Dan wrote on Jun 19
th, 2010 at 11:34am:
I found the answer to why David chose 5 stones in the book: The Signature of God by Grant Jeffery.
David did not lack faith in the Supernatural power of God, Goliath had 4 brothers, all of which were Giants !
In the book of 2nd Samuel chapter 21:15-22 ( please feel free to read it yourself ) it mentions 2nd Samuel 21:22 "These four (Goliaths brothers) were decendants of Rapha in Gath , and they fell to the hands of David and his servants (soldiers). Try finding sombody knowadays that can make a head shot on a target 9ft tall 5 times in a row!
Please do more reaserch in the topic by reading 2 Samuel 21 and also pick up the well written Signature of God by Grant Jeffery which also answeres many other questions in Bible text.
9 feet tall is unlikely. What's worth noting is that the average height at that point would have been low, if they were even 6 feet tall then they would be bigger and heavier than most everyone else, with reach to boot, big advantages. And strictly speaking it would be easier to make a head shot on a bigger target, plus there are still people around who can pull that off.
The bible is of dubious validity as an objective historical resource, not only has it gone through a great many translations, it is a heavily biased piece to begin with. Goliath would have been exaggerated as tougher than he was, David would have been exaggerated as less physically impressive, so as to make the story seem more miraculous. Its likely there is a grain of truth in that story, which boils down to in a war, the Israelites fielded a slinger as champion who took down someone who had a reputation as very dangerous. With five stones, and lighter armor, multiple tries would have been near guaranteed, though extreme bravery is still needed.
Furthermore, the cited incident with Goliath's brothers occurred after David had become a leader and acquired soldiers, so the stones collected in the initial battle are completely irrelevant anyways. Its another point that serves largely to point out that A) Gods on our side, look at this champion, and B) Seriously, look at this champion, he's pretty awesome.