[238] Ruth iv. 18-22.
[239] In 2 Sam. v. 4, 5 it is stated that David when he was raised at Hebron to be king of Judah was 30 years old. This took place 1033 B.C. (p. 113, note); David must therefore have been born 1063 B.C., and could not have marched out to battle before 1043 B.C.
[240] 1 Sam. xviii. 5.
[241] The tale of the battle of David with the giant Goliath appears to have arisen out of a later conflict of David when king with a mighty Philistine. In 2 Sam. xxi. 18-22 we are told, "And there was again a battle of Philistines at Gob. Then Elhanan, the son of Jair Orgim, a Bethlehemite, slew Goliath of Gath; the shaft of whose spear was as a weaver's beam." Shortly before it is stated: "David and his servants strove with the Philistines, and David was weary, and Ishbi thought to slay David—the weight of his spear was 300 shekels; then Abishai (the brother of Joab) aided the king, and slew the Philistine," 2 Sam. xxi. 15-17. From the conflict with a giant which David had to undergo when king, and the slaughter of Goliath of Gath by Elhanan, a fellow-townsman of David's from Bethlehem, the legend may have arisen that David himself slew a great giant. This legend was then transferred by the theocratic narrative into David's boyhood; in this way he was marked from the beginning as the chosen instrument of Jehovah. The statement in 1 Chron. xxi. 5 cannot be made to tell against this view, which in order to explain the contradiction between the First and Second Books of Samuel explains the giant whom Elhanan slew, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam, to be a brother of Goliath; the less so inasmuch as the passage from the Book of Samuel is repeated word for word with this addition, while the battle of David with Ishbi is omitted. If David really slew a distinguished warrior of Gath in Saul's time, it is the more difficult to explain how he could afterwards fly to the prince of Gath of all others, and enter into such close relations with him. The often-mentioned national song, "Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands," is scarcely applicable to the slaying of a giant, however great he might be, and probably comes from the time of David's reign when he had really gained more brilliant victories than Saul.
[242] 1 Sam. xviii. 3.
[243] 1 Sam. xvi. 22; xviii. 5; xxii. 14.
[244] This date may be assumed, if we put the death of Saul in the year 1033 B.C. (p. 113), since David's rebellion in Judah lasted a considerable time, and he afterwards remained at Ziklag at least 16 months, 1 Sam. xxvii. 7; xxix. 3.
[245] 1 Sam. xviii. 9.
[246] 1 Sam. xviii. 16; xx. 31.
[247] 1 Sam. xviii. 11.