Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.
For forty days the armies faced each other, neither moving, while Goliath bellowed his challenge twice daily and grew proud in his defiance, and Israel grew timid in theirs. God was ripening him for ruin and preparing to make Israel's rescue shine the brighter. All this time David kept his father's sheep, content in obscurity after his service at court, until Providence set him in the field to seize the laurel no other Israelite dared reach for.
AI summary
Commenting on 1 Samuel 17:12-30
Saul and the sons of Jesse stood arrayed on the mountainside near the Valley of Elah with all Israel's soldiers, not yet locked in battle but drawn up ready for it, prepared to engage whenever duty called. There were likely skirmishes at the edge of the camp, probing and testing before the main assault.
AI summary
Fighting with the Philistines - See at the end of the chapter, Sa1 17:58 (note).