When the words were heard which David spoke, they rehearsed them before Saul; and he sent for him.
"You are but a youth ... this man a man of war from his youth"  (1 Samuel 17:33).  The providence of God was surely operative in the news of David's willingness to fight Goliath reaching the king.  The soldiers began talking about what David said; the news spread far and wide; some of them might possibly have been intrigued with the possibility of seeing `that young smart-aleck from the country' humiliated by his cowardice when confronted with the prospect of actual combat.  However it happened, the news reached Saul, and Israel's champion in the person of the youthful David stood before him.