To remove this story from the fairy-tale like ‘Jack and the beanstalk,’ it has not been written from the perspective of David but from the perspective of Goliath, and it’s Goliath who is our hero. A hero does not need to be the goodie in the story, but he does need to teach us. Have older children read the bible text to discover the story from the perspective of David.
This retold version of the Bible passage is supplied for inspiration, feel free to omit or embellish to give it your personal voice.
Main Passage : 1 Samuel 17
Today’s story is set on a battlefield. Two armies were camping on opposite hills where they could see each other. On one side were the Israelites and on the other side were the Philistines. They both knew that if the battle started, many, many men would die.
In the Philistine camp, they came up with a plan. Each army could send their best fighter and whoever won the fight would win the war. The losing side would become slaves. It was a good plan because they had Goliath. Goliath was really, really big. He was massive. His legs were long and thick like tree trunks, his arms were huge muscles, and he was twice as tall as some other soldiers. His armour and javelin were so heavy that some men couldn’t lift it. Surely nothing could hurt him!
Goliath and the person who carried his shield went down into the valley. Goliath took a deep breath and shouted the plan to the Israelite army. His voice echoed off the hills. Then, he looked at the Israelite army and waited. Nobody came out to fight him. Eventually, Goliath got bored. He kicked the man carrying his shield, and they went back to their camp laughing. The next day, Goliath went back down the hill and shouted the challenge again, and the day after, and the day after that, and for 40 days, but still nobody came.
Then one day, a young man called David arrived in the camp as Goliath was shouting the challenge. He had arrived carrying food, but now he was being taken to the king’s tent. Goliath kept watching closely and saw him walk out of the tent with no armour, no sword, and no shield, just a stick in his hands. David went over to and crouched by a small stream and then started walking towards him.
Goliath couldn’t believe it! This David was so small even regular armour wouldn’t fit him; he looked almost like a child. He started to tease David, laughing at him until, in a loud clear voice, David started to shout, “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. This day the Lord will end your life, and the whole world will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s!”
Goliath thought David was mad. Should he really fight him? But then he noticed that in David’s hand was a sling. As he had been talking, David had been spinning the sling round his head. As Goliath watched, a small round pebble came flying through the air and hit his forehead hard. Everything went blurry. He tried to step forward, but was already falling towards the ground. Everything went black.
David walked up to Goliath and pulled Goliath’s sword out of its holder. He could see the two armies watching him; so, he lifted the sword and cut off Goliath’s head. Then, David lifted the head up to show he had won the battle. The Philistines panicked and ran. Goliath was huge! If just a boy and his sling could defeat their hero, how big was their God?
