David and Goliath

by Talitha
(Sydney, Australia)

David and Goliath
This story is taken from the Bible and I am writing from the point of view of David.

Out in the field I stood in Bethlehem. I am a boy and my name is David. I am a son of a man named Jesse. I have eight brothers and my father's oldest sons went into war against the Philistines with Saul the King. Their names are Eliab, the first born, the second, Abinadab and Shammah, the third. I am the youngest in the family and I have to look after my father's sheep.

One day, my father Jesse said to me, "Go to your brothers. They are fighting the Philistines at the valley of Elah." Then he said, "Take this ephah of roast grain and take these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit."

Early in the morning, I left the flock with the shepherd, loaded up and set off as my father had directed me and I hurried to the battle. On the way, down the valley, I stumbled over rocks and the road was rough. When I arrived, I gave the food to the keeper of supplies. Then I ran up to my brothers and asked if all was well, but before they answered, Goliath, a Philistine hero shouted out to all the soldiers of Living God, "Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects, but if I overcome him, you will become our subjects and serve us."

The man who said this was over nine feet tall, with a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armour weighing five thousand shekels. He wore bronze greaves and a bronze javelin was hung on his back. His spear shaft weighed six hundred shekels and his shield bearer went ahead of him.

So I said to some men standing near, "What would happen to the man who kills Goliath?"

They answered me, "The king will give great wealth and his daughter in marriage and his family will be exempt from paying taxes in Israel."

Then I said, "Why doesn't anyone go and fight him for we are the people of the Living God and the Lord will be with the man who does this! Why doesn't anyone fight him?"

When Eliab, my oldest brother, heard me speaking with the men he burned with anger and asked, "Why have you come here and with whom did you leave the flocks in the desert?"

Then my brother said, "I know how wicked your heart is. You came down only to watch the battle!"

And I said, "Now, what have I done? Can't I even speak?" and I turned away to another man and brought up the same matter and the man answered me the same way.

What I said was overheard and was reported to Saul, the King and Saul sent for me.

When I was there, I said, "I will go and fight this Philistine giant because the Lord is with me and He shall bring him into my hands."

Saul replied, "You cannot go. You are only a boy and he has been fighting from his youth!" Then I said to Saul, "When I tended my father's sheep and a lion or a bear came to take my father's sheep, I chased after it, struck it and killed it. If God has saved me from the lion or the bear?s paw, He will save me from the giant's hand!"

Then Saul said, "Go and the Lord be with you."

Then Saul dressed me in his own tunic and coat of armour and put a bronze helmet on my head and fastened on his sword over the tunic. I tried to walk around because I was not used to them. Then I said, "I cannot go in these because I am not used to them." So I took them off.

Then I took my staff in my hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream and put them in my shepherd's bag. With my sling in the other hand, I faced the giant.

Then Goliath saw that I was only a boy. He roared with laughter.

"You think you can beat me?" he said. "Come and fight me."

Then I said, "You come against me with a sword, a spear and a javelin, but I come against you in the name of Lord Almighty, the Living God of Israel, whom you do not believe in. This day my God will hand you over to me. I will strike you down and cut off your head and the whole world will know that there is a living God in Israel."

Then Goliath moved closer. So, I took out a stone out of my shepherd's bag, put it in the sling, swirled it around and shot it at the giant, the Philistine hero. He fell down, head down. I took his sword out of his scabbard. After I killed him, I cut off his head and when the Philistines saw their hero was dead, they turned and ran. The men of Israel and Judah ran after them.

Then Saul asked the commander of the army, "Who son is that boy?" and then the commander said, "I do not know whose son he is." Then I was brought to the King Saul, still holding the head of the Philistine and he asked me, "Who is your father?" and I answered him, "My father is Jesse in Bethlehem." And I stayed with Saul for a long time.

The End.
Written by Talitha
From 1 Samuel 17.

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