﴿ فَلَمَّا فَصَلَ طَالُوتُ بِٱلْجُنُودِ قَالَ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مُبْتَلِيكُم بِنَهَرٍۢ فَمَن شَرِبَ مِنْهُ فَلَيْسَ مِنِّى وَمَن لَّمْ يَطْعَمْهُ فَإِنَّهُۥ مِنِّىٓ إِلَّا مَنِ ٱغْتَرَفَ غُرْفَةًۢ بِيَدِهِۦ ۚ فَشَرِبُوا۟ مِنْهُ إِلَّا قَلِيلًۭا مِّنْهُمْ ۚ فَلَمَّا جَاوَزَهُۥ هُوَ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ مَعَهُۥ قَالُوا۟ لَا طَاقَةَ لَنَا ٱلْيَوْمَ بِجَالُوتَ وَجُنُودِهِۦ ۚ قَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُم مُّلَٰقُوا۟ ٱللَّهِ كَم مِّن فِئَةٍۢ قَلِيلَةٍ غَلَبَتْ فِئَةًۭ كَثِيرَةًۢ بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ مَعَ ٱلصَّٰبِرِينَ ﴾

“And when Saul set out with his forces, he said: "Behold, God will now try you by a river: he who shall drink of it will not belong to me, whereas he who shall refrain from tasting it - he, indeed, will belong to me; but forgiven shall be he who shall scoop up but a single handful." However, save for a few of them, they all drank [their fill] of it. And as soon as he and those who had kept faith with him had crossed the river, the others said: "No strength have we today [to stand up] against Goliath and his forces!" [Yet] those who knew with certainty that they were destined to meet God, replied: "How often has a small host overcome a great host by God's leave! For God is with those who are patient in adversity."”

About three hundred years after Moses and about one thousand years before Christ the Philistines attacked the Israelites and annexed most of the region of Palestine. After a period of time the Israelites wished to take some action against the Philistines, so that they might recover their lands from them. At that time there was a prophet called Samuel among them. Living in an ancient city in Syria, known as Rama, Samuel was in charge of the community matters of the Israelites. Therefore, a delegation met him and said to him, ‘Now that you have aged, you should appoint a king from amongst us, in order that we may wage war against our enemies under the command of our leader.’ Although Samuel did not have a good opinion of the character of the Israelites, he agreed to their request and promised to appoint a King for them. Therefore, he appointed a brave youth, Saul, who belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. Saul (Talut) set forth with the army to meet the enemy. On the way they had to cross the river Jordan. Since Saul was aware of the weaknesses of the Israelites, he employed a simple method to test them. He gave the order that, while crossing the river, no one was to drink more than a handful of water from it. The majority of the Israelites failed the test. However, God was with them and they emerged victorious under the leadership of Saul. A decisive role was played in this battle by David, a young Israelite soldier who was one of those who had full confidence in God. The feat he performed was to kill the enemy’s supreme commander, Goliath (Jalut). Upon the fall of Goliath, the Philistine army broke ranks and fled.