This chap's working in mongolia among shepherds who still use the sling as a traditional herding tool.
Very interesting.
Quote:I've been greatly enjoying your site this afternoon. I'm Tim Shell,
living in Mongolia where people still herd sheep like years ago. I'm a
firm believer in the Bible as the true account of history. Pastor
preached on David and Goliath and of course I ended up at your site
learning about slings. Part of my curiosity was the speed of the
projectile possible. After reading and watching some live action shots
on You tube it's obvious that the story is realistic in every detail.
The speed and power dynamics are all verified. David as a master of
warfare is great to study. All the elements of proper warfare,
surprise, deception, etc at play.
The shepherding side of things is missed by the majority of non agrarian
minds. Slings are a matter of course in nomadic shepherding.
Having lived and worked around Mongolian shepherds for the past 10 years
many things from the story ring true. Youngest kid always gets the job
of herding "those few sheep". Number one characteristic of shepherding
- boredom - same old, same old day after day. And the sling was a
shepherd's tool. Herding is a never ending process of turning the sheep
back to the right path, so many items are handy, shouts and voice
commands have some effect and are quite useful. These shepherds can
steer a flock right and left from shouting distance with voice
commands. But then sometimes more enforcement is needed, whence the
rock throwing commences, your word is law as far as you can throw a
stone but no further. But the sling allows the shepherd to extend the
range, maybe 4x, of his effective authority greatly. From one position
he can now govern much more area with a flick of his wrist. And of
course the never ending supply of stones to experiment with in the
wilderness. The sling was also a form of amusement for the shepherd,
every young boy should have the privilege of shooting heads off of
thistles with a sling. With daily practice over a few years extreme
accuracy is a given, just like a major league pitcher can hit the strike
zone through practice. These little shepherd boys of course would vie
with each other for distance, speed, accuracy, and size of projectile
etc. So by the time David meets Goliath, the string sling was just a
normal extension of his own body, similar to a seasoned operator of a
huge excavator, they can pick your teeth with it. The genius of David
was in using what was in his hand, which was perceived as no threat by
the enemy, but in fact was a superior weapon in that engagement.
Surprise advantage, enemy never thought of it before. The courage of
David is amazing, and the willingness of Saul to let him fight as the
representative for the whole nation. Letting the enslavement of the
nation rest on the ability of a shepherd boy.
David's years as a shepherd were well used in meditation and psalm and
music writing, as well as building courage and disciplines with
weapons. Of course we believe that God secured that victory, but He
used a boy with dead on accuracy with a sling and stone to do it. There
was no magic or miracle, just a real, practical skill. That is like a
slap in the face of the gods of the Philistines, we won with a boy and
sling.
Wow, all the lessons in that story. The pride of Goliath coming before
the fall. The danger of cursing at God which it specifically says he
did. The being off guard and throwing his head back to laugh would have
exposed the bridge of his nose to the stone. Falling forward on his
face is a given as his body was in motion toward David and going down
hill. The stone deprives him of his consciousness and then David
deprives him of his head with his own sword.
I believe that David knew all along exactly what he was going to do, he
had a plan that he was confident would succeed. He had the ability to
size up the situation quickly and make a decision. All the stuff of the
great warrior king is written all over that passage.
Now, how to apply it to my daily life.
Hey, thanks for a great, great service with your website, what you have
put together is really encouraging to read, it backs up the Bible
account all the way.
God bless you,
Timothy Shell