"Alarm Clock"

In Titian's ceiling painting, David was resisting Goliath.

Goliath was one of the famous Giants of legend. The Bible recorded that Goliath was a Philistine general who led troops against the Israeli army. He possessed boundless strength; everyone who saw him kept their distance and dared not face him in battle.

The young David had brought food for his three older brothers, who were marching with Saul. Hearing Goliath's challenge and Saul's promise of a hefty reward, he fearlessly declared that he would defeat Goliath. David refused the armor Saul offered him. He carried a staff, a sling, and five smooth stones selected from a stream as he faced Goliath, who wore a bronze helmet and armor.

David said, "Today Jehovah will deliver you into my hand. I will kill you and cut off your head. I will also give the corpses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. Then all the earth shall know that there is a God in Israel; and all those gathered here shall know that Jehovah saves not by sword or spear, for the outcome of battle belongs entirely to Jehovah. He will deliver you into our hands."

David used his sling to strike Goliath in the forehead, and Goliath fell facedown upon the ground.

David drew Goliath's sword from its sheath, cut off his head with it, and killed him. The Philistines fled from the pursuing Israelites "as far as Gath and Ekron." David placed Goliath's armor in his own tent but brought his head to Jerusalem. Saul asked Commander Abner whose son had faced that Philistine. Abner brought David before Saul, who asked whose son David was. "David said, 'I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.'"

That shepherd boy, David, later