50So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.
51Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.
VS.
1 Kings 17 Douay-Rheims [49] And he put his hand into his scrip, and took a stone, and cast it with the sling, and fetching it about struck the Philistine in the forehead: and the stone was fixed in his forehead, and he fell on his face upon the earth. [50] And David prevailed over the Philistine, with a sling and a stone, and he struck, and slew the Philistine. And as David had no sword in his hand,
[51] He ran, and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath, and slew him, and cut off his head. And the Philistines seeing that their champion was dead, fled away.
Seems pretty clear to me.
The sling rendered the big man unconscious, the sword killed him.
That the word “killed” or “slew” (KJV) appears in both verse 50 and 51 should not cause the reader to be confused about what was responsible for Goliath’s death. He was killed by the stone which came from David’s sling, as indicated in verse 50. After killing the giant, David stood over him, and used his own sword to cut off his head. The taking of Goliath’s head was not the point of his death, but immediately followed his death. David, “...slew him, and cut off his head...”
There is no contradiction.
1Sa 17:46 This day will Jehovah deliver thee into my hand; and I will smite thee, and take thy head from off thee; and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day unto the birds of the heavens, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 1Sa 17:47 and that all this assembly may know that Jehovah saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is Jehovah's, and he will give you into our hand.
Because of David's faith in God to deliver Israel from the Philistines and not in his own strength that God showed forth and provided the victory. Maybe we should start following that example a bit more when dealing with the Philistines in Washington :).
Classic Biblical format. The general followed by the precise. The general: hit him in the head with at stone and killed him. The precise: ran up to him and cut off his head with his own sword and slew him. The same pattern is throughout scripture.
Now THAT is the question!!
The stone rendered him unconscious, and David killed him with the sword. People here are arguing over the modern definition of the word slay. To slay, (Now obsolete, but not 400 years ago) used to mean to hit, not necessarilly to kill. You could argue about it till you’re blue in the face without a definitive answer, but only one makes sense.
The stone rendered Goliath unconscious, the sword finished the job (And he kept the head as a trophy). Even logically, blunt force trauma to the frontal lobe doesn’t necessarilly result in death. The important stuff is in the back.
From:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/slay
slay [slei]
vb slays, slaying, slew, slain (tr)
3. Obsolete to strike
If God can knock down a cities walls with the sound of trumpets, split a Sea with a wooden staff, and make man out of the dust of the earth, it is completely feasible that he can kill the biggest of men with a rock between the eyes. Lets not to try to explain away his miraculous power by using science conceived out of the puny little brains of mortals.
Well, I know that 84 angels can dance on the head of a pin, and I can prove it!
Yes.
I've always read this passage to mean that David incapacitated Goliath with the stone. Goliath's fate was sealed. David then used the sword to deliver the coup de grace.
When someone commits suicide by jumping off the top of a building, what kills him - the jump, or the sudden impact with the sidewalk? The former renders the latter inevitable.
Alternatively, the stone killed Goliath, but when David decapitated him, that just made it certain.
Goliath was probably laying on the ground twitching, or unconscious when David took the sword and did him in.
The stone delivered a mortal wound but David used the sword to kill him before Goliath had time to die from the stone's wound.
It seems to me that both of these older translations are incomplete.
Read the NIV and the answer is simple. David killed the giant with a stone.
1 Samuel 17:50-51
New International Version (NIV)
50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
51 David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.
When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.
Impossible to resolve.
Maybe the stone killed him. For sure the sword removed all doubt.
Why argue about such a thing?
David was doing what all those folks in horror films should do, but don’t: They whack the guy and see him go down but don’t go back and make sure he can never get up again. David showed good sense. He used the weapon of his choice to put his enemy into his hands and then finished him off with the sword so it would be completely evident to the guy’s comrades in arms that their champion was totally lost.
Did you know David and Goliath were cousins by marriage? It’s true!
Most likely Goliath was dead when he hit the ground. Not too long ago I ran a slinging scenario through a ballistics calculator and found very surprising answers.
It appears that someone who is good at it can produce 500 to 650 Ft/lbs with an appropriate pebble of somewhere between 1/7th and 1/4 pound. I started at 450 fps and ran it up to 650 fps.
Earlier on it is reported that David killed lions with his sling and that result is consistant with the ballistics data.
He probably produced more than 450 fps as he little else to do out there on the sheep range. Current slingers will go 450 fps on a fairly regular basis and David could probaly go considerably more. Because he was a pro.
According to noted theologian Bob Marley...
“David slew Goliath with a sling and a stone;
Samson slew the Philistines with a donkey jawbone”
Think of it this way, a .357 Magnum produces 535 foot lbs., It is quite likely that David generated 600-650 foot lbs. Goliath died on his feet.
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He “Clinked” him in the forehead w/ a rock(OK SMOOTH Stone) AND cut his head off as a PERMENANT “Good-Bye”!