Chapter 17 in Sefer Shmuel A is one of the most gripping chapters in the book: the battle of David and Goliath. Here we begin to see how things take shape, how a shepherd boy from Beit Lechem becomes the redeemer of the people of Israel. The chapter opens precisely with a description of the low point to which the nation had sunk, and out of that very low point true heroism will stand out, a heroism not of bronze and armor but of faith.
וַיַּאַסְפוּ פְלִשְׁתִּים אֶת־מַחֲנֵיהֶם לַמִּלְחָמָה וַיֵּאָסְפוּ שֹׂכֹה אֲשֶׁר לִיהוּדָה וַיַּחֲנוּ בֵּין־שׂוֹכֹה וּבֵין־עֲזֵקָה בְּאֶפֶס דַּמִּים׃ (א) - And the Philistines gathered their camps for war, and they gathered at Socho which belongs to Yehuda, and they encamped between Socho and Azeka, at Efes Damim. (1)
The pasuk opens a window onto the state of the people of Israel. Those same Philistines, whom only a short while ago Yonatan and his lad subdued, striking down twenty men, while Hashem confounded their entire camp, now come without any hesitation to make war against Israel. They do not stand at the edge of their own land nor at the border, but leave the land of the Philistines, enter the land of Yehuda, and concentrate their whole army there: "שֹׂכֹה אֲשֶׁר לִיהוּדָה" - encamping within the territory of Yehuda. Moreover, they trouble and taunt against Israel. "בְּאֶפֶס דַּמִּים" is the name of the place, and one may find a hint in it: "be'efes damim," without any bloodshed, they arrived there, without having to kill anyone, as if on an outing, and they are already in the heart of Yehuda.
וְשָׁאוּל וְאִישׁ־יִשְׂרָאֵל נֶאֶסְפוּ וַיַּחֲנוּ בְּעֵמֶק הָאֵלָה וַיַּעַרְכוּ מִלְחָמָה לִקְרַאת פְּלִשְׁתִּים׃ (ב) - And Shaul and the men of Israel gathered and encamped in the Valley of Ela, and they arrayed for battle to meet the Philistines. (2)
Shaul and the men of Israel are afraid to come to Socho. Not only do they not go to rout the Philistines, but they even fear to draw near to them, and they encamp at a distance in the Valley of Ela. "וַיַּעַרְכוּ מִלְחָמָה" does not mean that they began the battle, but that they set up a formation in order to be ready for battle, and they wait for the Philistines' reaction. This itself is testimony to fear: the hero attacks first, before the enemy stirs; the weak one says, "Let us wait, if he does something we will respond," because he hopes it will all end without a war. From this you learn how low the situation of Israel had sunk.
וּפְלִשְׁתִּים עֹמְדִים אֶל־הָהָר מִזֶּה וְיִשְׂרָאֵל עֹמְדִים אֶל־הָהָר מִזֶּה וְהַגַּיְא בֵּינֵיהֶם׃ (ג) - And the Philistines stood on the mountain on one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, and the valley was between them. (3)
The two camps each stand on their own mountain, and the valley separates between them.
וַיֵּצֵא אִישׁ־הַבֵּנַיִם מִמַּחֲנוֹת פְּלִשְׁתִּים גָּלְיָת שְׁמוֹ מִגַּת גָּבְהוֹ שֵׁשׁ אַמּוֹת וָזָרֶת׃ (ד) - And the champion went out from the camps of the Philistines, Goliath was his name, from Gat, his height was six cubits and a span. (4)
"אִישׁ־הַבֵּנַיִם" - simply, according to what is described here, is the one who stood between the two camps: he went down into the valley that was between the two mountains, and stationed himself there between them. His height was six cubits and a span, which in our terms is over three meters, and one may estimate that his shoulder span was correspondingly broad. In short: a fearsome human beast.
וְכוֹבַע נְחֹשֶׁת עַל־רֹאשׁוֹ וְשִׁרְיוֹן קַשְׂקַשִּׂים הוּא לָבוּשׁ וּמִשְׁקַל הַשִּׁרְיוֹן חֲמֵשֶׁת־אֲלָפִים שְׁקָלִים נְחֹשֶׁת׃ (ה) - And a bronze helmet was on his head, and he was clothed in a coat of scale armor, and the weight of the armor was five thousand shekels of bronze. (5)
The verse describes just how heavily equipped and impenetrable this man was. On his head a bronze helmet. The "coat of mail" (shiryon kaskasim) is a kind of net covered with rows upon rows of metal plates, which a sword blow cannot penetrate. And the weight of the armor was five thousand shekels of bronze - just to lift it and carry it on the body required enormous strength.
וּמִצְחַת נְחֹשֶׁת עַל־רַגְלָיו וְכִידוֹן נְחֹשֶׁת בֵּין כְּתֵפָיו׃ (ו) - And he had greaves of bronze upon his legs, and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. (6)
"Greaves of bronze upon his legs" - bronze guards on the shins, so that they could not cut him down and strike him at his legs. "And a bronze javelin between his shoulders" - some explain that he had an additional javelin resting behind his back in a kind of sheath, for one hand grips the sword, and when he wants to throw a javelin far off he reaches his hand to the back of his neck, draws it and hurls it, and he does not need it in ordinary combat where he fights with the sword. Others explain differently: as we see in depictions of Roman warriors, from the helmet a protrusion descends to the rear like a kind of metal braid, whose purpose is to protect the back of the neck, so that if a man strikes with a sword from behind he will not sever the head. The whole helmet cannot be extended backward, for that would limit the turning of the head, but this javelin stops the blow.
From this entire description the Malbim draws out an important point: Goliath's might came from his strength and equipment, not from his character. There are two kinds of might: might of spirit - where a person himself is made fearless, and even if he does not have great strength he is mighty; and opposite it, might of body. There is a giant of a man with no might in him at all, a coward by nature, and there is a small, slight man who is a great warrior. With Goliath no might of spirit is mentioned at all: all the descriptions are purely physical and external - a large man with many pieces of armor. The verse does not call him a "mighty man," but rather lists the external trappings that he had.
וְעֵץ חֲנִיתוֹ כִּמְנוֹר אֹרְגִים וְלַהֶבֶת חֲנִיתוֹ שֵׁשׁ־מֵאוֹת שְׁקָלִים בַּרְזֶל וְנֹשֵׂא הַצִּנָּה הֹלֵךְ לְפָנָיו׃ (ז) - And the shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron, and the shield bearer went before him. (7)
Now the verse describes his weaponry. In weaving there is an upper beam and a lower beam, very heavy pieces of wood around which the warp threads are wound, and then the shuttle is passed through, that boat-like implement inside which is a spool of thread, warp and weft right and left, and thus a whole cloth is woven. Those beams were very heavy rollers, and after them it is said that the shaft of Goliath's spear was thick "like a weaver's beam." "His spear's head" (lahevet) is the blade, the point; and why is it called lahevet (flame)? Because it is polished and shining, and when the sun lights upon it it looks as if it is burning, like a flame. And its weight was six hundred shekels of iron. And since he had no free third hand to hold the shield (tzinnah), the shield bearer walked before him with the shield in his hand.
וַיַּעֲמֹד וַיִּקְרָא אֶל־מַעַרְכֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם לָמָּה תֵצְאוּ לַעֲרֹךְ מִלְחָמָה הֲלוֹא אָנֹכִי הַפְּלִשְׁתִּי וְאַתֶּם עֲבָדִים לְשָׁאוּל בְּרוּ־לָכֶם אִישׁ וְיֵרֵד אֵלָי׃ (ח) - And he stood and called out to the ranks of Israel and said to them: Why do you come out to array for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and you the servants of Shaul? Choose for yourselves a man, and let him come down to me. (8)
אִם־יוּכַל לְהִלָּחֵם אִתִּי וְהִכָּנִי וְהָיִינוּ לָכֶם לַעֲבָדִים וְאִם־אֲנִי אוּכַל־לוֹ וְהִכִּיתִיו וִהְיִיתֶם לָנוּ לַעֲבָדִים וַעֲבַדְתֶּם אֹתָנוּ׃ (ט) - If he is able to fight with me and strike me down, then we will be servants to you; but if I prevail over him and strike him down, then you shall be servants to us and shall serve us. (9)
The Targum Yonatan adds here the content of his proclamation: "And he arose and proclaimed to the camp of Israel and said to them: Why do you come out to battle? Am I not the Philistine, and you the servants of Shaul? I am Goliath the Philistine of Gath, who killed the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Pinchas, and captured the Ark of the Covenant of Hashem and brought it to the house of Dagon, where it remained seven months. And every single battle the Philistines had - I go out at the head of the army and win the battle, and I lay the dead down like the dust of the earth. And to this day the Philistines have not appointed me to be their supreme commander. And you, children of Israel, what mighty deed did Shaul son of Kish from Givah perform for you, that you appointed him? If he is a man of war - let him come down and do battle with me, and if he is weak - choose for yourselves another man to come out and fight against me." Here is a terrible disgrace to the monarchy and a general disgrace to the people of Israel. A man who takes pride in the capture of the Ark of Hashem and in the killing of Hophni and Pinchas, in all the troubles and disasters we suffered, and moreover boasts of them: show me in which book the mighty deeds of Shaul are recorded, and what he ever did for you.
The Malbim brings the words of the Abarbanel. Some wished to explain that Goliath's proposal was a proposal for a "reckoning," that is, for a duel. Whoever has read a little about the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries knows that the duel was a very accepted way of deciding matters: when there was a dispute between two people, one would invite the other to a duel. They would bring in judges, and these would set precise conditions - exactly what this one claims and what that one claims - so that the winner would not afterward come and demand also the house and the wife and the children. For example, this one claims the field is his and that one claims the field is his, they go out to a duel, and the winner receives the field. And not only over fields: sometimes over property, sometimes over honor, and sometimes over the heart of a beloved. This is a gentile method, of bloodshedders, to decide every dispute by. And it is no game at all - they go out with swords to kill or be killed, and one can come away from there crippled. But there are clear conditions, and there are judges who ultimately determine who won, and both sides come to the fight equally equipped; the mind cannot accept that this one should come with the entire arsenal and that one with a small knife.
And seemingly this is proven from what follows: for Goliath proposes explicit conditions - if he defeats me, we will all become servants to you, and if I defeat him, you will all become servants to us. This is exactly the model of a duel. Nevertheless, the Abarbanel rejects this for several reasons. First, in a duel there must be a point of dispute regarding a specific matter, and here there is no point of dispute requiring resolution; the Philistines simply come to attack Israel in order to make them servants. Second, both sides must agree, and the matter must be written down in a document before witnesses, like a signed contract in which the dispute is spelled out and the two agree to enter the duel, and here they neither wrote nor agreed. Third, in the end David won - and according to the conditions the Philistines should have become servants to Israel, but in practice they all fled. Fourth, the very ABC of a duel is equality between the sides, and here a giant, mighty warrior came out against a youth with a few stones in his hand. And fifth, there must be officers and judges to verify that everything is equal and to compel the loser to pay, and this was not the case here. From all these the Abarbanel concluded that there was no duel here at all, but rather Goliath came out to taunt and revile in order to fight, without the rules of a duel.
The Malbim says: I say that there was indeed a duel here, and Goliath's initial proposal was a proposal for a duel. His interpretation is wonderful and fits the plain meaning of the verses exactly. At first he said "לָמָּה תֵצְאוּ לַעֲרֹךְ מִלְחָמָה... בְּרוּ־לָכֶם אִישׁ וְיֵרֵד אֵלָי" - Why should you come out to draw up for battle... choose for yourselves a man and let him come down to me. That is, I am making an ordinary duel proposal: choose a man, let him come down to me, and the winner is in the right and the loser is the one who loses.
And what was the point of dispute? That too was present here. The Philistines argued: until now we were your masters, you were subdued beneath our feet and enslaved to us to pay tribute, and suddenly Shaul came and threw off our yoke from upon you. We have a claim against you - you are our servants. And Israel argued: we have no servitude toward you, we are a free people, not a people of servants, and we have the right to self-determination and to live freely. There is, then, a genuine dispute here, and Goliath comes and says: Why should you come out to draw up for battle and why should much blood be spilled? Let us decide by way of a duel.
And now his wording too is understood: "הֲלוֹא אָנֹכִי הַפְּלִשְׁתִּי וְאַתֶּם עֲבָדִים לְשָׁאוּל" - Am I not the Philistine, and you servants to Shaul, one against the other. The Philistines had no king but rather rulers - the five rulers of the Philistines: Gath, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gaza and Ekron. He said to them: I am the Philistine, I represent all the Philistines who ruled over you until now, and you claim that you are servants to Shaul and do not want to be servants to the Philistines. This is precisely the point of dispute requiring resolution: are you servants to Shaul or servants to the Philistines. Therefore, let us draw up conditions - a man equal to me will come, in armor like mine and with a sword like mine, equal to me in every condition, and let us spread out the contract: if he wins, we are servants to you, and if I win, you are servants to us.
But there is one problem: Israel does not agree. And why? The Malbim says that Israel made a calculation: if one man comes out and is defeated, this would be a great disgrace and a great humiliation. But if the entire nation goes out to fight - for a nation that goes out to fight and risks its life and is defeated there is no humiliation at all. In war there are winners and losers, and there is no shame in this. The humiliation lies only in a nation that does not go out at all to fight for its life and is taken "like sheep led to the slaughter." Therefore Israel said: we do not want to show fear and trembling, and we do not agree to your conditions; we will go and fight like warriors, let the Philistines come out and come to fight against us.
But the Philistines are not prepared for this, for reasons of their own. First, they make the calculation that they hold a winning card - they have Goliath, whom no one in Israel can overcome. And second, why should they expend great manpower and kill many men, when it is not even known how the battle will end, when they have one man who can do all the work. Therefore Goliath comes and tries to persuade Israel: understand, either way you are servants to Shaul; if I win, you will be servants to us. What does it really matter to you - a servant to Shaul or a servant to us? Until now you paid tribute to Shaul, from now on you will pay it to us; you are not being taken to serve on a farm, you remain in your land and in your place and only pay tribute to another side. But we have much to lose, for we are free, we do not even have a king but only rulers, and if you win we will become your servants - a great loss. So there is sacrifice on our part. But Israel is not persuaded, and is not prepared under any circumstances for this possibility.
וַיֹּאמֶר הַפְּלִשְׁתִּי אֲנִי חֵרַפְתִּי אֶת־מַעַרְכוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה תְּנוּ־לִי אִישׁ וְנִלָּחֲמָה יָחַד׃ (י) - And the Philistine said: I have taunted the ranks of Israel this day; give me a man and let us fight together. (10)
Seemingly, why does he repeat himself? He already said "בְּרוּ־לָכֶם אִישׁ" - choose for yourselves a man - and already spelled out the conditions, so what does "תְּנוּ־לִי אִישׁ וְנִלָּחֲמָה יָחַד" - give me a man and let us fight together - add now? The Malbim says: here begins an entirely new proposal. The first proposal was rejected, and now Goliath changes the record. He says: I have taunted the ranks of Israel - my entire goal is to disgrace you, for you have no man who can overcome me. You are not willing to enter the script I sewed for you, and therefore let us set aside the courtroom, the contracts, and the conditions, take off the gloves and come to blows. Until now he came in a tie and bow tie, in an orderly fashion, presenting a lawful contract with judges and officers; once he saw that there was no response from the other side, he formally opened with taunts. And from now on the matter no longer depends on Israel's agreement: I will disgrace and humiliate you until you yourselves say that it is better for someone to fight him than to continue suffering the disgrace.
And from here it is also understood why, when David won, the Philistines did not become servants: the first conditions were rejected by Israel, and the proposal that was actually accepted was the second proposal, of taunting and war without contracts and without judges.
וַיִּשְׁמַע שָׁאוּל וְכָל־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־דִּבְרֵי הַפְּלִשְׁתִּי הָאֵלֶּה וַיֵּחַתּוּ וַיִּרְאוּ מְאֹד׃ (יא) - And Shaul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, and they were shattered and greatly afraid. (11)
They heard his taunts and there was none among them who could shut his mouth, and this brought upon them great fear and dread. And Shaul had a special reason to fear: for the spirit of Hashem had departed from him, and because of this he understood that victory was not assured to him.
וְדָוִד בֶּן־אִישׁ אֶפְרָתִי הַזֶּה מִבֵּית לֶחֶם יְהוּדָה וּשְׁמוֹ יִשַׁי וְלוֹ שְׁמֹנָה בָנִים וְהָאִישׁ בִּימֵי שָׁאוּל זָקֵן בָּא בַאֲנָשִׁים׃ (יב) - Now David was the son of this Ephrathite man of Beit Lechem in Yehudah, whose name was Yishai, and he had eight sons; and the man in the days of Shaul was old, advanced in years among men. (12)
David's father was Yishai of Beit Lechem in Yehudah, and he had eight sons, and in the days of Shaul he was already old, "advanced among men." And what does "advanced among men" mean? Chazal say: he would go out amid crowds and enter amid crowds, for ten thousand people would come to hear his teaching. Yishai was a great man.
וַיֵּלְכוּ שְׁלֹשֶׁת בְּנֵי־יִשַׁי הַגְּדֹלִים הָלְכוּ אַחֲרֵי־שָׁאוּל לַמִּלְחָמָה וְשֵׁם שְׁלֹשֶׁת בָּנָיו אֲשֶׁר הָלְכוּ בַּמִּלְחָמָה אֱלִיאָב הַבְּכוֹר וּמִשְׁנֵהוּ אֲבִינָדָב וְהַשְּׁלִשִׁי שַׁמָּה׃ (יג) - And the three eldest sons of Yishai went and followed Shaul to the war; and the names of his three sons who went to the war were Eliav the firstborn, and next to him Avinadav, and the third Shammah. (13)
וְדָוִד הוּא הַקָּטָן וּשְׁלֹשָׁה הַגְּדֹלִים הָלְכוּ אַחֲרֵי שָׁאוּל׃ (יד) - And David was the youngest; and the three eldest followed Shaul. (14)
Anyone who studies these verses immediately wonders: was David not a mighty man? Later on he himself says, "Your servant struck down both the lion and the bear," and there is no doubt that he was a mighty warrior. If so, how is it that such a warrior was not on the battlefield? There was a mandatory draft, and if his valor was known he ought to have come. And indeed, says the Malbim, it was for this very reason that Scripture prefaced everything stated in verse 12.
First we must understand: such a war is a war against those who taunt the ranks of Hashem, and there is no question here of evading service. King David does not flee the battlefield, and if he knows he is capable of waging the wars of Hashem, it is a great mitzvah. In their time, when the army was a holy army as it should be, and "Hashem your God walks in the midst of your camp," going out to fight was a great virtue and was a demonstration of trust in Hashem; on the contrary, one who fled was like a rebel against the kingdom and could be struck, and it is written that they would break his legs. Certainly David would not have fled from the flock to the battle line had he known he was capable of fighting the enemies of Hashem and those who taunt Him.
Rather, this verse resolves two questions. The first question: how could it be that David was not on the battlefield? The answer: the army was divided according to households, and not all of a man's sons went out to war. The older ones went out, and the younger ones stayed to provide for their father. And one must grasp the situation: this is not like today, where there is provision for a time of emergency. If an old man had eight sons and they all went to battle, within a day or two he would die of hunger. He would have nothing to eat and nothing to drink, no one to milk the cows, no one to gather the eggs, no one to tend the household. There was no concept of a bank and no savings; if there was no one to bring him food, he would not eat. Therefore they would not draft everyone, but rather take the firstborn and leave the younger ones at home to tend to all the needs of the house. All the more so when the father was old, requiring that most of his sons remain with him, since he needed support and assistance and management of all the household affairs. For this reason Scripture prefaced that the man was already old and that he had eight sons, and therefore not all of them went to battle, and especially David, who was the youngest.
This is the meaning of "And the three eldest sons of Yishai went and followed Shaul to the war." And why the repetition, since it already said "they went"? Says the Malbim: these were the ones who always followed Shaul to war, for they were among his mighty men, and this is the meaning of "followed Shaul to the war" - as a regular practice. And since David was the youngest, the custom was to leave specifically the youngest at home.
וְדָוִד הֹלֵךְ וָשָׁב מֵעַל שָׁאוּל לִרְעוֹת אֶת־צֹאן אָבִיו בֵּית לָחֶם׃ (טו) - And David went and returned from Shaul to tend his father's flock at Beit Lechem. (15)
And here the second question is resolved: David had a role with Shaul. He was his armor bearer and would play music before him, for Shaul had asked his father Yishai to send him his son on a regular basis, and "whenever the musician played," the evil spirit would depart from him. If so, how did David hear nothing at all about this whole matter, could he not have been informed? The answer: he was not permanently with Shaul, but "went and returned" - at times he was with him and at times not, a month here and a month there. And at that particular stage that we are discussing he was not with Shaul, but rather had gone precisely to tend his father's flock at Beit Lechem. This was his role at home, and so he heard nothing of the whole matter.
The chapter opens with a description of Israel's lowly state: the Philistines are camped in the heart of Yehudah at Efes Damim, while Israel arrays itself from a distance and waits for a response. Goliath comes out as the champion, all bronze and iron and shields, without any mention of inner courage at all. At first he proposes an orderly duel with terms and a binding agreement, over the real point of contention: servants to Shaul or servants to the Philistines. When Israel did not agree, since they did not want to appear as cowards and preferred to go out to war as heroes, he takes off the gloves and shifts to insult and mockery, an entirely new proposal, which is why the Philistines did not become servants afterward either. Israel and Shaul were dismayed and greatly afraid, Shaul among them, for the spirit of Hashem had departed from him. Into this scene enters David, the youngest son of the aged Yishai who "was already advanced among men," who had stayed home to shepherd the flock according to the enlistment arrangements of those days, and who "kept going back and forth" from Shaul. And from there, from the flock, would come the salvation.