Surfing through the web, I found a cite from the bible on
http://www.bibleview.org/en/modules/Judges/26_Slingshot/
which said:

As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.

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 scabbard. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.


Now why does it say he killed him TWICE, when the shot with the stone would have finished Goliath? What does the second "killed" mean? Does he finish him with the sword, because he was only unconscious? Or does the second refer to the stone shot, which already killed him? Do you have any ideas?

i think David  knoked down goliath with the stone and this wound didn't killed Goliath inmediatly (some people with shots in their head can survive  for several days) so i think the 1st kill means totally out of combat. then David just finished him and ended cutting off his head.
no one can literally kill two times.

Cutting the head off was a simybal also. The other day on TV I saw a show on giants. When it went into the story of david and golith. It showed david in a church (is he a saint?) in stainded glass with the head of golith.

I've always read it as David having stunned Goliath, then killed him.  Of course, if the stone "sunk into his forehead," Goliath probably wasn't real happy.

If the stone had actually killed Goliath, then the beheading could have been symbolic.  David had killed his enemy and takes the head as a trophy.  Or sometimes mutalation of the body is considered to be a dishonor to the fallen or their family.  I geuss it's one of those things that requires a primative mind to comprehend....

That's just my 2 cents on the matter.

The text Funditor quoted has to be read as the kind of literature it is, historical narative, and with the understanding of the idioms of both the hebrew and late middle english of the translation. It is not uncommon to find this style of moderately lilted speach in different languages from different periods.  The author's style of narration must also be considered.

Even with the apparent difficulties, the text does not say that David killed Goliath twice.  It says that he killed the giant with the sling and stone, then AFTER he killed the giant, he cut off his head with the sword. Don't make the mistake of assuming the text bears a contradiction simply because the syntax and style are unfamiliar.

jeff <><

I've always understood it to mean that David killed Goliath with his sling. David was a big kid, not some scrawny little runt. He talks of killing a bear and a lion with his hands(1sam 17:34-36). Also, King Saul was a big man(1sam 9:24). Several verses say that he is head and shoulders taller than any other israelite. When David goes to his camp, saul looks the boy over and says, Here, wear my armor. David declined, not because it didn't fit, but because he didn't know how to use armor. (1sam 17:38-39)

So here we have a large young man, who has nothing to do all day but sling rocks at anything bothering his father's sheep. When describing his actual shot, it says that the rock sank into Goliath's forehead(1sam 17:49).

I've personaly put rocks through doors and as much as an inch of plywood.  I'd say that Goliath was stone dead when David lifted his head from off his shoulders. The whole beheading thing, I'm sure, was to make sure none of the phillistines mistook what just happend. Bet it put the fear of God in them real quick.

nwmanitou
I have to agree with you here, Goliath was dead when he hit the ground; for the rock sunk into his forehead.

The cutting off of his head was a signal to the Philistines that their champion was dead, and to the children Israel that their ememy was dead.

Over and above that, there were certain promises given to whoever would kill Goliath. So when David appears before Saul at the end of the battle he has proof that it was by a sling stone that Goliath was killed, as that stone was still stuck in his forehead, and David was able to prove he was beyound question the one who had killed him.

And that's the view from here.

WalkingBird