During Saul's reign, war continued with the Philistines living in the lowlands of western Israel. At one point, when David was still with his flock a few years after he had been anointed by Samuel, the camps of the Philistines and the camps of the Israelites confronted each other on either side of the Valley of Elek. Among the Israelite army were David's three eldest brothers.
Every day, a giant emerges from the camp of the Philistines and provokes the Israelite camp to come to war with him. The giant's name is Goliath. He was nine feet tall; he wore armor from head to toe, and held a spear that was twice as long and twice as heavy as anyone else's. His shield bearer walked ahead of him. He came every day, and the shouts echoed through the valley:
"I am a Philistine, and you are Saul's servants. Now choose one of you and let him come out and fight with me. If I kill him, you should obey us; if he kills me, we will submit to you. Come, now, send out your men!
But no one in the army dared to fight the giants, not even King Saul. Forty days, the camps confronted each other, and the Philistine giant continued his shouting.
One day, David's father, Jesse the Elder, sent David from Bethlehem to visit his three brothers in the army. David came and spoke to his brothers; and as they were talking, the giant Goliath came to the camp as usual and called for men to come and fight him.
They said to each other:
"If anyone goes out and kills this Philistine, the king will reward him with a heavy reward and a high-ranking official, and the king's daughter will be his wife."
David said:
Who is this man who challenges the army of the living God in this arrogant tone? Why didn't anyone go out and kill him? ”
David's brother Eliab said to him:
"You left the sheep in the ground, what did you come here for?" I know you came down to watch the battle. ”
But David didn't care what his brother said. He felt that he had found a way to kill this self-respecting giant. He said:
"If no one else goes, I'm going to go out and fight the enemy of this people of God."
They brought David before king Saul. Years had passed since Saul had met David, and he had grown from a boy to an adult, so Saul didn't know he was the shepherd who played the harp before him.
Saul said to David:
"You can't fight this huge giant. You're still young; and he's a warrior, trained from an early age. ”
David replied to King Saul, saying:
"I'm just a shepherd, but I've fought lions and bears because they wanted to steal my sheep. I'm not afraid to fight this Philistine. ”
Saul wore his armor on David—a helmet, armor, and a sword around his waist. But Saul was almost a giant, and his armor was too big for David. David said:
"I'm not used to fighting with weapons like this. Let me fight my way. ”
So David took off Saul's armor. While everyone in the army stared at the giant in horror, David kept thinking about the best way to fight him; God had given David a way. That is to show weakness and weakness, to make the giant defenseless; to knock him down with the giant's unexpected and defenseless weapon when the giant is too far away to touch him with a sword or spear.
David was holding a shepherd's staff, as if it were his weapon. But in a bag under his cloak, five carefully selected smooth stones were hidden, and a catapult—his usual weapon. Then he went out to fight the Philistines.
The giant disdainfully despised the young man and laughed.
The giant disdainfully despised the young man and laughed
"Am I a dog?" He said, "This kid is hitting me with a stick?" I'm going to throw his body to the birds in the air and the beasts of the field. ”
The Philistines cursed David with their own gods. David replied to him:
"You have attacked me with swords and spears and darts; but I have come here in the name of the Lord of all armies, the God of the great armies of Israel. Today jehovah will deliver you into my hands. I will kill you, cut off your head, and the Philistine army will be reduced to the dead, devoured by birds and beasts, so that everyone may know that there is a god in Israel who can save his people by means other than swords and spears. ”
David ran to the Philistines, as if to fight him with a shepherd's staff. But when he got close enough to aim, he took out his catapult and threw a stone at the giant's forehead. David was right. The stone struck the Philistine in the forehead. He was knocked unconscious and fell to the ground.
Just as the two armies stood there wondering, barely knowing what had made the giant fall to the ground so suddenly, David ran forward, drew the giant's own sword, and cut off the giant's head. Then the Philistines knew that the warriors they trusted were dead. They turned and fled back to their land; the Israelites followed, killing thousands, even to the gates of their own city of Gath.
And so, on that day, David won a great victory, standing before the whole earth as a hero who saved the people from the hands of the enemy.