SCENE OF THE FIGHT BETWEEN DAVID AND GOLIATH IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH
Copyright by Underwood & Underwood and used by special permission.
"It is the very battlefield for those ancient foes. Israel in one of the gateways to her mountain land; the Philistines on the low hills they so often overran; and between them the great valley. The Philistines were probably on the hill of Sochoh.
"Sochoh is a strong position isolated from the rest of the ridge, and it keeps open the line of retreat down the valley. Saul's army was probably not immediately opposite, but a little way up on the slopes of the incoming Wady el Jindy, and so placed that the Philistines, in attacking it, must cross not only the level land and the main stream, but one of the two other streams as well, and must also climb the slopes for some distance. Both positions were thus very strong, and this fact perhaps explains the long hesitation of the armies in face of each other, even though the Philistines had the advantage of Goliath. The Israelite position certainly looks the stronger. It is interesting, too, that from its rear the narrow pass goes right up to the interior of the land near Bethlehem; so that the shepherd boy, whom the story represents as being sent by his father for news of the battle, would have almost twelve miles to cover between his father's house and the camp"
And the Philistine said, "I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together."
And when Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.
Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem-judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man was an old man in the days of Saul. And the three eldest sons of Jesse had gone after Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. And David was the youngest: and the three eldest followed Saul.
And Jesse said to David his son, "Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to thy brethren; and bring these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand; and look how thy brethren fare, and bring back some token of their welfare."