David and Goliath, part 1

Good morning friends,
In our daily reading yesterday we heard one story of how the future King David gets introduced to King Saul: as a musician and "warrior" who will play the harp to soothe Saul when the evil spirit is on him. Today we begin a more familiar story. As we talked about in worship yesterday, the Philistines were a stronger nations to the west of Israel. The conflict between Philistia and Israel provide the setting for Saul's reign and the beginning of David's as well. As the nations lined up for battle, one giant, Goliath, taunted and threatened the Israelite soldiers. Saul promised his daughter in marriage to anyone who would kill Goliath, but no one was up for the challenge. David was a young man, probably a teenager, at this point. His three oldest brothers were in Saul's army, but David stayed home keeping the sheep. One day he went to visit his brothers to take them some food from their father. There he heard Goliath's taunts and decided to do something about it.

Blessings as you face the day's battles,
Sam

1 Samuel 17:1-11, 32-36

Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. ²Saul and the Israelites gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah, and formed ranks against the Philistines. ³The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. 

⁴And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. ⁵He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. ⁶He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. ⁷The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him. ⁸He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. ⁹If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” ¹⁰And the Philistine said, “Today I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together.” ¹¹When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

³²David said to Saul, “Let no one’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” ³³Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” ³⁴But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, ³⁵I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. ³⁶Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.”