“There is an important lesson in all battles with giants. The powerful and the strong are not always what they seem.”
Malcolm Gladwell’s illuminating book David and Goliath takes its cue from today’s famous chapter in Samuel, exploring ‘underdogs, misfits and the art of slaying giants.’
Whoever David was, and however he came to dominate the royal court of Israel and popular imagination ever since - this battlefield scene is one of the key narratives to his success. It’s a fantastic tale - full of historical holes and questionable sequences that only come to focus once we read this entire text carefully. And although generations of readers have tried to reconcile the contradictions - the mysteries remain and the main thrust of the story is the one that’s celebrated: In the good guy vs bad guy aspirational story - The underdog will hopefully, eventually, win.
The background to the scene is familiar - the Philistines, despite the previous defeat by King Saul and his army - with star appearance by Prince Jontahtan - are back for more land. The armies meet in Elah Valley - the exact location that leads from the plains and the sea to the hilltop that is Israelites territory. The Philistines secret weapon is a giant (9 ft tall) named Goliath, armed to the teeth, who spends 40 days taunting Israel and challenging them to find him a man who’ll be a fighting match. The king and the people are terrified. This scene resembles the previous battle ground at Michmas. It was Jonathan who saved the day with stealth that time -- and it’s going to be David this time, with similar underdog techniques. The deep link between these two men, that will become the lifetime bond of much speculation - begins here.
Forget for a moment the fact that David was already summoned to court in the previous chapter, hired to sooth the king’s temper with music. In this version he’s the unknown kid bringing provisions to his older brothers stationed on the frontlines. After hearing the giant’s dare he wants to know what will be the reward for stepping up to fight this monster. It’s a big deal, a classic in near eastern and later world traditions:
Tax free living for his family, a stash of cash - and the king’s daughter.
David volunteers. In a touching scene King Saul - who in this version does not know him yet - tries to fit the kid with his royal armor and weapons but David stumbles and literally removes the king’s protection. Instead, he steps up to face Goliath with his shepard’s slingshot, five stones, and a big mouth. I’ve killed bears and lions that tried to kill my sheep, he says, what’s another beast? Goliath, for his part, is insulted by the sight of the bare-handed boy taking his challenge - I’m no dog! He snarls at him.
Before we cut to the chase - what’s the deeper meaning of David’s choice of weapon? Military historian Erich B. Anderson suggests that “Since it is one of the simplest ranged weapons to construct, the earliest evidence of a sling weapon has been dated back to 10,000 B.C. The range of the sling was much improved by 3,000 B.C. when the stone and clay ammunitions were made into biconical or ovoid shapes instead of spheres.” That’s roughly when David used his home-made sharpshooting tool.
What’s even more interesting is that David’s early years out in the pasture, choice of weapon and success as a warrior may hint at the character that countless generations of bards spun around his real or imagined heritage. David seems to personify the ideal king-shepherd type that dominated the Sumerian civilization, way back in the days of Abraham, with influential cultural cues dominating Canaanite and Israelite cultures. The Uruk period (circa 4000 to 3000 B.C.) was the beginning of Sumerian civilization, with achievements that include the creation of city-states, writing, and royal houses. Several semi-mythological kings from Sumerian history are named as shepherds, depicted holding lambs, symbols of their people’s keepers. Even Dumzui, consort to the great Goddess Inanna and himself the God of agriculture was a shepherd. The slingshot, used by them against wild beasts becomes not just a weapon but almost a scepter. David becomes the heir of this tradition - one of the last remaining mythic heroes who is really our shepherd-king. When later generations will depict Jesus, from the loins of David, as the ideal, he too will be the shepard, lamb of god in lap.
But not a slingshot. That was David’s claim to fame:
וַיֶּחֱזַ֨ק דָּוִ֤ד מִן־הַפְּלִשְׁתִּי֙ בַּקֶּ֣לַע וּבָאֶ֔בֶן וַיַּ֥ךְ אֶת־הַפְּלִשְׁתִּ֖י וַיְמִתֵ֑הוּ וְחֶ֖רֶב אֵ֥ין בְּיַד־דָּוִֽד׃
“Thus David bested the Philistine with a sling and stone; he struck him down and killed him. David had no sword”
The Philistines, defeated, flee, as the Israelite army follows. With the giant’s head in hand, David celebrates the victory and is soon to become the king’s senior warrior. In an odd mention it’s told he takes the severed head up to Jerusalem although this city, still in Jebusite hands, won’t be his for at least another decade. This is just one more clue that later editors tried to reconcile different and often conflicting traditions about this fete and the origin of the future king.
Halbertal and Holme help frame this narrative in the context of David’s rise, Saul’s fall, and their upcoming battles:
“Unlike Saul, David is portrayed as a figure at home with power. He is controlled and confident—a resilient, effective, and charismatic warrior. The sharp differences between the two are already clearly etched by the way each initially steps into the story.
David springs into the narrative as a young shepherd who has single-handedly killed both lion and bear while protecting his flock and who has now volunteered in the presence of more experienced yet intimidated warriors to protect the Israelite nation by facing the giant Goliath in single combat. This debut sets him apart from Saul, who first appears as a young man sent by his father to locate some stray asses and who, wholly against his will, was anointed king. It was perhaps this contrast that, among other factors, fueled Saul’s jealous rage.
Power seemed to come too easily to David; he wore it lightly, without sweating. Saul wished to be like him but was unable to do so. The seeming effortlessness of David’s rise was yet another reason why an often-struggling monarch became utterly obsessed with destroying a challenger with whom he could not compete in personal adroitness and charisma.”
The musician-warrior-shepard-king-giantslayer, however he got here, is now firmly center stage, a rising star, slingshot in one hand, harp in the other.
In recent years, art historians examining Michelangelo’s iconic depiction of David have suggested that what’s in his hand, behind his back and hard to see, is that very weapon, the shepherd boy’s simple and deadly tool that defies the odds and reminds us how to keep standing up to giants and tyrants, with the creative courage of the oppressed that will hopefully never give up.
image: David and Goliath’s head by Caravaggio
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