David and Goliath

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 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 of 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 you be our servants, and serve us.

-- I Samuel 17: 4, 8-9 (KJV)

This is a tale very dear to the hearts of modern Israelis, who often compare their state to a tiny David set against the hostile Goliath of its Arab neighbors. Their hero, the shepherd David, is the archetypal underdog, cunning and brave but far outmatched in physical stature by his Philistine opponent, whom the King James Version describes as "six cubits and a span" -- 9 feet, 9 inches -- in height.

The setting is another episode in the continuing face-off between Israel and its Philistine neighbors. The Philistines have set up battle camp in territory claimed by the tribe of Judah, and they send out their biggest bully to challenge a man of Israel's choosing. The Hebrews' first reaction is something short of glorious: "And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man [Goliath], fled from him, and were sore afraid" (I Samuel 17: 24).

Enter David, who's indignant that an "uncircumcised Philistine" should "defy the armies of the living God" (verse 26). Presenting himself to Saul as a volunteer, David dons sword and armor, and for good measure stashes five stones in his shepherd's sack. When Gloiath spies his puny challenger approaching, he has a good laugh; but he doesn't laugh long. The defiant David pulls a stone from his sack, loads his sling, and "smit[es] the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon the face of the earth" (verse 49). He then finishes the job by cutting off Goliath's head.

This is the tale with which almost everyone is familiar -- and it has served countless times as an analogy for any mismatch in which the little guy overcomes heavy odds. Unfortunately, many of its details were apparently absent from the original text, which some later author or authors saw fit to enhance. The name Goliath, for example, seems to have been borrowed from another story, reported in II Samuel 21, where someone named Elhanan slays "Goliath the Gittite" (verse 19). The King James translators, confused, inserted the phrase "the brother of" -- yielding "Elhanan ... slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite." And Hebrew texts older than that used by the King James folks report that the Philistine challenger -- whatever his name -- was a mere "four cubits and a span" tall (six foot nine). There weren't exactly giants in the earth in those days.

 
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Michael Macrone is Associate Site Producer of GraceCom and the author of nine books on language, literature, and ideas, including the best-selling Brush Up Your Shakespeare!