*1 Samuel 17:1-31
A young shepherd named David volunteers to fight the Philistine champion Goliath after all other Israelite warriors are afraid.
- Goliath’s Challenge:
- The Philistines gather their armies for battle and camp between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim.
- Goliath, a giant from Gath, emerges as the champion of the Philistines, standing over nine feet tall.
- He challenges the Israelites to select their champion to engage him in single combat, with the outcome determining the victor of the entire war.
- Goliath’s imposing stature and arrogant defiance strike fear into the hearts of Saul and the Israelite army.
- David’s Arrival:
- Jesse, David’s father, sends David, his youngest son, to the battlefield to check on his brothers and bring provisions.
- As David arrives, he witnesses the Israelite army retreating in fear of Goliath.
- David hears Goliath’s challenge and questions why no one has accepted it, expressing his willingness to confront the giant.
- David’s Confidence:
- David’s eldest brother, Eliab, rebukes him for leaving his few sheep to come and watch the battle.
- Undeterred, David continues to inquire about the reward for defeating Goliath, garnering the attention of others.
- Word of David’s boldness reaches King Saul, who sends for him.
1 Samuel 17:1-31 shows us that fear and doubt can hold us back, but faith gives us courage. While everyone else saw Goliath as too big to fight, David saw him as too big to miss because he trusted God. Sometimes, we face challenges that seem impossible, and others may doubt us. But like David, we can have confidence, not in our own strength, but in God’s power to help us overcome obstacles. Instead of letting fear stop us, we can step forward with faith, knowing that God is with us.
1 Samuel 17:1-31 (WEB)
17:1 Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle; and they were gathered together at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephesdammim. 2 Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and encamped in the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. 3 The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them. 4 A champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span went out. 5 He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he wore a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 He had bronze shin armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. 7 The staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. His shield bearer went before him. 8 He stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to set your battle in array? Am I not a Philistine, and you servants to Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.” 10 The Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel today! Give me a man, that we may fight together!”11 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. 12 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons. The man was an elderly old man in the days of Saul. 13 The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone after Saul to the battle; and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14 David was the youngest; and the three oldest followed Saul. 15 Now David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.16 The Philistine came near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.17 Jesse said to David his son, “Now take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers; 18 and bring these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand; and see how your brothers are doing, and bring back news.” 19 Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.20 David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper, and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the place of the wagons as the army which was going out to the fight shouted for the battle. 21 Israel and the Philistines put the battle in array, army against army. 22 David left his baggage in the hand of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. 23 As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and said the same words; and David heard them. 24 All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were terrified. 25 The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? He has surely come up to defy Israel. The king will give great riches to the man who kills him, and will give him his daughter, and will make his father’s house tax-free in Israel.”26 David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done to the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”27 The people answered him in this way, saying, “So shall it be done to the man who kills him.”28 Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger burned against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the evil of your heart; for you have come down that you might see the battle.”29 David said, “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?” 30 He turned away from him toward another, and spoke like that again; and the people answered him again the same way. 31 When the words were heard which David spoke, they rehearsed them before Saul; and he sent for him.