When David was sent down to the battle field to take food to his brothers, he found two great armies drawn up in array for battle, the armies of the Philistines, who were a very idolatrous people, on the one side, and the Israelites on the other. The camp of the children of Israel was in a state of great commotion and fear. Every morning and evening for forty days, a giant, Goliath by name, had appeared from the camp of the Philistines, and with every indication of invincibility, had issued a challenge to the men of Israel to send forth a champion to meet him. After David had arrived at the camp and had saluted his brothers, this same giant came out as on previous occasions and issued his challenge; and as before, the men of Israel fled. This consternation on the part of his kinsmen did not agree with David's sense of the omnipresence and omnipotence of the God of Israel; and it is not surprising that, after questioning the men standing near, he should ask, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" —what or who is this unclean and unholy thing that defileth itself with idols, and disputes the power of omnipotence? Why, indeed, should Israel be afraid? In all that vast array of mailed and armored warriors, David seemed to be the only one who realized that something must be done to take "away the reproach from Israel."
This attitude on the part of David of course rebuked the sense of fear, and his eldest brother, Eliab, immediately began to upbraid him and even to question his motive for being there at all, intimating that it was merely due to a perverse and stubborn desire to witness the battle. Error thus attempts in a subtle way to retard the demonstration of Truth; for in view of the fact that their father had sent him, and that, too, on an errand of kindness to his brothers, the injustice of this accusation must have appeared to David; yet he did not become angry or stop to argue the question with Eliab, but quietly turned and with meekness replied, "What have I now done? Is there not a cause?" Right here is where the real purpose of David's errand begins to appear, and subsequent events proved he was there to demonstrate that nothing could thus assert itself in the face of omnipotence, no matter how real or how terrible it might seem to be. He was there to establish the fact to his people that there was "a God in Israel," and to magnify and show forth His power in spite of all seeming opposition.
David had a zeal "according to knowledge," and during the succeeding incidents there was no boastful or unkind word spoken by him, not a word of denunciation or of criticism. After he had finally succeeded in obtaining an audience with Saul he recounted how he had on a former occasion, single-handed and alone, while watching his father's flocks, slain a lion and a bear—while guarding and nurturing thoughts of innocence and love, he had proved the utter powerlessness of anything opposed to good. That this recital inspired Saul's confidence is evident from the fact that though David was but a mere lad and was going out to engage in conflict with this great giant, yet Saul said to him, "Go, and the Lord be with thee."
