Chapter 9.
HOW THE PHILISTINES MADE ANOTHER EXPEDITION AGAINST THE HEBREWS
UNDER THE REIGN OF SAUL; AND HOW THEY WERE OVERCOME BY DAVID'S SLAYING
GOLIATH IN SINGLE COMBAT.FJAJ 6.53
1. NOW the Philistines gathered themselves together again no very long
time afterward; and having gotten together a great army, they made war
against the Israelites; and having seized a place between Shochoh and Azekah,
they there pitched their camp
Saul also drew out his army to oppose them;
and by pitching his own camp on a certain hill, he forced the Philistines
to leave their former camp, and to encamp themselves upon such another
hill, over-against that on which Saul's army lay, so that a valley, which
was between the two hills on which they lay, divided their camps asunder.
Now there came down a man out of the camp of the Philistines, whose name
was Goliath, of the city of Gath, a man of vast bulk, for he was of four
cubits and a span in tallness, and had about him weapons suitable to the
largeness of his body, for he had a breastplate on that weighed five thousand
shekels: he had also a helmet and greaves of brass, as large as you would
naturally suppose might cover the limbs of so vast a body
His spear was
also such as was not carried like a light thing in his right hand, but
he carried it as lying on his shoulders
He had also a lance of six hundred
shekels; and many followed him to carry his armor
Wherefore this Goliath
stood between the two armies, as they were in battle array, and sent out
aloud voice, and said to Saul and the Hebrews, "I will free you from
fighting and from dangers; for what necessity is there that your army should
fall and be afflicted? Give me a man of you that will fight with me, and
he that conquers shall have the reward of the conqueror and determine the
war; for these shall serve those others to whom the conqueror shall belong;
and certainly it is much better, and more prudent, to gain what you desire
by the hazard of one man than of all." When he had said this, he retired
to his own camp; but the next day he came again, and used the same words,
and did not leave off for forty days together, to challenge the enemy in
the same words, till Saul and his army were therewith terrified, while
they put themselves in array as if they would fight, but did not come to
a close battle.FJAJ 6.54
2. Now while this war between the Hebrews and the Philistines was going
on, Saul sent away David to his father Jesse, and contented himself with
those three sons of his whom he had sent to his assistance, and to be partners
in the dangers of the war: and at first David returned to feed his sheep
and his flocks; but after no long time he came to the camp of the Hebrews,
as sent by his father, to carry provisions to his brethren, and to know
what they were doing
While Goliath came again, and challenged them, and
reproached them, that they had no man of valor among them that durst come
down to fight him; and as David was talking with his brethren about the
business for which his father had sent him, he heard the Philistine reproaching
and abusing the army, and had indignation at it, and said to his brethren,
"I am ready to fight a single combat with this adversary." Whereupon
Eliab, his eldest brother, reproved him, and said that he spoke too rashly
and improperly for one of his age, and bid him go to his flocks, and to
his father
So he was abashed at his brother's words, and went away, but
still he spake to some of the soldiers that he was willing to fight with
him that challenged them
And when they had informed Saul what was the
resolution of the young man, the king sent for him to come to him: and
when the king asked what he had to say, he replied, "O king, be not
cast down, nor afraid, for I will depress the insolence of this adversary,
and will go down and fight with him, and will bring him under me, as tall
and as great as he is, till he shall be sufficiently laughed at, and thy
army shall get great glory, when he shall be slain by one that is not yet
of man's estate, neither fit for fighting, nor capable of being intrusted
with the marshalling an army, or ordering a battle, but by one that looks
like a child, and is really no elder in age than a child."FJAJ 6.55
3. Now Saul wondered at the boldness and alacrity of David, but durst
not presume on his ability, by reason of his age; but said he must on that
account be too weak to fight with one that was skilled in the art of war.
"I undertake this enterprise," said David, "in dependence
on God's being with me, for I have had experience already of his assistance;
for I once pursued after and caught a lion that assaulted my flocks, and
took away a lamb from them; and I snatched the lamb out of the wild beast's
mouth, and when he leaped upon me with violence, I took him by the tail,
and dashed him against the ground
In the same manner did I avenge myself
on a bear also; and let this adversary of ours be esteemed like one of
these wild beasts, since he has a long while reproached our army, and blasphemed
our God, who yet will reduce him under my power."FJAJ 6.56
4. However, Saul prayed that the end might be, by God's assistance,
not disagreeable to the alacrity and boldness of the child; and said, "Go
thy way to the fight." So he put about him his breastplate, and girded
on his sword, and fitted the helmet to his head, and sent him away
But
David was burdened with his armor, for he had not been exercised to it,
nor had he learned to walk with it; so he said, "Let this armor be
thine, O king, who art able to bear it; but give me leave to fight as thy
servant, and as I myself desire." Accordingly he laid by the armor,
and taking his staff with him, and putting five stones out of the brook
into a shepherd's bag, and having a sling in his right hand, he went towards
Goliath
But the adversary seeing him come in such a manner, disdained
him, and jested upon him, as if he had not such weapons with him as are
usual when one man fights against another, but such as are used in driving
away and avoiding of dogs; and said, "Dost thou take me not for a
man, but a dog?" To which he replied, "No, not for a dog, but
for a creature worse than a dog." This provoked Goliath to anger,
who thereupon cursed him by the name of God, and threatened to give his
flesh to the beasts of the earth, and to the fowls of the air, to be torn
in pieces by them
To whom David answered, Thou comest to me with a sword,
and with a spear, and with a breastplate; but I have God for my armor in
coming against thee, who will destroy thee and all thy army by my hands
for I will this day cut off thy head, and cast the other parts of thy body
to the dogs, and all men shall learn that God is the protector of the Hebrews,
and that our armor and our strength is in his providence; and that without
God's assistance, all other warlike preparations and power are useless."
So the Philistine being retarded by the weight of his armor, when he attempted
to meet David in haste, came on but slowly, as despising him, and depending
upon it that he should slay him, who was both unarmed and a child also,
without any trouble at all.FJAJ 6.57
5. But the youth met his antagonist, being accompanied with an invisible
assistant, who was no other than God himself
And taking one of the stones
that he had out of the brook, and had put into his shepherd's bag, and
fitting it to his sling, he slang it against the Philistine
This stone
fell upon his forehead, and sank into his brain, insomuch that Goliath
was stunned, and fell upon his face
So David ran, and stood upon his adversary
as he lay down, and cut off his head with his own sword; for he had no
sword himself
And upon the fall of Goliath the Philistines were beaten,
and fled; for when they saw their champion prostrate on the ground, they
were afraid of the entire issue of their affairs, and resolved not to stay
any longer, but committed themselves to an ignominious and indecent flight,
and thereby endeavored to save themselves from the dangers they were in.
But Saul and the entire army of the Hebrews made a shout, and rushed upon
them, and slew a great number of them, and pursued the rest to the borders
of Garb, and to the gates of Ekron; so that there were slain of the Philistines
thirty thousand, and twice as many wounded
But Saul returned to their
camp, and pulled their fortification to pieces, and burnt it; but David
carried the head of Goliath into his own tent, but dedicated his sword
to God [at the tabernacle].FJAJ 6.58