He is forever enshrined as the OG of big bad enemies or obstacles that must be defeated and overcome in order to win.
Goliath’s name means splendor and for one brief and shining moment he was.Though he lives and dies in just one chapter – 1 Samuel 17, there is more to his story.
Goliath is introduced as a Philistine champion. He brags to Israel’s shaky boots army 1 Samuel 17:8 – Am I Not a Philistine?
Maybe he wanted to believe it but it wasn’t the truth. Goliath (probably not his ancestral name) came from a ethnic group of giants, his being the Anakites.
The Anakites whose origins some say come out of Genesis 6:4 – the Nephilim (uncertain meaning) were known as heroes of old, men of renown. They lived in Israel before it was Israel.
Their mere presence caused the Israelites to walk by sight and not by faith which sent them on a 40 year detour to the Promised Land.
We hear no more about the Anakites until the time of Joshua whose army killed almost all of them. Some managed to escape west to Philistine land. Between 300 – 400 years, Goliath’s people settled in Gath; a place similar to the hill country they’d had been run from…these giants had found a new home. Joshua 11:21-22 KJV
During the time of Goliath, the Philistine were terrorizing the Israelites.
The Philistine were tall but not giants. The question isn’t how the Anakites survived over the centuries but why did the Philistines let them? And how come these giants wound up serving instead of conquering them?
When people need to use you, they find your weaknesses and exploit them. Then shrewdly manipulate you into thinking you’re in the driver’s seat, while handing you a map that eventually leads you over a cliff
Fun fact: Philistine archaeological sites have been found to have an astounding number of breweries – making them along with war, masters of intoxication. These heroes of old, men of renown became $40MM slaves drunk with the wine of the world.
Fast forward to that fateful day. Here comes Goliath big and bold as the clock begins to wind down on his fifteen minutes of fame.
One of the telling scenes in his narrative is: 1 Samuel 17:33,42 when Goliath sees in David what he no longer is: young.
He’s standing with the weight of Philistine glory on his shoulders but in the back of his mind he’s thinking that there’s always a faster gun in the west, another champion to take his place, another hero of old, man of renown.
However, with his boys cheering him on, Goliath brushes those thoughts aside. “I’ll kill this little dude and soon retire with a fat military pension.” Full of the Kool-Aid, Goliath thinks one last time Am I not a Philistine before a rock slams into his head.
As his brains slosh around, as his body with all the armor begins to reel, legs buckling, Goliath can’t believe it because Am I not a Philistine?
Before his eyes close for good, Goliath doesn’t see any of his fellow soldiers. They had run leaving him whose people came from the heights, heroes of old, men of renown face down in a valley.
Truth It wasn’t what hit Goliath’s head but what was in his head when he was hit. His death certificate must be changed to death by mistaken identity.
References: Genesis 6:4, Numbers 13:26-33, Joshua 11:21-22, 1 Samuel 17
