David was not long permitted to enjoy the ease of life at court. The
aggressive manner assumed by Goliath drove him to the front. It was a
curious chance that designated David to be the slayer of Goliath, who
was allied with him by the ties of blood. Goliath, it will be
remembered, was the son of the Moabitess Orpah, (27) the sister-in-law
of David's ancestress Ruth, and her sister as well, both having been
the daughters of the Moabite king Eglon. (28) David and Goliath
differed as widely as their grandams, for in contrast to Ruth, the
pious, religious Jewess, Orpah had led a life of unspeakable infamy.
Her son Goliath was jeered at as "the son of a hundred fathers and one
mother." (29) But God lets naught go unrewarded, even in the wicked. In
return for the forty steps Orpah had accompanied her mother-in-law
Naomi, (30) Goliath the Philistine, her son, was permitted to display
his strength and skill for forty days, and in return for the four tears
Orpah had shed on parting from her mother-in-law, she was privileged to
give birth to four giant sons. (31)
Of the four, Goliath was the strongest and greatest. What the
Scriptures tell about him is but a small fraction of what might have
been told. The Scriptures refrain intentionally from expatiating upon
the prowess of the miscreant. Nor do they tell how Goliath, impious as
he was, dared challenge the God of Israel to combat with him, and how
he tried by every means in his power to hinder the Israelites in their
Divine worship. Morning and evening he would appear in the camp at the
very time when the Israelites were preparing to say the Shema. (32)
All the more cause, then, for David to hate Goliath and determine to
annihilate him. His father encouraged him to oppose Goliath, for he
considered it David's duty to protect Saul the Benjamite against the
giant, as Judah, his ancestor, had in ancient days pledged himself for
the safety of Benjamin, the ancestor of Saul. (33) For Goliath was
intent upon doing away with Saul. His grievance against him was that
once, when, in a skirmish between the Philistines and the Israelites,
Goliath had succeeded in capturing the holy tables of the law, Saul had
wrested them from the giant. (34) In consequence of his malady, Saul
could not venture to cross swords with Goliath, and he accepted David's
offer to enter into combat in his place. David put on Saul's armor, and
when it appeared that the armor of the powerfully-built king fitted the
erstwhile slender youth, Saul recognized that David had been
predestined for the serious task he was about to undertake, but at the
same time David's miraculous transformation did not fail to arouse his
jealousy. (35) David, for this reason, declined to array himself as a
warrior for his contest with Goliath. He wanted to meet him as a simple
shepherd. Five pebbles came to David of their own accord, (36) and when
he touched them, they all turned into one pebble. (37) The five pebbles
stood for God, the three Patriarchs, and Aaron. Hophni and Phinehas,
the descendants of the last, had only a short time before been killed
by Goliath. (38)
Scarcely did David begin to move toward Goliath, when the giant became
conscious of the magic power of the youth. The evil eye David cast on
his opponent sufficed to afflict him with leprosy, (39) and in the very
same instant he was rooted to the ground, unable to move. (40) Goliath
was so confused by his impotence that he scarcely knew what he was
saying, and he uttered the foolish threat that he would give David's
flesh to the cattle of the field, as though cattle ate flesh. One can
see, David said to himself, that he is crazy, and there can be no doubt
he is doomed. (41) Sure of victory, David retorted that he would cast
the carcass of the Philistine to the fowls of the air. At the mention
of fowls, Goliath raised his eyes skyward, to see whether there were
any birds about. The upward motion of his head pushed his visor
slightly away from his forehead, and in that instant the pebble aimed
by David struck him on the exposed spot. (42) An angel descended and
cast him to the ground face downward, so that the mouth that had
blasphemed God might be choked with earth. He fell in such wise that
the image of Dagon which he wore on his breast touched the ground, and
his head came to lie between the feet of David, who now had no
difficulty in dispatching him. (43)
Goliath was encased, from top to toe, in several suits of armor, and
David did not know how to remove them and cut off the head of the
giant. At this juncture Uriah the Hittite offered him his services, but
under the condition that David secure him an Israelitish wife. David
accepted the condition, and Uriah in turn showed him how the various
suits of armor were fastened together at the heels of the giant's feet.
David's victory naturally added fuel to the fire of Saul's jealousy.
Saul sent Abner, his general, to make inquiry whether David, who, he
knew, was of the tribe of Judah, belonged to the clan of the Perez or
to the clan of the Zerah. In the former case his suspicion that David
was destined for kingship would be confirmed. Doeg, David's enemy from
of old, observed that David, being the descendant of the Moabitess
Ruth, did not even belong to the Jewish communion, and Saul need
entertain no fears from that quarter. A lively discussion arose between
Abner and Doeg, as to whether the law in Deuteronomy regarding Moabites
affected women as well as men. Doeg, an expert dialectician,
brilliantly refuted all of Abner's arguments in favor of the admission
of Moabitish women. Samuel's authority had to be appealed to in order
to establish for all times the correctness of Abner's view. (44)
Indeed, the dispute could be settled only by recourse to threats of
violence. Ithra, the father of Amasa, in Arab fashion, for which reason
he was sometimes called the Ishmaelite, threatened to hew down any one
with his sword who refused to accept Samuel's interpretation of the
law, that male Moabites and male Ammonites are forever excluded from
the congregation of Israel, but not Moabite and Ammonite women. (45)