I’ve been going through multiple trials, tribulations, and annoyances the past few months which culminated in an unusual outburst of frustration and anger from me last night. My beloved said to me, “Don’t you worry. We’ll slay these giants together.”. Of course, she was referring to one of the very best known of all Bible stories – David and Goliath — the source of countless inspirational sermons. Almost everyone knows the final outcome; the giant dies! But, what about the finer details? There’s a fascinating story there also. Let’s take a look.
The Goliath story is found in 1 Samuel, Chapter 17, here. It could be an interesting exercise for you to read the text before you read this article … to see if you can spot some of the oddities and nuances. You might find some things not mentioned in this article, and then you can share that with all of us.
WARNING: You will not like this article if you need to believe that David defeated Goliath because of his faith in God, and therefore, that it was really God who defeated the big Philistine …. as opposed to a more “non-miraculous” account – that David won the battle because he made some shrewd calculations about his strengths vs. Goliath’s weakness.
Geographical Background
The Philistines were a seafaring people from Crete who had settled along the coast. Israel, led by King Saul, were grouped in the mountains. The two people were sworn enemies. Eventually, the battle tested and fierce Philistines moved east toward the Elah Valley. Their goal was to capture a mountain ridge near Bethlehem, thus splitting Israel in two. The two armies were pitched against each other on opposing mountain ridges, with the Valley of Elah below. Neither made a move. An attack would involve descending down one hill, and then making a certain suicidal charge up the enemy’s ridge. For days on end they just shouted various curses at each other. Finally, the Philistines said “Screw this crap!” – or whatever was equivalent in that era – and they sent their greatest warrior to single-handedly resolve the deadlock.
Continue reading ““Am I A Dog That You Should Come To Me With Sticks?””
