Five Smooth Stones Against a Giant

David had been anointed king, but nobody had told the sheep. Whenever Saul could spare his harp player, David went home to mind them, and that is where he was when the Philistines came to fight.

Their army camped on one hill, King Saul's on the other, with the Valley of Elah between. Every morning and every evening a man walked down from the Philistine side. His name was Goliath, and he stood over nine feet tall. His bronze armor weighed as much as two eight-year-olds, and the iron point of his spear was as heavy as a bowling ball. (Just the point.)

"Choose one man to fight me!" he roared. "If he kills me, we will be your servants. If I kill him, you will be ours!"

Nobody went. Not even Saul, the tallest man in Israel. This went on forty days.

Then David's father sent him to the camp with bread for his brothers and ten cheeses for their commander. He arrived just as Goliath came out shouting, and the whole army ran back up the hill.

"Who is this Philistine," David asked, "that he insults the armies of the living God?"

His oldest brother, Eliab, went red. "Why are you here? Who's watching those few sheep? You only came to see the fighting!"

"What have I done now?" said David. "Can't I even ask a question?"

(Anyone with a big brother has heard that conversation.)

Soon David was in Saul's tent. "I'll fight him," he said.

"You can't," said Saul. "You're only a boy, and he has been a soldier all his life."

"When a lion or a bear grabs one of my lambs," said David, "I go after it, pull the lamb out of its mouth, and kill it. The LORD saved me from the lion and the bear. He will save me from this Philistine."

Saul dressed David in his own armor and helmet. David took a step. Clank. Another. CLANK. "I can't walk in these!" Off it all came.

He went down to the stream, chose five smooth stones, and dropped them into his shepherd's bag. Then he walked out, staff and sling in hand.

Goliath sneered. "Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks? Come here, and I'll feed you to the birds!"

"You come with a sword and a spear," David called back, "but I come in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel's armies, the one you have insulted. Everyone here will see that the LORD does not need swords to save. The battle is the LORD's!"

Goliath lumbered forward. David ran straight at him, whirled his sling, and let a stone fly. It sank into Goliath's forehead, and the giant crashed face first. David had no sword, so he pulled out Goliath's own and killed him with it.

When the Philistines saw their champion dead, they ran, and Saul's army chased them home.

One shepherd went out, and the whole army won. But Goliath was not the worst enemy. Sin had beaten all of God's people, David too, and death waited for them all.

Kings from David's family ruled after him, and none could win that fight. God's people kept waiting for a champion.

At last another shepherd stepped out alone. His own brothers did not believe in him. When his enemies came, his friends ran. He carried no sword. He went straight into death, the enemy no one had ever beaten, and on the third day he walked out alive, and death was beaten with its own sword.

His name is Jesus, and when he won, his whole frightened army won with him.