Samuel: Chapter 17

 

find your center

and take flight

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David, take 2. Saul's kingship was introduced twice, first within the framework of Samuel's anguished betrayal; then as a fairy-tale-like redemption focused on Saul. So too, David's kingship: first, in the context of God's rebuke to Samuel, David a literal afterthought; now, with a focus on David himself. This change of focus changes the depiction of Saul as well: if in the previous chapter, he is the empty husk left after the departure of "God's spirit", here he is back as in his familiar form as hesitant king--troubled, but not broken. 

There are parallels between the introduction of Saul and David: both kings-to-be are introduced in the context of their fathers; both introductions are suffused with allusions to the story of Jospeh and his brothers--Saul oscillates between "give" and take" as he wanders to  the "burial place of Rachel"  while David is sent, Joseph-like, to his brothers, and must return a Judah-like "pledge." Saul is introduced with a fable-like pattern of three, and he is the fairytale prince who stands head and shoulders over the rest. David's battle with Goliath also has the elements of a fairytale,  but while the Giant may boom a ritualized threat, David himself remains firmly grounded in reality, as he squabbles with his annoyed older brother: “Why did you come down here, and with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your impudence and your impertinence.” " I was only asking!"

 This realistic frame makes the victory more profound--not magic or miracle, but human. The battle is presented as perfectly symmetrical: two mountains, two camps, two armies that "gathered"--Israel on one side, Philistines on the other. The ish ha-beynayim ('champion' lit, "in between man") strides between the two sides of the picture, demanding a corollary. Israel, thinking the corollary must be a mirror, tremble.  When David offers to take on the Philistine champion, Saul can see no hope, but offers him the royal armor, in an attempt to make him  mirror Goliath (albeit an inferior reflection).

David's brash strength is his refusal to be something he is not. "I cannot walk in these," he says, stripping off the armor, taking instead his own shepherd's pouch. He realizes a corollary can be a counterpoint rather than copy. Goliath, the insurmountable mountain, is defined by weight--a "breastplate weighing five thousand shekels" the "head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels." David, by contrast, is defined by his ability to leave (n't'sh) things behind as needed--first the sheep, then the supplies, then the armor.  Fleet and unconstrained,  he runs, fighting while in motion--and the mountain falls under its own weight. ]