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Would a staff sling have the necessary accuracy? I doubt it, as the release is automatic and you have almost no immediate control over it. (But I haven't tested staff slings yet).

I guess the stick was a separate weapon. A staff can be quite dangerous, too, though I do not know how well it does against someone armed with spear and sword. Still I guess that David would have used it as close combat weapon if it had been necessary.

And another point. Any other explanation has to account for what the combattant did with a staff when using the sling, which requires both hands.

You can sling using one hand. I'd imagine him holding the staff and some stones in one hand and the sling in the other. Fill the pouch (now you would hold the staff, the stones and the loaded pouch in one hand), drop the pouch, pull it back very quickly and do an overhand throw. I need to find a good staff so I can try a David-vs.-Goliath scenario.

Interesting replies here, thanks.

Question: is there any reason why a shepherd's staff and a staff sling could not have been the same piece of wood?

On the rocks in the off hand, I didn't use a sling much when I was a kid, but I did use a slingshot for hours and hours at a time roaming the countryside in Montana. And got quite good with it. I carried the rocks in my pocket. The pouch referred to in the biblical account would be necessary for the size of the projectile that a sling uses. On the basis my limited and only-somewhat-related experience, you wouldn't want to carry more than one rock in your off hand for any length of time.

As to the question of carrying the staff in the off hand, the Goliath account emphasizes David's being at ease with what he was used to, refusing Saul's body armor for the weapons he knew. So I can see him carrying the staff for that reason. I still find it hard to believe that he actually held on to it when slinging, though the stabilization question is interesting.

Goliath's reference to "sticks" might have been in contrast to the size of his own spear emphasized in the story--a "mine's bigger" kinda trash talking.

TS, I can't find any refs on this site to the miniature staff sling you referenced.  Can you point me someplace?

In related news, I spent the afternoon modifying a long pole lacrosse stick (head removed) to use as a staff sling. My college-age, former lacrosse captain/defenseman son helped, and then we went to his old high school to try it out.

We didn't really get everything right until just before he had to leave. But he confirms the obvious point that it could throw much harder/faster than the unmodified stick could. (It's nice when you can impress a teenager!)

Yes, if David used a staff sling, (a big IF) it was certainly shorter, unconventional, as conventional staff slings would be inefficient for lighter stones and the speed necessary to contend with a single individual.

Maybe I'll get a video clip posted, demonstrating the art of the short staff sling.




TS

Quote:


NB i posted this in "is it real? david and goliath"

i don't think david used a staff sling for the above reason - it's possible he was trying to give the impression that he was armed with a staff only, to lure goliath into hand-to-hand combat.  then david took out his sling and the rest, as they say, is anecdote...... 

SV

I can carry two five-ounce stones in one hand without a problem.  But I do prefer to keep them in a bag or my pocket.  Five ounces is all David would need; elsewhere I and others have run the numbers, and a five-ounce stone from a sling packs as much punch as a round from a Colt .45 pistol.

The way I read it, David carried his staff in one hand (left?), and his sling in the other, and kept the stones in some kind of satchel (maybe similar to the one that Barak Bruard's brother carried).  So I also do not think it was a staff sling.

I think that Goliath's remark about sticks was heavy sarcasm, because he had challenged Israel to send him a champion, and out comes a kid carrying a staff, as if to beat off a bothersome dog.  David's appearance and dress constituted an insult, all by themselves, in Goliath's eyes.  I really do not know if he noticed, or cared about, the sling; the text is silent on that point.

Stringman introduced the miniature staff sling, in the topic "Impact of sling stone" (see

replies 35 through 40

).  I made myself one, and have played with it some.  I just went out and tossed a few golf balls with it, and I am pleased with how it works.  Still, it is more awkward for me to use than a regular sling.