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David During the Reign of Saul

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DAVID DURING REIGN OF SAUL

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Foundation – Google Earth | Geolocation Coordinates – Open Bible | Event Summary – The Bible Journey | Scripture Links – Bible Gateway

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Goliath of Gath

The Philistines

Goliath of Gath

The Elah Valley near Beth Shemesh (Ricardo Tulio Gandelman)

Of all his outstanding military successes, the most memorable victory of the Israelite King David was his one-to-one contest with Goliath, the Philistine ‘champion’ of Gath, in c.1012BC. The event is presented in popular folk history as the epitome of the defeat of the military ‘giant’ by the young and inexperienced ‘underdog’. In reality, the truth is rather different.

Contrary to popular belief, the Bible does not suggest that David was a ‘boy’. While both Saul and Goliath looked on David as young and inexperienced (see 1 Samuel 17:33 & 42), he was probably a young man in his twenties when he defeated Goliath. Although the youngest of eight sons, he is not described as a child. Indeed, we are told that David was 'a brave man and a warrior', and a 'fine-looking man' who had killed a bear by seizing its fur and striking it dead (see 1 Samuel 16:18 & 17:35). He had already served as Saul’s trusted armour-bearer when he challenged the Philistine ‘champion’ to a single-handed combat (see 1 Samuel 16:21). Immediately after his successful confrontation with Goliath, Saul gave David a high rank in the Israelite army, commanding a thousand men (see 1 Samuel 18:4-6 & 13).

David’s chosen weapon – a sling – is often likened to a child’s toy catapult. But the sling shot was a very accurate and effective piece of military equipment in David’s day, and David was evidently well trained in its use (even if Goliath sneered that, without the heavy armour that kings wore, his adversary appeared to be ‘little more than a boy’). In reality, David was able to strike a deadly blow before coming within range of Saul’s spear and javelin. In later times, all front rank auxiliary soldiers of the Roman army were armed with slingshots. They launched the first wave of missiles well before the next rank of soldiers was close enough to throw their spears and javelins at the enemy.

After David’s defeat of Goliath struck terror into the Philistines, the Israelites pursued their foe all the way to Gath, where the demoralised enemy regrouped behind the safety of their city walls (see 1 Samuel 17:51-52). Having fallen out of favour, David spent sixteen months fighting as a mercenary soldier under the pay of King Achish of Gath immediately before his former employer, King Saul, was killed by the Philistines at the Battle of Gilboa (see 1 Samuel 27:2-7). The Philistines were eventually defeated by David’s army eight years later at Baal Perazim, and David conquered Gathshortly afterwards (see 2 Samuel 5:17-25 & 1 Chronicles 18:1). Later, David counted ‘Gittites’ (men from Gath) among his friends (see 2 Samuel 6:10, 15:19 & 18:2) and employed six hundred Gittites as merceneries in his army (see 2 Samuel 15:18).

After the death of King Solomon, Solomon's son Rehoboam renewed the fortifications at Gath (see 2 Chronicles 11:8), but it was captured by King Hazael of Damascus in 811 BC (see 2 Kings 12:17). The walls of Gath were demolished by King Uzziah of Judah in c.760BC (see 2 Chronicles 26:6), and it was conquered by King Sargon of Assyria shortly afterwards.

Excavations since 1996 at Tell es-Safi, in the Elah Valley half way between Jerusalem and Ashkelon, have revealed remains of the ancient city of Gath. Gath (meaning a ‘winepress’) was situated on a well-defended white chalk cliff overlooking a fertile valley where many vines grew, and remains of a winepress cut into the rock can be seen nearby. Evidence of the repeated destruction and re-building of Gath’s fortifications during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age confirms the sequence of events recorded in the Bible narrative.

Source: The Bible Journey

The Philistines

For about four hundred years, from the Israelite invasion of Canaan in c.1406BC until the expansion of Israel’s boundaries under King David around 1000BC, the southern coastal plain cities of Gaza, Gath, Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ekron became the stronghold of Philistine kings. The Philistines – like the Phoenicians who inhabited the coastal plain further north around Tyre and Sidon – were ‘sea peoples’ who had sailed across the Mediterranean from Cyprus and Crete (‘Caphtor’ – see Amos 9:7), the Peloponnese, and the islands of the Aegean. As allies of the local ‘superpower’, Egypt, the Philistines used the latest weapon – iron chariots - to defend the Via Maris, the highly lucrative trading route along the coastal plain from Egypt to Mesopotamia.

While the Israelites conquered most of the city-states in the central hill country of Canaan (where the terrain favoured surprise attacks and hand-to-hand fighting), they were less successful in defeating the kingdoms of the Mediterranean coastal plain. Here, the technologically more advanced Philistines deployed their fast-moving chariots to protect the prosperous cities (see Joshua 13:1-3).

During the time of the ‘Judges’, the Israelites and Philistines frequently clashed, with the Philistines often becoming dominant and demanding subservience from the Israelites. In c.1081BC, Samson became an inspirational leader of Israel for twenty years at the beginning of a seventy-year period of Philistine rule. He is reputed to have killed a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey (see Judges 15:11-17).

Some fifty years later, in c.1024BC, the Philistines launched a major attack on the Israelites at Ebenezer. The Israelites suffered a heavy defeat and the Ark of the Covenant was captured. After bringing death and disease to Ashdod, Gath and Ekron, the Ark was eventually returned to the Israelites (see 1 Samuel 4:1-11 & 5:1-12).

Only under the United Monarchy, did the Israelites begin to gain the upper hand when Saul’s son Jonathan defeated a Philistine army at Michmash Pass (see 1 Samuel 13:2-7 & 14:1-23). Shortly afterwards, David killed the Philistine champion, Goliath of Gath, with a slingshot, and the Israelite army pursued the fleeing Philistines all the way to Gath and the gates of Ekron (see 1 Samuel 17:1-52).

When the Philistines killed Saul and his son Jonathan at Mt Gilboa in c.1011BC, David was anointed King of Judah (see 1 Samuel 31:1-10 & 2 Samuel 2:1-4). David was able to establish a strong kingdom as Egypt was militarily weak, probably under the heretic Amarnan pharaoh Akenaten, and was unable to offer protection to its ally, the Philistines. Over the next few years, David was able to defeat the Philistines completely and extend his kingdom (and his authority over neighbouring kings) as far as the River Euphrates.

David’s son, Solomon, completed the downfall of the Philistines by marrying the Egyptian pharaoh Haremheb’s daughter in c.970BC (see 1 Kings 3:1). By making a successful alliance with Egypt, Israel took on the role of Egypt’s ally. The overthrow of the Philistines was celebrated by the building of an Israelite chariot city at Gezer by Solomon in c.947BC (see 1 Kings 10.26-27). As Gezer looked out across the coastal plain, it was the ideal location from which to deploy chariots to defend the lucrative north-south trading route between Egypt and Mesopotamia that had previously been patrolled by Egypt’s former ally – the Philistines.

Today, the legacy of the ‘sea people’ lives on in the name Palestine – derived from the word ‘Philistine’.

Source: The Bible Journey

Philistine gateway and defensive walls at Ashkelon