David and Goliath

Another bad day for the king. Something from God has been coming over him and tormenting him. We all see it.

Replying to @saulscourt

We’ve told him: let us find someone who really knows how to play the harp. When it comes over you, he plays, and you’ll feel better. He said go and find someone.

Saul@saul

Sent word to Jesse in Bethlehem. Send me your son David. The one with the sheep.

Someone in David's Bethlehem@bethlehem.local.jesse

Replying to @saul

Jesse’s youngest has just set off for the king’s house. Donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine and a young goat. You don’t turn up at a king’s empty-handed.

Saul@saul

The boy from Bethlehem is staying. I like him a lot. Made him my armour-bearer, and sent his father a message: he’s staying in my service.

David@david

Playing the harp for the king. Apparently I’m also his armour-bearer now.

It works. When the troubling spirit comes on the king, David picks up the harp and plays, and it leaves him. The king’s himself again.

The Valley of Elah

The books of Samuel@booksofsamuel · Valley of Elah

War again. The Philistines have camped at Socoh in Judah, on one hill. Saul and the army of Israel are on the hill opposite. The Valley of Elah is in between.

Goliath@goliathofgathWhy line up for a battle? I’m a Philistine. You’re Saul’s servants. Pick one man and send him down to me. If he can fight me and kill me, we’ll be your servants. If I kill him, you serve us. Simple.

Replying to @booksofsamuel

Two armies staring at each other across a valley. That’s the whole war so far.

A Philistine soldier at Socoh@philistine.ranks

Camped between Socoh and Azekah. Israel’s lot are on the hill over there. We’ve got something they haven’t.

Every morning, every evening

Goliath@goliathofgath

Why line up for a battle? I’m a Philistine. You’re Saul’s servants. Pick one man and send him down to me. If he can fight me and kill me, we’ll be your servants. If I kill him, you serve us. Simple.

Goliath@goliathofgath

Replying to @goliathofgath

I’m calling out the armies of Israel today. Give me a man!

A man in Israel’s front line@elah.frontline

What’s standing at the bottom of the valley shouting at us: 1. Goliath, from Gath. 2. Nearly three metres tall. 3. Bronze helmet, bronze on his legs, and a coat of bronze scales weighing about 57 kilos. 4. A bronze javelin slung on his back. 5. A spear with a shaft like a weaver’s beam and an iron point that weighs about 7 kilos on its own. 6. A man walking in front of him carrying his shield.

Replying to @elah.frontline

The king heard every word. He’s as scared as the rest of us.

Goliath’s shield-bearer@carries.the.shield

Morning shift. Walk down into the valley in front of him with the shield. Stand there while he shouts. Walk back up. Evening shift, same again.

A Philistine soldier at Socoh@philistine.ranks

Replying to @carries.the.shield

Same speech every time. I could do it for him by now.

Honest question. Who in this army is actually going down there?

A man in Israel’s front line@elah.frontline

Replying to @saulsarmy

Not me.

A man in Israel’s front line@elah.frontline

Day twelve. He’s out again.

A man in Israel’s front line@elah.frontline

Day thirty-one. Still nobody.

Goliath@goliathofgath

Still waiting.

A Philistine soldier at Socoh@philistine.ranks

Forty days. Every morning, every evening. Not one of them has come down.

The Philistines@philistines

Replying to @philistine.ranks

Choose one man. That’s all he’s asking.

Meanwhile, in Bethlehem

The books of Samuel@booksofsamuel · Bethlehem

Back in Bethlehem, Jesse is an old man now. Eight sons. The three eldest, Eliab, Abinadab and Shammah, have gone to the war with Saul. David is the youngest.

Someone in David's Bethlehem@bethlehem.local.jesse

Jesse’s youngest is back from the king’s again. Back out with his dad’s sheep. He goes back and forth.

Jesse@jesseofbethlehem

Sending my youngest down to the valley in the morning. A sack of roasted grain and ten loaves for his brothers, and ten cheeses for their commander. He’s to see how they are and bring me back something from them, so I know they’re all right.

The shepherd minding David’s flock@minding.the.sheep

Jesse’s lad has left his flock with me. Up before dawn, loaded with food, gone off to the army to find his brothers.

The morning David arrives

A man in Israel’s front line@elah.frontline · Valley of Elah

Marching out to our positions again, everyone shouting the battle cry. They’re lined up opposite. Here we go.

David@david

Made it. The army’s just marching out. Left the food with the man looking after the supplies and ran up to the front line to find my brothers. Asking how they’re doing.

The man minding the supplies@elah.stores

Replying to @david

That was me. One sack of grain, ten loaves, ten cheeses, and he’s gone.

Goliath’s shield-bearer@carries.the.shield

Morning shift.

A man in Israel’s front line@elah.frontline

He’s out. Same words as always. And the whole line’s running from him. Me included.

The books of Samuel@booksofsamuel

Replying to @elah.frontline

David heard every word of it.

A man in Israel’s front line@elah.frontline

What everyone in camp is saying: the king will make the man who kills him rich. Give him his daughter to marry. And his father’s family never pays tax again.

Replying to @elah.frontline

Lovely. Off you go, then.

David@david

Question for everyone here. What does the man who kills this Philistine get? The man who takes this shame off Israel? Who does he think he is, insulting the armies of the living God?

A man in Israel’s front line@elah.frontline

Replying to @david

Same as I said. Rich, the king’s daughter, and no tax for your dad’s family.

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In front of the king

David@david

Told the king: nobody needs to lose heart over this Philistine. I’ll go and fight him. He says I can’t. I’m just a boy, and that man’s been a soldier since he was a boy.

David@david

Replying to @david

So I told him. When a lion or a bear comes and takes a lamb from my dad’s flock, I go after it and get the lamb out of its mouth. If it turns on me, I grab it by the fur and kill it. This Philistine will be the same, because he’s insulted the armies of the living God. The LORD saved me from the lion and the bear. He’ll save me from him.

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David@david

The king’s put his own tunic on me. Bronze helmet, a coat of armour, and his sword strapped over the top. Tried walking. I can’t. I’m not used to any of it. Taking it all off.

David@davidStaff. Sling. Five smooth stones from the stream, in my shepherd’s bag. Going down.

Replying to @david

In fairness, the king is a head taller than anyone in Israel.

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Down in the valley

David@david

Staff. Sling. Five smooth stones from the stream, in my shepherd’s bag. Going down.

Liked by Saul

Saul@saul

Abner. Whose son is this boy?

Abner@abner

Replying to @saul

I swear, Your Majesty, I don’t know.

The books of Samuel@booksofsamuelJesse’s eldest, Eliab, walks in, and Samuel is sure this is the one. The LORD tells him: don’t look at his looks or his height. People look at the outside. The LORD looks at the heart.

A Philistine soldier at Socoh@philistine.ranks

Someone’s finally coming down from Israel’s side. Wait. It’s a boy. Red cheeks, good-looking, a stick in his hand. That’s who they’ve sent? You’re kidding.

Goliath’s shield-bearer@carries.the.shield

Replying to @philistine.ranks

Walking down in front of him with the shield. Getting closer.

Goliath@goliathofgath

What am I, a dog? You’re coming at me with sticks? Come here, and I’ll feed you to the birds and the wild animals.

A Philistine soldier at Socoh@philistine.ranks

Replying to @goliathofgath

He’s cursing him by every one of our gods now.

Someone who reads the Scriptures@reads.the.scriptures

Goliath took one look and wrote him off. Too young, too rosy-cheeked, too pretty. In Bethlehem, Samuel made the same mistake the other way round and looked at Eliab’s height. The LORD looks at the heart.

A man in Israel’s front line@elah.frontline

The boy’s shouting back. Says Goliath comes with a sword and a spear and a javelin, but he comes in the name of the LORD of armies, the God Goliath’s been insulting. Says today the whole world will know there’s a God in Israel. And that the LORD doesn’t save with swords and spears.

David@david

The battle is the LORD’s.

A man in Israel’s front line@elah.frontline

Goliath’s moving in. And the boy is running. Towards him.

A Philistine soldier at Socoh@philistine.ranks

One stone. Right in the forehead. He’s down. Face first.

Goliath’s shield-bearer@carries.the.shield

Replying to @philistine.ranks

I was right in front of him. I had the shield.

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A man in Israel’s front line@elah.frontline

He’s run over and he’s standing over him. Pulled Goliath’s own sword out of its sheath and killed him with it. It’s over.

A Philistine soldier at Socoh@philistine.ranks

Our champion’s dead. Everyone’s running. He did say we’d be their servants if he lost. Nobody’s staying to find out.

The Philistines@philistines

Replying to @philistine.ranks

Run.

The chase

A man in Israel’s front line@elah.frontline

Now we’re the ones shouting. The whole army of Israel and Judah is charging down the hill after them.

Replying to @elah.frontline

Forty days of him shouting at us, morning and evening. And it’s the shepherd boy who went down.

A Philistine soldier at Socoh@philistine.ranks

Made it back to Gath. A lot of us didn’t.

Back from the chase. Went through their whole camp and took everything they left behind.

The man minding the supplies@elah.stores

The shepherd boy’s put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent. This morning he was dropping off cheese.

When he comes back

Abner@abner

The king told me to find out whose son he is. So the moment the boy came back from killing the Philistine, I took him straight to the king.

David@david

Replying to @abner

The king asked me whose son I am. I told him: Jesse’s. Your servant Jesse, from Bethlehem.

One of Saul’s attendants@saulscourtAnd I know just the one. A son of Jesse, in Bethlehem. Plays the harp, brave, a proper fighter, good with words, good-looking. And the LORD is with him.

Son of Jesse of Bethlehem. The one I found to play the harp for the king.

Jonathan@jonathan

He’d only just finished talking with my father, and that was it. I love him as much as my own life. So we’ve made a covenant, a solemn promise of friendship. I gave him my robe and my tunic, my sword, my bow and my belt.