(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
1 Samuel 17:1–11, “Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them. And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him. And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.”
During Saul’s reign there was constant warfare between the Philistines and Israel. The Philistines could remember that they had defeated Israel before even though Israel brought the ark to the battle. Even though they had captured the ark and were forced to send it back to save themselves from a severe plague, they still believed that they could defeat Israel in battle. At this stage they were extra confident because they had a powerful giant on their side. Previously, Israel had been so afraid of the native giants in Canaan that they refused to obey the Lord and take possession of the Promised Land. Israel was on one side of a valley and the Philistines were on the other side of the valley. Goliath was over 9 feet (about 3 m) tall and was huge in every way. He suggested that he act as the Philistine champion and Israel choose a champion so that they could fight and decide who would win the battle. Saul was the natural choice to be the Israeli champion because he was the tallest man in Israel. We don’t have a record of Saul’s height but we do know that the next tallest man in Israel came up to his shoulders. Goliath was such a terrifying figure that every Israeli was afraid of him and he challenged them every day. He was confident that Israel would never be able to find someone who could defeat him.
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