Tom lowe
3/17/2022
bDavid and Goliath
Goliath is a character in the biblical Book of Samuel, described as a Philistine giant defeated by the young David in single combat. The story signified Saul's unfitness to rule since Saul himself should have fought for Israel. Scholars today believe that the initially listed killer of Goliath was Elhanan, son of Jair and that the authors of the aDeuteronomic history changed the original text to credit the victory to the more famous character David.
a Deuteronomic history - of or relating to the book of Deuteronomy, its style, or its contents.
b The phrase "David and Goliath" has taken on a more popular meaning denoting an underdog situation, a contest wherein a smaller, weaker opponent faces a much bigger, stronger adversary.
Contents
• 1. Biblical account
o 1.1 The Goliath narrative in 1 Samuel 17
o 1.2 Composition of the Book of Samuel
o 1.3 Structure of the Goliath narrative
• 2. Textual considerations
o 2.1 Goliath's height
o 2.2 Goliath and Saul
o 2.3 Elhanan and Goliath
o 2.4 Goliath and the Greeks
o 2.5 Goliath's name
• 3. Later traditions
o 3.1 Jewish
o 3.2 Islam
• 4. How is Goliath characterized in this episode?
• 5. What happens to the head of Goliath
• 6. Men in the Old Testament
1. Biblical account
1.1 The Goliath narrative in 1 Samuel 17
Goliath challenges the Israelites to choose a fighter to face him one on one, with the losing nation to become slaves of the other. Even for an experienced fighter, this represents a daunting task, and David has first to convince Saul that he is equal to the task. Testifying about his prowess against lions and bears, David's speech is impressive, and Saul agrees to allow him to enter the ring. Even more impressive are David's words to Goliath, asserting that the battle belongs to God and intends to use the giant's sword to decapitate him (1Sam 17:45-47). It should be noted that David rejects the offer of Saul's armor, but he does have a slingshot in his hand, a weapon customarily identified with Benjamin, Saul's tribe (see Judg 20:15-16). In the other hand, David also takes a shepherd's staff, an implement that in 1Sam 17:43 provides Goliath with a canine insult: "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" However, David is merely using the staff as a distraction, and evidently, Goliath takes the bait and does not see the well-aimed rock that hits his forehead, causing him to fall face-first to the ground.
Like an athlete who guarantees victory before the game, true to his word, David cuts off the head of the Philistine with the giant's sword. However, Goliath's head is subject to an exciting postmortem journey, for according to 1Sam 17:54, David carries the head to Jerusalem. At this point in the larger story, Jerusalem is a non-Israelite city, and even though it is in the heart of the promised land, no Israelite has conquered it. In 2Sam 5, David will successfully invade it, rename it "the city of David," and transform it into the national capital. Thus the head of Goliath in 1Sam 17 acts as a kind of security deposit, anticipating David's more significant achievement and installation as the king of all Israel.
Some of the most popular and enduring stories involve an underdog who overcomes tremendous obstacles and secures victory against the odds. Arguably the most famous of such stories is the unlikely triumph of David—the young Israelite shepherd—against the battle-hardened Philistine war machine, the nine-foot-nine Goliath of Gath. Even though many people have heard about "David versus Goliath" in the media, the actual details of the story in 1Sam 17 are less widely known. According to the biblical story, the Philistines and Israelites were locked in a heated struggle over a limited amount of land. The Philistines enjoyed a technological advantage (see 1Sam 13:16-22) and usually held the upper hand, but in this case, the tables were turned.
Saul and the Israelites are facing the Philistines in the Valley of Elah. Twice a day for 40 days, morning and evening, Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, comes out between the lines and challenges the Israelites to send out a champion of their own to decide the outcome in single combat but Saul is afraid. David accepts the challenge. Saul reluctantly agrees and offers his armor which David declines, taking only his staff, sling, and five stones from a brook.
David and Goliath confront each other, Goliath with his armor and javelin, David with his staff and sling. "The Philistine cursed David by his gods." However, David replies: "This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down, and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and that all this assembly may know that God saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is God's, and he will give you into our hand."
David hurls a stone from his sling and hits Goliath in the center of his forehead, and Goliath falls on his face to the ground; David cuts off his head. The Philistines flee and are pursued by the Israelites "as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron." David puts the armor of Goliath in his tent and takes the head to Jerusalem, and Saul sends Abner to bring the boy to him. The king asks whose son he is, and David answers, "I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.
1.2 Composition of the Book of Samuel
The Books of Samuel, together with the books of Joshua, Judges, and Kings, make up a unified history of Israel which biblical scholars call the aDeuteronomistic History. The first edition of the history was probably written at the court of Judah's King Josiah (late 7th century BCE) and a revised second edition during the exile (6th century BCE), with further revisions in the post-exilic period. This can be seen in contradictions within the Goliath story, such as between 1 Samuel 17:54, which says that David took Goliath's head to Jerusalem. However, according to 2 Samuel 5, Jerusalem was still a Jebusite stronghold and was not captured until David became king.
1.3 Structure of the Goliath narrative
The Goliath story is made up of a base narrative with numerous additions probably after the exile:
Original story
• The Israelites and Philistines face each other; Goliath makes his challenge to single combat;
• David volunteers to fight Goliath;
• David selects five smooth stones from a creek-bed to be used in his sling;
• David defeats Goliath. The Philistines flee the battlefield.
Additions
• David is sent by his father to bring food to his brothers, hears the challenge, and expresses his desire to accept;
• Details of the account of the battle;
• Saul asks who David is, and he is introduced to the king through Abner.
David hoists the severed head of Goliath
2. Textual considerations
2.1 Goliath's height
The oldest manuscripts, namely the Dead Sea Scrolls text of Samuel from the late 1st century BCE, the 1st-century CE historian Josephus, and the significant Septuagint manuscripts, all give it as "four cubits and a span" (6 feet 9 inches or 2.06 meters). In contrast, the cMasoretic text has "six cubits and a span" (9 feet 9 inches or 2.97 meters). Many scholars had suggested that the smaller number grew in the course of transmission (only a few have suggested the reverse, that an original more significant number was reduced), possibly when a scribe's eye was drawn to the number six in line 17:7.
cThe Masoretic Text: Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism.
2.2 Goliath and Saul
The underlying purpose of the story of Goliath is to show that Saul is not fit to be king (and that David is). Saul was chosen to lead the Israelites against their enemies, but when faced with Goliath, he refuses to do so; Saul is a head taller than anyone else in all Israel (1 Samuel 9:2), which implies he was over 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and the apparent challenger for Goliath. Yet, David is the one who eventually defeated him. Also, Saul's armor and weaponry are no worse than Goliath's (and David refuses Saul's armor in any case). "David declares that when a lion or bear came and attacked his father's sheep, he battled against it and killed it, [but Saul] has been cowering in fear instead of rising and attacking the threat to his sheep (i.e., Israel)."
2.3 Elhanan and Goliath
2 Samuel 21:19 tells how Goliath the Gittite was killed by "Elhanan, the son of Jacare-oregim, the Bethlehemite." Scholars believe that the original killer of Goliath was Elhanan and that the authors of the Deuteronomic history changed the text to credit the victory to the more famous character David. The fourth-century BC 1 Chronicle 20:5 explains the second Goliath by saying that Elhanan "slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath," constructing the name Lahmi from the last portion of the word "Bethlehemite" ("beit-ha'lahmi"). The King James Bible adopted this into 2 Samuel 21:18–19, but the Hebrew text at Goliath's name does not mention the word "brother."
"Most scholars dismiss the parallel in 1 Chronicles 20:5 as an obvious harmonization". "Halpern represents perhaps a majority of current scholars."
2.4 Goliath and the Greeks
The armor described in 1 Samuel 17 appears typical of Greek armor of the sixth century BCE rather than of Philistine armor of the tenth century; narrative formulae such as the settlement of battle by single combat between champions have been thought characteristic of the Homeric epics (the Iliad) rather than of the ancient Near East. The designation of Goliath as a ??? ???????, "man of the in-between" (a longstanding difficulty in translating 1 Samuel 17) appears to be a borrowing from Greek "man of the metaikhmion (µeta??µ???)," i.e., the space between two opposite army camps where champion combat would take place.
A story very similar to that of David and Goliath appears in the Iliad, written circa (about) 760–710 BCE, where the young Nestor fights and conquers the giant dEreuthalion. Each giant wields a distinctive weapon—an iron club in Ereuthalion's case, a massive bronze spear in Goliath's; each giant, clad in armor, comes out of the enemy's massed array to challenge all the warriors in the opposing army; in each case the seasoned warriors are afraid, and the challenge is taken up by a stripling, the youngest in his family (Nestor is the twelfth son of Neleus, David the seventh or eighth son of Jesse). An older and more experienced father figure (Nestor's father, David's patron Saul) tells the boy that he is too young and inexperienced. However, the young hero receives divine aid in each case, and the giant is left sprawling on the ground. Nestor, fighting on foot, then takes the chariot of his enemy, while David, on foot, takes the sword of Goliath. The enemy army then flees, the victors pursue and slaughter them and return with their bodies, and the people acclaim the boy-hero.
dAn Arcadian, who, in the armor of Areithous, which Lycurgus had given him, fought against the Pylians, but was slain by Nestor.
2.5 Goliath's name
Tell es-Safi, the biblical Gath and traditional home of Goliath, has been the subject of extensive excavations by Israel's Bar-Ilan University. The archaeologists have established that this was one of the largest Philistine cities until destroyed in the ninth century BC, an event from which it never recovered.
The Tell es-Safi inscription, a potsherd ( a broken piece of ceramic material, especially one found on an archaeological site.) discovered at the site, and reliably dated to between the tenth to mid-ninth centuries BC, is inscribed with the two names ?LWT and WLT. While the names are not directly connected with the biblical Goliath (?????, GLYT), they are etymologically related and demonstrate that the name fits with the context of late tenth/early ninth century BC Philistine culture. The name "Goliath" itself is non-Semitic and linked with the Lydian king Alyattes, which also fits the Philistine context of the biblical Goliath story. A similar name, Uliat, is also attested in Carian inscriptions. Aren Maeir, director of the excavation, comments: "Here we have very nice evidence [that] the name Goliath appearing in the Bible in the context of the story of David and Goliath… is not some later literary creation."
e1: the history of a linguistic form (such as a word) shown by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence in the language where it is found, by tracing its transmission from one language to another, by analyzing it into its component parts, by identifying its cognates in other languages, or by tracing it and its cognates to a common ancestral form in an ancestral language
e2: a branch of linguistics concerned with etymologies.
3. Later traditions
3.1 Jewish
According to the Babylonian Talmud (Sotah 42b), Goliath was the son of Orpah, the sister-in-law of Ruth, David's great grandmother (Ruth ? Obed ? Jesse ? David). His armor weighed 60 pounds, according to rabbi Hanina; 120, according to rabbi Abba bar Kahana; and his sword, which became the sword of David, had extraordinary powers. On his death, it was found that his heart carried the image of Dagon, who thereby also came to a shameful downfall.
The Talmud stresses Goliath's ungodliness: his taunts before the Israelites included the boast that it was he who had captured the Ark of the Covenant and brought it to the temple of Dagon, and his challenges to combat were made at morning and evening in order to disturb the Israelites in their prayers. Ruth Rabbah, a haggadic and homiletic interpretation of the Book of Ruth, makes the blood relationship even closer, considering Orpah and Ruth to have been full sisters. Orpah was said to have made a pretense of accompanying Ruth but after forty paces left her. After that, she led a dissolute life. On his death, it was found that his heart carried the image of Dagon, who thereby also came to a shameful downfall.
In fPseudo-Philo, believed to have been composed between 135 BC and 70 AD, David picks up seven stones and writes on them his father's name, his name, and the name of God, one name per stone; then, speaking to Goliath, he says "Hear this word before you die: were not the two woman from whom you and I were born, sisters? Moreover, your mother was Orpah and my mother Ruth ..." After David strikes Goliath with the stone, he runs to Goliath before he dies. Goliath says, "Hurry and kill me and rejoice." David replies, "Before you die, open your eyes and see your slayer." Goliath sees an angel and tells David that it is not he who has killed him but the angel. Pseudo-Philo then says that the angel of the Lord changes David's appearance so that no one recognizes him, and thus Saul asks who he is.
fPseudo-Philo is the name commonly used for the unknown, anonymous author of Biblical Antiquities.
3.2 Islam
Goliath appears in chapter 2 of the Quran (2: 247–252), in the narrative of David and Saul's battle against the Philistines. Called Jalut in Arabic (?????), Goliath's mention in the Quran is concise, although it remains a parallel to the account in the Hebrew Bible. Muslim scholars have tried to trace Goliath's origins, most commonly with the Amalekites. In early scholarly tradition, Goliath became a kind of byword or collective name for the oppressors of the Israelite nation before David. Muslim tradition sees the battle with the Goliath as a prefiguration of Muhammad's battle of Badr and sees Goliath as parallel to the enemies that Muhammad faced.
4. How is Goliath characterized in this episode?
Most English translations call Goliath a "champion" in 1Sam 17:4, a paraphrase of a Hebrew expression that can more literally be rendered "a man of the place between." If a combatant remains standing in the space between two armies at the end of the battle, such a person is a champion, and the implication is that Goliath has been effective in many such conflicts. Goliath's immense stature must be a reason for such success, but he is also heavily armored as he approaches the Israelite troops. Such a lengthy description of a warrior's accouterments—beginning with Goliath's helmet, then moving down to the coat of mail and bronze greaves on his legs—is uncommon in the Hebrew Bible. This portrait is much closer to depictions of warrior-heroes in Greek literature, and this case points to the Hellenistic roots of the Philistines.
However, Goliath is also from the city of Gath, and according to Josh 11:22, Gath is home to the "Anakites," an ancient race of fearsome giants. Consequently, Goliath is pictured as the ultimate hybrid figure: a Greek warrior not unlike Achilles and a member of an ancient race of giants who struck terror into the Israelites moving toward the land of their inheritance (see Deut 1:28). As if the description of Goliath's ancestry and weaponry were not enough, he is also presented as an intimidating speaker who verbally assaults the army of Israel and David himself, before any actual fighting: "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the wild animals of the field" (1Sam 17:44).
5. Gath in the Bible
Gath of the Philistines was one of the five principal cities of the Philistines, the "Philistine Pentapolis" (along with Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gaza & Ekron). In the biblical text, particularly in the portions relating to the early stages of the Judean and Israelite kingdoms, Gath is portrayed as the most important city (at least concerning the Israelites). It is mentioned in the Bible more often than any other Philistine city. The prominence of Gath is seen as well through the mention of various figures originating from Gath ("Gittites") in the biblical narratives relating to the Davidic cycle. Suffice to mention Goliath, who fought David (I Sam 17), the King Achish, to whom David escaped from Saul (I Sam 21;27;29), as well as several of David's heroes (II Sam 15:18-23). In addition, Gath is portrayed as a city of the legendary "Anakim," a race of giants, remnants of the early Canaanite population of the land (Josh 11:22). This earlier tradition may relate to the Gath/Gimti mentioned in the El-Amarna correspondence (EA 290) dating to the 14th cent. BCE (LBII), possibly the town of the Canaanite king Shuwardata.
Gath passed from Philistine to Judean hands and back several times throughout the Iron Age. It was captured by David (I Chr 18:1), may have been fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chr 11:8, though the date of this text is far from clear), was captured by Hazael of Damascus (2 Kgs 12:18), and recaptured by Uzziah (2 Chr 26:6). Nevertheless, it was still considered a Philistine city too late in the Iron age (Amos 6:2). In 711 BCE, Gath was conquered by Sargon II of Assyria and forever lost its independence.
The identification of Gath has been extensively discussed in the literature. In the mid-19th cent, it was already suggested to identify Tell es-Safi as Gath (e.g., Porter and others). For many years though, following Albright, this identification was not favored, and various other sites were suggested, such as Tell Sheikh Ahmed el-‘Areini (near modern Kiryat Gath) by Albright itself, Tell esh-Sharieh (by Wright), and even recently at Tell Abu Hureira (by Stager). These identifications though are problematic, and as Rainey demonstrated (and recently reiterated by Schniedewind), the only site that fits in well with the various mentions of Gath in the Biblical and post-Biblical sources is Tell es-Safi. With the renewal of the new excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath, we have not found incontrovertible proof of this identification. Nevertheless, the finds from the excavations lend strong support to this thesis. This is mainly seen in the light of the extensive finds dating to the Late Bronze and Iron Age I-II, mainly the wide range of Philistine material culture, all of which fits in very well with the proposed identification. In addition, the few finds dating from the late 8th and 7th centuries BCE (the Iron Age III) correspond nicely with the lack of reference to Gath of the Philistines in the biblical and extra-biblical sources during the latter part of the Iron Age.
6. What happens to the head of Goliath?
Goliath challenges the Israelites to choose a fighter to face him one on one, with the losing nation to become slaves of the other. Even for an experienced fighter, this represents a daunting task, and David has first to convince Saul that he is equal to the task. Testifying about his prowess against lions and bears, David's speech is impressive, and Saul agrees to allow him to enter the ring. Even more impressive are David's words to Goliath, asserting that the battle belongs to God and intends to use the giant's sword to decapitate him (1Sam 17:45-47). It should be noted that David rejects the offer of Saul's armor, but he does have a slingshot in his hand, a weapon customarily identified with Benjamin, Saul's tribe (see Judg 20:15-16). In the other hand, David also takes a shepherd's staff, an implement that in 1Sam 17:43 provides Goliath with a canine insult: "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" However, David is merely using the staff as a distraction, and evidently, Goliath takes the bait and does not see the well-aimed rock that hits his forehead, causing him to fall face-first to the ground.
Like an athlete who guarantees victory before the game, true to his word, David cuts off the head of the Philistine with the giant's sword. But Goliath's head is subject to an exciting postmortem journey, for according to 1Sam 17:54, David carries the head to Jerusalem. At this point in the larger story, Jerusalem is a non-Israelite city, and even though it is in the heart of the promised land, no Israelite has conquered it. In 2Sam 5, David will successfully invade it, rename it "the city of David," and transform it into the national capital. Thus the head of Goliath in 1Sam 17 acts as a kind of security deposit, anticipating David's more significant achievement and installation as the king of all Israel.
7. Men in the Old Testament
• Gath was one of the five cities of Philistia.
• Most scholars think it was located on the site known as Tell es-Safi.
• It was in northern Philistia, by the Elah valley, near Ashdod and six miles south of Ekron.
• It was along with one of the leading trade routes (the Via Maris) leading to the hill country in Judah.
• It is located on a mound on a crescent-shaped hill.
• The area is very fertile with an ample water supply.
• It was continuously inhabited from 1300 BCE on.
• It was one of the largest Philistine cities in its day.
• Gath was destroyed in the 8-9th century BCE and never regained its stature.
• It has been the site of extensive excavations by Israel's Bar-Ilan University.
• Many artifacts have been found there, dating back to the time of King David.
• Scholars found a small ceramic shard at the site of Tell es-Safi.
• On the shard are two names that are very much like Goliath.
• The names are Alwt and Wlt. These are non-Semitic names etymologically linked to the name Goliath.
• This doesn't mean, of course, that it points to the person of Goliath, only that the name existed during the time of David.
• Excavations are ongoing.
• There are distinct differences between the Hebrew (Masoretic), the Septuagint (Greek), and the Dead Sea Scrolls regarding the height of Goliath.
• The Hebrew texts say he was "six cubits and a span" or roughly 9 feet 6 inches tall.
• Greek translations prior to the fourth century CE and the Dead Sea Scrolls claim he was "four cubits and a span" or roughly 6 feet 6 inches.
• Josephus (a first-century historian) also claims he was "four cubits and a span."
• Later Greek translations agree with the Hebrew account.
• A cubit is the arm's length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow, averaging 18-21 inches. It was also referred to as six palms or two spans.
• Goliath is mentioned by name only twice. He is referred to as "the Philistine."
• Later on, there is another story of Goliath the Gittite, who was killed by Elhanan, the son of a Benjaminite.
• Some scholars think these men were brothers.
• Others think Elhanan killed Goliath. The name was later applied to an incident involving David.
• That would mean that David's opponent was without a name.
• According to the Davidic legend, the Israelites and the Philistines were facing each other in Judah in the valley of Elah.
• For forty days, Goliath came out between the lines to taunt the Israelites twice a day.
• Because he stood halfway between the armies, he became known as "the man of the midst."
• Because ancient cultures believed their gods accompanied them into battle, it was believed that the nation with the most robust God would prevail. · Each day, Goliath would come out and taunt the Israelites and their God.
• This would humiliate the Israelites, but they were also fearful, and no one dared to accept his challenge.
• According to legend, he was covered with armor from his head to his toes.
• The blade of his sword alone weighed more than twenty pounds.
• He challenged them to send out one soldier to fight him, and the winner takes all.
• After forty days of this taunting, Saul and his men were in deep despair.
• Saul offered his daughter in marriage and a lifetime tax exemption for anyone who would volunteer to fight Goliath.
• When David heard the taunts, he volunteered to fight Goliath without armor.
• He gathered five smooth stones and approached his enemy.
• Upon seeing the young boy, Goliath roared out, "Am I a dog that you come at me with sticks?"
• He swore by his gods and bellowed, "Come here, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air!"
• He promised his gods to offer David as a sacrifice to them.
• David slung one of his stones, hitting Goliath in the forehead.
• Goliath fell on his face; David beheaded him with Goliath's sword.
• The Philistine army was stunned by this sudden turn of events.
• When Saul's troops came to life and began to cheer, the Philistines ran for their lives.
• They knew the Israelite God had defeated their gods.
• Saul's army chased them for twenty-five miles, killing thirty thousand.
• More than twice that many were counted among the wounded.
• David took Goliath's armor to his tent and carried the head to Jerusalem, where he was hailed as a hero.
• Some scholars think the description of Goliath's armor resembles that worn by Greek warriors during the 6th century.
• The story also resembles the Iliad story about a youth who fights and prevails over a giant.
• In both instances, the enemy army flees after the battle.
• In some Babylonian writings, Goliath was claimed to be the son of Orpah, the sister-in-law of Ruth.
• Since David was a direct descendant of Ruth, they would have been cousins by marriage.
• Jewish legend also states that Goliath was responsible for killing the priests at Aphek and capturing the Ark of the Covenant.
• He took the Ark and placed it before the Philistine God, Dagon.
• The next morning Dagon was found face down.
• The Philistines propped him back up only to find him face down the second day – with his head and hands detached.
• The Ark was then sent to various towns, but all the people came down with physical problems in each city.
• Eventually, the Philistines sent the Ark back to Israel.
• The Philistines had several gods, including Dagon, Baal, and Beelzebub.
• Jewish legend also concluded that Goliath chose to taunt the Israelites morning and evening because that would be most disruptive, interfering with their times for prayer.
• When he died, Goliath's sword was passed on to David, and it was found to have extraordinary powers.
• Rumor has it that his heart bore the image of Dagon upon it, so his death was also a defeat for Dagon.
• In one of the intertestamental books (Pseudo-Philo), David supposedly wrote the name of his fathers and the name of God on the stones.
• According to this legend, Goliath was killed by an angel.
• Immediately, David's appearance was so radically changed that even Saul had to inquire who he was.
• The David-Goliath story has captured imaginations through the eons.
• It has become a metaphor for those who are weak but righteous, inspiring them to triumph over seemingly unbeatable opponents.
•
•
