“Thou art not able to go against this Philistine,” he said; “for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”
But David answered eagerly. He did not boast, but spoke steadily and wisely. True, he had not been trained as a soldier, but his courage and his strength had both been already proved. And he went on to [folio 23] tell the king that while he kept his father’s sheep he had often to defend them from wild beasts. Once he had fought with a lion and a bear single-handed and had killed them both.
Saul puts his own armour on David.
It was not in his own strength that he trusted. “The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine,” he ended triumphantly.
[folio 24]
Faith in God was David’s sure defence; and Saul as he listened bowed his head in shame, for it was the faith which he himself had lost. It was this faith, he knew, which might win the victory. It was an echo of the confidence he had once felt when his whole trust had been in God, and he recognized the true ring of the boy’s courage.
“Go,” he said, “and the Lord be with thee.”
Then the king was eager to put his own armour on David, and he bade the soldiers arm him with the royal sword and put a brass helmet on his head. But David was not accustomed to wear heavy armour, and had never been trained to use a sword. No, he would do his best with the only weapon he thoroughly understood.
So putting on once more his shepherd’s coat, he took his sling in his hand, and as he crossed the brook at the foot of the valley he filled his shepherd’s bag with smooth stones and fitted one of them to his sling. Then with springing steps he began to climb the opposite side.
The rage of Goliath was great when he saw the slender, fair-haired boy, without either armour or sword, coming so boldly to meet him.