Chapter Seventeen

David’s victory over Goliath.

1 Samuel 17:1. The Philistines gathered their armies for battle and were gathered at Sokho, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Sokho and Azek at Ephes-Dammim. It is reasonable to suppose that in attacking the Hebrews, the Philistines counted on the supposed inability of the sick Saul (1 Sam 16:14-21) to offer them skillful resistance. But this time the Philistines were mistaken in their expectations. Sokho and Azek were cities to the southwest of Jerusalem.

1 Samuel 17:3. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. The armies were in such a position that the attacking side would inevitably risk total defeat. And since no one is his own enemy, both sides stood idle, but in a tense waiting position. It is unknown how long they would have stood thus if it had not occurred to the Philistines to decide the matter by a military duel between two champions — one from each camp. The champion on the Philistine side was a giant from the city of Gath — Goliath.

1 Samuel 17:4. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, from Gath; his height was six cubits and a span. A cubit is the length of the arm from the elbow joint to the tip of the middle finger. A span is the width of three palms. A palm is the width of four fingers.

1 Samuel 17:5. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze; A shekel as a unit of weight equaled 3 zolotniki, 34.40 parts (corresponding to approximately 15 g. — Editor’s note).

1 Samuel 17:8. And he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, saying to them: Why have you come out to fight? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me; “Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul,” that is, what comparison can be made between me, mighty, free Philistine, and you, miserable servants of a sick madman Saul?

1 Samuel 17:11. And Saul and all the men of Israel heard these words of the Philistine, and they were greatly frightened and terrified. “They were greatly frightened and terrified,” not hoping to find an equal match for Goliath on their side.

1 Samuel 17:12. Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judea, whose name was Jesse, and he had eight sons. This man was old in the days of Saul and advanced in age among men. “Eight sons,” see 1 Sam 16:6-13.

1 Samuel 17:15. But David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. The necessity for David’s playing had temporarily ceased: war had absorbed all of Saul’s attention and feelings and thereby protected him from sharp attacks of melancholy.

1 Samuel 17:18. And bring these ten cheeses to the commander of a thousand, and check on the welfare of your brothers and bring news of them. To the commander of a thousand — as a greeting gift.

1 Samuel 17:23. And as he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath named Goliath, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words, and David heard them. “The same words”: see 1 Sam 17:8-10 verse.

1 Samuel 17:25. And the men of Israel said: Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will give him great wealth and will give him his daughter, and make his father’s house free in Israel. “Make his father’s house free in Israel,” that is, free from state obligations.

1 Samuel 17:28. And Eliab his oldest brother heard him speaking with the men, and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David and he said: Why have you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and the evil of your heart; you have come down to see the battle. Evidently, Jesse’s firstborn Eliab could not forgive his younger brother the preference that had been shown to this brother by the prophet of God Samuel (1 Sam 16:1).

1 Samuel 17:33. And Saul said to David: You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth. “For you are but a youth.” “David was then a youth of 15 or 16 years, because he lived 75 years, reigned 40; therefore, when Saul was killed, he was 30 years old. And before that it was said that Saul, after his two years of reign, was deprived of divine grace and therefore spent all the rest of the time in enmity toward David” (Theodoret, Commentary on 1 Samuel. Question 41).

1 Samuel 17:36. Your servant has killed both a lion and a bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God. [Shall I not go and strike him, that I may remove the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised one?] 1 Samuel 17:37. And David said: The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David: Go, and may the Lord be with you. Cf. verse 1 Sam 17:45-47.

1 Samuel 17:42. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, fair and ruddy. “A youth, fair and ruddy,” that is, without the outward signs of a warrior hardened in battle.

1 Samuel 17:52. And the men of Israel and Judea rose up and shouted and pursued the Philistines until you come to the valley and to the gates of Ekron. And the Philistines fell slain on the road to Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron. Ekron was a Philistine city, to the west of Gibeon.

1 Samuel 17:54. Then David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put his weapons in his tent. To the question of how “David, having not yet dwelt in Jerusalem, brought into it the head of a foreigner,” Theodoret answers: “True, Jerusalem was still inhabited by Jebusites (2 Sam 5:6-8), but David, wishing to strike fear into the unconquered foreigners of his country, showed them the head of the great warrior he had slain,” who boldly rose up against the chosen people of God and placed all his hope in his own strength (Theodoret, Commentary on 1 Samuel. Question 42).

1 Samuel 17:55. When Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army: Abner, whose son is this youth? Abner said: As your soul lives, O king, I do not know. “Whose son is this youth?” Occupying a modest place in the crowd of other court musicians, David might not have been known personally to Saul. Listening to David’s music, Saul paid no attention to the one playing; and if he saw him, the painful fits, during which the musician was summoned, might have prevented him from remembering the face of the one playing. And only now, when the modest harp player had become the hero of the day, the glory of Israel, the instrument of divine help to the oppressed, did Saul pay proper attention to David and, not recognizing him, asked: “Whose son is this youth?”

1 Samuel 17:57. 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. What is reported in 1 Sam 17:54 refers, evidently, to the time after this presentation of the victor David to Saul.

1 Samuel 17:58. And Saul asked him: Whose son are you, young man? And David answered: I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.