In today’s reading, the Israelites come to a standoff in battle against the Philistines, and the giant Goliath of Gath provokes the Israelite army to send a champion to break the stalemate. The shepherd son of Jesse, David, becomes the unlikely hero…

Psalm 9, a psalm of David, is suggestive of the deliverance God gave in the duel described in 1st Samuel 17, according to some scholar’s interpretations of the subtitle “upon Muth-labben”, which is associated with the phrase “the death of the son”. The ancient Chaldea version reads “Concerning the death of the Champion who went out between the camps”, an obvious reference to Goliath.

Into/Outro music: "Unexpectedly" (c) 1995 Alex Grant Used by permission