When Saul served God, he beat the Philistines; when he ceased to serve God, the Philistines slew him. The occasion of his death was touching, and called forth from a hand of no common skill a lament not easily surpassed: ‘The beauty of Israel is slain upon the high places; how are the mighty fallen! Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil. How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!’ But of all the warriors whose history is recorded in Scripture, none is to be compared with David. Almost every step of his eventful life, from the period when he was taken from the sheep-cote to his complete establishment on the throne of Israel, was marked by a spirit of singular enterprise and valour, regulated and impelled by fervent piety. He is described even in youth as ‘a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord was with him.’ His combat with Goliath exhibits an astonishing instance of cool and determined resolution, especially when the simplicity of his attire and weapons are contrasted with the panoply of the tall Philistine. The Israelitish slingers, it is said, could hurl stones with amazing 201force, and precision so wonderful as to strike within an hair’s-breadth of the intended mark. David was, no doubt, a proficient in this art, of which the issue of the duel is sufficient proof. The Philistine came on, wrapt probably in steel, and in formidable array, preceded by his armourbearer. He then commenced a speech, somewhat Homeric, but replete with invective, in which, like an overgrown coward, he impudently invoked the curses of his gods upon his antagonist, and ended by intimating that his shattered remains should soon be the vultures’ meal. David’s answer was finely conceived, and as well expressed. Without further delay, he addressed himself to the fight; ‘he put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth.’ The military prowess and superior talents of David were afterwards shown, during a lengthened course of brilliant operations, in which he was generally successful.