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David and Goliath

A childhood of sporadically-attended Sunday school classes left me with this much knowledge about David: he was a little boy who killed a giant with his slingshot. (This story, from I Samuel 17, is probably the most familiar Old Testament story from my Sunday-school days, except for Noah's Ark and the Garden of Eden.) I believe I also knew that there was a very important King named David; however I'm quite sure I never identified them as being the same person.

I was thinking just now, maybe I could draw a parallel between Goliath challenging the Israelites and Hector challenging the Argives; but I can't remember whether Hector actually said the Greeks should send their best champion out to fight him as a means of deciding the war, or whether that was just the impression I got from the book. I don't think there's necessarily too much in this comparison anyways; but I do wonder whether it was a common practice in ancient warfare, to have a battle decided by a fight between the champions of the opposing sides. Also what everyone was thinking during the "forty days" (17:16) that Goliath issued his challenge with no takers forthcoming -- I would have thought that would be considered a default.