1 Samuel 17
Let us look again at this epic battle of David and Goliath
Medical people have long wondered at the size of Goliath - 3 metres or 9 feet is extremely tall and most ordinary soldiers would have come up to not that far above his elbows.
There is a theory that Goliath suffered from a condition called acromgely which is caused by a tumour on the pituitary gland that inhibits the signals to the body to stop growing.
Side effects include double vision and short sight - which may explain a few things here.
Goliath is accompanied to the challenge by a shield bearer, now as we saw yesterday, his armour was not the kind of thing that a normal person would carry - perhaps he has to be led to the field of battle because his eyesight is not all that good?
Goliath is a particular kind of soldier - heavy infantry. These guys are heavily armed and form the backbone of the army. In addition to infantry there would be cavalry or chariots forming a fast attack and ranged weapons such as bows and slings, catapults and trebuchets (Why the spell checker at Google does not recognise this word when the font I use is called "Trebuchet" I don't know!) who can attack from a distance.
Goliath obviously expected to be facing a similarly armed heavy infantry soldier.
Lets look again at David - here we have a young man who has been used to defending sheep from bears, lions and other predators - his weapon of choice is a sling - a pouch with 2 long straps attached, when spun at speed and let one of the strings go the projectile can travel great distance and with great speed and, with practice, accuracy. David has absolutely no intention of going to battle with Goliath as an infantry soldier - he has no intention of getting close enough to Goliath for him to hurt him.
A strange feature of the land is that the rocks there are particularly dense which would add power to the slingshot attack. Which apparently would have been like being hit with a 9 mm bullet. In the right hands a slingshot can be a devastating weapon that can kill before a sword or spear or javelin can make an impact.
So here we are - a Giant who may have difficulty with his eyesight - hence the challenge "Come up here and fight me" - when he sees David coming to attack him his response is odd - "Am I a dog that you come against me with sticks? Come here and I will give your flesh to the birds and wild animals"
Sticks? - David is carrying only 1 stick here a shepherds staff.
Goliath lumbers forward to attack David, but David broke into a run and knocked out Goliath with a slingshot between the eyes.
Perhaps these stories are not quite all they appear. It seems rather underhanded of David to use ranged weapons against this huge target, but pitching different kinds of soldiers against each other was a very popular part of the Roman gladiatorial games where they would put a lightly armed gladiator with light armour against a heavily armed gladiator with lots of armour.
Let us look again at this epic battle of David and Goliath
Medical people have long wondered at the size of Goliath - 3 metres or 9 feet is extremely tall and most ordinary soldiers would have come up to not that far above his elbows.
There is a theory that Goliath suffered from a condition called acromgely which is caused by a tumour on the pituitary gland that inhibits the signals to the body to stop growing.
Side effects include double vision and short sight - which may explain a few things here.
Goliath is accompanied to the challenge by a shield bearer, now as we saw yesterday, his armour was not the kind of thing that a normal person would carry - perhaps he has to be led to the field of battle because his eyesight is not all that good?
Goliath is a particular kind of soldier - heavy infantry. These guys are heavily armed and form the backbone of the army. In addition to infantry there would be cavalry or chariots forming a fast attack and ranged weapons such as bows and slings, catapults and trebuchets (Why the spell checker at Google does not recognise this word when the font I use is called "Trebuchet" I don't know!) who can attack from a distance.
Goliath obviously expected to be facing a similarly armed heavy infantry soldier.
Lets look again at David - here we have a young man who has been used to defending sheep from bears, lions and other predators - his weapon of choice is a sling - a pouch with 2 long straps attached, when spun at speed and let one of the strings go the projectile can travel great distance and with great speed and, with practice, accuracy. David has absolutely no intention of going to battle with Goliath as an infantry soldier - he has no intention of getting close enough to Goliath for him to hurt him.
A strange feature of the land is that the rocks there are particularly dense which would add power to the slingshot attack. Which apparently would have been like being hit with a 9 mm bullet. In the right hands a slingshot can be a devastating weapon that can kill before a sword or spear or javelin can make an impact.
So here we are - a Giant who may have difficulty with his eyesight - hence the challenge "Come up here and fight me" - when he sees David coming to attack him his response is odd - "Am I a dog that you come against me with sticks? Come here and I will give your flesh to the birds and wild animals"
Sticks? - David is carrying only 1 stick here a shepherds staff.
Goliath lumbers forward to attack David, but David broke into a run and knocked out Goliath with a slingshot between the eyes.
Perhaps these stories are not quite all they appear. It seems rather underhanded of David to use ranged weapons against this huge target, but pitching different kinds of soldiers against each other was a very popular part of the Roman gladiatorial games where they would put a lightly armed gladiator with light armour against a heavily armed gladiator with lots of armour.
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