The future King David uses his sling to throw a stone at Goliath, helped by angels. From the Bristol Psalter, written in the 1000s AD in Constantinople.
When did King David live?
After they got free from the Philistines, the Jews were independent again for a while. This is the time of the story of Ruth.
Who were the Philistines?
The Jews and the Levant
West Asian religion
All our West Asia articles
David’s father and grandfather
At this time the Jews did not have a king. Their rulers were judges. Now (according to the Bible), Ruth’s son was named Obed, and his son was named Jesse, and Jesse’s son was named David.
David and Goliath
When David was a child, maybe around 1000 BC, the Philistines attacked the Jews again. Samuel fought the Philistines. He became a judge and a leader of the Jews. Then the Jews wanted a king, and Samuel made a young man named Saul the first king of the Jews. When David was a young man, about 900 BC, he fought the Philistines too. This is the story of David and Goliath in the Bible.
(In November 2005, archaeologists found a piece of pottery in the town of Gath, where the Bible says Goliath came from, which had the name Goliath scratched on it. It probably doesn’t mean the same Goliath. But it does show that Goliath really was a name people used in Gath around that time).
King David and King Solomon
The temple of Goliath’s town, Gath
Later David became the king of the Jews, and after him Solomon became the king of the Jews.
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. She’s white but her attendants are black and ride camels. Canterbury, England, 1180 AD
The First Temple
Solomon (according to the Bible) built the first stone temple in Jerusalem to hold the Ark of the Covenant, which had inside it the Ten Commandments which God had given to Moses.
What are the Ten Commandments?
Who was Moses?
Egypt in the time of David
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
The Bible says that Solomon married the Pharaoh‘s daughter from Egypt, and he also received a visit from the wealthy Queen of Sheba. Sheba was a kingdom in the Arabian Peninsula, probably modern Yemen.
The Arabian peninsula
Learn by doing: put on a play or make a video of the David and Goliath story
What came next: Judah
Bibliography and further reading about King David and King Solomon:
