We all know the story of David and Goliath, collected in the Bible. And, although we have not read it, we know what it means: it is the victory of the small against the great, of the helpless against the powerful, a reminder that even if we have everything against us, there will always be possibilities to emerge triumphant. It is a peculiar metaphor that has spread throughout the planet, as it gives shape to the universal longing to be able to decide our fate by our own hand, without being subject to external influences.
David and Goliath is a biblical story that appears in the book of Samuel, which tells the unequal battle between these two characters.
The origin of this myth begins when the first monarch of the Kingdom of Israel, King Saul, disobeys God, who had commissioned him to destroy all the Amalekites (Amalekites) who had confronted him at the battle of Michmash. As Saul did not do it, he lost the gift of God and ceased to be the anointed one, the one chosen to govern Israel. Then the prophet Samuel received divine instructions to find in Bethlehem a shepherd named Jesse, because one of his sons would be the new anointed, and he would know it just by seeing it. Since the prophet Samuel could not separate from Saul, or receive punishment from Saul, he lied to him saying that he must travel to perform a sacrifice in the distance. This is how Samuel manages to leave the castle of Saul and search for the new anointed one. In Bethlehem, as it had been communicated, he found Pastor Jesé, whom he invited to introduce him to his children. He presented seven of his children one by one, but none turned out to be the chosen one. So Samuel asked him if he had any other son, and Jesse introduced him to David, the youngest of all his offspring. The prophet knew immediately that he was before the new anointed, who was a young blonde, prudent and good looking. Due to the grace of God, David obtained the position of musician in the service of King Saul to play the harp. And it was so good at doing it, that it pleased the Israeli king.
While Israel was under Saul's command, he was also at war with the Philistine people. A soldier from this community, Goliath of Gath, described in the Bible by Samuel as a giant, measuring six cubits plus a span, challenged Israel's army by harassing them for forty days to send the strongest of their warriors to battle with the. Goliath and his men were so convinced of his victory, that if an Israeli accepted the duel and managed to defeat him by killing him, the Philistines would become slaves of the Israelis; but, on the contrary, if he won, the people of Israel would become enslaved by Goliath and his men. Fearful of the enormous proportions of Goliath and what was at stake, no Israeli army soldier decided to face the challenge.
Meanwhile, Jesé had instructed David to go to the Israeli camp to visit his brothers, who were soldiers under Saul's orders. It is in this when David heard Goliath defying the army, and decided to go with Saul to ask him if he could face him. King Saul accepted and gave him his armor, but it did not fit. This is why David went out to meet his usual shepherd's clothing and armed only with a sling, with which he used to defend his flock of sheep from the wolves. On the way he took five stones and stood in front of Goliath, who scoffed when he saw him. David's youngest son then proclaimed:
The whole Earth must know that there is God in Israel. And all this assembly will know that it is not by the sword or by the spear that Yahweh saves, because Yahweh is war and gives us into our hands (Sam 17: 46-47).
Immediately, David places one of the stones in his sling and throws it to Goliath, hitting him in the middle of his forehead. Goliath falls by the blow received, and his opponent takes to decapitate him with his own sword.
After this, David gained the trust of both the Israelite people and the sons of Saul, Jonathan and Michal, who would be his wife. This fact made King Saul feel threatened and ordered to pursue him. Then David fled to the desert with a group of soldiers and agreed to take refuge in the city of Ziklag thanks to the favor of the king of the Philistines, Achish of Gath. In the battle that these held in Gilboá against Israel, and of which David could not take part, died Saúl and Jonathan, his son, reason why the throne was empty. David wanted to become king then, but his detractors brought a distant relative of Saul to rule, Isboset. This could not occupy the position of king because he was killed by two servants of David, who in turn were killed for acting on their own and against the wishes of the anointed. To avoid conflicts with the Philistines and the Israelis, David sought a neutral city, and found it in Jebus, becoming king there and then renaming it as Jerusalem, when he managed to unify the twelve tribes of Israel.
