David and Goliath: The Stone and the Giant

The armies of Israel and the Philistines stand on opposite hills with a valley between them. From the Philistine lines, a champion comes out: Goliath of Gath, nine feet tall by the text's reckoning, armored in bronze from helmet to greaves, carrying a spear whose shaft is like a weaver's beam and whose iron head weighs six hundred shekels. He calls out twice a day for forty days: send someone to fight me. If your man wins, we are your servants. If I win, you serve us. I defy the armies of Israel this day.

Saul and all of Israel are terrified and dismayed.

David is there delivering supplies from his father to his brothers in the army. He hears Goliath's challenge and begins asking questions: what will be done for the man who kills this Philistine? His oldest brother rebukes him sharply — why aren't you back with your sheep? — but word reaches Saul, who sends for him.

David tells Saul: Let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight him. Saul objects: you are a boy. Goliath has been a warrior since his youth. David answers with his credentials — he has killed lions and bears that attacked his father's flock. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.

Saul's armor is too large for David. He sets it aside and takes his staff and five smooth stones from the brook and his sling. Goliath looks at him and is insulted: Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks? David's response is measured and famous: You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. The Lord will deliver you into my hand.

He runs. He slings. The stone sinks into Goliath's forehead. The giant falls on his face, and David takes Goliath's own sword and kills him with it. The Philistines flee. The impossible has happened, and it happened not in spite of David's smallness but because of it — because he came with nothing that could be credited to human strength.