1 Samuel 17 explained: David Faces the Philistine Champion

Standoff and challenge (vv. 1-11)

The Philistines had pushed into Judah's land, and their champion offered to settle the war by single combat, a known practice in the ancient world. Most Hebrew copies make Goliath over nine feet tall, while some very old manuscripts give about six and a half feet, still huge for that time.

David brings supplies (vv. 12-27)

Soldiers then relied on families at home for food, so David carried grain, bread and cheeses and was to bring back word that his brothers were safe. Calling Goliath "uncircumcised" marked him as outside Israel's covenant, its special bond with God, so David hears his taunts as an insult to God himself.

Brother's scorn, king's doubt (vv. 28-40)

His oldest brother dismisses him and Saul thinks he is too young, but David points to the lions and bears he fought off while guarding sheep, and credits the LORD for those rescues. He takes off the king's armor because he is not used to it, and goes out with a sling, a shepherd's tool that could kill in skilled hands.

Words before the fight (vv. 41-47)

Champions often traded boasts and curses before fighting, and Goliath mocks David for coming at him with sticks as if he were a dog. David answers that he comes in the name of the LORD and that "the battle is the LORD's," so the outcome will show God's power rather than the power of weapons.

The stone and the rout (vv. 48-54)

David's stone strikes Goliath in the forehead, and David then uses the giant's own sword to kill him and cut off his head as a trophy. The Philistines flee, Israel chases them toward their own cities, and the text plainly records their dead along the road.

Saul asks whose son (vv. 55-58)

It is puzzling that Saul seems not to know David, who already served him in the previous chapter. Scholars are unsure whether two older accounts were woven together here, or whether Saul was asking about David's family because of the promised reward and marriage.

Key verse: 1 Samuel 17:47

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether this story is mainly a model of courage and trust for readers facing their own "giants," or mainly about God's chosen king winning a battle his people could not, which many Christians read as pointing to Jesus.

Something to think about

When have you seen someone overlooked turn out to be the person who could handle a problem, and what made everyone else miss it?