Information AboutGoliath |
|
Goliath ('''גָּלְיָת''' "Passage; revolution", Standard Hebrew '''Golyat''', Tiberian Hebrew '''Golyāṯ''') is a Philistine warrior mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and a descendant of Rapha . He is famous for his battle with the Jew ish King David (in the 11th Century BC ) He hailed from Gath , one of five ancient city states in Philistia. ACCOUNT IN THE HEBREW BIBLE According to the First Book Of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible , the Philistine army marched into southern Israel to make war on the Israelite s, but instead of immediately engaging in battle, went into camp in the Valley of Elah. The Israelites under King Saul made camp nearby. Goliath, who is described as a " Champion " in the Biblical text, positioned himself between the two armies and challenged the Israelites to send out a warrior to challenge him. If that man won, the Philistines would become the subjects of Saul's army. If Goliath won, the converse would occur. For forty days, in both the morning and evening, Goliath issued his challenge. However, no man came forward to accept it. David , who was born approximately 1530 B.C., was the youngest of the eight sons of the Bethlehemite Jesse . When delivering roasted grain and bread to his brothers on the battlefield, David heard Goliath's haughty challenge and burned with anger. The youth came before Saul and offered to fight the giant, who stood six cubits and a span (three meters, or 9 feet 5.7 inches to be exact). More modern biblical translations estimate that in fact he stood at four cubits and a span, or six-foot-six. {Link without Title} Though initially skeptical of David's capacity to defeat Goliath, Saul was persuaded to allow the match after the young Bethlehemite detailed his previous victorious encounters with a bear and a lion. David rejected the king's offer of armor and a sword and went out to fight Goliath with a staff and five smooth stones he had taken from a nearby stream. Goliath mocked the young Hebrew for coming against him with "sticks," cursed him by the names of the Philistine gods, then closed in to attack. However, David drew a stone from his bag and used his Sling to send it flying into the giant's head. When Goliath fell to the ground, David drew the Philistine's sword from his scabbard and killed him by decapitation. When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they ran from the field, and the Israelite army pursued them out of Judah . Textual conflicts David may not have been the one to kill Goliath. Elhanan, the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite, is given credit for killing Goliath in 2 Sam 21:19, though the KJV states that Elhanan killed ''the brother'' of Goliath. Other troublesome passages suggest the killing of Goliath was added to David's legend. {Link without Title} However, the parallel account at 1 Chron 20:5b reads that "Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath." The word "Jair" here is "Jaare-oregim" at 2 Sam 21:19b; "oregim" is Hebrew for "weavers," which also appears at the end of both verses. Also, "Lahmi" (Hebrew "´eth-lach·mi´," where "´eth" simply means that Lahmi is the object of the verb "slew") in the former becomes "behth hal·lach·mi´" (“Bethlehemite”) in the latter. Hence many scholars view 2 Sam 21:19b to be the result of two scribal errors, with 1 Chron 20:5b as the correct account. It has been contended that, because of David's introduction to Saul in 1 Samuel 16:19-23, Saul should have known who David was in 1 Samuel 17:55-58 and would not need to ask whose son David is. However, upon careful reading of the text, Saul is merely asking who David's father is. Because the servents of Saul knew that David was the son of Jesse in Chapter 16, there is no reason to believe Saul had to have known that Jesse was David's father two years later in Chapter 17. David brought Goliath's head to Jerusalem (1 Sam 17:54), though Jerusalem belonged to the Jebusite s at the time, which casts some doubt on this detail of the story. The following websites provide Biblical-literalist accounts for the discrepancies. http://www.carm.org/diff/1Sam17_50.htm http://www.carm.org/diff/1Sam16_19.htm http://www.tektonics.org/af/callahanproph.html#2sam EXTRA-BIBLICAL EVIDENCE Archaeologists digging at Tell Es-Safi in central Israel, the accepted location of the biblical home of Goliath (" Gath of the Philistines ") have unearthed a shard of pottery bearing an inscription, written in Proto-Semitic letters, consisting of two names "alwt" and "wlt"), which are etymologically quite similar to the name Goliath, and most probably are semitizised versions of an Indo-European name (similar, for example to Lydian Alyattes ). This find demonstrates that the biblical description of the figure Goliath (and in particular, his name), fits in with the cultural millieu that existed in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age IIA (10th-9th centuries BC). The shard dates back to around 950 BC, within 70 years of when biblical chronology asserts David squared off against Goliath, making it the oldest Philistine inscription ever found, the archaeologists said. Scientists made the discovery at Tell Es-Safi , a dig site in southern Israel thought to be the location of the Philistine city of Gath . ISLAM Goliath is also mentioned in the Qur'an under the Arabic name جالوت '''Ǧālūt''' (see Similarities Between The Bible And The Qur'an ). MEDICAL SPECULATION Some intriguing medical hypotheses have been made concerning Goliath's size and general health. Given his grossly abnormal height (believed to be 9ft 6 1/2 in (291 cm)), some have suggested that he suffered from Acromegaly due to a Growth Hormone -secreting Pituitary adenoma. Given the pituitary's position adjacent to the optic chiasm, pituitary masses also tend to impinge on the decussating fibers delivering images from both peripheral visual fields. This causes Bitemporal Hemianopsia . Some have suggested that this may have allowed David to sneak up on Goliath and deliver a fatal sling shot to the Philistine. MACHIAVELLI Niccolò Machiavelli , in '' The Prince '', states that we should learn this lesson from David and fight with our own weapons, using our own strengths, and not try to borrow or hire those of others. IDIOMATIC USE "David and Goliath" is now a proverbial expression of a small force defeating a larger one. Goliath is the nickname for a fossilied individual of the species '' Homo Heidelbergensis ''. The story of David and Goliath is allegory for the ascent of '' Homo Sapiens '' and our displacement of other early human species. See also Gog And Magog . SEE ALSO
EXTERNAL LINKS REFERENCES
|