1 Samuel 17 tells the story of David and Goliath. “The previously unheard story”, however, is Malcom Gladwell’s version. I found Gladwell’s version, which lasts 15:40 minutes, more entertaining. In it, Goliath was “the underdog”; he never had a chance.
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Fascinating that a medical diagnosis can be made based on biblical passage.
On a funny note, send this video to any short Kings 
in your life 
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To be honest I’m finding his account highly improbable and mostly oer reaching.
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David was a shepherd. Not a warrior in training.
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David picked up 5 stones from the brook. I think this is important as it’s hyperlinking back to the visions of something coming up out of the waters and through it leading to life. Goliath is wearing armed with scales, much like the way we see scaly enemies throughout the stories from the Leviathan sea monsters, the serpents and dragon. Even to the scaly eyes of Paul much later on. It’s another man taking die the serpent story through the power of Yahweh.
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I’m not sure where it’s saying Goliath was lead down.
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I’m not sure why they think Goliath can’t see. The die seemed to really be overreaching with “ come at me with sticks “. I doubt Goliath thought there was multiple sticks. I think it’s just a saying. Same with “ come
To me”‘… pretty sure it just means what it means when anyone of ays it in a fight… come meet me then… I’ll be here or there… -
The story talks about Goliath being a champion. Not some decrepitude blond guy.
I liked the geographical info and I’m curious about the mineral stone. I’ll have to look up a handful of scholars I admire and see if they shared snaring thoughts about his book. His argument was not very convincing to me. But if someone else I trust can vouch for him academically maybe it will be enough motivation to look into his book later .
I’ve heard the acromegaly possibility before, and it seems very possible. If you think about Andre the Giant, he would have been a sitting duck for a talented slinger.
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How Sling Weaponry Revolutionized Warfare In The Ancient World
- "Neolithic origins and the Old World
- The earliest evidence of sling weaponry comes from as far back as 10,000 B.C. It’s believed to have been invented during the Upper Palaeolithic, similar to spears and the bow and arrow. It was used by the neolithic people for hunting purposes and spread across the world. However, it’s currently debated if this spread was the result of independent invention or cultural diffusion."
- Sling weaponry in the Old World was typically used during combat. They were the weapon of choice for many Hebrew warriors, and their use helped its spread to other cultures. Representations of their use can be found throughout the ancient world, from Assyria and ancient Egypt to the columns of Aurelius and Trajan. The oldest artistic representation is from Çatalhöyük, dating back to 7,000 B.C."
- The Greeks first recognized the importance of sling weaponry during the Peloponnesian War. They’d previously been partial to heavy infantry, but hadn’t overlooked the effectiveness of mercenary slingers. They recruited them from Rhodes as well as Acarnania and Achaea. When the Boeotians required slingers during the Battle of Delium, they recruited them from the Malian Gulf.
- “The Ten Thousand” are considered the most famous Greek mercenary group to utilize slings. It was made up of Greek mercenaries who ended up heavily relying on slings to defeat their enemies. For a while, their slingers were considered more effective than their Persian counterparts, as their lead ammunition traveled longer distances."
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Given the location, the stones would very likely be flint pebbles, weathering out of the regional chalky limestone. The chalk would probably not hold up so well as a projectile. (I have my students turn in questions for me to find answers for, and someone asked the type of rock that David would have used.)
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True, but it doesn’t really say he ever fought anyone, unlike say, Samson and his jawbone of an ass. So he may have been all show, no go. All hat, no cattle. Now, he still may have been a formidable opponent in armed combat, but an agile smaller man might still has been able to defeat him. The hope of the Philistines was that he would intimidate and not have to fight, perhaps.
It does not take much imagination to presume Goliath was nominated a champion because he was a champion. The likely hood that Goliath is a bad warrior because he’s slow and blind and that’s who they picked to be the deciding factor of their war is unlikely. I would be curious to see the contextual clues that they bought he was just a fake scary guy. As to the lacking his war history, it’s probably because they did not know much about him.
I think the article gives those contexual clues with Goliath’s visual misidentification of sticks, his need for a shield bearer, his bravado and posturing, and the lack of any real mention of his exploits. All those things are soft of course, and speculation, so we will never know. I think on the other hand he had a brother who was big, so maybe giantism was a family trait. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4113151/
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I’ve read several links and watched the video. If it’s convincing for someone then it’s convincing for someone. That’s all I can say. It’s far to speculate even for me to believe it.I felt like it was allot so silly it was an attempt at trolling the first few times I heard it.
I Samuel 17:33 "Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” Thus, there is some indication that Goliath did have significant experience in fighting.
Of course, Goliath was thinking of hand-to-hand combat; a slingstone never entered his mind before the encounter with David.
Bad puns aside, the fallacy of relying just on size has an additional target - Saul gained popular support as king in part by being the tallest one around.
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There are a number of challenges in interpreting that - it differs from the close parallel in I Chron 20. The simplest solution would be the possibility that Elhanan was David, but it is indeed puzzling.
There’s a claim that Goliath and Elhannan were brothers.
That had to be the worst I ever heard.
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You’re an expert on silliness, are you?
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I would say I’m more of an expert on noticing really stupid concepts.
“Stupid” is a subjective opinion, not a statement of fact; and in elementary schools that my wife taught in, children are taught in the lowest grades that “stupid” is a bad word.
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Well your wife would not like the list of words I routinely use. I have no issue cussing. I cuss often. I cuss even when praying. But I self censor when the platform asks for it and I’m under the impression BL frowns up those pretty typical words. It’s 50/50 with Christians. Some pastors I’ve met cuss and some I’ve met think it’s a sin.
With that said though, I was thinking just being honest and calling it silly from my perspective was the better approach so I originally went with it. It’s silly in my opinion to think the Philistines picked a slow, blind guy as their champion of champions on which to hinge their entire war on. Especially with the reasons given.
Such as saying he has a armor bearer…. Did not tons of people have them? I’m pretty certain I read of even some others in the Bible having them.
Or thinking saying “ come to me “ means I’m to slow, weak or blind to some to you vs it meaning something similar to what we say all the time… “ come over here or to my face and say that “ typically does not mean they can’t… it’s a threat… it’s a way to say are you brave enough to wall towards your suffering”
Or that when he said “ sticks “ it’s because he could not tell it’s one or two. As if he had double vision or something. I’m thinking it probably meant something more like , “ don’t bring a knife to a gun fight “ and this warrior champion was thinking not only do you send a child but you’re also sending a child with a stick to fight me…
Also he was 6’9. Tons of wrestlers are around 6’6+ and they seem to move around just fine. Nathan Jones and Martyn Ford are both over 6’8 and 300lbs and fairly athletic. It makes far more since that the champion they picked was someone who was a really good warrior and not someone really blind and slow. Joseph Manganiello is 6’5 and pretty fast. I’ve seen him cycling once and just for the heck of it I tried to keep up and was standing up peddling as hard as I could and as fast as I could and he was a mile ahead about every 10 minutes. It was a straight shot and within 45 minutes he was completely out of sight. Lou Ferrigno Is also 6’5 and was pretty fast despite his size. The football are full of guys that are pretty tall and fast. Goliath could have been a really good athlete, warrior and in his prime. Makes far more sense than some half blind slow dude.
I have a theory that the Philistines were exaggerating Goliath’s height.
Think about it for a minute: who measured him? Before the battle, the Philistines would have had every incentive to be, let’s just say, a bit creative here. Making your army look bigger than it really is is one of the oldest tricks in the book after all. At the same time, none of the Israelites would have been able to get near him to check if he really was as tall as he was being made out to be.
On the other hand, after he was defeated by David, it was a moot point. Besides, it would have been more in their best interests for the Israelites simply to take the claims being made by the Philistines at face value, and let their words, as they stood, be used against them.
If this is the case, then there is a cautionary tale here. Be careful about making bombastic inflated claims about your capabilities. Because if you don’t deliver on those claims, you may even end up becoming a byword, three thousand years later, for formidable opponents who get taken out by children.