Goliath: Difference between revisions

According to the Old Testament, when Palestinians and Israelites stood against each other in the valley of Elah, Goliath went forth from among Palestinians and began his war cry. He continued this action every morning and night for forty days, which frightened Israelites. [[Saul]] (Talut), the commander of Israelites' army had promised that he would give the killer of Goliath a great amount of properties and make her daughter marry that person. When the young [[David (a)]] heard the war cries of Goliath, convinced Saul (Talut) to fight with him and then went to the battlefield. When Goliath saw David (a) going to fight him without a sword and only holding a stick and stone, mocked him and threatened him. David (a) too threatened Goliath (Jalut) and said that he (a) would kill him, so that everyone would believe that there is God. Then, David (a) hit Goliath on the forehead with a stone sling and killed him. Then, he (a) went upon his body and severed his head. This victory led to the complete defeat of Palestinians and their escape. Head of Goliath was taken to [[Jerusalem]] and his sword remained in a temple in the city of "Nob" until it was later returned to David (a).

Goliath (Jalut) was born in the city of "Gath" (located in south east of [[Gaza]]) and is mentioned in the [[Torah]] as Goliath of Gath. However, this possibility has been mentioned that he was not originally from [[Palestine]] and served the army of Palestinians as a soldier.

Also, extraordinary physical characteristics have been reported for him, including that he had a height of three meters and had heavy weapons in the battle with Israelites. It is written in the [[Old Testament]] that Elhanan killed Goliath, not David (a), which seems to be a mistake of script-writers of the Torah; because, elsewhere, Elhanan is introduced as the killer of Goliath's brother, not Goliath himself. The encounter of Goliath and David (a) has been the subject of many poems and artistic works especially sculpture and painting in the west.