I samuel 17 commentary

I SAMUEL 17 COMMENTARY
Edited by Glenn Pease
David and Goliath
We are studying David’s life by the Martin Luther method. He said, “I study my
Bible as I gather apples. First, I shake the whole tree that the ripest might fall. Then
I shake every limb, and when I have shaken each limb I shake each branch and
every twig, and then I look under every leaf.”
1 Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and
assembled at Socoh in Judah. They pitched camp at
Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah.
BARNES, "The narrative reverts to the Philistine wars 1Sa_14:52; the other
introductory details concerning Saul’s rejection, and David’s introduction upon the stage
of the history, having been disposed of in the intermediate chapters.
Shochoh which belongeth to Judah - See the marginal reference which places
Shochoh and Azekah in the “Shephelah” or maritime plain, and 2Ch_28:18, “Shochoh”
now “Shuweikeh,” “nine miles from Eleutheropolis,” Jerome.
Ephes-dammim - Called “Happas-dammim” (Pas-dammim, 1Ch_11:13), “the end of
bloodshed,” now “Damun,” about 4 miles northeast of Shuweikeh.
CLARKE, "Now the Philistines gathered together - Calmet thinks that this war
happened eight years after the anointing of David, and ten or twelve years after the war
with the Amalekites. We have already seen that there was war between Saul and the
Philistines all his days. See 1Sa_14:52.
Shochoh and Azekah - Places which lay to the south of Jerusalem and to the west
of Bethlehem; about five leagues from the former. Ephes-dammim was somewhere in
the vicinity, but it is not known where. See Calmet.
1

GILL, "Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle,....
Josephus (s) says this was not long after the things related in the preceding chapter were
transacted; and very probably they had heard of the melancholy and distraction of Saul,
and thought it a proper opportunity of avenging themselves on Israel for their last
slaughter of them, and for that purpose gathered together their dispersed troops:
and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah; a city of the
tribe of Judah, Jos_15:35, which shows that, notwithstanding their last defeat, they had
great footing in the land of Israel, or however had penetrated far into it in this march of
theirs:
and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah; which were both in the same tribe,
and near one another, of which See Gill on Jos_10:10; see Gill on Jos_15:35.
in Ephesdammim; which, by an apocope of the first letter, is called Pasdammim,
1Ch_11:13 which the Jews (t) say had this name because there blood ceased.
HENRY 1-3, "It was not long ago that the Philistines were soundly beaten, and put to
the worse, before Israel, and they would have been totally routed if Saul's rashness had
not prevented; but here we have them making head again. Observe,
I. How they defied Israel with their armies, 1Sa_17:1. They made a descent upon the
Israelites' country, and possessed themselves, as it should seem, of some part of it, for
they encamped in a place which belonged to Judah. Israel's ground would never have
been footing for Philistine-armies if Israel had been faithful to their God. The Philistines
(it is probable) had heard that Samuel had fallen out with Saul and forsaken him, and no
longer assisted and advised him, and that Saul had grown melancholy and unfit for
business, and this news encouraged them to make this attempt for the retrieving of the
credit they had lately lost. The enemies of the church are watchful to take all advantages,
and they never have greater advantages than when her protectors have provoked God's
Spirit and prophets to leave them. Saul mustered his forces, and faced them, 1Sa_17:2,
1Sa_17:3. And here we must take notice, 1. That the evil spirit, for the present, had left
Saul, 1Sa_16:23. David's harp having given him some relief, perhaps the alarms and
affairs of the war prevented the return of the distemper. Business is a good antidote
against melancholy. Let the mind have something without to fasten on and employ itself
about, and it will be the less in danger of preying upon itself. God, in mercy to Israel,
suspended the judgment for a while; for how distracted must the affairs of the public
have been if at this juncture the prince had been distracted!
JAMISON, "1Sa_17:1-3. The Israelites and Philistines being ready to battle.
the Philistines gathered together their armies — twenty-seven years after their
overthrow at Michmash. Having now recovered their spirits and strength, they sought
an opportunity of wiping out the infamy of that national disaster, as well as to regain
their lost ascendency over Israel.
Shocoh — now Shuweikeh, a town in the western plains of Judah (Jos_15:35), nine
Roman miles from Eleutheropolis, toward Jerusalem [Robinson].
Azekah — a small place in the neighborhood.
Ephes-dammim — or, “Pas-dammim” (1Ch_11:13), “the portion” or “effusion of
2

blood,” situated between the other two.
K&D, "A war between the Philistines and the Israelites furnished David with the
opportunity of displaying before Saul and all Israel, and greatly to the terror of the
enemies of his people, that heroic power which was firmly based upon his bold and
pious trust in the omnipotence of the faithful covenant God (1Sa_17:1-3). A powerful
giant, named Goliath, came forward from the ranks of the Philistines, and scornfully
challenged the Israelites to produce a man who would decide the war by a single combat
with him (1Sa_17:4-11). David, who had returned home for a time from the court of Saul,
and had just been sent into the camp by his father with provisions for his elder brothers
who were serving in the army, as soon as he heard the challenge and the scornful words
of the Philistine, offered to fight with him (vv. 15-37), and killed the giant with a stone
from a sling; whereupon the Philistines took to flight, and were pursued by the Israelites
to Gath and Ekron (vv. 38-54).
1Sa_17:1-11
Some time after David first came to Saul for the purpose of playing, and when he had
gone back to his father to Bethlehem, probably because Saul's condition had improved,
the Philistines made a fresh attempt to subjugate the Israelites. They collected their
army together (machaneh, as in Exo_14:24; Jdg_4:16) to war at Shochoh, the present
Shuweikeh, in the Wady Sumt, three hours and a half to the south-west of Jerusalem, in
the hilly region between the mountains of Judah and the plain of Philistia (see at Jos_
15:35), and encamped between Shochoh and Azekah, at Ephes-dammim, which has been
preserved in the ruins of Damûm, about an hour and a half east by north of Shuweikeh;
so that Azekah, which has not yet been certainly traced, must be sought for to the east or
north-east of Damûm (see at Jos_10:10).
PULPIT, "1Sa_17:1
The Philistines gathered together their armies. As the object of the historian is
not to give us an account of the Philistine wars, but only to record the manner of David’s
ripening for the kingly office, nothing is said as to the space of time which had elapsed
between Saul’s victory at Michmash and the present invasion. We are, however, briefly
told that "there was sore war against the Philistines all the days of Saul" (1Sa_14:52),
and apparently this inroad took place very many years after Saul’s establishment upon
the throne. The Philistine camp was at Ephes-dammim, called Pas-dammim in 1Ch_
11:13. The best explanation of the word gives as its meaning the boundary of blood, so
called from the continual fighting which took place there upon the borders. Shochoh,
spelt more correctly Socoh in Jos_15:35, was one of fourteen villages enumerated there
as lying in the Shephelah, described by Conder (’Tent Work,’ 2:156) as a region of "low
hills of limestone, frowning a distinct district between the plain and the watershed
mountains.’’ In this district Socoh lay northeast of Eleutheropolis (Beth-jibrin), midway
between it and Beth-shemesh, from each of which places it was distant about eight or
nine miles. It is now called Shuweikeh. For Azekah see Jos_10:10.
SBC, "Notice:—
I. David was on God’s side. This was a religious war. Goliath fought for Dagon and
3

cursed David by his gods. David fought for Jehovah. Let every child know for certain
that he is, like David, a warrior and champion.
II. David fought in God’s strength. God’s Spirit gave him his holy courage, suggested his
weapons, and guided the stone from the sling to Goliath’s temples. Was not David the
man after God’s own heart because he so frankly owned God in everything? David and
Goliath represent two systems and two kingdoms. The war between the Israelites and
Philistines is still raging. On which side are you?
III. David the conqueror. If on God’s side, you shall win in the end, because God shall
win, and all His shall win with Him. The world’s creed often is that might is right; ours is
that right is might, for God is with the right, and makes it at length almighty as Himself.
J. Wells, Bible Children, p. 145.
David’s fight with Goliath was: (1) a good fight, and (2) a fight of faith. It was a good
fight because David was fighting for a good cause: for the cause and people of God.
Goliath was a bad man, and he was the soldier of a bad cause. He had mocked God’s
people and God. And David went down to fight with him, because he both heard and saw
that he was an enemy of God. And it was a fight of faith, because in going down to the
fight David did not trust in sword, or spear, or shield, nor in his youth, or his strength,
or any seen thing, but in God, whom he could not see. In the strength of God’s presence
he went to meet Goliath. Our fight now is with badness itself. That is the great giant
Christ sends us to fight with; that is the one chief enemy He Himself fights against.
A. Macleod, Talking to the Children, p. 191.
BENSON, "1 Samuel 17:1. The Philistines gathered together their armies —
Probably they had heard that Samuel had forsaken Saul, and that Saul himself was
unfit for business. The enemies of the church are watchful to take all advantages,
and they never have greater advantages than when her protectors have provoked
God’s Spirit and prophets to leave them.
COFFMAN, ""Some twenty-seven years had passed since the defeat of the
Philistines at Michmash";[1] and now that they had recovered their strength, they
sought an opportunity to wipe out the disgrace of that disastrous rout and regain
their ascendancy over Israel.
This paragraph relates chiefly the appearance of Goliath of Gath, giving a
description of him, his arrogant challenge and the dismay and fear that fell upon all
Israel as a result. The scene of this confrontation was, "The valley of Elah, one of
the major passes from the Philistine plain up to the highlands of Judah."[2]
The description of the giant's armor stresses the weight of it. Scholarly estimates of
what the weight was in our own terminology vary considerably; but John Willis
gives what must be considered as an approximation of the actual weight.[3] The coat
of mail alone weighed 125 pounds; and the shaft of his spear weighed 17 pounds.
This takes no account of the weight of the bronze helmet, the bronze javelin, and the
4

greaves (shin-guards) of brass. In all, his armour probably weighed in the
neighborhood of 200 pounds!
His height, allowing about 18 inches for a cubit, would have been over nine feet. The
cubit was a common measurement, usually figured as the distance between a man's
elbow and the tip of his extended middle finger; the span was a handbreadth,
measured in two different ways, one across the palm, and the other between the tips
of the thumb and little finger with the hand spread out.
"He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel" (1 Samuel 17:8). This insulting
procedure went on for forty days; and it is certain that the taunts and insults hurled
at Israel varied from day to day. Young found an interesting variation of these in
the Jewish Targum. "Goliath boasted that he was the one who killed Hophni and
Phinehas and carried the ark away to the house of Dagon, and also that he had
killed many Israelites."[4] That these boastful insults were most certainly falsehoods
was no problem whatever for a Philistine.
There is a shrill chorus of allegations from unbelieving critics who find nothing in
these chapters except, "unhistorical material," "interpolations," "variable
accounts" and "conflicting sources," but this writer rejects that kind of
commentary as absolutely worthless. All of the alleged difficulties here are described
by Keil as "trivial."[5] John Willis also has shown in his remarkable analysis that
there is nothing whatever in these chapters that is not capable of being harmonized
with all that is written.
One of the so-called problems regards the fact that in 2 Samuel 21:19, the Bible
states that "Elhanan killed Goliath." There were whole generations of giants in
those days, and the fact of two (or half a dozen) of them being named "Goliath" is
no more unlikely than the fact that one may find two or three "Smith's" on the
obituary page in a big city daily newspaper. "That Goliath killed by Elhanan was
Lahmi, the brother of the Goliath of Gath (1 Chronicles 20:4-8); four different
giants are mentioned as being born to the giant of Gath (Deuteronomy
2:10,11,20,21, and Deuteronomy 3:11-13)."[6]
The importance of this explanation is seen in the fact that the false identification of
the two "Goliath's" as the same person is, "One of the main arguments"[7] relied
upon by critics who reject the passage as `unhistorical.'
ELLICOTT, " (1) Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle.—
There is nothing to tell us how long a time had elapsed since the victory of Saul over
Amalek and the other events related in the last chapter. The compiler of the book is
henceforth mainly concerned with the story of David, and how he gradually rose in
popular estimation. The history does not profess to give anything like a consecutive
account of the reign and wars of Saul. It was evidently compiled from documents of
the time, but put into its present shape long afterwards. “Probably,” writes Dean
Payne Smith, “at each prophetic school there would be stored up copies of Psalms
5

written for their religious services, ballads such as those in the Book of Jashar, and
in the book of the wars of the Lord, narratives of stirring events like this before us,
and histories both of their own chiefs, such as was Samuel (the original founder of
these famous educational centres), and afterwards Elijah and Elisha, and also of
their kings.”
Pitched between Shochoh and Azekah.—The locality was some twelve or fifteen
miles southwest of Jerusalem, and nine or ten from Bethlehem, the home of the
family of Jesse. The name Ephes-dammim, the “boundary of blood,” is suggestive,
and tells of the constant border warfare which took place in this neighbourhood.
HAWKER, "CONTENTS
The Chapter we are now about entering upon, relates to us the insolence of the
Philistines towards Israel, and the challenge made by their champion Goliath of
Gath, daring any man in Israel's army to single combat. The consequence of which,
we are told, was, that Saul and all his army were dismayed. David coming from his
father, on a message to his brethren into the camp of Israel, hears the challenge of
Goliath, and accepts it. Going forth, not armed with the common weapons of
slaughter, but in the confidence of God, he prevails over the Philistine, and kills
him. In consequence thereof the Philistines are put to the rout, and Israel pursues
them with a great slaughter. These are the principal matters contained in this
chapter.
1 Samuel 17:1
(1) ¶ Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered
together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and
Azekah, in Ephesdammim.
The last accounts we had of the Philistines, their history left them perfectly subdued
and overcome; and Israel, under Saul, was victorious everywhere. See 1 Samuel
14:47. Perhaps the miserable state of Saul, gave occasion to the Philistines to renew
their former insolence. When a man's ways please the Lord (we are told) he maketh
even his enemies to be at peace with him. But when men slight the Lord, he can raise
up enemies from every quarter. Pr 16.
CONSTABLE, "Verses 1-11
The Philistine challenge 17:1-11
The Elah (Oak) Valley is an S-shaped valley just south of the Sorek Valley, where
Samson earlier lived. It runs east and west parallel to it. Socoh stood to the east and
Azekah to the west. Some authorities believe Ephes-dammim stood west of Socoh
and south of Azekah, but its location is debated. Gath was 7 miles to the west and
6

was the closest Philistine town.
"That Saul now came to meet the Philistines, even at the west end of the Elah
Valley-and so before the enemy could penetrate Israelite country very far-shows
that he had not given up in his rule just because he had been rejected. As far as he
was concerned, apparently, he was still king and he was going to carry on as though
nothing had changed." [Note: Wood, Israel's United . . ., p. 151.]
Goliath was apparently 9 feet 9 inches tall. Another view is that he was 6 feet 9
inches tall. [Note: See the note on 1 Samuel 17:4 in the NET Bible, and J. Daniel
Hays, "Reconsidering the Height of Goliath," Journal of the Evangelical
Theological Society 48:4 (December 2005):701-14; Clyde E. Billington, "Goliath and
the Exodus Giants: How Tall Were They?" Journal of the Evangelical Theological
Society 50:3 (September 2007):489-508; and Hays, "The Height of Goliath: A
Response to Clyde Billington," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 50:3
(September 2007):509-16.] He was probably a descendant of the Anakim who had
moved to Philistia after Joshua drove them out of Hebron (Joshua 11:21-22). Five
thousand shekels' weight equals 125 pounds (1 Samuel 17:5). Goliath's spearhead
weighed 15 pounds (1 Samuel 17:7), about the weight of a standard shot-put. This is
an unusually long description of an individual for the Old Testament. The writer
evidently wanted to impress Goliath's awesome power and apparent invulnerability
on the readers so we would appreciate David's great courage and faith.
The Philistines proposed a battle in which two representative champions from Israel
and Philistia would duel it out, a not uncommon method of limiting war in the
ancient world (cf. 2 Samuel 2). [Note: Harry A. Hoffner Jr., "A Hittite Analogue to
the David and Goliath Contest of Champions?" Catholic Biblical Quarterly 30
(1968):220. See also George I. Mavrodes, "David, Goliath, and Limited War,"
Reformed Journal 33:8 (1983):6-8.] However, the Israelites had no one who could
compete with Goliath physically. That was the only dimension to the conflict that
Saul and his generals saw. Since Saul was the tallest Israelite and the king, he was
the natural choice for an opponent. However, as earlier (1 Samuel 14:1-2), Saul was
staying in the background when he should have been leading the people.
2. The reason for God's selection of David ch. 17
The exciting story of David and Goliath illustrates what it was that God saw in
David's heart that led Him to choose David for the position of king. It also shows
how and why others in Israel began to notice David. David fought the Lord's battles,
as Samuel did (ch. 7). He also did so as Saul, God's previously anointed king, had
done (chs. 10-11, 14-15).
Saul's defeat of the Ammonites (1 Samuel 11:1-11) followed Saul's anointing (1
Samuel 10:1). Similarly David's defeat of the Philistines (ch. 17) follows the record
of his anointing (1 Samuel 16:13). Both victories demonstrate God's blessing on His
newly anointed leaders. [Note: For a brief discussion of the problem of the shorter
7

Septuagint version of chapters 17 and 18, see The NET Bible note on 1 Samuel
17:1.]
LANGE, "I. The two Camps and Goliath’s arrogant Challenge
1 Samuel 17:1-11
1Now [And] the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were
gathered together at Shochoh [Socoh], which belongeth to Judah, and pitched 2
between Shochoh [Socoh] and Azekah, in Ephesians -dammim.[FN1] And Saul and
the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by [in] the valley of Elah3[of
the Terebinth], and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines
stood on a [the] mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a [the] mountain on
the other side, and there was a valley [the ravine 4 was] between them. And there
went out a champion[FN2] out of [from] the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath,
of Gath, whose height was six cubits and 5 a span. And he had an helmet of brass
[copper] upon his head, and he was armed with [clothed in] a coat of mail [corselet
of scales]; and the weight of the coat6[corselet] was five thousand shekels of brass
[copper]. And he had greaves[FN3] of brass [copper] upon his legs, and a target
[javelin] of brass [copper] between his 7 shoulders. And the staff of his spear was
like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head[FN4] weighed six hundred shekels of
iron; and one bearing a shield [the shield-bearer] 8went before him. And he stood
and cried unto the armies [ranks][FN5] of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye
come out to set your battle in array? am I not a [the] Philistine, and ye
servants[FN6] to Saul? choose you a man for you, and 9 let him come down to
me.[FN7] If he be able to fight with me, and to [om. to] kill me, then will we be your
servants; but [and] if I prevail against him and kill him, 10then shall ye be our
servants and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies [ranks] of Israel this
day; give me a man that we may fight together 11 When [And] Saul and all Israel
heard these words of the Philistine, [ins. and] they were dismayed and greatly
afraid.
LANGE, " 1 Samuel 17:1-11. The camps of the Philistines and the Israelites
confronting one another. Goliath’s appearance on the scene and his arrogant
challenge. The power of the Philistines was not broken; they rose with renewed
strength against Israel, and made another attempt to reduce them to subjection. The
Philistine army assembled at Socoh, now Shuweikeh. This Isaiah, however, not the
Socoh (also called Shuweikeh) three German [fourteen English] miles southwest of
Hebron on the spurs of the mountains of Judah ( Joshua 15:48), but the Socoh west
of these mountains in the plain of Judah, about four German [nineteen English]
miles southwest of Jerusalem, and about three German [fourteen Eng.] miles
southwest of Bethlehem ( Joshua 15:35) in Wady Sumt (Acacia-valley), which
Robinson, II, 604 [Am. ed, II, 20, 21] regards as the same with Terebinth-valley ( 1
Samuel 17:2), while, according to Thenius, “the latter is probably to be looked for in
8

a branch of that Wady, in Wady Sûr, which runs up towards Beit-Nusib.” Azekah,
whither ( Joshua 10:10) Joshua pursued the five kings who were besieging Gibeon,
from Gibeon, that Isaiah, to the southwest. Its position is in general determined by
that of Ephesians -dammim, the present ruins of Damum, about one Germ. [four
and three-fourths Eng.] mile northeast of Shuweikeh. The rendezvous of the army
was Socoh, the camp was at Ephesdammim. On the nature of the ground, according
to Robinson, see Ritter, XVI:114 sq.[FN36]
PETT, "Introduction
Chapter 17.
YHWH’s Anointed Is Revealed As Being YHWH’s Chosen Champion By His Defeat
Of The Philistine Champion (1 Samuel 17:1-54).
It is interesting to note how the revelation of David’s kingship to the reader follows
the pattern of that of Saul’s. Both were anointed secretly by Samuel (1 Samuel 16:13
compare 1 Samuel 10:1), the Spirit of YHWH came mightily on both (1 Samuel
16:13, compare 1 Samuel 10:10) and both established their popularity in Israel by
an outward manifestation of the power of the Spirit of YHWH that was on them (1
Samuel 17:12-54, compare 1 Samuel 11:1-13). Other parallels include the
descriptions of their suitability physically (1 Samuel 16:12, compare 1 Samuel 9:2),
and their dedication to looking after animals who were their responsibility (1
Samuel 17:34-36, compare 1 Samuel 9:3-4). This latter would count for much among
an agricultural people.
The incident described here which brings out that the Spirit of YHWH is now on
David begins with an indication of Israel’s parlous situation. The Philistines were
once again seeking to exert their authority over Israel, and had advanced up the
Valley of Elah to the lowlands of Judah where the opposing forces were facing each
other. But while the Philistines had their ‘champion’ (‘the man who stands between
two armies’), we are to see that Israel had no champion who could act on their
behalf, because there was now no one who was filled with the Spirit of YHWH who
could act for them. The man who was head and shoulders above all the others, and
who had once been endowed by the Spirit of YHWH, was now a broken man
because of his disobedience. He was thus powerless to do anything. And there was
no one else to act in his place. Even the mighty Jonathan and the great Abner paled
before the challenge of Goliath, and no doubt Saul would not allow them to go out
against him. He did not want to lose his eldest son or his commander-in-chief.
This method of pitting champions against each other before a battle was a common
one in the ancient world (compare 2 Samuel 2:14-15). It was believed that by this
means the gods would reveal, without the necessity for the spilling of unnecessary
9

blood, who were destined to be the victors. The idea was that once one’s champion
had been defeated in battle there was no point in fighting on, for it indicated that
the gods were clearly against you. Thus the issue would be seen as already been
determined. (It also did not help, of course, if your opponents’ champion was a great
deal larger than anyone else).
In the end, however, this story is about a man who was mightily endued with the
Spirit of YHWH. The result was that he revealed his true faith in YHWH. There
were many slingers among the Israelite ranks, some of whom could probably sling
within a hair’s breadth (Judges 20:26), but not one of them thought of challenging
Goliath. Had they even considered it they would have recognised immediately that
their slinging arm might well fail them under such pressure, and that should that
happen in a circumstance like this it would in the end result, not only in their own
deaths, but also in the humiliation of Israel. It was only David who was so confident
in YHWH that he knew that his hand would not fail, and who was so angered at the
thought of the Philistine defying the armies of YHWH of hosts that he could think of
nothing else but to bring him down. In the light of that he did not even consider the
possibility of losing for he was totally confident that YHWH could not fail him. And
we are in the secret and know why. It was because he was filled with the Spirit of
YHWH.
Verses 1-19
Goliath Challenges Israel With No Takers. David Is Sent To Take His Brothers
Food (1 Samuel 17:1-19).
This passage brings us face to face with two figures, the first the formidable
Philistine warrior, Goliath, who challenges Israel to send a man to fight him, with
no takers, and the second a shepherd boy who is sent to take food to his brothers
who are in the Israelite army and to gather news of them.
Analysis.
a Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and they were
gathered together at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh
10

and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim (1 Samuel 17:1).
b And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and encamped in the vale
of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines (1 Samuel 17:2).
c And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the
mountain on the other side, and there was a valley between them. 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 (1 Samuel 17:3-4).
d And he had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was clad with a coat of mail;
and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze, and he had greaves
of bronze on his legs, and a javelin of bronze between his shoulders. And the staff 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 (1 Samuel 17:5-7).
e And he stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you
come out to set your battle in array? Am not I a Philistine, and you servants to
Saul? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight
with me, and 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” (1 Samuel 17:8-9).
f And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man, that
we may fight together” (1 Samuel 17:10).
e And when Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were
dismayed, and greatly afraid (1 Samuel 17:11).
d Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Beth-lehem-judah, whose name was
Jesse, and he had eight sons: and the man was an old man in the days of Saul,
stricken in years among men. And the three eldest sons of Jesse had gone after Saul
to the battle, and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the
first-born, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. And David was the
11

youngest, and the three eldest followed Saul. And David went to and fro from Saul
to feed his father’s sheep at Beth-lehem (1 Samuel 17:12-16).
c And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty
days (1 Samuel 17:17).
b And Jesse said to David his son, “Take now for your brothers an ephah of this
parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your
brothers, and bring these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how
your brothers fare, and take their pledge” (1 Samuel 17:18).
a Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the vale of Elah, fighting
with the Philistines. (1 Samuel 17:19).
Note that in ‘a’ the Philistines were gathered to battle against Israel, and in the
parallel Israel were in the Vale of Elah fighting with the Philistines. In ‘b’ Saul and
the men of Israel were gathered in the Vale of Elah, and in the parallel we learn how
they are being fed. In ‘c’ the Philistine champion came out to challenge Israel, and in
the parallel he comes regularly to challenge Israel. In ‘d’ we have the details
concerning Goliath as a mighty man of war, and in the parallel we have the details
stressing that David is a mere feeder of sheep whose elder brothers are men of war.
In ‘e’ the Philistine issues his challenge, and in the parallel the Israelites are greatly
afraid. Central in ‘f’ is the fact that the Philistine is defying the armies of Israel, and
is seeking a man whom he can fight. These are two central themes in the whole
passage, Goliath’s defiance of Israel and their God, and the man whom God has
chosen to put him in his place.
1 Samuel 17:1
‘Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and they were
gathered together at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh
and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim.’
Once again the Philistines had gathered their fighting forces to seek to bring Israel
into subjugation. This time they had approached the lowland territory of northern
Judah near Azekah but had immediately found themselves faced with a large
Israelite army under Saul. The place where this took place was at Ephes-dammim,
(the boundary of blood), a place where no doubt much blood had been spilled in
12

past border battles.
BI, "Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle.
The battle of Elah
While the Philistines were posted on the stony hills covered with brushwood which
bounded the valley on the south, Saul and his army were posted on a similar stony ridge
on its northern side. The valley, one of the most fertile in Palestine, was, at the scene of
the conflict, about half a mile broad, with a torrent bed in the centre, which had been
scooped out by the winter floods. This is apparently the gal or valley referred be in verse
third. It is about ten feet deep, and twenty to thirty feet wide, and abounds in water-
rounded pebbles. Major Conder declares it to be impassable, except at certain places,
thus explaining why the two armies faced one another for forty days without coming into
actual conflict. Either party was afraid to cross the defile, thereby exposing itself to
serious disadvantage; and so they confined themselves to warlike demonstrations. The
abject terror of Saul and his mighty men excites within us little or no surprise; but it is
otherwise with regard to the brave and lionhearted Jonathan. To encounter Goliath in
single combat, was not a more dangerous or formidable undertaking than that which he
had once before successfully attempted at Michmash, when he and his armour bearer
boldly stormed the garrison of the Philistines, which was but the outpost of an immense
army. Why did he not come to the front on this occasion? It might be said that his father
would not allow him. And if Jonathan had offered himself as the champion of Israel
there can be little doubt that Saul would have been most unwilling to accept him; but
there is nothing in the narrative to suggest that Jonathan made such a proposal. The
impression made by the narrative is that abject terror reigned throughout the entire
army. Neither was it due to any decline in Jonathan’s piety and faith. It is gratuitous to
suppose that he had become contaminated and lowered in moral tone, by the
unbelieving and disobedient spirit of his father. I am inclined to think, from the noble
spirit subsequently displayed by Jonathan, that as an individual he was now fitter in
every respect, physically, intellectually, morally, and spiritually, for fighting the battles of
the Lord, than he was when he wrought his great exploit at Michmash. He still believed,
probably with a stronger faith than ever, that the Lord was able to save by many or by
few; but he lacked the assurance, which he then had, viz., that the Lord was willing to
save through him. Without that conviction he never would have attempted What he did
at Michmash. It was only after God had fulfilled the proposed sign that Jonathan said to
his armour bearer: “Come up after me, for the Lord hath delivered them into the hand of
Israel.” But he had not that assurance now. The dark cloud of the Divine rejection, which
had fallen upon his father at Gilgal, had encompassed him also, and darkened his spirit
with its baleful shadow. It deprived him not, only of the heirship to the kingdom, but
also of the golden opportunity of fighting in the name of the Lord of hosts, with the
proud giant of Gath. The period during which Goliath was permitted to defy the hosts of
Israel was forty days. The frequency with which this period occurs in connection with
special incidents in sacred history is remarkable and suggestive. It rained, e.g., forty days
at the deluge (Gen_7:4; Gen_7:12). Moses on two occasions was forty days with God on
Mount Sinai (Exo_24:18; Exo_34:28). The intercession of Moses on behalf of the people
to avert from them the Divine wrath, on account of their sin in worshipping the golden
calf, lasted forty days (Deu_9:25). The twelve spies were absent forty days during their
inspection of the land of Canaan (Num_13:25); and because of the rebellion, caused by
their evil report, the children of Israel were doomed to wander in the wilderness forty
13

years, corresponding to the forty days spent in the work of inspection (Num_14:34).
Elijah went, in the strength of the food which he received from the angel in the
wilderness of Beersheba, forty days unto Horeb, the mount of God (1Ki_19:8). The
period of respite which was assigned to Nineveh was forty days, as Jonah was
commissioned to preach in its streets: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed”
(Joh_3:4). The temptation of our Lord in the wilderness lasted forty days (Mar_1:13;
Luk_4:2). And the fact that Saul and his army were subjected to the challenge of Goliath
for forty days, seems to show that there was a Divine purpose in permitting it to last so
long. The forty days seem to suggest the thoroughness or completeness of the trial. The
impotence of Saul and his army without God was thereby clearly and conclusively
demonstrated. It was only after this humiliating demonstration that the Lord brought
into the field His own champion. “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” (T. Kirk.)
The Philistines
The Philistines, indeed, were the hereditary enemies of Israel. They represented brute
force and insolent pride and heathen worship, as opposed to higher thoughts of duty and
justice, and the presence and power of God with His people. The name “Philistine” has
been used in modern times, accordingly, to represent stupidity and opposition to light
and knowledge and advancement and “sweet reasonableness.” (W. J. Knox Little, M. A.)
2 Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the
Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the
Philistines.
BARNES, "The valley of Elah - i. e., of the terebinth, now called Wady es Sunt,
from the acacias which are scattered in it.
CLARKE, "The valley of Elah - Some translate this the turpentine valley, or the
valley of the terebinth trees; and others, the valley of oaks. The situation of this valley is
well known.
GILL, "And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together,.... He being
cured, at least being better of his disorder, through the music of David, and alarmed and
aroused by the invasion of the Philistines, which might serve to dissipate any remains of
14

it, or prevent its return, got together his forces:
and pitched by the valley of Elah; which Jerom (u) says Aquila and Theodotion
interpret "the valley of the oak"; but the Vulgate Latin version, the valley of Terebinth;
which, according to our countryman Sandys (w), was four miles from Ramaosophim,
where Samuel dwelt; for he says,"after four miles riding, we descended into the valley of
Terebinth, famous, though little, for the slaughter of Goliath;''and in the Targum this
valley is called the valley of Butma, which in the Arabic language signifies a "terebinth",
or turpentine tree; though some translate it "the oak"; and, according to some modern
travellers (x), to this day it bears a name similar to that; for they say it is"now called the
vale of Bitumen, very famous all over those parts for David's victory over Goliath:"
and set the battle in array against the Philistines; prepared to give them battle.
JAMISON, "valley of Elah — that is, “the Terebinth,” now Wady Er-Sumt
[Robinson]. Another valley somewhat to the north, now called Wady Beit Hanina, has
been fixed on by the tradition of ages.
K&D, "1Sa_17:2-3
Saul and the Israelites encamped opposite to them in the terebinth valley (Emek ha-
Elah), i.e., a plain by the Wady Musur, and stood in battle array opposite to the
Philistines, in such order that the latter stood on that side against the mountain (on the
slope of the mountain), and the Israelites on this side against the mountain; and the
valley (‫א‬ְ‫ַי‬‫גּ‬ ַ‫,ה‬ the deeper cutting made by the brook in the plain) was between them.
PULPIT, "1Sa_17:2, 1Sa_17:3
The valley of Elah. I.e. of the terebinth tree. A valley between them. Conder (’Tent
Work,’ 2:160) describes the spot from personal observation thus: "Saul, coming down by
the highway from the land of Benjamin, encamped by the valley on one of the low hills;
and between the two hosts was the gai or ravine." In the A.V. no exactness of rendering
is ever attempted, and both the emek, the broad strath or valley of Elah, with gently
sloping sides, and the flag, the narrow, precipitous ravine, are equally rendered valley.
Really the gai is most remarkable, and fully explains how the two hosts could remain in
face of one another so long without fighting; for Conder proceeds, "Two points require to
be made clear as to the episode of David’s battle with Goliath: one was the meaning of
the expression gai or ravine; the other was the source whence David took the ’smooth
stones.’ A visit to the spot explains both. In the middle of the broad, open valley we
found a deep trench with vertical sides, impassable except at certain places—a valley in a
valley, and a natural barrier between the two hosts. The sides and bed of this trench are
strewn with rounded and waterworn pebbles, which would have been well fitted for
David’s sling. Here, then, we may picture to ourselves the two hosts, covering the low,
rocky hills opposite to each other, and half hidden among the lentisk bushes. Between
them was the rich expanse of ripening barley, and the red banks of the torrent, with its
white, shingly bed. Behind all were the distant blue hill walls of Judah, whence Saul had
15

just come down. The mail clad champion advanced from the west through the low corn,
with his mighty lance perhaps tufted with feathers, his brazen helmet shining in the sun.
From the east a ruddy boy in his white shirt and sandals, armed with a goat’s hair sling,
came down to the brook, and, according to the poetic fancy of the Rabbis, the pebbles
were given voices, and cried, ’By us shalt thou overcome the giant.’ The champion fell
from an unseen cause, and the wild Philistines fled to the mouth of the valley, where
Gath stood towering on its white chalk cliff, a frontier fortress, the key to the high road
leading to the corn lands of Judah and to the vineyards of Hebron."
3 The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites
another, with the valley between them.
BARNES, "(In the middle of the broad open valley 1Sa_17:2 is a deep trench 1Sa_
17:3 with vertical sides, a valley within a valley: the sides and bed of the trench are
strewn with water-worn pebbles. (Conder.))
CLARKE, "The Philistines stood on a mountain - These were two eminences or
hills, from which they could see and talk with each other.
GILL, "And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel
stood on a mountain on the other side, Before the Israelites are said to encamp in
or by the valley; but here they are said to take the higher ground, and face the
Philistines, who were on a mountain or hill on the other side over against them, which
Kimchi reconciles thus; the whole or the grand army lay encamped in the valley, and,
they that were set in array, or the first ranks, the first battalion, ascended the mountain
to meet the Philistines. Vatablus takes it to be the same mountain, that on one part of it
the Philistines formed their first battalion, and the rest of the army was in the valley; and
on the other part of the mountain the Israelites pitched their camp:
and there was a valley between them; the same as in the preceding verse.
ELLICOTT, " (3, 4) And the Philistines stood. . . .—Conder, in his Tent Work in
Palestine, writing on the spot, gives us a vivid picture of the scene of the well-known
encounter between David and the giant Philistine:—“We may picture to ourselves
the two hosts covering the low rocky hills opposite to each other, and half hidden
among the lentisk bushes. Between them was the rich expanse of the ripening
16

barley, and the red banks of the torrent, with its white shingly bed. Behind all were
the distant blue hill-walls of Judah, whence Saul had just come down. The mail-clad
warrior advanced from the west through the low corn, with his mighty lance
perhaps tufted with feathers, his brazen helmet shining in the sun. From the east a
ruddy boy in his white shirt and sandals, armed with a goat’s-hair sling, came down
to the brook, and, according to the poetic fancy of the Rabbis, the pebbles were
given voices, and cried, ‘By us shalt thou overcome the giant !’ The champion fell
from an unseen cause, and the wild Philistines fled to the mouth of the valley, where
Gath stood towering on its white chalk cliff, a frontier fortress, the key to the high
road leading to the corn-lands of Judah and to the vineyards of Hebron.”
Goliath, of Gath.—The Philistine champion belonged to a race or family of giants,
the remnant of the sons of Anak (see Joshua 11:22), who still dwelt in Gath and
Gaza and Ashdod. The height mentioned was about nine feet two inches. We have in
history a few instances of similar giants. This doughty champion was “full of savage
insolence, unable to understand how any one could contend against his brute
strength and impregnable panoply; the very type of the stupid ‘Philistine,’ such as
has, in the language of modern Germany, not unfitly identified the name with the
opponents of light and freedom and growth.”—Stanley.
HAWKER, "Verses 3-7
(3) And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a
mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them. (4) 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. (5) And he had an helmet of brass upon his
head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five
thousand shekels of brass. (6) And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a
target of brass between his shoulders. (7) And the staff of his spear was like a
weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one
bearing a shield went before him.
There is somewhat very striking in the account given, both of this giant and his
armour. We were told in the book of Joshua, of the great size of the children of
Anak; and as in Gaza of Gath, which belonged to the Philistines, there were the
remains of this race of men, it is probable that Goliath was of this stock. See Joshua
11:22. His height must have been wonderful indeed, if the scripture cubit be, as is
thought to be, 21 inches; and a span half a cubit: both added together and brought
into our English measure, makes him to have been somewhat more than 11 feet
high. And his whole armory seems to correspond to this account. The weight of his
coat 5000 shekels, everyone of which was at least half an ounce. And the spear 600
shekels; both added together, made the weight (besides all that is spoken of
concerning his greaves and target of brass) 350 pounds. Such was the monster and
his armory, which came forth to the defiance of Israel. Reader! Was he not, think
you, a formidable enemy? And can the imagination figure to itself anything more
striking, to resemble the great enemy, who stands to defy the Lord's Israel; in all
17

ages.
4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath,
came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet
tall.
2. Roe, “The Philistines had what they thought was an ace in the hole, "Goliath of
Gath." Goliath was an Anakim. He was of the sons of Anak, the giants. In those
days there was a whole civilization of giants that went right up the Jordan Valley.
[Hundreds of skeletons of giant people have been found up the Jordanian Valley.]
They were called Rephaim, Zamzummim, Emim, Anakim, Nephilim. You find them
both before the flood of Noah and after the flood of Noah. They were at least "six
cubits and a span." [Using the 18" cubit, that is 9-1/2 ft tall; using a 21" cubit that is
10-1/2 ft tall.] It is called a megalithic civilization, mega = big, lithic = stone. They
built huge stone buildings. There really was a race of giants. They really did inhabit
the Jordanian Valley around the hill country of Hebron. They were driven out of
the area by the Mesopotamian Chedorlaomer and his coalition in the days of
Abraham. They were driven out again by the Jews under Joshua, but they were
never driven out of the country. They ended up in the southwest part of Palestine
where they joined forces with the Philistines. So, we have Goliath of Gath who is no
Sunday School tale made up by a Sunday School teacher. He is historically accurate
and comes from a whole civilization of giants.”
BARNES, "A champion - literally, “a man between the two camps:” i. e., one who
did not fight in the ranks like an ordinary soldier, but came forth into the space between
the hostile camps to challenge the mightiest man of his enemies to come and fight him.
Goliath of Gath - One of the places mentioned in Jos_11:22 as still retaining a
remnant of the sons of Anak; Gaza and Ashdod being the others. The race of giants (the
Rephaim, from ‫רפא‬ râphâ' ) is mentioned again in the account of David’s Philistine wars
2Sa_21:15-22; 1Ch_20:4-8. It appears from these passages that Goliath had a brother
Lahmi. Four are named as being “born to the giant in Gath.” See Deu_2:10-11, Deu_
2:20-21; Deu_3:11-13.
Six cubits ... - If the cubit, the length from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger,
is about 1 12 feet; and the span, the distance from the thumb to the middle or little
18

finger, when stretched apart to the full length, be half a cubit, six cubits and a span
would equal about nine feet nine inches. The bed of Og king of Bashan was nine cubits
long Deu_3:11.
CLARKE, "There went out a champion - Our word champion comes from
campus, the field; Campio est enim ille qui pugnat in campo, hoc est, in castris,
“Champion is he, properly, who fights in the field; i.e., in camps.” A man well skilled in
arms, strong, brave, and patriotic.
But is this the meaning of the original ‫הבנים‬ ‫איש‬ ish habbenayim, a middle man, the
man between two; that is, as here, the man who undertakes to settle the disputes
between two armies or nations. So our ancient champions settled disputes between
contending parties by what was termed camp fight, hence the campio or champion. The
versions know not well what to make of this man. The Vulgate calls him sir spurius, “a
bastard;” the Septuagint, ανηρ δυνατος, “a strong or powerful man;” the Targum, ‫גברא‬
‫מביניהון‬ gabra mibbeyneyhon, “a man from between them;” the Arabic, rujil jibar, “a great
or gigantic man;” the Syriac is the same; and Josephus terms him ανηρ
παμμεγεθιστατος, “an immensely great man.” The Vulgate has given him the notation of
spurius or bastard, because it considered the original as expressing a son of two, i.e., a
man whose parents are unknown. Among all these I consider our word champion, as
explained above, the best and most appropriate to the original terms.
Whose height was six cubits and a span - The word cubit signifies the length
from cubitus, the elbow, to the top of the middle finger, which is generally rated at one
foot six inches. The span is the distance from the top of the middle finger to the end of
the thumb, when extended as far as they can stretch on a plain; this is ordinarily nine
inches. Were we sure that these were the measures, and their extent, which are intended
in the original words, we could easily ascertain the height of this Philistine; it would then
be nine feet nine inches, which is a tremendous height for a man.
But the versions are not all agreed in his height. The Septuagint read τεσσαρων
πηχεων και σπιθαμης, four cubits and a span; and Josephus reads the same. It is
necessary however to observe that the Septuagint, in the Codex Alexandrinus, read with
the Hebrew text. But what was the length of the ancient cubit? This has been variously
computed; eighteen inches, twenty inches and a half, and twenty-one inches. If we take
the first measurement, he was nine feet nine; if the second, and read palm instead of
span, with the Vulgate and others, he was ten feet seven inches and a half; if we take the
last, which is the estimate of Graevius, with the span, he was eleven feet three inches; or
if we go to the exactest measurement, as laid down in Bishop Cumberland’s tables,
where he computes the cubit at 21.888 inches, the span at 10.944 inches, and the palm
at 3.684 inches, then the six cubits and the span will make exactly 11 feet 10.272 inches.
If we take the palm instead of the span, then the height will be 11 feet 3.012 inches. But I
still think that the nine feet nine inches is the most reasonable.
GILL, "And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines,....
19

Or a "middle person", or a man "between two" (y); meaning either one that went and
stood between the two armies of Israel and the Philistines, as the Jewish writers
generally interpret it: or a "dueller" (z), as others, with which our version agrees; one
that proposed to fight a duel, and have the war decided by two persons, of which he
would be one:
named Goliath of Gath; which was one of the places where the Anakims or giants
were driven, and left, in the times of Joshua, and from whom this man descended, Jos_
11:22.
whose height was six cubits and a span; and taking a cubit after the calculation of
Bishop Cumberland (a) to be twenty one inches, and more, and a span to be half a cubit,
the height of this man was eleven feet four inches, and somewhat more; which need not
seem incredible, since the coffin of Orestea, the son of Agamemnon, is said (b) to be
seven cubits long; and Eleazar, a Jew, who because of his size was called the giant, and
was presented by Artabanus, king of the Parthians, to Tiberius Caesar, is said by
Josephus (c) to be seven cubits high; and one Gabbara of Arabia, in the times of
Claudius Caesar, measured nine feet nine inches, as Pliny (d) relates, and who elsewhere
(e) speaks of a people in Ethiopia, called Syrbotae, who were eight cubits high; the
Septuagint version makes Goliath to be only four cubits and a span high, and so
Josephus (f); that is, about eight feet.
HENRY, " His prodigious size. He was of the sons of Anak, who at Gath kept their
ground in Joshua's time (Jos_11:22), and kept up a race of giants there, of which Goliath
was one, and, it is probable, one of the largest. He was in height six cubits and a span, v.
4. They learned bishop Cumberland has made it out that the scripture-cubit was above
twenty-one inches (above three inches more than our half-yard) and a span was half a
cubit, by which computation Goliath wanted but eight inches of four yard in height,
eleven feet and four inches, a monstrous stature, and which made him very formidable,
especially if he had strength and spirit proportionable.
JAMISON, "1Sa_17:4-11. Goliath challenges a combat.
a champion — Hebrew, a “man between two”; that is, a person who, on the part of
his own people, undertook to determine the national quarrel by engaging in single
combat with a chosen warrior in the hostile army.
K&D, "1Sa_17:4-5
And the (well-known) champion came out of the camps of the Philistines (‫ם‬ִ‫ַי‬‫נ‬ ֵ‫בּ‬ ַ‫ה‬ ‫ישׁ‬ ִ‫,א‬
the middle-man, who decides a war between two armies by a single combat; Luther, “the
giant,” according to the ἀνὴρ δυνατὸς of the lxx, although in 1Sa_17:23 the Septuagint
translators have rendered the word correctly ἀνὴρ ὁ ἀμεσσαῖος, which is probably only
another form of ὁ μεσαῖος), named Goliath of Gath, one of the chief cities of the
Philistines, where there were Anakim still left, according to Jos_11:22. His height was six
cubits and a span (6 1/4 cubits), i.e., according to the calculation made by Thenius,
about nine feet two inches Parisian measure, - a great height no doubt, though not
20

altogether unparalleled, and hardly greater than that of the great uncle of Iren, who
came to Berlin in the year 1857 (see Pentateuch, p. 869, note).
(Note: According to Pliny (h. n. vii. 16), the giant Pusio and the giantess
Secundilla, who lived in the time of Augustus, were ten feet three inches (Roman) in
height; and a Jew is mentioned by Josephus (Ant. xviii. 4, 5), who was seven cubits
in height, i.e., ten Parisian feet, or if the cubits are Roman, nine and a half.)
The armour of Goliath corresponded to his gigantic stature: “a helmet of brass upon his
head, and clothes in scale armour, the weight of which was five thousand shekels of
brass.” The meaning scales is sustained by the words ‫ת‬ ֶ‫שׂ‬ ֶ‫ק‬ ְ‫שׂ‬ ַ‫ק‬ in Lev_11:9-10, and Deu_
14:9-10, and ‫ת‬ ‫שׂ‬ ְ‫ק‬ ְ‫שׂ‬ ַ‫ק‬ in Eze_29:4. ‫ים‬ ִ‫שּׂ‬ ַ‫ק‬ ְ‫שׂ‬ ַ‫ק‬ ‫ן‬ ‫י‬ ְ‫ר‬ ִ‫,שׁ‬ therefore, is not θώραξ ἁλυσιδωτός
(lxx), a coat of mail made of rings worked together like chains, such as were used in the
army of the Seleucidae (1 Macc. 6:35), but according to Aquila's φολιδωτόν (scaled), a
coat made of plates of brass lying one upon another like scales, such as we find upon the
old Assyrian sculptures, where the warriors fighting in chariots, and in attendance upon
the king, wear coats of scale armour, descending either to the knees or ankles, and
consisting of scales of iron or brass, which were probably fastened to a shirt of felt or
coarse linen (see Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 335). The account of the
weight, 5000 shekels, i.e., according to Thenius, 148 Dresden pounds, is hardly founded
upon the actual weighing of the coat of mail, but probably rested upon a general
estimate, which may have been somewhat too high, although we must bear in mind that
the coat of mail not only covered the chest and back, but, as in the case of the Assyrian
warriors, the lower part of the body also, and therefore must have been very large and
very heavy.
(Note: According to Thenius, the cuirass of Augustus the Strong, which has been
preserved in the historical museum at Dresden, weighted fifty-five pounds; and from
that he infers, that the weight given as that of Goliath's coat of mail is by no means
too great. Ewald, on the other hand, seems to have no idea of the nature of the
Hebrew eights, or of the bodily strength of a man, since he gives 5000 lbs. of brass as
the weight of Goliath's coat of mail (Gesch. iii. p. 90), and merely observes that the
pounds were of course much smaller than ours. But the shekel did not even weight so
much as our full ounce. With such statements as these you may easily turn the
historical character of the scriptural narrative into incredible myths; but they cannot
lay any claim to the name of science.)
PULPIT, "1Sa_17:4-7
A champion. Literally, "a man of the two middles," i.e. one who enters the space
between the two armies in order to decide the contest by a single combat. Of Gath. In
Jos_11:21 this town is mentioned, together with Gaza and Ashdod, as still having among
its inhabitants men of the race of Anak. Whose height was six cubits and a span.
In our measure his height was eight feet five and one-third inches; for the cubit is sixteen
inches, and the span (really the hand-breadth) is five and one-third inches. A span, sit, is
eight inches, but the word used here is zereth. See on these measures, Conder,
’Handbook,’ p. 79. This height, though very great, has been attained to in modern times.
Armed with a coat of mail. Literally, "clothed in a shirt of scales," i.e. a corselet made
of metal scales sewn on cloth so as to overlap one another. It was flexible, and protected
the back and sides as well as the kent. Five thousand shekels of brass. Really
21

copper, as brass was then unknown. Conder gives the shekel as equal to two-thirds of an
ounce. This would make the corselet weigh at least two hundred weight, an enormous
load to carry even for a short time. Goliath’s other equipments correspond in heaviness,
and largely exceed the weight of medieval suits of armour. Greaves of brass upon his
legs. The thighs were protected by the corselet, so that only the legs required defensive
armour. This would account for the weight of the corselet, as it was much longer than
the cuirass, as worn by the Greeks and Romans. A target. Really, "a javelin." It was
carried at the back, ready to be taken in the hand and thrown at the enemy when
required. The versions have a different reading—magan, shield, for chidon, javelin. The
shield was carried before him by an armour bearer. The staff. The written text has a
word which usually signifies shaft, arrow, for which the Kri substitutes wood, the noun
actually found in 2Sa_21:19; 1Ch_20:5; but most probably the word used here is an
archaic name for the handle or staff of a spear. Six hundred shekels. The weight of
the iron head of the spear would be about twenty-five pounds. However tall and strong
Goliath may have been, yet with all this vast weight of metal his movements must have
been slow and unready. He was got up, in bet, more to tell upon the imagination than for
real fighting, and though, like a castle, he might have been invincible if attacked with
sword and spear, he was much too encumbered with defensive armour to be capable of
assuming the offensive against a light armed enemy. To David belongs the credit of
seeing that the Philistine champion was a huge imposition.
BENSON, "1 Samuel 17:4. Goliath of Gath — For to this city the Anakims fled
when Joshua rooted them out of the land of Canaan, Joshua 11:22. And here they
propagated a race of giants; that is, people of great strength and stature. Whose
height was six cubits and a span — At least nine feet nine inches. And this is not
strange; for besides the giants mentioned in Scripture, Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus,
and Pliny make mention of persons seven cubits high., "
COKE, "1 Samuel 17:4. Goliath, of Gath— When Joshua rooted the Anakims out of
the land of Canaan, several of them fled to this city of Gath: See Joshua 11:22-23.
We have undoubted evidence from the best writers, that there have been men of a
gigantic size and make, in ancient times. See Genesis 6:4. M. Le Cat's Memoir on the
History of Giants, and a curious dissertation on the combat of David with Goliath in
the 8th Volume of the Critici Sacri.
LANGE, "1 Samuel 17:4. Goliath comes forward—description of his person. He is
called “the man of the midst,” middleman [champion] because he advances between
the two armies ( 1 Samuel 17:8-9) to decide the matter by single combat. (Maurer:
“‫ם‬ִ‫ַי‬‫נ‬ֵ‫,בּ‬ interval between two things, here between two armies (τὰ μεταίχμια, Eur.
Phœn. 5:1285, on which the Schol. says: “the space between armies where single
combats took place), whence ‫ם‬ִ‫ַי‬‫נ‬ֵ‫בּ‬ַ‫ח‬ ‫ישׁ‬ ַ‫,א‬ one who decides a contest by single combat
between two army-lines.” Sept. Al, ’Αμεσσαῖος ( 1 Samuel 17:23), error for ὁ
μεσαῖος). See examples of similar single combats among the Oriental nations in
Stähelin’s “Leben Davids,” Bas1866, p4.[FN37] Neither of the armies dares to
22

attack. Saul and Israel feared the Philistines, instead of bravely attacking the
hereditary enemy of the Theocracy in reliance on the help of the Lord. The
explanation is found in Saul’s false attitude towards the Lord. “The king reckons
only with human factors, believing that he has forfeited all claim to help from
above. What wonder that his position seems to him in general doubtful, and he
thinks it prudent—unbelief makes us cowards—to act merely on the defensive.” (F.
W. Krummacher.) The plu. “out of the camps of the Philistines” does not justify us
in accepting the arbitrary rendering of the Sept, “out of the ranks;” it refers to the
various camp-divisions out of which Goliath came (comp. Ew. § 178 d).—Gath, one
of the five Philistine capital-cities, has now disappeared without trace. When Joshua
destroyed the giant race of the Enakim ( Joshua 11:21 sq.) in this region, there
remained some of them only in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod ( 1 Samuel 17:22). Goliath’s
height is given exactly: six cubits and a span. The change in the Sept. of the six to
four is due to the desire to give plausibility to what seemed incredible. According to
Thenius (die althebr. Längen und Hohlmasse in den Theol. Stud. und Krit., 1846,
p117 sq.) Goliath’s height was9 feet 1 inch (Parisian).[FN38] See in Then, and Keil
(Comms. on this verse) examples of like tallness in ancient and modem times. The
skeletons of Pusio and Secundilla, mentioned by Pliny (N. H7, 16) were a Paris inch
longer 10 ft 3 in. Roman measure.] [Keil mentions a giant who came to Berlin in the
year1857, who was as tall as Goliath; and “Chang, the Chinese giant, lately in
England, was7 feet8 inches high” (Bib. Com). On the giants of the Bible see the
dictionaries of Winer (Riesen), Herzog (id.), Smith, and Fairbairn.—Tr.].
PETT, "1 Samuel 17:4-7
‘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 had a helmet of bronze on
his head, and he was clad with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five
thousand shekels of bronze, and he had greaves of bronze on his legs, and a javelin
of bronze between his shoulders. And the staff 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.’
But there was another snag. The Philistines had issued a challenge through their
‘champion’ (more literally ‘the man in the space between’). He had come down into
the valley and laid down his challenge for someone to meet him in single combat.
This was a regular custom in those days, and such a combat would be seen as having
a significant impact on what followed, because it would be seen as demonstrating
whose side the gods were on. No army liked to fight if its champion had been
defeated, for it was seen as a mirror image of what would follow. Thus it was a
challenge that could not be ignored.
And the further problem was that this champion was huge. He was nine foot six tall,
covered in huge and impressive armour reinforced with copper or bronze, and
bristling with offensive weapons, such as spear, sword and javelin. There is no good
reason for doubting the statistics. Skeletons of men of that size coming from that era
23

have been dug up in Palestine, and they crop up throughout the ages. The coat of
mail would have been made of overlapping plates of metal and have reached down
to the knees. The greaves protected the shins.
He was named ‘Goliath’ and came from Gath. He may have been descended from
the Rephaim (Deuteronomy 2:20-21; 2 Samuel 21:22) or the Anakim (Joshua
11:21-22). It is quite probable that ‘Goliath’ was the name given to whoever was the
recognised Philistine champion at the time, so that when this Goliath died another
Goliath would replace him. This would explain how he could later seem to be slain
again (2 Samuel 21:19). We can compare how the early Philistine commander-in-
chiefs were all called Phicol, and their kings Abimelech (Genesis 20; Genesis
21:22-34; Genesis 26; Psalms 34 heading). For a similar phenomenon compare also
the Pharaohs in Egypt and the Tartans who were commanders-in-chief over the
Assyrian army (2 Kings 18:17).
5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat
of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand
shekels;
BARNES, "Coat of mail - Or “breastplate of scales.” A kind of metal shirt,
protecting the back as well as the breast, and made of scales like those of a fish; as was
the corselet of Rameses III, now in the British Museum. The terms, helmet, coat, and
clothed (armed the King James Version) are the same as those used in Isa_59:17.
Five thousand shekels - Probably about 157 pounds avoirdupois (see Exo_38:12).
It is very probable that Goliath’s brass coat may have been long preserved as a trophy, as
we know his sword was, and so the weight of it ascertained.
CLARKE, "He was armed with a coat of mail - The words in the original, ‫שרון‬
‫קשקשים‬ shiryon kaskassim, mean a coat of mail formed of plates of brass overlapping
each other, like the scales of a fish, or tiles of a house. This is the true notion of the
original terms.
With thin plates of brass or iron, overlapping each other, were the ancient coats of
mail formed in different countries; many formed in this way may be now seen in the
tower of London.
The weight - five thousand shekels - Following Bishop Cumberland’s tables, and
rating the shekel at two hundred and nineteen grains, and the Roman ounce at four
hundred and thirty-eight grains, we find that Goliath’s coat of mail, weighing five
24

thousand shekels, was exactly one hundred and fifty-six pounds four ounces
avoirdupois. A vast weight for a coat of mail, but not all out of proportion to the man.
GILL, "And he had an helmet of brass upon his head,.... This was a piece of
armour, which covered the head in the day of battle; these were usually made of the
skins of beasts, of leather, and which were covered with plates of iron, or brass; and
sometimes made of all iron, or of brass (g); as this seems to have been:
and he was armed with a coat of mail; which reached from the neck to the middle,
and consisted of various plates of brass laid on one another, like the scales of fishes (h),
so close together that no dart or arrow could pierce between:
and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass: which made one
hundred and fifty six pounds and a quarter of zygostatic or avoirdupois weight; and
therefore he must be a very strong man indeed to carry such a weight. So the armour of
the ancient Romans were all of brass, as this man's; their helmets, shields, greaves, coats
of mail, all of brass, as Livy says (i); and so in the age of the Grecian heroes (j).
HENRY, " His armour. Art, as well as nature, made him terrible. He was well
furnished with defensive armour (1Sa_17:5, 1Sa_17:6): A helmet of brass on his head, a
coat of mail, made of brass plates laid over one another, like the scales of a fish; and,
because his legs would lie most within the reach of an ordinary man, he wore brass
boots, and had a large corselet of brass about his neck. The coat is said to weigh 5000
shekels, and a shekel was half an ounce avoirdupois, a vast weight for a man to carry, all
the other parts of his armour being proportionable. But some think it should be
translated, not the weight of the coat, but the value of it, was 5000 shekels; so much it
cost. His offensive weapons were extraordinary, of which his spear only is here
described, 1Sa_17:7. It was like a weaver's beam. His arm could manage that which an
ordinary man could scarcely heave. His shield only, which was the lightest of all his
accoutrements, was carried before him by his esquire, probably for state; for he that was
clad in brass little needed a shield.
JAMISON, "helmet of brass — The Philistine helmet had the appearance of a row
of feathers set in a tiara, or metal band, to which were attached scales of the same
material, for the defense of the neck and the sides of the face [Osborn].
a coat of mail — a kind of corslet, quilted with leather or plates of metal, reaching
only to the chest, and supported by shoulder straps, leaving the shoulders and arms at
full liberty.
BENSON, "1 Samuel 17:5-7. He was armed with a coat of mail — Made of plates of
brass laid over one another like the scales of a fish. Five thousand shekels of
brass — The common shekel contained a fourth part of an ounce; and so five
thousand shekels made one thousand two hundred and fifty ounces, or seventy-eight
25

pounds; which weight was not unsuitable to a man of such vast strength as his
height speaks him to have been. Greaves — Boots. The staff of his spear like a
weaver’s beam — On which the weavers fasten their web. It was like this for
thickness. And though the whole weight of Goliath’s armour may seem prodigious,
yet it is not so much by far as one Athanatus did manage, of whom Pliny relates that
he saw him come into the theatre with arms weighing twelve thousand ounces. A
shield —
Probably for state; for he that was clad in brass little needed a shield.
ELLICOTT, "(5) A coat of mail.—More accurately, breastplate of scales. This
armour has been sometimes understood as “chain armour,” but it is more probable
that the Philistine armour was made of metal scales, like those of a fish, whose
defensive coat was, no doubt, imitated at a very early date by this warlike race, who
dwelt on the sea-shore, and whose life and worship were so closely connected with
the great sea. This coat of mail, or corselet, was flexible, and covered the back and
sides of the wearer. The weight of the different pieces of the giant’s panoply largely
exceeds the weight of mediæval suits of armour.
LANGE, "1 Samuel 17:5-7. Goliath’s arms are in keeping with his bodily size: 1)
copper-helmet; 2) scale-corselet; (‫ת‬ ֶ‫שׂ‬ֶ‫ק‬ ְ‫שׂ‬ַ‫,ק‬ according to Numbers 11:9 sq.;
Deuteronomy 14:9 sq.; Ezekiel 29:4 = “scale”), a harness or corselet made of
overlapping metallic plates (φολιδωτόν, Aq. “clad with scales”), not of chain-rings.
Such scale-corselets were common in ancient oriental wars. See Layard, “Nineveh
and its Remains,” II:4, and Bochart, Phal. III:13. [Also Kitto, “Saul and David,” p
211 sq, and Philippson in loco.] The weight of the corselet, or coat-of-mail, was5000
shekels; the shekel was not a full German loth [half-ounce]; Then.: “about139
Dresden pounds.” The corselet probably descended far down the body, as we see in
the pictures of Assyrian warriors in Layard’s “Nineveh.” 3) copper-greaves on the
legs. (Read plu. “greaves,” as in all ancient VSS.) These greaves did not cover the
thighs (Bunsen), which in oriental fashion were protected by the corselet4) a copper-
lance between his shoulders. The Heb. “lance” (‫,)כּידוֹן‬ is to be retained in spite of the
reading “shield” (‫ֵן‬‫ג‬ ָ‫)מ‬ in Sept, Vulg, Syr, Arab. The text is confirmed by 1 Samuel
17:45, “where the shield would be out of place, with two offensive arms”
(Then.).[FN39] As the ancients carried even their swords on their shoulders (Il. 2,
45; Bochart, Hieroz. 1,2, 8), there is nothing strange in his carrying the javelin
“between the shoulders.” 5) a spear, whose shaft (read ‫ץ‬ֵ‫ﬠ‬ for ‫ץ‬ֵ‫,ח‬ comp. 2 Samuel
21:19; 1 Chronicles 20:5) was like a weaver’s beam, and whose head weighed600
shekels of iron, “somewhat over16½ Dresden pounds, quite in keeping with the
other statements” (Then.). 1 Samuel 17:8-11. Goliath’s contemptuous and fear-
inspiring challenge. 1 Samuel 17:8. He stood and cried to the ranks of Israel: Why
are ye in battle array? behold, I represent the whole Philistine people, and ye are
servants of Saul. Send one of you to fight with me, and “let him come down to me;”
Goliath was standing, namely, in the valley, beneath the Israelites who were
encamped on the hill-side.
26

6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze
javelin was slung on his back.
BARNES, "A target ... - Rather, “a javelin.” as in 1Sa_17:45, and placed between the
shoulders, as the quiver was.
CLARKE, "Greaves of brass upon his legs - This species of armor may be seen
on many ancient monuments. It was a plate of brass (though perhaps sometimes formed
of laminae or plates, like the mail) which covered the shin or fore part of the leg, from
the knee down to the instep, and was buckled with straps behind the leg. From ancient
monuments we find that it was commonly worn only on one leg. Vegetius, de Re Militari,
says, Pedites Scutati etiam ferreas ocreas in dextris cruribus copebantur accipere. “The
foot soldiers, called Scutati, from their particular species of shield, were obliged to use
iron greaves on their right legs.” One of these may be seen in the monument of the
gladiator Buto, in Montfaucon; and another in the Mosaic pavement at Bognor, in
Surrey.
A target of brass between his shoulders - When not actually engaged, soldiers
threw their shields behind their back, so that they appeared to rest or hang between the
shoulders.
There are different opinions concerning this piece of armor, called here ‫כידון‬ kidon.
Some think it was a covering for the shoulders; others, that it was a javelin or dart;
others, that it was a lance; some, a club; and others, a sword. It is certainly distinguished
from the shield, 1Sa_17:41, and is translated a spear, Jos_8:18.
GILL, "And he had greaves of brass upon his legs,.... Which were a sort of boots,
or leg harnesses, which covered the thighs and legs down to the heels; such as Iolaus (k)
and the Grecians usually wore, as described by Homer; which are supposed to be double
the weight of the helmet, reckoned at fifteen pounds, so that these must weigh thirty
pounds of avoirdupois weight:
and a target of brass between his shoulders; the Targum is,"a spear or shield of
brass, which came out of the helmet, and a weight of brass upon his shoulders.''Jarchi
says the same, and that it was in the form of a spear to defend the neck from the sword;
it seems to be a corslet of brass, worn between the helmet and the coat of mail for the
defence of the neck, supposed to weigh thirty pounds (l).
JAMISON, "greaves of brass — boots, terminating at the ankle, made in one plate
of metal, but round to the shape of the leg, and often lined with felt or sponge. They were
27

useful in guarding the legs, not only against the spikes of the enemy, but in making way
among thorns and briers.
a target of brass — a circular frame, carried at the back, suspended by a long belt
which crossed the breast from the shoulders to the loins.
K&D, "1Sa_17:6
And “greaves of brass upon his feet, and a brazen lance (hung) between his
shoulders,” i.e., upon his back. ‫ן‬ ‫יד‬ ִ‫כּ‬ signifies a lance, or small spear. The lxx and
Vulgate, however, adopt the rendering ἀσπὶς χαλκῆ, clypeus aeneus; and Luther has
followed them, and translates it a brazen shield. Thenius therefore proposes to alter
‫ן‬ ‫יד‬ ִ‫כּ‬ into ‫ֵן‬‫ג‬ ָ‫,מ‬ because the expression “between his shoulders” does not appear
applicable to a spear or javelin, which Goliath must have suspended by a strap, but only
to a small shield slung over his back, whilst his armour-bearer carried the larger ‫ָה‬‫נּ‬ ִ‫צ‬ in
front of him. But the difficulty founded upon the expression “between his shoulders” has
been fully met by Bochart (Hieroz. i. 2, c. 8), in the examples which he cites from
Homer, Virgil, etc., to prove that the ancients carried their own swords slung over their
shoulders (ἀμφὶ δ ̓ ὤμοισιν: Il. ii. 45, etc.). And Josephus understood the expression in
this way (Ant. vi. 9, 1). Goliath had no need of any shield to cover his back, as this was
sufficiently protected by the coat of mail. Moreover, the allusion to the ‫ן‬ ‫יד‬ ִ‫כּ‬ in 1Sa_
17:45 points to an offensive weapon, and not to a shield.
7 His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron
point weighed six hundred shekels. [3] His shield bearer
went ahead of him.
BARNES, "Spear’s-head - literally, “the flame of his spear,” the metal part which
flashed like a flame.
Six hundred shekels - i. e., between seventeen and eighteen pounds avoirdupois.
CLARKE, "The staff on his spear was like a weaver’s beam - Either like that
on which the warp is rolled, or that on which the cloth is rolled. We know not how thick
this was, because there were several sorts of looms, and the sizes of the beams very
dissimilar. Our woollen, linen, cotton, and silk looms are all different in the size of their
beams; and I have seen several that I should not suppose too thick, though they might be
28

too short, for Goliath’s spear.
His spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron - That is, his spear’s
head was of iron, and it weighed six hundred shekels; this, according to the former
computation, would amount to eighteen pounds twelve ounces.
And one bearing a shield - ‫הצנה‬ hatstsinnah, from ‫צן‬ tsan, pointed or penetrating,
if it do not mean some kind of a lance, must mean a shield, with what is called the umbo,
a sharp protuberance, in the middle, with which they could as effectually annoy their
enemies as defend themselves. Many of the old Highland targets were made with a
projecting dagger in the center. Taking the proportions of things unknown to those
known, the armor of Goliath is supposed to have weighed not less than two hundred and
seventy-two pounds thirteen ounces! Plutarch informs us that the ordinary weight of a
soldier’s panoply, or complete armor, was one talent, or sixty pounds; and that one
Alcimus, in the army of Demetrius, was considered as a prodigy, because his panoply
weighed two talents, or one hundred and twenty pounds.
GILL, "And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam,.... The wooden part
of it, held in the hand; this for thickness was like the beam in the weaver's loom, about
which the warp, or else the web, is rolled; and it is conjectured that, in proportion to the
stature of Goliath, his spear must be twenty six feet long, since Hector's in Homer (m)
was eleven cubits, or sixteen feet and a half:
and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; the iron part of the
spear, the point of it, which has its name in Hebrew from a flame of fire, because when
brandished it looks shining and flaming; and being the weight of six hundred shekels,
amounted to eighteen pounds and three quarters of avoirdupois weight, and the whole
spear is supposed to weigh thirty seven pounds and a half; and the whole of this man's
armour is thought to weigh two hundred and seventy two pounds, thirteen ounces (n);
which was a prodigious weight for a man to carry, and go into battle with; and one may
well wonder how he could be able with such a weight about him to move and lay about in
an engagement; though this is nothing in comparison of the weight some men have
carried. Pliny (o) tells us that he saw one Athanatus come into the theatre clothed with a
leaden breastplate of five hundred pounds weight, and shod with buskins of the same
weight:
and one bearing a shield went before him; which when engaged in battle he held
in his own hand, and his sword in the other; the former was reckoned at thirty pounds,
and the latter at four pounds, one ounce; though one would think he had no occasion for
a shield, being so well covered with armour all over; so that the carrying of it before him
might be only a matter of form and state. His spear is the only piece of armour that was
of iron, all the rest were of brass; and Hesiod (p), writing of the brazen age, says, their
arms and their houses were all of brass, for then there was no iron; and so Lucretius (q)
affirms that the use of brass was before iron; but both are mentioned together; see Gill
on Gen_4:22, hence Mars is called χαλχεος αρης (r).
JAMISON, "staff of his spear — rather under five feet long, and capable of being
29

used as a javelin (1Sa_19:10). It had an iron head.
one bearing a shield — In consequence of their great size and weight, the Oriental
warrior had a trusty and skilful friend, whose office it was to bear the large shield behind
which he avoided the missile weapons of the enemy. He was covered, cap-a-pie, with
defensive armor, while he had only two offensive weapons - a sword by his side and a
spear in his hand.
K&D, "1Sa_17:7
“And the shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and the point of it six hundred
shekels of iron” (about seventeen pounds). For ‫ץ‬ ֵ‫,ח‬ according to the Keri and the parallel
passages, 2Sa_21:19; 1Ch_20:5, we should read ‫ץ‬ֵ‫,ע‬ wood, i.e., shaft. Before him went
the bearer of the zinnah, i.e., the great shield.
1Sa_17:8
This giant stood and cried to the ranks of the Israelites, “Why come ye out to place
yourselves in battle array? Am I not the Philistine, and ye the servants of Saul? Choose
ye out a man who may come down to me” (into the valley where Goliath was standing).
The meaning is: “Why would you engage in battle with us? I am the man who represents
the strength of the Philistines, and ye are only servants of Saul. If ye have heroes, choose
one out, that we may decide the matter in a single combat.”
8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel,
"Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not
a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul?
Choose a man and have him come down to me.
CLARKE, "I a Philistine - The Targum adds much to this speech. This is the
substance: “I am Goliath the Philistine of Gath, who killed the two sons of Eli, Hophni
and Phinehas the priests; and led into captivity the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and
placed it in the temple of Dagon my god; and it remained in the cities of the Philistines
seven months. Also, in all our battles I have gone at the head of the army, and we
conquered and cut down men, and laid them as low as the dust of the earth; and to this
day the Philistines have not granted me the honor of being chief of a thousand men. And
ye, men of Israel, what noble exploit has Saul, the son of Kish, of Gibeah, done, that ye
should have made him king over you? If he be a hero, let him come down himself and
fight with me; but if he be a weak or cowardly man, then choose you out a man that he
may come down to me.”
30

GILL, "And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel,.... He stood in the
valley between the two armies, and cried with a loud voice that he might be heard; and
as he was of such a monstrous stature, no doubt his voice was very strong and sonorous;
and as the battalions of Israel designed by armies were posted on the mountain or hill,
his voice would ascend, and be the more easily heard:
and said unto them, why are ye come out to set your battle in array? either as
wondering at their boldness, to set themselves in battle array against the Philistines; or
rather suggesting that it was needless, since the dispute between them might be issued
by a single combat:
am not I a Philistine, and you servants to Saul? a common Philistine, according
to Jarchi; not a captain of a hundred, or of a thousand; and yet would fight anyone of
them, their general officers, or be they who they would; or rather, as Abarbinel, he was a
prince among the Philistines, and king of Gath; and though he was, and it was usual with
great persons to engage with their equals, yet he did not insist on that; but would engage
with any man, though of an inferior rank, even with any of Saul's servants; and by calling
the Israelites the servants of Saul, he might have some respect to Saul's arbitrary
government over them; and since they must be servants and slaves, it was as well to be
servants to the Philistines as to him:
choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me; according to Jarchi
and the Targumist, the challenge first respects Saul their king; that if he was a man of
fortitude and courage, let him come and engage with him; if not, choose another, and
send him down into the valley to fight with him. These same writers represent him as
blustering and bragging that he killed the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, took the
ark captive, and carried it into the temple of Dagon; that he had been used to go out with
the armies of the Philistines, and had obtained victories, and slain many, and yet had
never been made captain of a thousand among them; all which is improbable, and some
of it notoriously false; for in every battle after the taking of the ark the Philistines had
been beaten.
HENRY, "His challenge. The Philistines having chosen him for their champion, to
save themselves from the hazard of battle, he here throws down the gauntlet, and bids
defiance to the armies of Israel, 1Sa_17:8-10. He came into the valley that lay between
the camps, and, his voice probably being as much stronger than other people's as his
arm was, he cried so as to make them all hear him, Give me a man, that we may fight
together. He looked upon himself with admiration, because he was so much taller and
stronger than all about him; his heart (says bishop Hall) nothing but a lump of proud
flesh. He looked upon Israel with disdain, because they had none among them of such a
monstrous bulk, and defies them to find a man among them bold enough to enter the list
with him. (1.) He upbraids them with their folly in drawing an army together: “Why
have you come to set the battle in array? How dare you oppose the mighty Philistines?”
Or, “Why should the two armies engage, when the controversy may be sooner decided,
with only the expense of one life and the hazard of another?” (2.) He offers to put the
31

war entirely upon the issue of the duel he proposes: “If your champion kill me, we will be
your servants; if I kill him, you shall be ours.” This, says bishop Patrick, was only a
bravado, for no nation would be willing thus to venture its all upon the success of one
man, nor is it justifiable; notwithstanding Goliath's stipulation here, when he was killed
the Philistines did not stand to his word, nor submit themselves as servants to Israel.
When he boasts, I am a Philistine, and you are servants to Saul, he would have it
thought a great piece of condescension in him, who was a chief ruler, to enter the lists
with an Israelite; for he looked on them as no better than slaves. The Chaldee paraphrase
brings him in boasting that he was the man that had killed Hophni and Phinehas and
taken the ark prisoner, but that the Philistines had never given him so much as the
command of a regiment in recompence of his services, whereas Saul had been made king
for his services: “Let him therefore take up the challenge.”
JAMISON, "I defy the armies of Israel ...; give me a man, that we may fight
together — In cases of single combat, a warrior used to go out in front of his party, and
advancing towards the opposite ranks, challenge someone to fight with him. If his
formidable appearance, or great reputation for physical strength and heroism, deterred
any from accepting the challenge, he used to parade himself within hearing of the
enemy’s lines, specify in a loud, boastful, bravado style, defying them, and pouring out
torrents of abuse and insolence to provoke their resentment.
BENSON. "1 Samuel 17:8-11. Let him come down to me — That the battle may be
decided by us two alone. They were greatly afraid — This may seem strange,
considering the glorious promises of God, and their late experience of divine
assistance. And where was Jonathan, who, in the last war, had so bravely engaged a
whole army of the Philistines? Doubtless he did not feel himself so stirred up of God
as he did at that time. As the best, so the bravest of men, are no more than what God
makes them. Jonathan must sit still now, because this honour is reserved for David.
ELLICOTT, " (8) Am not I a Philistine?—The literal rendering here gives a far
more forcible reading: Am not I the Philistine? the famous warrior whom you know
too well? The Targum of Jonathan adds here the proud boast of the giant warrior
that it was he who had slain Hophni and Phinehas (the sons of Eli, the high priest),
and had carried the Ark to the temple of Dagon. This Targum, although
comparatively a late compilation, doubtless embodied many ancient national
traditions.
And ye servants to Saul.—Thus taunting the soldiers of Israel with the memory of
the former glory of their king. Will none of the famous servants of the warrior king
dare to meet me?
Must we not deem it probable that the fact of the separation of the prophet from the
king had been made public in Philistia, and that the present daring challenge was
owing to their knowledge that the Spirit of the Lord—whom we know these enemies
of the Hebrews dreaded with so awful a dread—had departed from Saul and his
32

armies?
HAWKER, "Verses 8-11
(8) 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 to
Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. (9) 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 ye be our servants, and serve us. (10) And the Philistine
said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.
(11) When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were
dismayed, and greatly afraid.
See how guilt breeds fear: else wherefore did Saul and all Israel tremble? There was
a time, when at the threats of the Ammonites, Saul hastened to the deliverance of the
people, though only then coming from the herd of the field, and obtained a glorious
victory. And now, though a king at the head of an army, he trembles. What made
the difference? It is easily answered. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, in the
former instance, and inspired him with courage. But now, the Spirit of the Lord is
departed from him, and all his confidence is fled. Oh! how sweet is it, Reader, to be
under his blessed influence, whose strength is made perfect in the weakness of his
people. What cannot a soul accomplish, when God leads that soul on? See 1 Samuel
11:6, compared with 1 Samuel 16:14; Zechariah 4:6-7.
COKE, "1 Samuel 17:8. And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel—
Antiquity furnishes us with many examples of single combats like this proposed by
Goliath. Thus Paris and Menelaus in Homer, and the Horatii and Curiatii in Livy,
are said to fight at the head of the army, upon condition that the party of the
vanquished should receive laws from the conqueror. And would to God that on
many occasions princes would singly determine those quarrels, which, without
interesting the public good, give room for such horrible effusions of innocent blood!
But it does not seem very likely to have been with a view to spare human blood, that
Goliath proposed this duel with such an Israelite as should be chosen. It was entirely
bravado and insolence in the Philistine: who, because he was monstrous, thought
himself invincible. See Buddaeus Jurisprud. Hist. Specim. sect. 21.
PETT, "1 Samuel 17:8-9
‘And he stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why are you
come out to set your battle in array? Am not I the Philistine, and you servants to
Saul? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight
with me, and 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.” ’
Each day this giant of a man would stride out into the valley with his shield bearer
in front of him, and hurl his challenge at the Israelite army. And every day the
33

Israelites looked at him, cowered back, and grew more and more afraid, for they
knew that if no one dared to face Goliath it proved that YHWH was not with them.
And they were aware only too well of what that would mean.
Then Goliath would laugh at their battle array and ask them why they went to all
the trouble to arm themselves when all that they had to do was send out a champion
to meet him. Once they were ready to do that they could come to an agreement that
whichever champion won, their army would be seen as the victors and the other
army would submit. It was all so easy (if you had such a man as your champion).
“The Philistine.” That is, the one who represented the whole of the Philistine army.
Whoever fought him would, as it were, be fighting the whole of the Philistine army.
Note how the title is repeated. All saw him in this way.
K&D, "1Sa_17:8
This giant stood and cried to the ranks of the Israelites, “Why come ye out to place
yourselves in battle array? Am I not the Philistine, and ye the servants of Saul? Choose
ye out a man who may come down to me” (into the valley where Goliath was standing).
The meaning is: “Why would you engage in battle with us? I am the man who represents
the strength of the Philistines, and ye are only servants of Saul. If ye have heroes, choose
one out, that we may decide the matter in a single combat.”
PULPIT, "1Sa_17:8-11
He stood and cried unto the armies. Literally, "the ranks," the word being the noun
formed from the verb translated set in array, just below. The same word is used
throughout (see 1Sa_17:10, 1Sa_17:20, 1Sa_17:21, 1Sa_17:22, 1Sa_17:26, 1Sa_17:45).
Am not I a Philistine? Hebrew, "the Philistine," the champion on their side. I defy
the armies. Hebrew, "I have cast scorn or insult upon the ranks of Israel this day." The
sense is not so much that he defied them as that they were dishonoured by not accepting
his challenge. They were dismayed. That is, terrified, and made uncertain what to do
(comp. Jer_1:1-19:36). We have seen from Mr. Condor’s account that each army held an
impregnable position on the two sides of the ravine, which neither could cross without
the certainty of being defeated in the attempt by the other side. Under such
circumstances there seemed no way of deciding the contest except by a single combat.
But though Saul and his warriors were too terrified at Goliath’s appearance to venture to
meet him, still they held their ground for forty days, inasmuch as it was evidently
impossible for him to cross the ravine clad in such cumbrous armour, nor did the
Philistines venture to make the attempt, us the Israelites would have taken them at a
manifest disadvantage.
34

9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your
subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will
become our subjects and serve us."
1. Why not have representative warfare is what he is saying. We can end this whole
conflict with just one man dying. Why cover the field with the blood of many when
just one will do the job? Winner takes all, and we can all go home for a nap. I am
willing to do it, so just send one from your side and we will have a one on one to
wrap things up here.
2. “Roland de Vaux has collected a number of references, from the Bible and from
the Ancient Near East, that indicate that a tradition of single, representative combat
was not unusual in the ancient world, e.g., II Sam. 21:15-22; 23:20; Paris/Menelaus
and Hector/Achilles in the Illiad). Goliath has come forth to challenge an Israelite
representative to such combat (v. 8). The fight will be to the death. Moreover, the
Philistine asserts that the army of the losing combatant would become the servants
of the opposing army. In fact, as de Vauxfs study shows, such combats seldom
resolve the issue so completely, and battles usually ensued, as at the end of this
story; but the winning of such a combat could give great psychological advantage to
the victorious side.h
3. Like modern day wrestlers they had a verbal battle first. Anyone who has seen
Raiders of the Lost Ark will remember the scene where the hero faced an opponent
twirling his sword with deadly precision. It looked hopeless for him to survive, but
he shocked everyone when he simply pulls out his pistol and shoots the swordsman.
He didn’t have much but the little weapon he had was much superior. The armor of
Goliath, likewise, made it look hopeless for David. He was definitely the underdog
in this conflict.
CLARKE, "Then will we be your servants - Of this stipulation we hear nothing
farther.
GILL, "If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your
servants,.... For which it does not appear he had any commission or authority to say;
nor did the Philistines think themselves obliged to abide by what he said, since, when he
was slain, they did not yield themselves servants to the Israelites:
but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and
serve us; to which terms also the Israelites did not consent; nor did David, who
engaged with him, enter the fray on such conditions.
35

I samuel 17 commentary

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (16)

Similar to I samuel 17 commentary

Similar to I samuel 17 commentary (20)

More from GLENN PEASE

More from GLENN PEASE (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (16)

I samuel 17 commentary