6 When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes.
In the previous chapter, David killed Goliath, the giant of the Philistine army. Little David–the boy who was left at home when his brothers went off to war. Little David–too small to wear the heavy armor of the Israelite army. Little David–braver than any other soldier in Israel. Little David–not the person that anyone (except the prophet Samuel) expected to amount to anything. Little David–who chose to go into battle with a rock and a slingshot rather than a sword. That little David killed the most fearsome fighter in the Philistine army.
So in today's verse, when it says "after David had killed the Philistine", it's referring to Goliath. And you can understand why the women came out to sing and dance: no one else in all of Israel wanted to fight Goliath, nor thought that they could kill him. The entire army sat on their hands for 40 days while Goliath taunted them.
Sometimes our enemies seem larger than life. Sometimes our battles seem hopelessly futile. We think we can't do anything to change the situation we are in. But we've got an improbable ally who fights for us–someone who most people wouldn't expect to fight our battles and win. It's God. The same God who helped David defeat Goliath fights for us. If God is for us, who can be against us? Paul Gerhardt wrote a hymn (TLH 528) on this same topic.
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