Welcome and thank you for taking a bible break to test your knowledge of God's word.
This week's question:

The sons of Samuel did not walk in the way of the Lord (1 Samuel 8:1-3), so the people told Samuel, "Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations." (1 Samuel 8:5). This was not only displeasing to Samuel, but also to the Lord who told Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being King over them." (1 Samuel 8:7). And so a king was chosen by God, a son of Kish, a Benjamite, "And he had a son whose name was Saul, a choice and handsome man, and there was not a more handsome person among the sons of Israel; from his shoulders and up he was taller than any of the people." (1 Samuel 9:2). Then the Lord tells Samuel concerning Saul, "Behold, the man of whom I spoke to you! This one shall rule over My people." (1 Samuel 9:17). When they are going to anoint Saul as king, they cannot find him for he is hiding by the baggage (1 Samuel 10:22), and so starts a very humble beginning for the king of Israel, who was "little in his own eyes" (1 Samuel 15:17), as he even was working the fields after being anointed as king (1 Samuel 11:5). But as time goes on for Saul as king, so does his pride, as he does not fully listen to the voice of the Lord (1 Samuel 15 1-23).

That brings us to our question, "Who fought in the valley of Elah?" The Lord told Samuel, "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not carried out My commands." (1 Samuel 15:11). And so Samuel tells Saul, "Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you from being king." (1 Samuel 15:22-23). Although Saul sought to have his sin pardoned, the Lord's decision had been made and would not change (1 Samuel 15:29), and the Spirit of the Lord left Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him (1 Samuel 16:14), so that a son of Jesse would play his harp to refresh Saul
(1 Samuel 16:23).

So then, for the answer to our question we turn and read about the Philistines who gather to do battle with the sons of Israel, and who sport a champion who stands nine feet nine inches tall and whose armor weighed one-hundred twenty-five pounds and his spears shaft was like a weavers beam. He challenged the Israelites to fight him, but they are "dismayed and greatly afraid" (1 Samuel 17:11). But this same son of Jesse who played the harp for Saul, describes as a ruddy youth, took up the challenge and a sling in hand with five smooth stones and with the Lord of hosts and told the Philistine champion, "This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all the assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear, for the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into our hand's."
(1 Samuel 17:46-47).

Then this youth ran up to meet Goliath and struck him in the forehead and he fell to the ground and David took Goliath's sword and lifted his head from him, as the priest, Ahimelech recounts to David, "'The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, behold, it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if you would take it for yourself, take it. For there is no other except it here.' And David said, There is none like it; give it to me.'" (1 Samuel 21:9). So there we have the answer to our question, as it is David and a champion named Goliath who fought in the valley of Elah, to the death, with the one who put his trust in the Lord becoming the victor!

May we be as Trusting in the Lord as David, even in his youth, even as Paul writes to another youth named Timothy, "for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds the promise for the present life and also for the life to come. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. For it is in this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. Prescribe and teach these things."
(1 Timothy 4:8-11).

Let us not trust in ourselves but unto Him who is able to raise people from the dead to eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:9-10).