived for the cause of the name of God. And when she lay dying, she lifted up her arms to praise God and she literally fell asleep in Jesus by praising His name, witnessing to another generation by honoring the name of Jesus Christ in her death. I can never forget it. I can never forget her life of worship. She defied death by praising Jesus through her own passing from this life to the next. And I have known many saints who have done the same. As a pastor I have been in many hospital rooms where vigils literally turned into worship services, and the dying man was the greatest worshipper of them all! This is a cause my friends like none other. My Aunt Eva and the many saints I have known as their pastor worshipped Jesus and when they did, the specter of death itself had to fall to ground like a Philistine giant!

Men of God, this is a cause! This is a cause that is greater than yourself, a cause that will last your whole life, a cause that you will give to your sons and your daughters, a cause that will never end, for you will be worshipping the Name in eternity!

Yes, “Men need a cause.” And to live to worship God with your all in all is a cause worth living for and dying for. It is a cause that is worthy of a patch on your soul, “THIS we will defend.”

There is not only a cause to have for the glory of God’s name, but secondly,

2.  This we will defend—the spread of God’s fame (and we are saying that there is no greater cause to live for than the redemptive mission of God in the world)

For thus David spoke to Goliath,

This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand…that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 1Samuel 17:46

David had a cause. His cause was to defeat this enemy of Israel so that the world would know of the God of Israel. Now why was this important? In redemptive history it was important because the mission of God in the world and in history is to redeem people from every tongue and tribe and nation. The mission of God was to use this little spec of a nation on the globe called Israel to bring a promised Savior of the World. Thus, for David to take a stand in his generation assured of the power of God to bring about the victory was to spread the fame of God throughout the earth that “all the earth may know.”

My beloved in Christ, there is no greater cause than the cause of giving your life away to getting the Gospel of Jesus Christ out to the nations. It is greater than giving your life away to football or a baseball or education or a career or anything. And why? Because you will be used as an instrument in God’s hands to transform the world and to see souls saved and lives transformed through Christ.

John Piper wrote delivered a wonderful missions address that became a little booklet called, “Don’t Waste Your Life.”[8] My friends, you will never, ever regret living, giving, and dying for the cause of the spread of the fame of Jesus all over the earth.

It was such a glorious cause that we are told that monks risked their lives to bring the Word of this Christ across the ocean to the Americas as far back as the fifth century. It was such a glorious cause that it caused John Calvin to transform Geneva into a mission sending movement that rivaled all other movements, planting thousands of churches in Europe and perhaps even a mission in South America.[9] It was a cause that led to a cobbler named William Carey leaving his English home to bring the Gospel to India and enough for a Scottish physician to leave his home to bring the Gospel to the remotest regions of dangerous Africa. It was enough to transform the heart of one of my elders in a former church to give his life away to leading our church to become a great missions church, prioritizing the spread of the fame of Jesus over his own business, as he left his business to devote full-time to missions. And it was enough for a shepherd to take on a giant.

I have told you that I had many “causes” in my life, but the greatest cause in my life, my beloved brothers in Christ, is when I heard that God could use me, even me, to share His Gospel with others, even those who, like I had done, had doubted Christ, neglected Christ, stood, Goliath-like, and self-sufficient before the Almighty, and that God’s Word would transform them. There has been no greater joy in my life than not only preaching Jesus from the pulpit, but even as a young businessman, sharing Christ one on one with those who defied His name in my organization. I have seen many Goliath’s fall, their giant egos decapitated by the glorious grace of Jesus Christ. I have seen those who curse Christ one day preach Him the next. And I was one. Every since the day that I learned that Christ could use even me to share the Gospel and see men transformed, my life has never been the same.

And there is no difference with you. He will use you, if but tonight you respond to the wickedness of this generation not just by complaining, not just by retreating, but by standing up for Jesus and speaking His name, extolling His glory, magnifying His grace in your own life.

Let me speak to pastors for a moment: A passage that has meant so much to me across the years in my ministry has been 1 Thessalonians 2.19-20. There, Paul, who had been hindered from coming to the Thessalonians, wanted them to know of his love. And he opened his heart with them and I believe shared a core value of his ministry:

For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy. 1 Thessalonians 2:19

What was his core value? It is one that I have embraced, if not fully and consistently lived, and that is to so minister Christ that generations after my ministry and me will be safe in the arms of Jesus because of what we do today. That is a cause worth living and dying for as a pastor.

But let me ask each man and young man here: What cause are you living for my friend? Commit tonight to live to see the Gospel spread across the world, across our nation, and maybe even across your living room. Live and die for Jesus Christ and His Great Commission. There is no greater cause.

Finally, David answered, “Is there not a cause?” because he lived and breathed for the glory of God’s name, and the spread of God’s fame, but also,

3.  This we will defend—The method of God’s claim (the method of God’s claim is but this: the doctrines of grace).

Now listen closely to this passage as we unpack this truth:

and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand.” 1Samuel 17:47

The word “assembly” is the Hebrew word qahal.[10] It is the word for assembly. But in the context of Israel it refers to the called out people of God. In the Septuagint,[11] the Old Testament translated into the Greek, the word used here is “ecclesia,” or the word we translated the Church. David had a cause that the People of God, the Congregation of Israel, the ancient Church, would know that the LORD saves not with sword of spear but with His power and might, his ways, his methods. It is what has been historically called the old Reformation truths of the doctrines of grace: by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to the Scriptures along, and therefore to the glory of God alone.

Now why was this a cause? Because the people were fighting a battle and not appropriating the covenant promises of God in the battle. Saul, when convinced that this ruddy youth was crazy enough to go out to fight, also misunderstood the spiritual nature of the battle and gave him armor. You remember that David chucked the armor and found five smooth stones. He only needed one. Paul tells us that we are not fighting a physical fight, but a spiritual one. We are fighting against “cosmic powers” that reside in “this present darkness.” And so Paul admonishes the Ephesians in chapter six of that epistle to take up the whole armor of God. That armor included six spiritual resources: (1) Truth, (2) Righteousness, (3) Peace, (4) faith, (5) salvation, and (6) the Word of God. And he caps it all off with prayer for all the saints and for himself, that he proclaim the mystery of the Gospel and declare it boldly as he ought.

This is a cause: that the Battle belongs to the Lord. This cause will involve you standing up for Jesus Christ, His Gospel, His methods of reaching souls through the Word of God, through the Sacraments of the Church, and through Prayer. This will rely that you commit to praying for the preaching of the Word, placing your family under that Word in Church and in the home. This will require that you pray as a father for your family. Young men of God, this will require that you memorize the Word, speak to Word to each other, and to pray for your enemies to be converted.

Years ago I embraced the doctrines of grace and the last thing that had to fall in my submission to God in this area was my sense of self-reliance. But I came to see that I had to trust in God to save me, to save others, to change the world—not through my power—but solely through His. Such a theology magnifies the name of Jesus, surrenders to the God of grace, and exalts the atonement of Jesus Christ on the cross. This is all of God and none of me. I must simply reach out by His grace to receive Him, and then to follow Him in this way all of my life. When I received the doctrines of grace as the methods that God uses to save, to sanctify and to build His Kingdom, it was as if I were born again, and I think I was! Because this is the Gospel!

This is going to cause you to lean wholly on the work of Jesus Christ at Calvary. There is no room for improvising, no room for adding the methods and ways of man. This is totally of God.

To live like this in your church, in your home, in every area of your life, will cost you. It will, like David, cost you derision by even your brothers, even those in the Church, who have grown accustomed to trusting in the world’s ways. It will cost you. As there was skepticism from Saul, so there will be from the world.

But as that one single river stone soared through the air like a heat seeking missile, from a seemingly idealistic shepherd boy, to kill the accuser of Israel, so too, one act of passion on the Cross took down the gates of ****. It was not by a conquering power of a white steed and a great army that the Accuser of the Brethren was hit on that day but it was through the divine power of an abandoned Savior on an old rugged cross. My friends the David and Goliath historical account is an Old Testament hint of the paradox of the New Testament historical event of our salvation. And that is also the ruling motif of the Christian life. What a cause, to live in faith that the God who calls is the God who will keep, that the God who demands is the God who will supply, that the God who ordains is the God who maintains. And that we can place our lives in His hands, place our families in His hands, and place our souls in His nail pierced hands and know that we are safe forever in Jesus Christ. What a cause to live for!

There is a favorite hymn that has been recovered in recent days that speaks to this cause of the doctrines of grace:

Jesus, I am resting, resting, In the joy of what Thou art; I am finding out the greatness Of Thy loving heart. Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee, And Thy beauty fills my soul, For by Thy transforming power, Thou hast made me whole

Refrain

Jesus, I am resting, resting, In the joy of what Thou art; I am finding out the greatness Of Thy loving heart.

O, how great Thy loving kindness, Vaster, broader than the sea! Oh, how marvelous Thy goodness, Lavished all on me! Yes, I rest in Thee, Beloved, Know what wealth of grace is Thing, Know Thy certainty of promise, And have made it mine.

Refrain

Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus, I behold Thee as Thou art, And Thy love, so pure, so changeless, Satisfies my heart; Satisfies its deepest longings, Meets, supplies its every need, Compassed me round with blessings: Thane is love indeed!

Refrain

Ever lift Thy face upon me As I work and wait for Thee; Resting ’neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus, Earth’s dark shadows flee. Brightness of my Father’s glory, Sunshine of my Father’s face, Keep me ever trusting, resting, Fill me with Thy grace.

Refrain[12]

This is the cause worth living and dying for: it is the cause of the methods of God’s claim—the doctrines of grace. God will save by His own power so wondrously fulfilled in the cross of Jesus Christ.

Are you trusting in His ways or yours? Are you living for the Cross?

Two Questions

Tonight is a night when I am going to ask you to examine your lives. I want you to go before God with these two questions and answer them in your heart:

Number one, “Do I have a biblical cause that is worth living and dying for?”

You see you can still pull for your football team, be involved with your great cause, have a cause for being the best in your business, or being committed to even being a great family man. That cause is the cause of the glory of God’s name (which is Jesus), the spread of God’s fame (which is the Great Commission), and the very methods of God’s claim (which is the Cross). “Do I have this cause in my life?”

Number two: “Can I honestly say that this cause is now shaping every other area of my life?”

If that cause is burning in your heart, then everyone will know it. For that cause will consume you.

When person get a great cause in his heart he will make great sacrifices to follow that cause. As a reserve Army chaplain, I have seen many men, and yes some women, make enormous sacrifices in order to stand up for this country. Jon Krakauer wrote one man who had a cause when he wrote the book, Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pay Tillman.[13] You will not doubt remember that young man, a highly paid, celebrity strong safety for the Arizona Cardinals who eventually gave up his NFL career, and departed from his new bride, in order to go fight with the special forces in Afghanistan. He was so moved by the attack of al-Qaeda on 9/11 that he left it all and eventually gave it all as he was killed—yes, through the firepower of his own troops while in the fog of battle—but he gave his life for his nation. But there was a moment, a time, on April 8, 2002 when he wrote in his diary these words in the throw of a great decision:

“Many decisions are made in our lifetime, most relatively insignificant while others life altering. Tonight’s topic…the latter. It must be said that my mind, for the most part, is made up. More to the point, I know what decision I must make. It seems that more often than not we know the right decision long before it’s actually made. Somewhere inside, we hear a voice, and intuitively know the answer to any problem or situation we encounter. Our voice leads us in the direction of the person we wish to become, but it is up to us whether or not to follow…For much of my life I’ve tried to follow a path I believed important. Sports embodied many of the qualities I deem meaningful: courage, toughness, strength, etc., while at the same time, the attention I received reinforced its seeming importance. In the pursuit of athletics I have picked up a college degree, learned invaluable lessons, etc.,  incredible people, and made my journey much more valuable than any destination. However, these last few years, and especially after recent events [that is, the attacks on America by al Quida], I’ve come to appreciate just how shallow and insignificant my role is. I’m no longer satisfied with the path I’ve been following…it’s no longer important.”[14]

I wonder if there are any men or women or boys or girls here tonight, who look not at Pat Tillman, not just at David and Goliath, but would look to the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ and say again, “He is my all in all! I will live for Him! I am wiling to die for Him!” Are there parents and grandparents who will not give up the prayer fight against the devil that seeks to hurt our nation, our churches, and our children? Is there someone here who will say,

“I’m no longer satisfied with the path I’ve been following…it’s no longer important.” I want to live for a cause greater than myself!

I would submit to you that there are giants defying the name of our God in this day. The question is whether there is in this room a noble Christian man, woman or child who will step forward to cry out from the heart, with trust in Jesus Christ alone, “Is there not a cause?” There is. And for Jesus Christ I will take my stand, for He has lived and died for me.

[1] S˙ren Kierkegaard and Douglas V. Steere, Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing; Spiritual Preparation for the Feast of Confession (New York and London,: Harper & brothers, 1938).

[2] Irene Dunne, “Irene Marie Dunne (December 20.1898 – September 04.1990),” (n.d.). http://www.irenedunnesite.com/.

[3] “1.5.1. Since the perfection of blessedness consists in the knowledge of God, he has been pleased, in order that none might be excluded from the means of obtaining felicity, not only to deposit in our minds that seed of religion of which we have already spoken, but so to manifest his perfections in the whole structure of the universe, and daily place himself in our view, that we cannot open our eyes without being compelled to behold him. His essence, indeed, is incomprehensible, utterly transcending all human thought; but on each of his works his glory is engraven in characters so bright, so distinct, and so illustrious, that none, however dull and illiterate, can plead ignorance as their excuse.” Cited from John Calvin, “Institutes of the Christian Religion,” (Edinburgh: Accordance 9.0 electronic ed.; Calvin Translation Society, 1845).

[4] “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” (Romans 1.19–20 ESV)

[5] See T. H. L. Parker, Calvin’s Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, [Rev. ed. (Grand Rapids,: Eerdmans, 1959); ibid; Benjamin B. Warfield, “Calvin’s Doctrine of the Knowledge of God,” The Princeton Theological Review, no. vii (1909). http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/warfield/warfield_calvinknowledge.html (accessed July 27, 2011).

^[6] Patrick Morley, Pastoring Men (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2009), 20.

[7] “דָּבָר from 1696; a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause…” See  “Key Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic: Based Upon the Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary.” Accordance Bible Software electronic edition 9.0., n.d., accessed July 27, 2011.

[8] John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2003).

[9] From the lecture by Dr. Frank James, “The Calvin I Never Knew,” Reformed Theological Seminary on iTunes U, http://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/the-calvin-i-never-knew/id378879861.

[10] “ lDh∂q; …assemblage (usually concretely):—assembly, company, congregation, multitude.” “Key Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic: Based upon the Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary, n.p.

^[11] Jennifer M. q Dines and Michael A. Knibb, The Septuagint (London ; New York: T & T Clark, 2004).

[12] Words by Jean S. Pigott, music: Tranquility, by James Mountain, from J. Mountain, Hymns of Consecration and Faith : For Use at Consecration Meetings, General Christian Conferences, Prayer and Praise Meetings, Missions or Evangelistic Services, Sabbath Schools, &C (London Haughton & Co., [n.d.].).

[13] Jon Krakauer, Where Men Win Glory : The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, 1st ed. (New York: Doubleday, 2009).

[14] Ibid.