From the battlement, the watchman sees a knight riding from the forest and ascending the hill. He is in full armor, a long lance in one arm, a great shield in the other. His powerful black charger wears a coat of bright red and paws the air and snorts as the rider reins him in at the castle gate. The knight bangs his lance on the mighty doors and shouts his challenge: "Who will contend with me? Let us face one another. Who dares to be my opponent? Let him present himself!"

Day by day a giant from the ranks of the Philistines rises and dons his bronze helmet and a coat of mail, weighing itself as much as some men. He slings a bronnze javelin over his shoulder and takes his spear with a shaft like a 2 by 4 and a 15-pound iron head. Across the Valley of Elah he taunts the Israelites, encamped …