Goliath’s Challenge
1Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war at Socoh in Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim. 2Saul and the men of Israel assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah, arraying themselves for battle against the Philistines.
- 1SA 17:1[ARCHAEOLOGY]Khirbet Qeiyafa
- 1SA 17:1[NOTE]SOCOH AND AZEKAH are real places in the Valley of Elah, about fifteen miles west of Bethlehem. The valley still has the same name.
3The Philistines stood on one hill and the Israelites stood on another, with the valley between them.
4Then a champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was nine feet nine inches tall, 5and he had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore a bronze coat of mail weighing 125 pounds, 6and he had armor of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and its iron point weighed fifteen pounds. In addition, his shield bearer went before him.
- 1SA 17:4[DEMONIC]Goliath of Gath, about nine feet nine inches tall, with a spear point weighing fifteen pounds
- 1SA 17:4[TEXT]HOW TALL? The standard Hebrew text says about nine feet nine inches. The oldest copy of this verse, a Dead Sea Scroll called 4QSam a, plus the Greek and Josephus, say about six feet nine inches. See the Big Question pages David and Goliath.
- 1SA 17:4[FIELD NOTES]Goliath came from Gath, a Philistine city that has been found and dug. See the Gath Field Notes page.
8And Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and array yourselves for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose one of your men and have him come down against me. 9If he is able to fight me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and work for us.”
10Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day! Give me a man to fight!”
11On hearing the words of the Philistine, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and greatly afraid.
David Accepts the Challenge
12Now David was the son of a man named Jesse, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah who had eight sons. And in the days of Saul, Jesse was old and well along in years. 13The three older sons of Jesse had followed Saul into battle: The firstborn was Eliab, the second was Abinadab, and the third was Shammah. 14And David was the youngest.
- 1SA 17:12[TEXT]THE SHORTER GREEK STORY. The oldest Greek copies leave out 17:12 to 31, 17:41, 17:50, 17:55 to 18:5 and a few more verses, more than a third of chapters 17 and 18. See the Big Question pages David and Goliath.
The three oldest had followed Saul, 15but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.
16For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening to take his stand.
17One day Jesse said to his son David, “Take this half bushel of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. 18Take also these ten portions of cheese to the commander of their unit. Check on the welfare of your brothers and bring back an assurance from them. 19They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”
20So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with a keeper, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had instructed him. He reached the camp as the army was marching out to its position and shouting the battle cry. 21And Israel and the Philistines arrayed in formation against each other.
22Then David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were doing. 23And as he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the ranks of the Philistines and shouted his usual words, which David also heard.
24When all the men of Israel saw Goliath, they fled from him in great fear.
25Now the men of Israel had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out to defy Israel? To the man who kills him the king will give great riches. And he will give him his daughter in marriage and exempt his father’s house from taxation in Israel.”
26David asked the men who were standing with him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
27The people told him about the offer, saying, “That is what will be done for the man who kills him.”
28Now when David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, his anger burned against David. “Why have you come down here?” he asked. “And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and wickedness of heart—you have come down to see the battle!”
- 1SA 17:28[HEART]Eliab said he knew the wickedness of David's heart. He judged his little brother's heart and got it wrong.
29“What have I done now?” said David. “Was it not just a question?” 30Then he turned from him toward another and asked about the offer, and those people answered him just as the first ones had answered.
31Now David’s words were overheard and reported to Saul, who sent for him.
32And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of this Philistine. Your servant will go and fight him!”
33But Saul replied, “You cannot go out against this Philistine to fight him. You are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”
34David replied, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep, and whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock, 35I went after it, struck it down, and delivered the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it. 36Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”
37David added, “Yahweh, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
“Go,” said Saul, “and may Yahweh be with you.”
David Slays Goliath
38Then Saul clothed David in his own tunic, put a bronze helmet on his head, and dressed him in armor. 39David strapped his sword over the tunic and tried to walk, but he was not accustomed to them.
“I cannot walk in these,” David said to Saul. “I am not accustomed to them.” So David took them off. 40And David took his staff in his hand, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag. And with his sling in hand, he approached the Philistine.
- 1SA 17:40[NOTE]THE SLING was a real weapon. Armies had trained slingers who could hit a target from far away, Judges 20:16. Psalm 151 also retells this fight.
41Now the Philistine came closer and closer to David, with his shield-bearer before him. 42When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him because he was just a boy, ruddy and handsome. 43“Am I a dog,” he said to David, “that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44“Come here,” he called to David, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”
- 1SA 17:43[DEMONIC]Goliath curses David by his gods
45But David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of Yahweh of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46This day Yahweh will deliver you into my hand. This day I will strike you down, cut off your head, and give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the creatures of the earth. Then the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47And all those assembled here will know that it is not by sword or spear that Yahweh saves; for the battle is Yahweh’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.”
- 1SA 17:45[NOTABLE]David's speech to Goliath. The fight is not about size or weapons but about whose name you come in. The battle is Yahweh's.
48As the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49Then David reached into his bag, took out a stone, and slung it, striking the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.
- 1SA 17:48[DEMONIC]David kills Goliath with a sling and a stone
50Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. 51David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword and pulled it from its sheath and killed him, and he cut off his head with the sword.
When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. 52Then the men of Israel and Judah charged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. And the bodies of the Philistines were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.
- 1SA 17:52[NOTE]SHAARAIM means two gates. Khirbet Qeiyafa, the walled town above the valley, has two gates, and its diggers think it is Shaaraim.
53When the Israelites returned from their pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps. 54David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.
55As Saul had watched David going out to confront the Philistine, he said to Abner the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?”
“As surely as you live, O king,” Abner replied, “I do not know.”
56“Find out whose son this young man is!” said the king.
57So when David returned from killing the Philistine, still holding his head in his hand, Abner took him and brought him before Saul.
58“Whose son are you, young man?” asked Saul.
“I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David replied.