And then, when the Philistine arose, and came, and drew nigh to meet David, David made haste and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.  And when he was a little way from him, he put his hand in his bag, and took from thence a stone, and put it in his sling, and slung it, and smote the Philistine in the forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead; and he fell on his face to the earth.

And David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of its sheath, and slew him with it.

Then, when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.  But the army of Israel pursued them, and victory was with the men of Israel.

And after the battle, David was taken to the king’s tent, and made a captain over many men; and he went no more to his father’s house, to herd the sheep, but became a man, in the king’s service.

FOOTNOTES: 

[34] From the text of the Revised Version of the Old Testament, with introduction and slight interpolations, changes of order, and omissions.

THE SHEPHERD’S SONG

David had many fierce battles to fight for King Saul against the enemies of Israel, and he won them all.  Then, later, he had to fight against the king’s own soldiers, to save himself, for King Saul grew wickedly jealous of David’s fame as a soldier, and tried to kill him.  Twice, when David had a chance to kill the king, he forbore to harm him; but even then, Saul continued trying to take his life, and David was kept away from his home as if he were an enemy.

But when King Saul died, the people chose David for their king, because there was no one so brave, so wise, or so faithful to God.  King David lived a long time, and made his people famous for victory and happiness; he had many troubles and many wars, but he always trusted that God would help him, and he never deserted his own people in any hard place.

After a battle, or when it was a holiday, or when he was very thankful for something, King David used to make songs, and sing them before the people.  Some of these songs were so beautiful that they have never been forgotten.  After all these hundreds and hundred of years, we sing them still; we call them Psalms.

Often, after David had made a song, his chief musician would sing with him, as the people gathered to worship God.  Sometimes the singers were divided into two great choruses, and went to the service in two processions; then one chorus would sing a verse of David’s song, and the other procession would answer with the next, and then both would sing together; it was very beautiful to hear.  Even now, we sometimes do that with the songs of David in our churches.

One of his Psalms that everybody loves is a song that David made when he remembered the days before he came to Saul’s camp.  He remembered the days and nights he used to spend in the fields with the sheep, when he was just a shepherd-boy; and he thought to himself that God had taken care of him just as carefully as he himself used to care for the little lambs.  It is a beautiful song; I wish we knew the music that David made for it, but we only know his words.  I will tell it to you now, and then you may learn it, to say for yourselves.