Though
Saul was an able king, the seafaring Philistenes had occupied the coastal regions and were moving
inland against Israel and Judah...
In the valley between two hills, the giant
Goliath appears every day - for forty days - to hurl a defiant challenge at the army of Israel. But there is no one in Saul's entire army who has the strength to respond; their response is only dismay and fear.
David has gone to Saul's camp to carry cheese and some loaves of bread.
David replies that Goliath has not defied the army of Israel, but he has defied the very power of God. Eliab, his elder brother, doubts David; but David tells Saul that he is willing to fight the giant. Though Saul protests that David is still a youth, David replies that the Lord shall help him triumph!
Saul offers David armor, but David turns down the offer of protection by the king. Armed with a staff, a bagfull of stones, and a sling, he approaches to give battle to the giant. David tells the giant that - though he is armed with sword and shield - he will not be able to save himself, as has defied the God of all Israel. Thus, all the creatures of the earth shall know that God resides in Israel.
David draws a stone upon his sling, and strikes the giant upon his forehead. The Philistene falls upon the earth. David draws the giant's sword, and slays him with his own sword, in front of the other Philistenes. Seeing their champion dead, the enemies of Israel abandon their tents and (in disarray) flee the land.
As a young hero who has slain the giant; David finds great favor with Saul (his king) - and Saul even gives his daughter to David as his wife. About a thousand years before the birth of Christ, David became King of Israel, and he was only the second person to be so honored. David's reign is the high point of (early) Jewish history: Jerusalem was freed, and the Hebrews spread across the land. The House of David was to reign over Israel for a further four centuries.