“262. GOLIATH’S ARMOR—1 SAMUEL 17:1-7”

Goliath’s Armor—1Sa_17:1-7

It would seem that Saul, while under the process of cure from his grievous malady, contracted great regard for David. “He loved him, and made him his armor-bearer,”—the latter a mere honorary mark of consideration and attachment, at a time when there was no actual war.

By degrees the intervals of his frenzy became more distant, and eventually he seemed to have been altogether cured. The services of David being then no longer required, he went home to his father, and again resumed the care of the sheep. By this it would seem, that the king’s affection towards his healer cooled, as soon as the cure had been effected. The probability of this, most physicians can vouch from their own experience. Besides, it is likely that, from the peculiar nature of his complaint, Saul cared not to be continually reminded, by the presence of his healer, of the sufferings he had gone through, and of paroxysms which it humbled his proud mind to think had made him an object of compassion in the eyes of his subjects. He therefore made no opposition to the application for his son’s return home, which Jesse probably made when he found that David’s services were no longer necessary.

Different Appearance from Growth of Beard

An interval passed—how long we know not, but probably about two or three years—when we again behold David traversing the road from Bethlehem, nearly in the same condition as before. But his appearance is considerably altered. You would scarcely know him for the same person that you saw some three years ago. He was then a growing youth; but he has now attained to greater fullness of stature and to more firmly knit limbs. Above all, his beard has grown; and to those who, like us, remove the beard as soon as it appears, the great difference produced by the presence of this appendage on the face of one who a year or two ago was a beardless youth, is scarcely conceivable. The ass, also, is more heavily laden than it was formerly with Jesse’s present for Saul. It now bears an ephah of parched corn, ten loaves, and ten cheeses. There is war with the Philistines; the three eldest sons of Jesse are with the camp; and the anxious father sends the youngest to inquire of their welfare. The corn and bread are for their use, and the cheeses are a present for the colonel of their regiment.

When David came to the borders of the camp, he left the provisions in charge of the servant who accompanied him, and went to seek out his brothers. He made his way through the host to the standard of Judah, and soon found his brethren. He was conversing with them, when a general stir and shudder through the camp drew his attention to what was going on around him. The two armies were drawn up fronting each other, on opposite sides of the valley of Elah. From the Philistine camp stalked forth a giant, Goliath by name, whose stature, little short of ten feet, inspired scarcely more terror, than the formidable weapons he bore, and the magnificent accoutrements, and seemingly impenetrable armor, with which he was invested. The particulars may be worthy our attention—“There went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of his coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. 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.” Taking into account the enormous stature of this man, and his dreadful clanking tramp under two hundred weight of metal, it is scarcely wonderful that the very sight of him filled the Israelites with terror, and that no one was found very ready to engage in the single combat with him, which, with terrible shouts and thundering voice, he invited, as a mode of settling the contest between the two nations.

Ancient Philistines, from Egyptian Sculptures

But let us look more closely at his equipment, this being the earliest particular description of warlike panoply which we meet with in the Bible. But first a word of the Philistines, who have now become a people of much interest in the history of the Bible. Mr. Osburn seems, in his Ancient Egypt, to have identified this people among the foreign nations represented, in all the peculiarities of person, arms, and costumes, in the Egyptian sculptures. He says—“The personal appearance of the Philistines differed very little from that of the Egyptians, to whom they were allied by blood. Like them, they are represented to have been a tall, well-proportioned race, with regular features and complexion somewhat lighter than in Egypt. Like the southern Canaanites, they shaved the beard and whiskers. Their arms and accoutrements very conspicuously distinguished them from all other nations to the east of Egypt. They wore a headdress or helmet of a peculiar, and far from inelegant, form. It has the appearance of a row of feathers set in a jeweled tiara or metal band, to which were attached scales of the same material, for the defence of the back of the neck and the sides of the face.”

Philistine Helmet

Hittite Helmets, or Skull-Caps

The helmet of Goliath may have been probably of this sort, seeing that the race of giants to which he belonged, had been for some generations settled among the Philistines. In that case, we learn from the text, that this curious helmet was of brass. The gigantic race, however, was that of the Anakim, whose presence in and about Hebron terrified the spies who explored the land in the time of Moses, and the remnant of which, on their defeat and expulsion, found refuge among the Philistines. It is not unlikely that they preserved the kind of arms and weapons in use in the quarter from which they came, particularly as that would distinguish them from the ordinary Philistine warriors; and we find that people of gigantic stature are fond of adding a distinction of dress to that which their stature creates—their peculiar equipments concurring with their stature in drawing attention to them, and indeed, making their stature the more conspicuous. The marked manner in which this giant’s equipments are mentioned, may strengthen the suspicion, that they were not such as the Philistines themselves wore. In that case, the war costume of the Hittites probably exemplifies that worn by the Anakim before they went among the Philistines. This people, if Mr. Osburn has correctly identified them, used in war a helmet or skull-cap extending far down the neck behind, and cut out high and square above the ear, so as to expose the bald place and long lock, which they deemed a personal ornament. Note: “They (the Hittites) had a hideously unsightly custom of shaving a square place just above the ear, leaving the hair on the side of the face and the whiskers, which hung down in a long plaited lock.”—Osburn, p. 125. Sometimes a metal scale defended this part of the head. It was secured under the chin by a strong band or clasp-string, probably of metal like the helmet. The badges of distinction were one or two ostrich feathers, which were worn drooping.

Goliath’s “coat of mail” was, like his helmet, of brass. The Philistines, as represented in the Egyptian sculptures, wore in war “a kind of corselet, quilted with leather or plates of metal, reaching only to the chest, and supported by shoulder-straps, leaving the shoulders and arms at full liberty.” Note: Osburn, p. 138. The terms describing the giant’s coat of mail, however, literally mean “harness of scales,” denoting a scaled coat of mail, consisting of small plates like scales. An excellent authority Note: Col. C.H. Smith, in Cyclop. of Biblical Literature, Art. Armor. thinks it to express armor in which the pieces of metal were sewed upon cloth, and not hinged into each other as in the kind of “tilted armor,” such as Ahab appears to have worn, when the random arrow smote him between “the joints of his harness.” This corresponds well to the description of the Philistine corselet, though we are unable to recognize the squamous arrangement of the pieces of metal in the figures of this or any other people represented in the Egyptian sculptures, except in the broad military girdle of one of the gods. This, however, shows the very ancient use of this species of armor, and recently this fact has been further attested by the discoveries at Nineveh. In these the warriors who fought in chariots, and held the shield for the defence of the king, are generally seen in coats of scale armor, which descend either to the knees or to the ankles. A large number of the actual scales were discovered in the earliest palace of Nimrud. They are generally of iron, slightly embossed or raised in the center; and some were inlaid with copper. They were probably, Layard thinks, fastened to a shirt of felt or coarse linen. Note: Nineveh and its Remains, ii. 335. Such is the armor always represented in the most ancient sculptures. At later periods other kinds were used, the scales were larger, and appear to have been fastened to bands of iron or copper.

Of the greaves, such as Goliath wore for the defence of his legs, there is no example among the Egyptian representations of their own and foreign warriors. Their form is, however, well known from other ancient sources. They consisted usually of a pair of shin-covers, of brass or strong leather, bound by thongs round the calves and above the ankles. The Assyrian sculptures represent greaves as being worn both by spearmen and slingers, and they appear to have been laced in front. “They were perhaps of leather,” says Layard, “or like the boots of the Bœotians, of wood, or even of brass, as the greaves of Goliath.”

Assyrian Warrior in Coat of Scale Armor

The shield in use among the Philistines was large and circular, exactly resembling that of the Greeks in a later age. This, indeed, was the form of the shield among the Phoenicians, while we see shields square, oblong, and escutcheon-shaped among the inland natives of Canaan. The form of an Assyrian shield, is also quite similar to that of the Philistines. The Assyrians had other forms; but this is the most ancient. It was either of hide or of metal, perhaps, in some instances, of gold or silver. It was held by a handle fixed to the center. Layard says: “The archers, whether fighting on foot or in chariots, were accompanied by shield-bearers, whose office it was to protect them from the shafts of the enemy. The king was always attended in his wars by this officer; and even in peace one of his eunuchs usually carried a circular shield for his use. This shield-bearer was probably a person of high rank, as in Egypt. On some monuments of the later Assyrian period, he is represented carrying two shields, one in each hand.” In a note this Explorer refers to the instances in the Iliad of the same practice, Note: Iliad, viii. 319, 327. and also to this of Goliath, who had “one bearing his shield who went before him.”

Assyrian Spearman

The “spear” of the Philistines and other people of Canaan was not such a long reed-like instrument as we find in use among the modern Arabs, and which has been accepted as the type of the oriental spear. It does not seem to have been quite five feet long, and might be also used as a javelin, like the spear of Saul (1Sa_19:10). It was like the Assyrian spear, except that it was shorter, the latter being fully equal to a man’s height. The iron head of a spear from Nimrud is in the British Museum, and it is remarkable that this is the only part of Goliath’s accouterment that is said to have been of iron, though his sword was also doubtless of this metal. The shaft of the Assyrian spear was probably of some strong wood, as that of Goliath certainly was.

These facts may help the reader to some idea of the appearance which the giant presented to the host of Israel, as he strode forth in his panoply of burnished brass.

Autor: JOHN KITTO