David and Goliath

by Brumby Ben
(Sydney, Australia)

Here is another one of my writings.

David and Goliath

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As looked out upon my army standing in their lines ready for battle, I thought to myself.

"What an amazing achievement I have completed. I have full control of the kingdom of Israel one of the largest kingdoms in this district. The only thing in the way for me to take full control of the district was the....The place where my warships could land and be built was controlled by... The people who where like giants are... The largest and strongest neighbour are....The people who turn my people?s hearts to powder.... The kings of the land are...."

"Philistines! The Philistines are coming over the hill, my lord." cried the scout as he raced into the camp. "They have with them a Giant from Gath named Goliath. He is supposed to be 9 feet tall."

I muttered to myself, "This is their secret weapon He has destroyed armies all by himself, just challenging the hero of his enemies to a dual."

The Israelite lines were filled with terror. This giant was coming to get them. I was the only one who could hopefully encourage them, so I tried. I told them that this was probably just a pretend story and with the power of all Israel they could easily destroy this army. As I was talking I heard this rumbling sound behind me.

The earth was shaking and the men's eyes opened and I felt that my message had got through to them powerfully. I then realized that it was not so. When I stepped down from the log that I was standing on, I heard this roar and this thundering voice coming from behind me.

"Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us." Then the Philistine said, "This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other."

When I turned around I saw a mountain rising up before me. I was this Giant of Goliath. He had a shield bearer going out before him sweating under his shield and stumbling along. As for the mountain itself, he had a spear in his hand, a bronze helmet, bronze greaves around his legs, a sheet of scaled armour over his chest and a javelin over his shoulders.

The Israelite army huddled together and whispered to each other.

I heard one say, "His armour weighs five thousand shekels. (57 kilograms)"

An Israelite with the largest spear quietly walked away as someone told him that Goliath's spear shaft weighed six hundred shekels (7 Kilograms)."

The Israelites whispered and then fell absolutely silent. He continued this cry of defiance every morning and night for the next forty days.

On the fortieth day the Israelites fled from the giant again and all was silent again. From the far end of the camp I heard someone laughing, another yelling and another talking. Slowly the news arrived to me that Israel had a hero named David and he was going to fight the giant. The camp gradually rose from a quiet murmur. Then everyone was talking. Then they let out a large battle cry. I commanded that David be brought to me.

Ten minutes later a small young man (or a boy) walked into my tent. I asked him to kindly get out for I was waiting for a hero to arrive. I asked him what he was doing here and he replied,
"Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him."

I replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth."

David replied. (for by this time I realised that this was the 'hero.')

"Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."

I told him to go and asked that the Lord with him. I armed him in my armour and David tried to walk around, thinking about it now it would have been rather funny. He stripped off my armour and walked out of the camp the whole army looking after him. Then their heads all dropped and there was a dreadful silence.

Ten minutes passed in this dreadful silence and then a cry and then a roar broke from the ranks. I dashed out of my tent looking towards the Philistine army and I bumped into David. David was now carrying a small leather pouch with five smooth stones inside it. In his hands was a sling shot a weapon of uselessness against an armoured man. Embarrassed I asked my scouts why he was back. They told me that he had gone to the stream to get some stones for his sling shot.

As soon as David came out of the ranks of Israel, Goliath rose up to meet him. Then the giant screamed with laughter and roared out,
"Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

"Come here," he said, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!"

David replied quietly and I couldn?t hear what he said. The giant furiously wielded the spear but suddenly fell down flat. After a short while the Israelite camp let out a huge roar. Then David picked up the giant?s sword and cut of the head of Goliath. The Israelites grabbed their arms up and charged.

That was a great victory. But a few days later I heard women in the streets praising us we rode into the capitol. I also heard a chant,

"Saul has killed his thousands?"

I felt very pleased. I rose in my chariot puffed out my chest and then I heard,

"David his ten's of Thousands!"

I nearly fainted. From then on I knew David would succeed me, King Saul, as King of Israel.

The End

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