Ok so I am back in office, feeling as tired and bored and hungry and cold as usual, thus I decided to when on-line to Google something to keep me interested ... and i came across this two different stories of David and Goliath. children version and the supposedly normal version.
children version:
Saul had been king, but he kept disobeying God so God asked Samuel to find a new king. God said to Samuel, "Go to Bethlehem and there is a man named Jesse with eight sons. One of them will be the next king."
When Samuel first met the sons he automatically thought that the oldest son named Eliab would be the king that God had chosen. But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look at the way he looks or how big he is. Eliab is not the one I have chosen, the way he looks doesn't matter to me, I look at the heart."
Jesse brought more of his sons to meet Samuel but none of them God had chosen either. Samuel asked Jesse, "Have I met all your sons?" Jesse replied, "I have one son left named David, he's the youngest, and he's out looking after the sheep. I will bring him here to meet you."
As soon as Samuel saw him the Lord spoke to him and said, "He is the one." So Samuel anointed him with oil which was a special way of promising him that he would be the next king. And from that day on the power of the Lord was with David.
David continued to take care of his father's sheep in the fields. When he didn't have much to do in the field he played instruments, and wrote songs and poems that you can find in the book of Psalms in your Bible.
Meanwhile Saul was still king and he ruled people called Israelites. David and his family were Israelites too. The Israelites weren't getting along with people named the Philistines.
The problem with the Philistines was that they had many giants living in their land. One of the strongest and biggest giants was named Goliath. He was over nine feet tall, which is taller than any person recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. He would've had to bend way down to get through a regular door.
Goliath was covered with armor to protect him and carried a big spear. Every morning and every evening for forty days he shouted to the Israelites in his big deep voice, "Hey, you guys! I dare you to find one man to fight me. If he can beat me we will become your servants, but if I win you will all become our servants."
When Saul and all his men heard this they were very afraid. Three of these men were David's three oldest brothers. They were the only ones in David's family that could go fight because they were old enough.
Now David's father Jesse heard about the giant and was worried for his sons. He called David out of the fields and asked him to take some food to his brothers and report back how they are doing.
So David set off to visit his brothers. As he approached them he heard Goliath shouting his challenge like he did every morning. "Isn't someone going to stand up to this man?" David asked the men in the army. "Then I will fight this giant Philistine."
One of the men overheard this and ran to Saul and told him what David said. Saul approached David and said, "You can't fight Goliath, you're only a boy and he has been fighting for many years." But David said to Saul, "I have had to fight lions and bears to protect my father's sheep. God helped keep me safe then and he will help keep me safe now."
It was too bad that Saul the king wasn't trusting in God to help him, he didn't know what to do to beat Goliath. Then this young boy named David came and he knew in one day exactly what to do, and trusted that God would help him. That's why God loved David's heart and wanted him to be king.
So Saul dressed David in heavy armor to protect him from Goliath but David took it off. It was so heavy he could hardly walk and he knew that God would keep him from harm. Instead David went to a stream nearby and found five smooth stones, put them in a pouch around his waist, and with his sling he went to Goliath.
As David approached Goliath, Goliath looked at David and thought it was a joke. Goliath thought that he could easily beat David and it was funny that Saul would send a small boy to fight him. But David said to him without fear, "You fight with a sword and I come with God on my side and today everyone will know that there is one true God in this land."
Goliath didn't care what David said and he moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly to meet him. Reaching into his pouch he pulled out a stone, put it into his slingshot and shot it at Goliath. The stone had hit him right between his eyes and suddenly Goliath started to loose his balance.
He fell with a loud thud right on his face. David had done it, he beat the giant Philistine! When the rest of the Philistines saw this they ran away and David became a hero to all the people in Israel.
normal version:
The Philistine army had gathered for war against Israel. The two armies faced each other, camped for battle on opposite sides of a steep valley. A Philistine giant measuring over nine feet tall and wearing full armor came out each day for forty days, mocking and challenging the Israelites to fight. His name was Goliath.
Saul, the King of Israel, and the whole army were terrified of Goliath.
One day
David, the youngest son of Jesse, was sent to the battle lines by his father to bring back news of his brothers. David was probably just a young teenager at the time. While there, David heard Goliath shouting his daily defiance and he saw the great fear stirred within the men of Israel. David responded, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of God?"
So David volunteered to fight Goliath. It took some persuasion, but King Saul finally agreed to let David fight against the giant. Dressed in his simple tunic, carrying his shepherd's staff, slingshot and a pouch full of stones, David approached Goliath. The giant cursed at him, hurling threats and insults.
David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied ... today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air ... and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel ... it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands."
As Goliath moved in for the kill, David reached into his bag and slung one of his stones at Goliath's head. Finding a hole in the armor, the stone sank into the giant's forehead and he fell face down on the ground. David then took Goliath's sword, killed him and then cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. So the Israelites pursued, chasing and killing them and plundering their camp.
see how to story change ? this just let me feel that as a child we are sheltered away from the cruel truth for our own good. is it truly for our own good ? hmmm ...
