David uses his slingshot

1 Samuel 17:40-58. David uses his sling and a stone to kill Goliath, an enemy of Israel.

He had used them to protect his father’s sheep and knew what he could do with them under God’s guidance.

After David had killed Goliath and cut off his head, the Philistines ran away and the Israelites chased and killed many of them.

David told Goliath that he, David, came in the name of the LORD Almighty and it was by the LORD that Israel would be saved.

David picked up five stones from the creek. Goliath had four brothers. Was David, with this act of picking up five stones, saying to Goliath, “I am going to kill your brothers also”?

Background Reading:

David Accepts the Challenge and only uses his sling

17:40 He took his staff in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook and put them in the pouch in his shepherd’s bag. He approached the Philistine with his sling in his hand.

David Defeats Goliath

41 With a man carrying his shield in front of him, the Philistine kept coming closer to David. 42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he had contempt for him, because he was only a young man. David had a dark, healthy complexion and was handsome. 43 The Philistine asked David, “Am I a dog that you come at me with sticks?” Then the Philistine cursed David by his own gods and 44 told David, “Come to me! I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the sky and to the beasts of the field.”

45 Then David told the Philistine, “You come at me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. 46 This very day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I’ll strike you down and remove your head from you. And this very day I’ll give the dead bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the sky and to the animals of the earth, so that all the earth will know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and this whole congregation will know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or spear. Indeed, the battle is the LORD’s and he will give you into our hands.”

48 When the Philistine got up and came closer to meet David, David quickly ran to the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 David reached his hand into the bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine in his forehead. The stone sunk into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. 50 David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone; he struck down the Philistine and killed him, and there was no sword in David’s hand. 51 David ran and stood over the Philistine. He took the Philistine’s sword, pulled it from its sheath, killed him, and then he cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. 52 The men of Israel and Judah got up with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance to the valley and to the gates of Ekron. Wounded Philistines fell along the way to Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron. 53 The Israelis returned from pursuing the Philistines and plundered their camp. 54 David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put Goliath’s weapons in his tent.

55 When Saul saw David going out to meet the Philistine, he asked Abner, the commander of the army, “Whose son is this young man, Abner?”

Abner said, “As surely as you live, your majesty, I don’t know.”

56 The king replied, “Go find out whose son the young man is.”

57 When David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him to Saul with the Philistine’s head in his hand. 58 Saul told him, “Whose son are you, young man?”

David said, “The son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”
1 Samuel 17:40-58


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