Monday, January 14, 2008

I'm not a very good aim

From I Samuel 17-20:

1. I wonder why forty days had passed and Goliath was still taunting the Israelites, yet war had not been joined. It would seem that they were waiting around for someone to challenge Goliath, and since no one would, they would just sit there opposing each other indefinitely.

2. I also wonder how everyone was so afraid of Goliath when it is very obvious that although he was strong, he was loaded down with not only his size, but also the weight of all the stuff he was carrying. If an archer was accurate enough, he could fell him also, because Goliath surely could not move very quickly with all of that weight. (I am not trying to take anything away from what David did - because there can be no doubt that it was nothing short of amazing - especially since David did not wear any traditional war armor or anything.)

3. It is interesting that in the same passage that it talks about Saul becoming jealous of David upon coming back from the battle in which David slays Goliath, it also talks about how Saul had given him a high rank in the army and how successful he was in all he was sent to do. I wonder if this means that he already had some military experience, or if this was after his victory over Goliath. If so, it must have been some time before king Saul got upset about the attribution of many victories to David.

4. I wonder what sort of commander David was. I mean, it would seem he was a army man's commander - meaning that he fought right alongside the men that were with him. It must have been very different from the picture that I have developed of Saul and his method of leading by forceful direction.

5. I get the impression that either Saul was not a very good shot with the javelin, or he was too slow in his movements. Not only did he miss in trying to pin David, in his anger at Jonathan being David's friend he also threw his spear and missed Jonathan.

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