Q. In 1 Samuel 17.40 David picks up five smooth stones to kill Goliath. Does that have any significance?

A. All the stories in the Bible have significance. There is tremendous meaning to what David is doing. In Deut. 32 Moses records a song and this is very eschatological, but we won’t get into all the prophecies there at this time but there is an interesting fact that has a bearing on the question. Moses describes God as a “Rock” and it is mentioned five times. The rock was a significant theme in the life of Moses because it was how he treated the ‘Rock” that had a role in whether he entered the promised land or not (Deut 32.51). He also wrote the five books of the Torah which is the foundation or cornerstone to all other Scripture. David is going to face Goliath in the name of the Lord so he picks up five rocks, one for every time the Rock is mentioned in Deut 32 and the five books of Torah. The Scriptures say that the rocks were “smooth” because the stream (living water) had fashioned them indicating that God had made them not man. David knew something about aerodynamics, or in this case how the “rock” moves through the air (the Ruach).He only needed the first one and of course Goliath is killed. David’s men kill four other “giants” related to Goliath in 2 Sam 21.22. In 2 Sam 22 David records a song very similar to Deut 32 and mentions God as a “Rock” five times again, so he recognized the significance. Now, this them of the rock will play out throughout Scripture and is clearly a reference to the Lord and Yeshua. In Dan 2 Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a giant (v 31) statue and Daniel gives the interpretation. A “rock” or stone uncut by human hands (smoothed by God) comes and strikes the” giant” again and destroys it (2.35,45), a direct allusion back to what David did. In Zechariah 12.3 Jerusalem is described as a “burdensome stone” that will lacerate, injure any nation that comes against it. The concept of the “rock” or stone is a major one in Scripture. We see Jacob resting on and anointing a stone on Mt. Moriah in Genesis 28, “the stone that the builders rejected is the cornerstone” in the Psalms, the confession by Peter (stone/rock) that Yeshua is the Messiah is the “rock” (cornerstone) on which Yeshua will build His eschatological congregation and He is of course the “rock” that was with congregation (Israel) in the wilderness and the concept goes on and on. So, David’s five stones have a very significant eschatological meaning.