1 Samuel 17:24

DAVID SEES AND HEARS GOLIATH'S CHALLENGE

"All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were much afraid. And the men of Israel said, "Have you seen this man which has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel; and the man who kills him the king will enrich with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and will make his father's house free in Israel." And 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 of Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God"? And the people answered him in the same way, `So shall it be done to the man who kills him."'

David was obviously impressed with the great rewards promised to the slayer of Goliath, as indicated by his asking both the soldiers, and then a little later, "the people." David's older brothers had observed this interest on David's part and proceeded to rebuke and belittle him.

"Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God"? "Here David injected the first theological note in the whole narrative."[13] How strange it is, that up to this point, the knowledge on Israel's part of the loving protection of God seems to have been forgotten altogether. After forty days of those continued insults from Goliath, this seems even more incredible. Evidently there burned in the heart of David a most unusual and confident faith in God; and that certainly must have been the secret of God's special blessing in that terrible encounter with Goliath.