The Shepherd Boy and the Giant

Saul was king for years, and at first he did well. But he stopped listening. Twice Samuel gave him a plain word from God, and twice Saul did it his own way instead and then made excuses about it; and Samuel told him, ‘Obeying is better than sacrifices.’ And God said he would not have Saul as king over his people any longer. And Samuel grieved over Saul, until at last the Lord said to him, “How long are you going to go on grieving over Saul? Fill your horn with oil and go — I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem, because I have seen a king for myself among his sons.”

So Samuel went to Bethlehem, and the elders of the little town came out shaking, because a prophet arriving unannounced usually meant trouble. ‘Have you come in peace?’ they said. ‘In peace,’ said Samuel. And he called Jesse and his sons to come and worship with him. And Jesse brought his sons in, one at a time. The eldest came first — Eliab, tall and strong and splendid — and Samuel took one look at him and thought, ‘Well, here he is, surely.’ But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at how he looks, or at how tall he stands. I have not chosen him. God does not see the way a man sees. A man looks at the outside of a person — but God looks at the heart.” So Eliab went by, and Samuel said no. And Abinadab went by, and Samuel said no. And Shammah went by, and Samuel said no. Seven sons of Jesse walked past the old prophet, and every time the answer was the same. And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all your boys?” And Jesse said, “There is still the youngest. But he is out looking after the sheep.” And Samuel said, “Send for him. Nobody is sitting down until he gets here.” So they went and fetched him in from the field — a red-cheeked boy with bright eyes, smelling of sheep, the one nobody had even thought of. And the Lord said, ‘Get up and anoint him. This is the one.’ And Samuel took the horn of oil and poured it over the boy’s head, right there in front of all his big brothers. His name was David. And from that day the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on him. And then Samuel went home, and David went back out to the sheep.

Up in the palace, things were going badly for Saul. The Spirit of the Lord had left him, and an evil spirit came and tormented him, so that he sat in the dark with a terrible weight on him and nobody could do anything for him. And his servants said, “Let us find somebody who can play the harp. When the evil spirit is on you, he will play, and you will feel better.” And one of the young men said he knew of somebody: a son of Jesse in Bethlehem, who could play, and was brave, and spoke well, and the Lord was with him. So a message went to Jesse — ‘Send me your son David, the one who is out with the sheep’ — and David came up to the palace with a loaf of bread and a skin of wine and a young goat from his father. And Saul loved him, and kept him near. And whenever the dark spirit came on the king, David would take his harp and play — and the weight would lift, and Saul would breathe again.

Then the Philistines came up to fight again. They camped on one hill, and Israel camped on the hill opposite, with a valley in between. And out of the Philistine camp came their champion. His name was Goliath, and he was a giant of a man — six feet nine inches tall, which does not sound so very much until you are standing in front of it. He had a bronze helmet, and a coat of armor made of overlapping metal scales that weighed as much as a grown man, and bronze guards on his legs, and a spear with a shaft like the beam of a weaver’s loom, and a man walking in front of him just to carry his shield. And he stood in the valley and bellowed up at the army of Israel, “Why line up for a battle? Choose a man and send him down to me! If he can fight me and kill me, we will be your slaves. But if I win, you will be ours. I dare the whole army of Israel — give me a man, and let the two of us settle it!” He came out and shouted that every morning and every evening for forty days. And Saul and every soldier in Israel heard him — and they were terrified, and nobody moved.

Then one day David came out to the camp with food from home for his big brothers — and he heard the giant shouting, and saw the whole army of Israel backing away from him. And David started asking questions: who is this man, that he can stand there and defy the army of the living God? And word of it got to the king, and Saul sent for him. And David said to Saul, “Do not let anybody’s heart sink because of him. Your servant will go and fight this Philistine.” And Saul said, “You cannot go and fight him. You are only a boy, and he has been a soldier all his life.” And David said, “Your servant looks after his father’s sheep. And when a lion came, or a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock, I went after it and hit it and pulled the lamb out of its mouth; and when it turned on me, I caught it by the throat. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear, and this Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the army of the living God. The Lord who saved me out of the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will save me out of the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said, “Go — and the Lord be with you.”

Saul put his own armor on the boy: a soldier’s coat, a bronze helmet, and his own sword strapped over the top. And David took two steps in it and stopped, because he could hardly walk. And he said, “I cannot go in these. I am not used to them.” So they took it all off him again. And he went down to the brook in the valley with his shepherd’s stick in his hand, and picked out five smooth stones and put them in his shepherd’s bag, and took his sling in his hand — and walked out toward the giant. And Goliath looked down at what was coming and could not believe it: a boy, with a stick. And he said, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with a stick and stones? Come here to me, and I will give your body to the birds!” And David called back to him: “You come at me with a sword and a spear and a shield. But I come at you in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of the army of Israel, whom you have defied today. And everybody here will know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear — for the battle belongs to the Lord.”

And the giant came on. And David ran — ran toward him — and put his hand in the bag and took out one stone and slung it. And the stone flew and struck Goliath on the forehead, and he went down on his face on the ground. And David took the giant’s own great sword and finished him with it, and cut off his head. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they turned and ran, and the men of Israel came roaring down off the hill after them. And the shepherd boy who had been fetched in from the sheep, the one nobody thought of, walked back up the hill carrying a head far too big for him — and everybody in Israel knew his name by nightfall.