<p>Jesse said to his son David, “Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp of your brothers; also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See how your brothers fare, and bring some token from them.</p>
<p>Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. David rose early in the morning, left someone in charge of the sheep, took the provisions, and went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the encampment as the army was going forth to the battle line, shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, ran to the ranks, and went and greeted his brothers. As he talked with them, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.</p>
<p>— 1 Samuel 17:17–23</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Azekah lay somewhere between desert and forest, David had long ago decided, for there, between the pines and the cedar, the scrub and the tussocks, the rocks and stones would glow with the heat of the day even after twilight gave in to dusk. The sun baked them all, plant and rock alike, but it was those stones that held the heat, cherished it, and only reluctantly let let it go.</p>
<p>The trees, though, those held the welcome coolness, and to lounge where last the shade had stretched, leaning against the back of a cedar, there is where David could enjoy the quiet and the night breezes, and there is where, three times, he met the man from Gath.</p>
<p>The first evening, he had come upon him at the base of the Tell on which the city stood, and greeted him amicably enough. There was the air of a Philistine about him, but with them David had no quarrel. The fright of the Philistines was a topic for the judges, not for a shepherd, and not here, so far Philistia, up near Hebron.</p>
<p>Far larger than any man he had seen, the man from Gath was tying up a mule and pulling from its pack a bag of grain for the beast.</p>
<p>“Do you ride it?”</p>
<p>The giant laughed — and giant he was, for he stood what must have been three heads higher than David — and his voice boomed deep. “Of course not. I’d crush him.”</p>
<p>“That’s why I asked,” David grinned. “I was worried for the beast’s safety.”</p>
<p>And after that, they started a fire a ways away from the trees and settled with their backs to the cool side of the trunks while trail grain bubbled into a porridge. David talked of his home in Hebron, of his family, of the sheep they grazed and how to tell them apart. The man from Gath, Goliath as he was called, spoke of Philistia, of the land and the people, and compared his life to that of David, of Judea.</p>
<p>The next morning, when the man from Gath loaded his pack onto his mule, David asked when he might see him again.</p>
<p>“Some day soon, I’m sure.”</p>
<p>And then they parted ways, and David returned to his father, and Goliath went, though where, he would not say.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Israelites said, ‘Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. The king will greatly enrich the man who kills him, and will give him his daughter and make his family free in Israel.’ David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?’ The people answerd him in the same way, ‘So shall it be done for the man who kills him.</p>
<p>His eldest brother Eliab heard him talking to the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David. He said, ‘Why have you come down? I know your presumption and the evil intent of your heart, for you have come down just to see the battle.’</p>
<p>— 1 Samuel 17:25–28</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The second time that the man from Gath visited David in the woods on the Tell of Azekah, David was hunting a lion that had been preying up on the sheep of the area, and was having little enough luck in the matter.</p>
<p>Goliath once more tied up his mule and prepared grain for the beast while David spoke of his frustration. That evening, the giant showed David how to tie his sling to his staff in order to make the stones fly faster, and how to better his accuracy with fewer spins of the thongs.</p>
<p>The lion was struck down by stone and then put out of its pain by a knife, and Goliath helped to prepare proof of the deed for David to take home by drawing his sword and striking off its head, and then they sat, as before, against the cooler sides of the cedars there, telling stories of the stars in the sky, those they had learned as children and some that they made up together, and they laughed together and David felt kindled in his heart a friendship and brotherhood.</p>
<p>The next morning, when the man from Gath loaded his pack onto his mule, David asked when he might see him again.</p>
<p>“Some day soon, I’m sure.”</p>
<blockquote>
<p>David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God’. David said, ‘The <spanstyle="font-variant: small-caps">Lord</span>, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.’ So Saul said to David, ‘Go, and may the <spanstyle="font-variant: small-caps">Lord</span> be with you.’</p>
<p>Saul clothed David with his armor’ he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. David strapped Saul’s sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, ‘I cannot walk with these, for I am not used to them.’ So David removed them. Then he took his staff from his hand and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch’ his sling was in is hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.</p>
<p>— 1 Samuel 17:34-40</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The third time that the man from Gath visited David in the woods on the Tell of Azekah, David was waiting for him, for he had heard of the armies of Saul and he had heard of the fight against the Philistines, and he knew that he was circumcised and one of the living God and that Goliath was as a Philistine uncircumcised and stood against the armies of Saul.</p>
<p>Their meeting was tense and their words at time bitter as Goliath tied up his mule and the walked through the failing light until they could find trees to lean back against.</p>
<p>“Why do you fight against us?” David asked.</p>
<p>“I could ask the same of you.”</p>
<p>This was the third time they had had that conversation that day, and they played their roles as they ought, as they had been taught, and each made their own (by now well practiced) speech on the topic before falling silent again.</p>
<p>That night they did not talk of home or their countries. They did not talk of stars in the sky. They did not tell each other stories but each, in their own way, prayed as dusk gave into night, and then they slept.</p>
<p>The next morning, when the man from Gath loaded his pack onto his mule, David asked when he might see him again.</p>
<p>“Some day soon, I’m sure.”</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly towards the battle line to meet the Philistine. David put his hand in his bag , took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.</p>
<p>So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, striking down the Philistine and killing him; there was no sword in David’s hand. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine; he grasped his sword, drew it out of its sheath, and killed him, then he cut off his head with it.</p>
<p>When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.</p>
<p>1 Samuel 17:48-51</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And though the battle raged on, and though David had his proof, that night he made up a new story for the stars in the sky.</p>
