Goliath

We all face many Goliaths in our lives, towering forces that laugh at us while gleefully planning the best way to bring us to our knees, or just flat out drive us below the level of the mud.

They have to be faced, one way or another. Running away from Goliath wouldn't have done David a lot of good, as the giant's legs were a lot longer, and while David could have done some dodging he would have felt the blunt end of Goliath's club, sooner or later.

What David did was a good template for dealing with our giants. He correctly assessed Goliath's strengths and weaknesses, and then assessed his own. He realized that meeting Goliath force-on-force, wearing Saul's armor and swinging Saul's sword, would have been a noisy version of suicide.

CLANG! That's David's sword-thrust, parried by Goliath.

THWACK! That's Goliath's sword, removing David's head.

Squelch-squish-thlump! That's David's head, bouncing back into the Israelite camp.

David chose a different tack, which emphasized his speed, and his skill with a slingshot, along with the knowledge that a slung stone could stun the giant (even hitting the helmet) long enough for David to slip in and administer a messy coup-de-grace.

What if Goliath had charged! What if the monster had looked at David, and giving a shout, run right at him?

I'd like to think that David would have stood his ground, and them deftly stepped aside at the last minute, tossing his sling to wrap around Goliath's legs, tripping him up with a dust-raising thump.

And then, David would have brought matters to a head.

So to speak.