CHAPTER XVII.

1 The armies of the Israelites and Philistines being ready to battle, 4 Goliath cometh proudly forth to challenge a combat. 12 David, sent by his father to visit his brethren, taketh the challenge. 28 Eliab chideth him. 30 He is brought to Saul. 32 He sheweth the reason of his confidence. 38 Without armour, armed by faith, he slayeth the giant. 55 Saul taketh notice of David.

Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in 1Ephes-dammim.

2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines.

3 And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley

between them.

4 T And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

5 And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.

6 And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a 'target of brass between his shoulders.

7 And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.

8 And he stood and cried unto the armies

of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to

me.

- 9 If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.

10 And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.

11 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.

12 Now David was 'the son of that Ephrathite of Beth-lehem-judah, whose name

was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among them for an old man in the days of Saul.

13 And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.

14 And David was the youngest: and the three eldest followed Saul.

15 But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Beth-lehem. 16 And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.

17 And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren;

18 And carry these ten cheeses unto the 'captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge.

19 Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.

20 ¶ And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the trench, as the host was going forth to the "fight, and shouted for the battle.

21 For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army.

22 And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren.

23 And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words and David heard them.

24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid.

25 And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel.

26 And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is 4 Or, gorget.

5 Chap. 16. 1. 9 Or, battle-array, or, place of fight. 13 Josh. 15. 16.

12 Heb. from his face.

this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?

27 And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him.

28 And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.

29 And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?

30 And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner.

31 And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul : and he sent for him.

32 ¶ And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.

33 And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.

34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:

35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.

36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

37 David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.

38 ¶ And Saul "armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.

39 And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.

40 And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's ''bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.

41 And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him.

42 And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair coun

tenance.

43 And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

44 And the Philistine said to David," Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.

45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

46 This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

47 And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our hands.

48 And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.

49 And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.

50 So "David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.

51 Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.

52 And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines, until thou come to the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even unto Gath, and unto Ekron.

53 And the children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, and they spoiled their tents.

54 And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armour in his tent.

55 And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the

Verse 1. The Philistines gathered together their armies.'-Twenty-seven years had now passed since the defeat which, at the beginning of Saul's reign, this warlike people had sustained at Michmash. During this long period they seem to have gradually recovered their strength, and now deem themselves in a condition to wipe out the disgrace their arms had then incurred, and to regain their previous superiority over the Israelites. Shochoh .... Āzekah.... Ephes-dammim.'-These three places were evidently at no great distance from each other, the Philistines being encamped at the last of them and between the first two. Shochoh is mentioned, in Josh. xv. 35, among the towns of the tribe of Judah in the valley; that is, in the western plains of that tribe. Jerome says that in his time there were two small villages of this name, one on a mountain and the other on the plain, nine miles from Jerusalem, on the road to Eleutheropolis. Dr. Robinson thinks he has discovered this site under the name of Shuweikeh; but there is nothing beside the resemblance of name to rest upon, and that is scarcely sufficient to establish the identity of a site which is nearly twice as far from Jerusalem as the distance assigned by Jerome. Azekah, in his days, was also a village on the same road. Ephes-dammim is evidently between these two. In 1 Chron. xi. 13, it is mentioned under the name of Pas-dammim.

2. Valley of Elah:-Elah means an oak or terebinthtree wherefore Jerome renders it 'the valley of the oak;' and the Vulgate, 'the valley of the terebinth,' or turpentine-tree. In the Targum, the valley is called Butma, which in the Arabic signifies a terebinth. Tradition identifies it with the Wady Beit Hanina, a fine valley which commences in the neighbourhood of Ramah and takes a south-westerly course till it comes nearly parallel to Jerusalem, where it bends off westward and eventually opens into the great Wady Ismail. The point which tradition fixes upon as the scene of the combat is that where the valley comes nearest to Jerusalem, and is about six miles from it on the west. The scene is appropriate and picturesque. We entered,' says Dr. E. D. Clarke, 'the famous terebinthine vale, renowned for centuries as the field of the victory gained by David over the uncircumcised Philistines. Nothing has occurred to alter the face of the country. The very brook out of which David chose the five smooth stones has been noticed by many a thirsty pilgrim journeying from Jaffa to Jerusalem, all of whom must pass it on their way. The remains of goodly edifices, indeed, attest the religious veneration entertained in later periods for this hallowed spot; but even these have now become so insignificant that they are scarcely discernible, and nothing can be said to interrupt the native dignity of this memorable scene.' Dr. Robinson has endeavoured to assign the transaction to another valley, much more to the south. But the grounds on which this conclusion is founded are peculiarly weak and unsatisfac

captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell.

56 And the king said, Enquire thou whose son the stripling is.

57 And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.

58 And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.

tory. It amounts to this:-having, as we apprehend, placed Shochoh too far south, he then finds that the traditional valley of Elah has become too far distant north from his Shochoh (see the last note), and therefore fixes upon a valley more to the south and nearer to that Shochoh, in order to bring about the necessary approximation.

4. Whose height was six cubits and a span.'-See the note on Deut. iii. 11.

5. He had an helmet of brass upon his head,' etc.— Here we have the first account of what we may call a complete suit of defensive armour, which naturally gives occasion to some remarks on the subject generally, and on the several parts of armour which we find here specified.

Sir Samuel Meyrick says that body-armour had its origin in Asia.. The warlike tribes of Europe at first contemned all protection but their innate courage, and considered any other defence but the shield as a mark of effeminacy. He adds that all the European armour, except the plate, which was not introduced till the fourteenth century, was borrowed from the Asiatics. This is of importance, because it enlarges our range of illustration; since, the ancient armour being borrowed from the East, its condition there is more distinctly illustrated by the information we possess concerning the derived armour of the ancient European nations. The notice of a suit of armour in the present text is the earliest on record, and, to those who feel interest in the matter, affords an important indication of the period when armour had arrived at a state of some completeness, though it does not enable us to ascertain the period when its several parts were invented. It is evident that armour had at this time become not uncommon. Saul himself had armour composed of nearly the same articles as that of Goliath, the use of which he offered to David, who, being, from his youth and manner of life, unaccustomed to such warlike harness, preferred to act without the defence it offered. This fact helps us to the conclusion that, as Saul was himself a giant, taller by the head and shoulders than any other Israelite, while David was but a stripling, his intention to make David wear his armour proves that the armour then in use was not so nicely adapted to the size or form of the person destined to wear it as we find it to have been in later times.

HELMETS. Of all kinds of armour a strong defence for the head was unquestionably the most common, and perhaps the most early. The shield and helmet have indeed formed the only defensive armour of some nations.

When men began to feel the need of a defence for the head in war, they seemed in the first instance merely to have given a stronger make to the caps which they usually wore. Such caps were at first quilted or padded with wool, then they were formed of hard leather, and ultimately of metal, in which state they gradually acquired various additions and ornaments, such as embossed figures, ridges, crests of animal figures, horsehair, feathers, etc.; and also

following particulars deserve attention, as they illustrate our preceding observations concerning the transmutation of a cap into a helmet. Its principal characteristics were those of a cap with the point bent forward, and with long flaps descending to the shoulders. It sometimes appears as a mere cap of the most soft and pliable stuff, unable to support itself, and hanging down in large wrinkles; at others it appears to have formed a helmet of the most hard and inflexible substance-of leather, or even metal, standing quite stiff and smooth, and enriched with embossed ornaments. To many of these there are four flaps, which would appear to have been made from the leg-skins of the animals of whose hide the cap was originally formed; but in the lighter caps there are only a single pair of flaps, which are often tucked up, and confined by a string around the crown. A flap of mail frequently descended from under the helmet to protect the neck and shoulders. The Syrians seem to have adopted, with some modification, the cylindrical helmet or cap of the Persians; but there is one, represented in our wood-cut, which is considered more peculiarly Syrian, and the resemblance of which to that of the modern Chinese is very great. They have alike a high ornamental spike at the top: that which terminates the Syrian one is a lily, which, according to Herodotus, was the ornament which the Assyrians bore on the tops of their walking-sticks.-The Assyrians had helmets of brass. The Medes and Persians.-As we are not stating minute distinctions, we may mention generally that the helmets, or impenetrable caps' as Xenophon rather calls them, of the Medes and Persians, exhibit four principal forms in the accounts of ancient writers and in the sculptures of Persepolis: these are cylindrical, hemispherical, semi-oval, or conical. To these also applies the remark concerning the origin of the form of national helmets in that of national caps. The cylindrical cap and helmet must, however, be particularly regarded as a national characteristic of the ancient Persians, the other forms being too general to be assigned as a national distinction. It is exhibited in the form of a cylinder of various height, with a somewhat wider diameter at top than at bottom, and resembling a hat without a brimparticularly such hats with broad crowns as were in use a few years since. It is either plain, or fluted, or otherwise ornamented; and we see it exhibited either simply, or in various combinations-sometimes as a diadem, often radiated at top, and variously embossed and ornamented, and encircling one of the round, semi-oval, or conical caps. This cylindrical cap or helmet became greatly

diffused by the conquests of the Persians, and must have been well known to the Jews during the captivity, and while Palestine was a Persian province. Xenophon speaks of brazen helmets with white crests; but no crests appear in the sculptures of the country. We need not particularly dwell on the helmets of the Greeks and Romans. These were, indeed, well known to the Jews in the later period of their history; but much that might be said concerning them has been anticipated in our first observations. The Roman helmet was borrowed from the Greeks with slight modifications. Of the more elaborate Greek helmet our cut of a Greek warrior furnishes a very fine specimen, which will be better understood by the eye than by technical description. It has three crests of horsehair from the mane, cut short and square, with a dependent tail. Some helmets had as many as five crests of this sort. The more common helmet of both the Greeks and Romans was merely a scull-cap without ridge or crest, but having at top a knob or button, and differing in no material respect from that of the mounted Dacian below, except that the latter has a spike instead of a knob. The helmets and caps of the figures in the cuts to Judges v. will very materially assist in the illustration of the present note.

Coat of mail.-When men had realized the means of protecting their heads by strong caps and helmets, they naturally began soon to think of extending the same protection to other parts of the body. It would be absurd to suppose that every nation adhered to the same rule of progression; but it may perhaps be stated as a general rule, with large variations, that the progressive kinds of armour were1. The skins of various animals, and even, in some countries, of birds and fishes. 2. Hides, mats, wood; linen or woollen padded or folded; strong twisted linen. 3. Leather bordered with metal. 4. Entire plates of metal; but, as these were heavy and inflexible, various contrivances were resorted to in order to obtain the security which metal gives, without its rigidity, and without all its weight. For this purpose, the leather was covered with square pieces of metal, riveted on; or else, embossed pieces of metal were fastened on so as to protect the more vital parts of the body, and to serve at once for ornament and use. Sometimes also, the defence was formed of bands or hoops of metal, sliding over each other, and therefore yielding to the motions of the body. 5. We then come to what is properly mailed armour, by which a higher degree of flexibility was obtained than a metallic covering might be supposed capable of affording. This armour was of several kinds. Leather, linen, or woollen, was covered with rings or with scales.