This valley was seven or eight miles distant from the little town of Bethlehem, and Jesse waited anxiously, day after day, for news of his three sons. At last he could bear the anxiety no longer, and he determined to send David to the camp to carry food to his brothers and bring back news how they fared.
So, very early one morning, David set out on his errand. He had carefully put his sheep under the care of another shepherd, and he took with him parched corn and loaves of bread for his brothers, as well as ten cheeses which his father was sending to the officers under whom they served.
It was not long before the boy came within sight of the valley, and his heart began to beat with excitement, for he saw that he had arrived just as something was about to happen. The armies were drawn up in battle array, and suddenly a great shout went up from both sides. It was the battle-cry of the two armies which sounded in his ears.
There was no time now to carry food and gifts, so David quickly left his load at the entrance to the camp and hurried on to search for his brothers. He had learned to find his way about a camp, where for a short [folio 19] time he had been Saul’s armour-bearer. So now he went swiftly among the soldiers, until at last he found his brothers. “Were they well?” he eagerly asked them; “and what were they doing?”
Eagerly David began to ask them what it meant.
But even while he spoke there was a stir among the Philistines, and all eyes were turned to watch, all ears were strained to hear the enemy’s challenge, which rang out clearly across the narrow valley.
Out of the rank of the Philistines there had stepped a man so tall and strong that he appeared to be a giant. [folio 20] He was more than nine feet high, and the armour which he wore was so solid and heavy that it would have crushed any ordinary man to the earth.
This was Goliath, the great champion of the Philistines. Every morning and every evening he strode proudly out and defied the Israelites, bidding them find a champion who would come and fight with him. Once again his challenge rang out on the clear air,—
“Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me and to kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then shall ye be our servants and serve us. I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together.”