(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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1 Samuel 17:48–58, “And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled. And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines, until thou come to the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even unto Gath, and unto Ekron. And the children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, and they spoiled their tents. And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armour in his tent. And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell. And the king said, Enquire thou whose son the stripling is. And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”
Goliath was a bad tempered bully and wasn’t used to people defying him, especially a young boy who wasn’t even armed for battle. He came towards David expecting an easy battle but David ran towards the giant, just as he had run towards the lion and the bear. He was an expert at using the sling, which was a legitimate weapon of war. (compare Judg 20:15–17, “And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men. Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss. And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war.”) David selected his projectile and swung his weapon, the stone flew and hit the giant in a gap in his armour. The giant was surprised, such a thing had never entered his head before. In fact, David’s aim was so good that the giant fell dead on the ground. It was customary in battle, in those times, for a victor to take the head from the senior soldiers from the enemy side after a victory to show the people at home that they had, in fact, triumphed. According to that custom, David removed Goliath’s head but he had to use the giants own sword because he didn’t have one of his own. The Philistines didn’t just lay down their arms and surrender as the giant had promised. Of course, he didn’t imagine that he might lose the contest. They all ran away hoping to save their own lives. Israel chased them to try and eliminate all the Philistine armies so that they would not be a threat in the future.Saul wanted to know who David was because he didn’t recognise him in that context. David was brought to the king and reminded him that he was Jesse’s son, the musician.
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