Case Study:  David and Goliath

The single case study is going to be the familiar story of David and Goliath, but not the common Sunday school version of the plucky little kid who took down the big bully with a sling shot and faith in God.  Great story, but  the Sunday school version is wrong. The ruthless David did not kill him with a sling, it was not a fair fight, David cheated, and it was not really about Goliath at all.  The only thing true is David had faith in God.  This will not be treated as a Bible study, but studying the aspects of physical and moral courage and briefly touching on competence with your equipment; knowing its strengths and limitations, and not fighting on your opponents’ terms but cheating and fighting on yours, and using physical courage as a tool for moral courage and leadership.

3000 years ago, two nations were fighting for a piece of the eastern Mediterranean basin.  The Israelis, who had a militia-based military system and had only recently unified under a single ruler, had been struggling against the Philistines for over a century.  The Philistines were tail end of the sea peoples who destroyed or damaged most of the civilizations in the region, and had a more professional military class and higher technology with better bronze and iron working for weapons and armor.  This meant not only good quality but greater quantity. The Israelis have, at this time, few iron weapons.

The Philistines had staged an invasion and the Israelis, under their new king, Saul, had moved to block it.  A stand off for over a month resulted with both armies squaring off on opposite hills, waiting for an advantage.  Now this was roughly within a century of the Trojan War with such champions as Achilles and Hector battling before the walls of Troy.  In this tradition, the Philistines put forth a giant of a champion (six foot nine inch to over 9 foot depending on the translation) in full heavy infantry kit, heavy armor, shield, spear, javelin and a first rate iron sword.    The Israelis do not have a giant of their own, and few men with full armor and iron weapons. At earlier battles only King Saul and his son were so equipped.  So outside of the royal family, no one has similar equipment to fight Goliath in a one on one duel on Goliath’s terms.  The daily challenge and taunts dismays and terrifies the Israeli army,  building a climate of physical and moral cowardice in the army.

In to this situation comes David, bringing supplies for his three older brothers who were with the army.   Hearing Goliath’s challenge, David was shocked that no one had answered it.  David declares he will fight Goliath,  spurred on by religious and patriotic zeal, and perhaps the rumored  offer of the King’s daughter in marriage and tax breaks to the man who kills the enemy champion.  The first response from his brothers is to deride him as having a wicked heart for just wanting to fight.  It was classic ridicule of the brave by moral cowards.

David then finds the king and tells him he will fight Goliath.  The king’s response to him is; you are a young man and the Philistine is a professional warrior from his youth.  David’s response is; as a shepherd alone I fight and kill lions and bears trying to attack the family sheep on a regular basis.  Translation: I work out in the gym of courage all the time.  If I can kill a lion or bear then a man is just the same, I have a strong courage muscle.

The King then tries to give David his armor and sword so he can fight Goliath on even terms.  David refuses saying he does not know how to use them and will use his own weapon.  A few points before we get on to the narrative about knowing your weapons and equipment.  Just because you have something does not mean you know how to use it.  Even with modern body armor you have to relearn how to fight and move in it.  Even if you are in good shape it will frustrate you in basic movements at first and wear you down until you and your muscles learn how to use it.  Weapons are worse because you can maim yourself  or worse if you do not know how to use a certain one.

The weapon David was going to use was a sling, and this was not the kids’ sling shot your Sunday school teacher talked about.  Slings as military weapons were used from ancient times until the Middle Ages (and later in the new world) and were as common as bows in many armies.  In fact,  lead being used in bullets was first used by the Greeks and Romans for sling projectiles.  But even with the stones used by the ancient Israelis the energy of the projectile is close to modern pistols.  But that is misleading,  do not think he popped him with a 45.  The projectile had the ballistic coefficient of a rock, literally, so it loses energy fast and also has a much larger surface area and is less dense at slower speed.  Think of a major league baseball pitcher throwing a fast ball made of concrete.  It will break bones and do some surface damage but not shoot through someone.

Knowing the strengths and limitations of his weapon, David forms a plan to fight his enemy on his strength and not Goliath’s strength. One of the most important tactical and strategic principles is to fight your fight not your opponent’s fight, outside of the sports field the more unfair you can make it the better.  David advances with a stick (it could be a staff as translations differ) in hand and hiding the sling and stones.  Goliath’s response is “am I a dog that come at me with sticks?” or “you can’t be serious”, shows he does not think it’s a real offer of a fight. He was expecting another armored champion.   Then  Goliath advances and says he is going to leave David’s body to the birds of the air and the beasts of the fields.  David states to both armies that he will give the whole Philistine army to the same (the “worms and buzzards have to eat” line that Clint Eastwood says in the movie The Outlaw Josey Wales is quoting scripture), and his faith is in God that all of Philistines will soon die.  Goliath’s death is not David’s goal, he is setting up the event to flip the morale and courage of both armies.  David runs quickly, closing the distance then gets his sling ready.  Close in he gets the most power out of the sling and also gives himself a better chance of hitting exposed flesh on an armored target.  A couple quick revolutions and then he releases the stone before Goliath can get his shield up. The stone hits him in the fore head and he drops to the ground.  David then rushes forward, draws Goliath’s own sword and then kills him with it and beheads him.   The morale and courage of the armies does flip and the Israelis defeat the Philistines in a rush.

A while back I overheard two men in my church talking about a fight one of them got into.  He quoted one of the Pusher movies “God is going to sit this one out”.  This was displaying the world view that Christianity, while it may have some moral courage, has no tradition of physical courage.   Nothing could be more wrong.  Judeo-Christian history has a very strong warrior tradition that includes courage, being crafty and ruthless as values.  It is the cowards that always try to down play courage and any attempt to exercise the muscles that keep it strong.

Most of the following blog entries will be shorter than this. Topics will include going over equipment both physical and philosophies of use, training, mindset and fighting drills to confront modern threats.  But I will also go over historical examples from Western Civilization and its roots;  Judeo-Christian, Greco-Roman and Barbarian traditions.  Western Civilization is the standard bearer for individual liberties and rights, including self defense.

berninis-david

Bernini’s David sculpture, better in my eyes than Michelangelo’s.

The look of determination on David’s face and the fixing of his vision.

Less than five seconds until it is lights out for Goliath.