1 Samuel 17:3

_AND THE PHILISTINES STOOD ON A MOUNTAIN ON THE ONE SIDE, AND ISRAEL STOOD ON A MOUNTAIN ON THE OTHER SIDE: AND THERE WAS A VALLEY BETWEEN THEM._ And there was a valley between them, х_ WªHAGAYª'_ (H1516), the ravine]. 'A close examination of the locality would show, what, indeed, a closer inspection of the text suggests, that the ravine between the two armies was the glen into which the valley contracted in its descent toward the plain of Philistia' (Stanley, 'Sinai and Palestine,' Appendix, sec. 2). [Septuagint, kai ho auloon ana meson autoon, the narrow passage: the glen was between them] (see the note at 1 Samuel 17:52)....

1-11 Men so entirely depend upon God in all things, that when he withdraws his help, the most valiant and resolute cannot find their hearts or hands, as daily experience shows....

Verse 1 Samuel 17:3. _THE PHILISTINES STOOD ON A MOUNTAIN_] These were two eminences or hills, from which they could see and talk with each other....

(In the middle of the broad open valley 1 Samuel 17:2 is a deep trench 1 Samuel 17:3 with vertical sides, a valley within a valley: the sides and bed of the trench are strewn with water-worn pebbles. (Conder.))...

ADVANCE OF DAVID IN REPUTATION BY THE SLAUGHTER OF GOLIATH (1 Samuel 17:1.). EXPOSITION GOLIATH'S DEFIANCE OF ISRAEL (1 Samuel 17:1). 1 SAMUEL 17:1 THE PHILISTINES GATHERED TOGETHER THEIR ARMIES. As the object of the historian is not to give us an account of the Philistine wars, but only to record the manner of David's ripening for the kingly office, nothing is said as to the space of time which had elapsed between Sau

AND THE PHILISTINES STOOD ON A MOUNTAIN ON THE ONE SIDE, AND ISRAEL STOOD ON A MOUNTAIN ON THE OTHER SIDE, e.] Before the Israelites are said to encamp in or by the valley but here they are said to take the higher ground, and face the Philistines, who were on a mountain or hill on the other side over against them, which Kimchi reconciles thus; the whole or the grand army lay encamped in the valley, and, they that were set in array, or the first ranks, the first battalion, ascended the mountain to meet the Philistines. Vatablus takes it to be the same mountain, that on one part of it the Philistines formed their first battalion, and the rest of the army was in the valley; and on the other part of the mountain the Israelites pitched their camp: AND THERE WAS A VALLEY BETWEEN THEM; the same as in the preceding verse....

2. DAVID AND GOLIATH CHAPTER 17 _ 1. Goliath of Gath, the Philistine (1 Samuel 17:1)_ 2. David's errand and inquiry (1 Samuel 17:12) 3. David's offer to fight Goliath (1 Samuel 17:31) 4. David's victory (1 Samuel 17:41) 5. Saul's inquiry (1 Samuel 17:55) Modern critics are practically unanimous in regarding the story of this chapter as unhistorical. One of the leading arguments they advance is the statement found in...

1 SAMUEL 17:1 TO 1 SAMUEL 18:5. DAVID AND GOLIATH (E, with additione by R). In this section two narratives seem to have been interwoven. For the sake of convenience, we may denote one set of passages by (A), and the other by (B), thus: (A) 1 Samuel 17:1; 1 Samuel 17:32. (B) 1 Samuel 17:12; 1 Samuel 17:55 to 1 Samuel 18:5. The (B) passages, together w

_on a mountain_, &c. Rather, UPON THE MOUNTAIN … UPON THE MOUNTAIN … AND THE RAVINE WAS BETWEEN THEM. The E. V. obliterates the features of the scene. The _ravine_(Heb. _gâî_) was the stream-bed at the bottom of the _valley_(Heb. _êmek_). The Israelites encamped on the eastern, the Philistines on the western slopes of the valley. "In the middle of the broad open valley we found a deep trench with vertical sides, impassable except at certain places a valley in a valley, and a natural barrier between the two hosts.… Here then we may picture to ourselves the two hosts, covering the low rocky hills opposite to each other, and half hidden among the lentisk bushes; between them was the rich expanse of ripening barley and the red banks of the torrent with its white shingly bed; behind all were the distant blue hill-walls of Judah, whence Saul had just come down." Conder, _Tent Work_, 11. 161....

_Goliath's Challenge._ 1 Samuel 17:1-11 Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which _belongeth_ to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. 2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. 3 And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and _there was_ a valley between them. 4 And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height _was_ six cubits and a span. 5 And _he had_ a helmet of brass upon his head, and he _was_ armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat _was_ five thousand shekels of brass. 6 And _he had_ greaves