THE FATHER OF A RACE OF KINGS. 175

rejected the commandments of the Lord. We have
arrived now at the time when Saul’s successor was in-
troduced into the army. The Philistines assembled their
armies, marched into the territories of Judah, and there
pitched their camp. The Israelites gathered together
and pitched near them. Each army was on a moun-
tain, a valley lay between them. In the Philistine host
there was a giant, whose name was Goliath. He be-
longed to the town of Gath. He was of the sons of
Anak, hearing of whom from the spies had so filled
the children of Israel with dread.

Johnnie. How tall was the giant, grandfather ?

Grandfather. Six cubits and a span. Some make
the cubit to be twenty-one inches; but even reckoning
it at a foot and a half, the height of Goliath would be
within three inches of ten feet. He was completely
armed. He wore a coat of mail and a brass helmet.
He stepped forth from the ranks of his countrymen and
called out to the Israelites, offering to decide the battle
by single combat, if any man of Israel would come for-
ward to encounter him. “If he be able to fight with
me, and to kill me,” said the tall Philistine, “ then will
we be your servants; but if I prevail against him, and
kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.”
These words, and the formidable appearance of the
speaker, struck terror into the hearts of Saul and his
men. None dared to reply. Forty days the Philistine
approached every morning and every evening, and
defied his trembling foes. In the town of Bethlehem,