“Choose a man and have him come down to me.  If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.”  These are the fighting words spoken by the great Philistine warrior Goliath of Gath as he challenged the men of King Saul’s army of Israel (described in the Bible in I Samuel, Ch. 17).  This type of duel has been referred to as single combat or combat by champion and was seen among many peoples such as the Egyptians, Mycenaeans, Greeks, Romans, Celts, Germanic tribes and the Chinese.  Instead of a full battle between armies in which there would be numerous losses on each side, one side would select a champion, usually a seasoned warrior, arm him with the best and most expensive equipment, and supply him with a servant to stand at his side.  Then, he would challenge the other side to put forth a champion.  The winner of the duel would decide the outcome of the battle.

The Philistines had lined their army on the side of one hill, and the Israelites on the other, with the valley between them.T  his would make a great Lego MOC or even better a lego youtube film!  But who were these Philistines?  In modern English, to call someone a philistine is to accuse them of being hostile to the arts and education.  But, this seems inaccurate, since recent archaeology has found that the Philistines had quite a developed culture and created pottery that resembled that of the ancient Greeks.

Where did they come from?  It is thought by many historians that they were the people referred to as Pelesets in inscriptions in Medinet Habu, the mortuary temple of the famous Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses III.  Several groups from various locations around the Aegean Sea formed a coalition to attack Egypt.  The Egyptians won the battle, and the Pelesets were later settled in Canaan (the Levant) in five city strongholds: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron, where they came to be called Philistines.  Interestingly, archaeologists have recently dug up some names in Gath that are of the same background as the name Goliath, written in a language unlike other semitic languages in the area.

In Egyptian paintings, Philistines are shown wearing kilts, helmets with unique round headdresses, and lobster armor.  The BW Philistine helmet is a replica of these distinctive helmets, which may have been made of leather strips, straw or horsehair held by a metal ring.  Likewise, the BW lobster armor is modelled after the bronze or linen armor seen in the Medinet Habu relief.  The Pelesets (Philistines) carried very sharp slashing swords that look just like the BW custom Lego sword, the Nauhe II.  Using these BW lego minifig accessories you can accurately create a Philistine army for a lego MOC of the battle setting for David and Goliath.

What did the Philistine champion Goliath look like?  You have been living under a rock if you do not know that he was tall…very tall!  He had a bronze helmet, a coat of scale armor and he wore greaves (so typical of Greeks).  BW greaves would work perfect on your Goliath lego minifigure!  He also carried a javelin.  The “spear shaft like a weaver’s rod” may refer to the loop and cord javelin invented by the Aegeans.  When throwing the javelin, the warrior held on to a rope cord that was attached around the shaft.  He pulled the cord toward him as he released the javelin, which gave a rotational spin to the shaft, giving it greater range and accuracy.  Look closely at the Brickwarriors custom lego javelin and you will see this rope innovation.

Goliath’s shield bearer would have carried a round shield like the BW Spartan shield.  For armor, the BW lobster armor would probably be most accurate, but some people like to use the BW Brute armor for Goliath, to make him look large, or even the BW two headed ogre armor (which makes him look really big, but then it gives him two heads, and although some of the giants from the same race as Goliath had 6 fingers, none are known to have had two heads).  It does make him look really terrifying, though!

Every morning and evening for 40 days, Goliath came forward, and made his challenge.  The Bible says that King Saul and all the other Israelites were dismayed and terrified.  As they ought to be!  Lots of champions in history were really big people.  For instance, Maximinius, the Roman Emperor, was rumored to be 8 feet tall.  His sandals were said to be twice the size of Roman issue.  Armies usually chose the biggest, most terrifying person they could find to be the champion.

Anyway, nobody from the Israelite army came forward to meet Goliath’s challenge.  After all, would you?  David was the youngest in his family so he was responsible for watching the sheep.  He was skilled at playing a kinnor or lyre, which was a type of musical instrument, which he sometimes played for King Saul.  The BW lyre is a replica of the type of instrument he played.  The music would have been hauntingly soothing like a harp.

David’s eldest brothers were serving in King Saul’s army.  At his father’s request, David left a servant to watch the sheep and travelled to where his brothers were encamped to give them some bread and to offer cheese to their commander.  When he got there, the army was headed into battle position, so David left the food with the keeper of the supplies and ran out onto the battleground to find his brothers.  Meanwhile, Goliath came out and taunted the Israelites with his challenge.  The Israelites ran.David heard the challenge, and listened to what the soldiers were saying.  He started asking them questions about what was going on.  When his brothers heard him they were really annoyed and tried to get rid of their little brother, the pest.  His angry eldest brother accused him of leaving the sheep behind, being conceited and wicked and coming only to watch the battle.  Good thing that David didn’t allow his older brother’s insults to get to him!

“What have I done? Can’t I even speak?”  David asked.He kept asking questions and found out that the man who killed Goliath would be given great wealth, the King’s daughter in marriage, and his entire family would not have to pay taxes.  Rather than running in fear, David wondered out loud who this Goliath was who dared to challenge “the armies of the Living God”?

Word got back to Saul of what David was saying, and Saul sent for him.  David said “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine,” and bravely offered to go out and fight him.  Saul refused because David was a young man and Goliath was a seasoned warrior.  But David argued that although he was not trained in battle, as a shepherd he had killed lions and bears, so he could also kill Goliath.  He explained to Saul that God had rescued him from the lions and bears and would also rescue him from Goliath.  Finally, the king agreed to let David be the champion for the armies of Israel against the giant Philistine Goliath.

The king gave David his tunic, a coat of armor, a bronze helmet and a bronze sword (the Philistines had iron weapons but the Israelites did not).  But, David wisely rejected these gifts, knowing they would only encumber him.  Instead he took his staff, went to a stream and selected five smooth stones, put them in his shepherd’s bag and approached the giant with his sling.

Considering how much was riding on this challenge, some may be surprised that Saul would let David represent his entire army.  But, in ancient times, the sling was a deadly weapon.  Just like the bow and arrow, it was a weapon of war which was used from the Bronze Age to the 17^th century.  Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Israel, Greece, Thrace, and Rome among others, all used slingers.  The stones could be as large as the size of a tennis ball.  The Bible mentions slingers who could use either hand to shoot accurately to the “width of a hair”.  Other sources reveal that ancient slingers were accurate at a range of 250 meters. and could shoot up to 450 meters as compared with modern archers who are accurate only up to 200 meters.  Famously, in the march of the 10,000 Greeks out of ancient Persia, the Greeks were at great risk from the Persians until they enlisted Rhodians who used lead missiles that were more effective than the Persian archers and slingers.

If you are building an ancient army, including a Roman army, it will not be complete without slingers.  The Romans recruited slingers from the Balearic Islands, who were taught to sling from an early age.Balearic mothers would place a piece of bread on top of a pole and the child was not allowed to eat it until he knocked it off with a sling.  Balearic slingers carried three different length of slings wrapped around their heads for different ranges. Unlike arrows, sling missiles did not need to penetrate armor in order to cause bruises and internal injuries.  A missile could penetrate the body easily at a range of 100 meters and could kill without loss of blood or mangling bones.  Ancient slingers could accurately wound any part of the face at which they chose to aim.  Archaeologists have found many Greek and Roman sling missiles that haveinscriptions such as “ouch,”“take that,” or “catch”.  To this day, Balearic islanders practice slinging as a sport. If you decide to try it, be careful, because when learning, the stones are likely to fly every which way, and somebody could get seriously injured!  Instead, it may be better to let your minifigs do the slinging, by equipping them with a BW sling.

When Goliath saw David, he began to taunt him, a method used in battles both now and in the past, to try to get the opponent to react emotionally and do something reckless.  David was not shaken from his goal and answered that although Goliath came at him with spear and javelin, David came against him in the name of God.  Goliath underestimated what he was up against.Goliath, with his shield bearer, moved closer to David, but David ran at him, reached into his bag, pulled out a stone and slung it at the giant.  The stone struck Goliath in the forehead and he fell to the ground, dead, his face in the dirt  .David took the giant’s sword and cut off his head.  The rest of the Philistines turned and ran.  The champion, David, had won the single combat!

Hurray!  Everyone loves a battle where faith, bravery, and skill overcomes pride, bravado, and brawn!

The following is a David and Goliath picture by Simon Schweyer: