1 Samuel 17

DAVID’S VICTORY OVER GOLIATH, 1 Samuel 17:1-58.

Of this Philistine war, in which Goliath was slain, the time and causes are unknown; but as there was bitter war against the Philistines all the days of Saul, (1 Samuel 14:52,) we need not suppose that there was any special provocation on the part of the Israelites. Those obstinate enemies on the seacoast, who had held Israel in subjection forty years, (Judges 13:1,) were loath to lose them from among their tributaries; and their sufferings from the ark, (chap. 5,) and by the hand of Samuel, (1 Samuel 7:10,) and still more recently by the heroism of Jonathan, (chap. 14,) were sufficient provocation for them to attempt war at any time. Possibly, also, they had heard of the madness of Saul, and therefore deemed the present a favourable opportunity to wreak their fill of vengeance. As to the time of this war, Josephus tells us that it was shortly after the events narrated in the last chapter. But as we learn from 1 Samuel 17:15 that David had returned from Saul to his father, and from 1 Samuel 17:55 that Saul had forgotten Jesse, we incline to the belief that this war occurred some years after David’s introduction to Saul’s court.