Part 3
The story of David and Goliath is a favorite among many Christians, and it's easy to see why. In it we see David, a young shepherd boy, fearlessly take on a warrior renowned for his giant stature, and emerge victorious, bringing glory to his people and his god. As a kid, this story was important to me; it reminded me that if God was with me, I didn't have to be afraid of even the biggest of bullies.
Authorship of 1 and 2 Samuel
The story of David and Goliath is found in 1 and 2 Samuel. While these were eventually divided into two separate books for practical purposes, originally 1 and 2 Samuel were a single work, which will henceforth be referred to simply as "Samuel" or "the Book of Samuel" in this article.While many assume that the Book of Samuel was written by the prophet after which the book was named, this is not the case. Indeed, many books in the Hebrew Bible such as Job, Ruth, and Esther are named after prominent characters in their narratives, but were actually written anonymously. While the prophet named Samuel is an important character in the Book of Samuel, it is not written from his perspective, and he actually dies in the middle of the story (see 1 Samuel 25.1).
While it is not clear who wrote the earliest version of Samuel, it is generally thought by scholars to have been either written and/or edited by the Deuteronomist(s)—that is, the same author(s) that produced the D Source in the Torah as mentioned in Part 2. While the Book of Samuel narrates the origins of the Israelite monarchy, it is thought that most of it was written well after the events described, probably sometime during the 6th century BCE.
Like the Torah, the text of Samuel is not the product of a single author sitting down to write a book. There is evidence within Samuel that suggests multiple sources were put together to make a single work. Unlike the Torah, however, there is also external evidence which shows that some passages found in Samuel were added in much later than the original version. That means that editors working centuries later added in new material to enhance the older narrative!
Before we turn to the story of David and Goliath to see an example of such additional text, let's first take a brief look at an ancient translation of the Hebrew Bible that preserves an earlier version of Samuel before some of these later additions were put into the text: the Septuagint.
The Septuagint
When it comes to the Hebrew Bible, most of its books were originally written in the Hebrew language, which for a long time was the common language of the Israelites. With the rise of Alexander the Great, Greek came to be the common language throughout Palestine, especially when it came to respectable writings deemed fit to be studied by philosophers. It is no surprise, then, that the Hebrew Bible was eventually translated from Hebrew into Greek, and one of these Greek translations, known as the Septuagint, became wildly popular. Indeed, when the New Testament authors use quotes from the Hebrew Bible, it is the Greek version of scripture that is generally quoted, not the original Hebrew version!This is significant because the Septuagint acts as a snapshot of an early version of the Hebrew Bible, and more specifically for us, the Book of Samuel. The Septuagint was probably translated some time in the 3rd century BCE, and our earliest fragments of the Hebrew version of Samuel is from the Dead Sea Scrolls, which date from the 1st century BCE to the 1st century CE. The Septuagint, then, while not preserving the original language used to write Samuel, actually preserves an older version of the narrative than the Hebrew manuscripts offer us.
David and Goliath
Below is the NRSV translation of 1 Samuel 17, the biblical passage of David fighting Goliath. The text in gray is the older part of the narrative found in both the Septuagint AND the Hebrew manuscripts. The text in red is content that is only found in the Hebrew manuscripts, NOT the Septuagint, and is very likely additional material added to an older version of the text. The one small section in blue reflects a change in detail between the Septuagint and Hebrew manuscripts, which will be addressed below. While I provided the entire text of chapter 17 to demonstrate just how much additional material was added, feel free to scroll down and read my summary below if you do not wish to read the entire chapter.At this point in the plot, the prophet Samuel has anointed Saul as Yahweh's chosen king, but Yahweh has now rejected Saul and anointed David as his chosen king instead. While David has been anointed, Saul is still the current king, and David is serving Saul as his armor-bearer due to his reputation as a warrior and skilled lyre player, and "Saul loved him greatly" (see 1 Samuel 16.14-23).
Here is the text for 1 Samuel 17:
Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. Saul and the Israelites gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah, and formed ranks against the Philistines. The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him. He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with 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 serve us.” And the Philistine said, “Today I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together.” When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years. The three eldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle; the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. David was the youngest; the three eldest followed Saul, but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.
Jesse said to his son David, “Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers; also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See how your brothers fare, and bring some token from them.”
Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, took the provisions, and went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the encampment as the army was going forth to the battle line, shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, ran to the ranks, and went and greeted his brothers. As he talked with them, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.
All the Israelites, when they saw the man, fled from him and were very much afraid. The Israelites said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. The king will greatly enrich the man who kills him, and will give him his daughter and make his family free in Israel.” David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” The people answered him in the same way, “So shall it be done for the man who kills him.”
His eldest brother Eliab heard him talking to the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David. He said, “Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart; for you have come down just to see the battle.” David said, “What have I done now? It was only a question.” He turned away from him toward another and spoke in the same way; and the people answered him again as before.
When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul; and he sent for him. David said to Saul, “Let no one’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.” David said, “The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” So Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you!”
Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. David strapped Saul’s sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them.” So David removed them. Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.
The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field.” But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and he will give you into our hand.”
When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, striking down the Philistine and killing him; there was no sword in David’s hand. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine; he grasped his sword, drew it out of its sheath, and killed him; then he cut off his head with it.
When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. The troops of Israel and Judah rose up with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron. The Israelites came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armor in his tent.
When Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.” The king said, “Inquire whose son the stripling is.” On David’s return from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the head of the Philistine in his hand. Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”
The Older Version (Gray Text)
In the above text in gray, we see the Philistine and Israelite armies are preparing to battle in Israelite territory. A warrior named Goliath of Gath emerges from the Philistine army and taunts the Israelites, bargaining that if they can send out a single warrior who can defeat him, then the Philistines will submit to the Israelites, whereas if Goliath beats Isreal's chosen warrior, then Israel must submit to the Philistines. Goliath, however, is not your typical warrior. He is described here as being 6 cubits and a span tall (that's about 9' 6" tall), wearing a coat of mail which weighed 5,000 shekels of bronze (that's about 125 pounds), and being equipped with a spear which has a shaft as thick as a weaver's beam and a head weighing 600 shekels of iron (that's about 15 pounds). Naturally, when King Saul and the Israelite army see and hear him, they are terrified.David, maintaining faith in his god, Yahweh, offers to fight Goliath on behalf of the Israelites. Saul is skeptical given David's lack of experience, but David defends his prowess as a warrior by claiming that he has slew bears and lions back in his shepherding days, and claims that Yahweh protected him then, as he will do now. Saul consents, and offers David his armor, but David rejects the armor since it made it difficult for him to move.[1] Instead, David equips himself with a shepherd's staff and a sling, and goes down to the wadi (a dry riverbed) and collects some stones.
When Goliath sees his challenger, he mocks David's choice of weapons and curses David by his gods. Goliath tauntingly says that he will kill David, but David responds that it is Goliath who will die with Yahweh's help. As the battle begins, David runs quickly towards Goliath, loads his sling with a stone, and sends it right into Goliath's forehead. Goliath then falls to the ground.
As Goliath is lying on the ground, David runs over to his body, grabs Goliath's sword, and decapitates him. When the Philistine army sees this, they flee, and the Israelites chase them back to their own cities. When the Israelites return, they plunder the Philistine camp, and David takes Goliath's head and brings it to Jerusalem, but keeps Goliath's armor in his tent.
Now let's take a look at how the later passages added to this version of the story (the red text) subtly reshaped this narrative.
Additional Narrative (Red Text)
When we read the red text with the gray text, we should notice some oddities. First, we notice that Goliath's challenge is not a single event to which David immediately responds to. Indeed, in this version of the story Goliath repeats his challenge on a daily basis for 40 days!What's more striking is that David is not with the Israelites when Goliath initially issued his challenge. Why would an armor-bearer of the king not be with said king in the Israelite camp, especially if battle seems imminent? It appears that the additional material added reflects a tradition that did not consider David to be the armor-bearer of King Saul. According to 1 Samuel 17.17-18 (in red above), David is present to hear Goliath's taunts only because his father has him put his shepherding duties on a temporary pause to deliver food to his brothers and the commanders in the Israelite army. In other words, unlike the earlier version of the story, this later text has David still being a lowly shepherd/errand boy when he kills Goliath, not the armor-bearer to the king.
Indeed, if we read on towards the end of chapter 17, we see that after David has killed Goliath, Saul asks his commander "Whose son is this young man?" which is an idiomatic way of asking who someone is. In this later version, Saul is not familiar with David until after he kills Goliath, not before like in chapter 16.
The additional red text subtly changes the overall story of David and Goliath, and challenges the original text's internal narrative consistency. By doing so, it further emphasizes David's bravery and lack of experience, making David's victory seem even more incredible than it did in the previous version.
Goliath's Height (Blue Text)
As we can see from the one small section of blue text, there is actually manuscript disagreement on how tall Goliath is. In the passage quoted above from the NRSV, which utilizes Hebrew manuscripts, we see that Goliath is 6 cubits and a span tall. That's about 9' 6"! To put this into perspective, the tallest man we have historical record of was 8' 11".In the Septuagint, however, Goliath is described not as 6 cubits and a span (9' 5" feet) tall, but rather as 4 cubits and a span, which is only 6' 7" tall. Additionally, the oldest Hebrew manuscript available to us from the Dead Sea Scrolls also claims that Goliath was only 4 cubits and a span (6' 7") tall. It's not clear if this discrepancy is from a translation error or an intentional revision to beef up Goliath, but it is clear that over the course of history Goliath's perceived height jumped by almost 3 feet!
Elhanan and Goliath
While most are familiar with David and Goliath, the story of Elhanan and Goliath is generally unknown except to Bible nerds like myself. Most of the Book of Samuel's narrative flows chronologically, but the last four chapters of 2 Samuel play by their own rules, so to speak. These chapters act as an appendix, giving more details to events that happened throughout David's reign as king.[2] In 2 Samuel 21.15-22 we see more adventures of David and his men when they were battling the Philistines earlier in David's career. It is in this passage we find Elhanan, one of David's men, killing a familiar character:Then there was another battle with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, killed Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
(2 Samuel 21.19)Here we see Elhanan also killing a Philistine named Goliath. But could this Goliath be a different Goliath than the one David killed? It doesn't seem that way. We see this Goliath is also from Gath (a Gittite is a term for someone from Gath), just like David's Goliath. Additionally, both of these Goliaths are said to wield a spear whose shaft is like a weaver's beam, indicating his massive size.[3] If these are two different Goliaths, they seem to have a lot in common.
It is also worth noting that later writers of the Bible, while viewing the two Goliath killings in Samuel as problematic, saw both these Goliaths as one and the same. In 1 Chronicles, a book which used the Book of Samuel as source when it was written, recounts these events concerning Elhanan, only with one key addition:
Again there was war with the Philistines; and Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
(1 Chronicles 20.5)The Chronicler rewrites 2 Samuel 21.19, but instead of having Elhanan kill Goliath, he has him killing Goliath's brother, Lahmi (who coincidentally is not found anywhere else in the Bible). It's not clear if the Chronicler was really correcting 2 Samuel 21.19 or if he used his imagination to "fix" the contradiction, but either way it's a clear example of how a later book in the Bible edits an earlier narrative of another.
The story of David and Goliath is classic, but it is complicated from a biblical perspective. Was David really a mere shepherd boy working for his dad when he killed Goliath? Or was he an armor-bearer for the king? Was Goliath really an inhuman 9' 6" tall? Or was he just a pretty tall guy at about 6' 7"? Was David really the one who killed Goliath? Or was it one of his men?
Obviously no one has definitive answers to these questions, but perhaps it is better to focus on what prompted these questions to begin with. The Bible and our biblical manuscripts at hand don't paint a completely coherent picture of history like some of us would like it to. 1 and 2 Samuel are not a static narrative that has been passed down to us in a perfectly preserved state, but instead are a product of many editors who included their own unique traditions, thoughts, and opinions within the text, reshaping the narrative that would one day get printed in our modern-day Bibles.
Notes
[1] While David is known for being a warrior, he is not accustomed to being a soldier and actually wearing the armor he bears for Saul. David chooses to reject the armor, sacrificing protection for mobility—a strategy that proves to be successful.
[2] For example, in 2 Sam. 21.1-14 we see David handing all of Saul's living male offspring over to the Gibeonites to be executed except for Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan. This must have happened before 2 Sam. 9.1 where David addresses Saul's lack of heirs. Some scholars have suggested that 2 Samu. 21.1-14 originally occurred before chapter 9, and were moved at a later time.
[3] Additionally, later in 2 Sam. 21.22 it is recounted that the Goliath Elhanan killed was indeed a giant, as he was one of the descendants of the giants from Gath.
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