“The Lord is my rock and my fortress…”

The lesson in the elementary class was geared to expand the history horizons of young minds about days gone by.  The teacher held a picture of a castle or fortress made of neatly fitting stone, complete with the parapet, narrow triangular flags flying above pointy spires, windows high up on the walls, and of course the drawbridge that, when lowered, spanned the mote.  “And what is the mote filled with?” asked the teacher.  She expected “water” for an answer.  But that was too obvious for one eager little boy who shouted out, “I know!  I know!  Crocodiles and alligators!”

Now, living in South Florida, in what for all purposes could be called “Alligatorville”, I know something about them.  We have alligators to our west and crocs to the south.  In fact, we routinely travel on “Alligator Alley,” a nickname for State Road 84 that traverses the Everglades given by the Automobile Association of America (AAA) when the road was being planned.  But castles and fortresses?  Not around here.  In fact, I can’t think of a single castle in the whole state.  The only one I’ve been in is the 120-room Boldt Castle in the Thousand Islands region of the St. Lawrence Seaway, and it was unfinished.  The untimely death in 1904 of Louise Boldt, wife of George C. Boldt, manager of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, brought construction to a sudden halt.  She was only 41.  The castle sat unoccupied and unused for 73 years, until the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority purchased it in 1977 and allowed visitors like me to explore it.  Even unfinished, it was incredible.  And yes, it even had a drawbridge.

We wandered from room to room, the master quarters, the guest rooms, the servants’ quarters, the boathouse, the power house, the gardens…  Hearts were everywhere.  George even had the island reshaped into the shape of a heart.  You see, this was in dedication to his wife, who fell victim, strangely enough, of an unexpected heart attack.  Everything was custom designed for her.  Views from the upper stories were stunning.  Yet she never got to enjoy the refuge, the solace, the charm and the majesty of her fortress.

Not so with us!  God is a fortress for his people.  And as one of the greatest leaders of his people, David knew a thing or two about this.  In 2 Samuel 22:2 he says so: “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.”  In the times David claimed God as his fortress, he always linked it with God being his rock.  Clearly the two go together.  What good is a fortress that crumbles from a weak foundation?

But the historical context of this description will yield another surprising aspect that we don’t readily think of when fortress comes to mind.  We read in 22:1, “Then David spoke to the Lord the words of this song…”  “Then” means the latter followed something prior.  That was a battle in which David led Israel against the Philistines (21:15-22).  The remaining areas controlled by the Philistines included Gaza, Ashdod and Gath, the hometown of the Bible’s most infamous giant, Goliath (1 Samuel 17:4).  These cities were the residencies for the remaining local giants, called Anakim, descendants of Anak (Joshua 11:21-22).  In earlier times, giants were more numerous and were more spread out.  And they were indeed giants.  The bed of King Og of Bashan (Deuteronomy 3:11) was 13.5 feet long and 6 feet wide.  Some giants had six fingers and six toes (2 Samuel 21:20) and stood well over 9 feet!

One giant from this group named Ishbi-Benob (21:16) faced David in this latest war.  His bronze spear was about half the weight of the current lead ball called the “shot” (as in shot put).  Ishbi-Benob saw that “David grew faint” (v. 15).  Of course, everyone in Philistia knew who David was, and knew what he had done to Goliath.  But David was not up on his game this time, and weariness began to set in, giving Ishbi-Benob the perfect payback opportunity.  So he moved in for the kill.  As the giant got close, Abishai “came to [David’s] aid, and struck the Philistine and killed him.”  Abishai had David’s back, and came through in the clutch.  This near-death experience was so close for David that his men said to him, “You shall go out no more with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel” (v. 17), meaning, if David went down, so would Israel’s glory and blessing.  It was a risk too great to take.

What does this have to do with fortress?  Everything.  A fortress is not only a place of refuge, it is also a place from which to fight.  David did not hide in some stationary stone fortress; God his fortress went with him; his fortress was mobile!  He not only sought refuge there, but he fought from within it, and even on a bad day, God protected him.  In your battles, do you fight from within your mobile Fortress?