Shemuel Alef Chapter 17

The Reading

The Summary

Shemuel Alef Chapter 17

This lengthy chapter describes the famous confrontation between David and Goliath. The armies of Israel and the Pelishtim are positioned facing one another on the battlefield but no actual combat is underway. Each day, a very tall, strong, and heavily armored Philistine stands between the two camps and hurls belittling and degrading insults at the Jews. He challenges the Jewish army to send a warrior out who can defeat him and declares that the winner of this match will be entitled to claim the entire army (and nation) of the loser as his slaves. The Israelites are petrified by the menacing spectacle of Goliath and for forty days they remain silent and do not offer any response to his taunts.

David is dispatched by his father to bring provisions to his three eldest brothers who are members of the army of King Shaul, present a gift of food to their supervising officer, and inquire after their welfare. David leaves the sheep he usually shepherds with a substitute and heads off to the battlefield to fulfill his father’s request. While visiting the camp, he has the opportunity to hear the vile pronouncements of the intimidating Goliath. He becomes aware of the fact that the King has offered ample reward – his daughter’s hand in marriage and a tax-free household, among other material benefits – to anyone who can rise up to the challenge of the Philistine.

David asks several individuals for the details of what King Shaul has offered, and expresses his outrage at the desecration of God’s name being perpetrated by the uncircumcised Philistine brute. He seems to be especially vocal so that the “stir” he creates will be noticed by the powers-that-be. His eldest brother rebukes him for his troublemaking but David ignores his sharp words.

Eventually, King Shaul hears of David’s statements and summons him to a private royal audience. David informs the King that the Jews have nothing to fear; Hashem will battle for them, and he is personally willing to confront the Philistine, trusting in this fact. King Shaul is hesitant to allow David to get involved, given his youth, weakness and lack of experience. However, David recounts to Shaul some of the mighty deeds he performed as a shepherd – fighting off a bear and a lion who attempted to abscond with his sheep – and observes that this animalistic Pelishti is no better than them. When David once again reiterates his faith in Hashem’s support on the battlefield, Shaul agrees to allow him to face Goliath.

David unsuccessfully attempts to suit up in proper armor provided for him by Shaul; it is uncomfortable and cumbersome so he eschews the protective armor and weaponry of Shaul for his slingshot and five smooth rocks. When Goliath sees the wimpy looking fellow the Jews have sent to fight him, he is understandably amused and offended all at once. He insults David and the people of Israel again, promising to pulverize his opponent. David, not prepared to back down, informs the Goliath that although he has better armor and weaponry on his side, David has Hashem who will empower him to prevail over the Pelishtim despite their considerable military advantage.

Goliath is incensed and charges toward David; David, rather than running in the opposite direction, charges fearlessly toward Goliath as well. As he runs, David reaches into his pouch and slings a stone toward Goliath; the stone impacts and sinks into Goliath’s forehead and he collapses. David approaches Goliath and draws the sword of the giant out of his sheath to decapitate him. The Jews, their sense of morale restored by this event, chase after and deliver a powerful blow to the Pelishtim. Shaul inquires after the identity of David from Avner, who does not know; David himself explains that he is the son of Yishai from Betlehem.

This chapter is particularly rich in detail and ideas and deserves many pages of discussion; for the sake of brevity, I will restrain myself and offer just one thematic highlight. The fact that Goliath is capable of single-handedly terrorizing the Israelite camp is a sad commentary on the bravery of the army; however, there is a symbolic element in the description of his activities that shouldn’t be overlooked. He approached them “morning and evening” for a period of forty days. The “forty days” is most certainly reminiscent of the forty days Moshe spent on Mount Sinai receiving the Torah. Our Sages comment in the Midrash (quoted by Rashi) that by hurling insults at the Jews morning and evening, he caused them to forget to fulfill the mitzvah of reciting Shema morning and evening. What do these “hints” in the text mean to teach us?

I believe that they point to another interesting element of the story that is critical for understanding it properly. When the soldiers tell David about their Philistine tormentor and the reward promised to by Shaul to anyone who defeats him, the conflict is framed in purely military terms. David, by contrast, consistently focuses attention on the desecration of Hashem’s name that is taking place; Goliath is denigrating the army of the living God, his actions are not against Israel but against the Almighty, and Hashem will ensure that he meets his downfall swiftly. The period of forty days and the failure to recite the Shema symbolically reflect the shift in attention AWAY from Torah and Hashem and their subsequent captivation by the antics of the Philistine. The text is emphasizing, directly and indirectly, that Goliath looms so large and his power so intimidating precisely because the Jewish people have forgotten the True King.

As is always the case in Jewish history as presented in Tanakh, the enemy achieves the proverbial upper hand when the Jewish people neglect their covenant with Hashem and begin to pursue political power and security for its own sake. Unlike the beginning of his career when King Shaul recognized this principle, we can see that he has ultimately failed in his mission to keep the Jews focused on what is truly important. He makes no move to cry out to Hashem, encourage repentance or even offer a sacrifice; he is utterly paralyzed by the spectacle of Goliath.

David, who is devoted to Hashem, easily sees past the veneer of the Philistine and perceives an animal like a lion or bear who can be outsmarted and vanquished. He capitalizes on this knowledge, taunting Goliath so that the giant “loses it” and charges at him at full speed. This allows David, who trusts in Hashem’s providence and in the power of wisdom to conquer unbridled physical force, to calmly and confidently put an end to an intractable conflict. The only solution to the problem was to extricate oneself from the limiting effect of the psychological tactics employed by the Pelishtim and take refuge in God-given knowledge as the source of victory; David did this, and demonstrated thereby that he was more than qualified to be a leader in Israel.

As mentioned in our comments to the previous chapter, one of the biggest interpretive challenges of these chapters is the chronology. In this chapter, it seems as if Shaul has never met David before; yet, in the previous chapter, he had been hired as court musician and become a regular attendant of the king! Rashi and most traditional commentaries assume that the chapters are written in chronological order; therefore, they assume that Shaul already knew David when the episode with Goliath took place. Shaul’s questions about David are motivated by a desire to know more about his background and where he inherited or developed such military prowess and courage. Before David killed Goliath, Shaul had only known him as a talented harp player, not as a fighter.

An alternative approach is brought in the name of Shemuel ben Hofni Gaon and has been adopted by several contemporary scholars. According to this view, the chapter sequence is out of order. In reality, at the time David volunteered to confront Goliath, he was completely unknown to Shaul; this was their first encounter with one another. Chapter sixteen, which describes David’s employment as court musician, occurred after the incident with Goliath, which might explain why he is described as a “mighty warrior” who is close to Hashem and successful in all his endeavors – after all, before defeating the Philistine, he does not seem to have had any reputation for military skill (or anything else for that matter)!

Shaul’s depression and melancholy were likely caused by his repeated frustration on the battlefield against the Philistines and that feeling of inadequacy might have been exacerbated by David’s unlikely slaying of the “invincible” Goliath. This also might explain why, when Shemuel visits Yishai’s home, there is an assumption that we are familiar with his sons and their positions in the family, facts that are only introduced to us explicitly in chapter seventeen. There are a number of hints in the text and in Midrashic works that seem to support the theory that the fight with Goliath preceded the selection of David as king and his appointment as harp-player for Shaul.

Of course, this approach is not without its difficulties; if David had indeed already defeated Goliath, why was he not even considered by his family as a possible candidate for kingship when Shemuel arrives? And why is he sent home after the incident, only to be returned to the palace for his musical services later on?

We may never know the precise chronology here. However, I would like to emphasize that (regardless of their chronological sequence) the chapters are organized THEMATICALLY. As students of Navi, we should be most concerned with the prophetic MESSAGE being conveyed, not so much with the historical details such as what happened first or last, whether there was some overlap in periods or incidents, etc.

The point of chapter sixteen is to chart the slow downfall and marginalization of Shaul, which involves both his emergent passivity, his descent into melancholy and the identification of David as his eventual successor. In the course of the description of Shaul’s downfall, we read of David’s being hired as musician to assuage his pain, which – regardless of when it occurred – is important to understand since it will play a role in future instances of Shaul’s continuous struggle with depression and loss of control. It is not about David so much but about the slow and agonizing conclusion of Shaul’s reign.

Chapter Seventeen, by contrast, is primarily concerned with the surprising and meteoric rise of David as the next monarch. He is therefore introduced to us all over again and the beginning of his career as military general, political leader and spiritual mentor is now presented in dramatic detail.