(contd.)
At this point, the Spirit of God came upon David and he became angry. He said to the men around him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
When Eliab heard David’s words, he was angry and told David, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle!”
Surprised at his brother’s reaction, David said, “What have I done now? Can’t I even speak?”
“You are a foolish boy!” Eliab shouted at him.
Some of the soldiers repeated David’s words to Saul and he sent for David. Boldly, David confirmed that he would like to fight Goliath.
Saul tried to dissuade him. “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and Goliath has been a warrior from his youth.”
But David answered, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion and a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, more so as he has defied the armies of the living God.”
Saul eventually allowed him to go. David took his sling, went to a nearby brook, got five smooth stones, and he was ready to confront Goliath.
David could still remember the play of emotions on Goliath’s face when he saw him. At first, it was shock, and then disdain which quickly turned to anger as he began to curse David by his gods.
David told him, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”
Then Goliath shouted at David and said, “Come here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”
David shouted back at him, “This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give all of you into our hands!”
Now very angry, Goliath walked toward David and shouted, “We shall see about that!”
David ran toward him. When he was close enough, he took out a stone from his bag, put it in the sling, aimed and slung it. It hit Goliath in his forehead, sank in and he fell down.
Goliath’s armour-bearer was the first to run, throwing the armours away. Before Goliath could recover and get up, David ran to where his body lay, took the giant’s sword and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that Goliath was dead, they ran away and the Israelite army pursued them.
To be continued.
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