Study Desk

Jesse sent for David. He was a healthy, good-looking boy with a sparkle in his eyes. As soon as David came, the Lord told Samuel, "He's the one! Get up and pour the olive oil on his head."

Samuel poured the oil on David's head while his brothers watched. At that moment, the Spirit of the Lord took control of David and stayed with him from then on. Samuel returned home to Ramah.

David went to Saul and started working for him. Saul liked him so much that he put David in charge of carrying his weapons.

Whenever the evil spirit from God bothered Saul, David would play his harp. Saul would relax and feel better, and the evil spirit would go away.

He wore a bronze helmet and had bronze armor to protect his chest and legs. The chest armor alone weighed about one hundred twenty-five pounds. He carried a bronze sword strapped on his back,

and his spear was so big that the iron spearhead alone weighed more than fifteen pounds. A soldier always walked in front of Goliath to carry his shield.

Saul and his men heard what Goliath said, but they were so frightened of Goliath that they couldn't do a thing.

He took care of his father's sheep, and he went back and forth between Bethlehem and Saul's camp.

Goliath came out and gave his challenge every morning and every evening for forty days.

David obeyed his father. He got up early the next morning and left someone else in charge of the sheep; then he loaded the supplies and started off. He reached the army camp just as the soldiers were taking their places and shouting the battle cry.

David left his things with the man in charge of supplies and ran up to the battle line to ask his brothers if they were well.

They said to each other, "Look how he keeps coming out to insult us. The king is offering a big reward to the man who kills Goliath. That man will even get to marry the king's daughter, and no one in his family will ever have to pay taxes again."

"You don't have a chance against him," Saul replied. "You're only a boy, and he's been a soldier all his life."

Saul had his own military clothes and armor put on David, and he gave David a bronze helmet to wear.

and picked up his shepherd's stick. He went out to a stream and picked up five smooth rocks and put them in his leather bag. Then with his sling in his hand, he went straight toward Goliath.

Goliath came toward David, walking behind the soldier who was carrying his shield.

Everybody here will see that the Lord doesn't need swords or spears to save his people. The Lord always wins his battles, and he will help us defeat you.

He put a rock in his sling and swung the sling around by its straps. When he let go of one strap, the rock flew out and hit Goliath on the forehead. It cracked his skull, and he fell facedown on the ground.

David took Goliath's head to Jerusalem, but he kept Goliath's weapons in his own tent.

After King Saul had watched David go out to fight Goliath, Saul turned to the commander of his army and said, "Abner, who is that young man?" "Your Majesty," Abner answered, "I swear by your life that I don't know."