WEBVTT 00:00:00.536 --> 00:00:02.574 So I wanted to tell a story 00:00:02.574 --> 00:00:05.291 that really obsessed me when I was writing my new book, 00:00:05.291 --> 00:00:08.131 and it's a story of something that happened 00:00:08.131 --> 00:00:10.411 3,000 years ago, 00:00:10.411 --> 00:00:13.067 when the Kingdom of Israel was in its infancy. 00:00:13.067 --> 00:00:15.940 And it takes place in area called the Shefala 00:00:15.940 --> 00:00:18.700 in what is now Israel. 00:00:18.700 --> 00:00:20.948 And the reason the story obsessed me is that 00:00:20.948 --> 00:00:24.989 I thought I understood and then I went back over it 00:00:24.989 --> 00:00:27.156 and I realized that I didn't understand it at all. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:27.156 --> 00:00:32.650 Ancient Palestine had, along its eastern border, 00:00:32.650 --> 00:00:34.612 there's a mountain range. 00:00:34.612 --> 00:00:36.717 Still same is true of Israel today. 00:00:36.717 --> 00:00:38.804 And in the mountain range are all of the ancient cities 00:00:38.804 --> 00:00:42.924 of that region, so Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron. 00:00:42.924 --> 00:00:45.748 And then there's a coastal plain 00:00:45.748 --> 00:00:49.273 along the Mediterranean, where Tel Aviv is now. 00:00:49.273 --> 00:00:52.180 And connecting the mountain range with the coastal plain 00:00:52.180 --> 00:00:54.436 is an area called the Shefala, 00:00:54.436 --> 00:00:58.532 which is a series of valleys and ridges that run east to west, 00:00:58.532 --> 00:01:02.404 and you can follow the Shefala, go through the Shefala 00:01:02.404 --> 00:01:04.787 to get from the coastal plain to the mountains. 00:01:04.787 --> 00:01:06.897 And the Shefala, if you've been to Israel, you'll know 00:01:06.897 --> 00:01:09.049 it's just about the most beautiful part of Israel. 00:01:09.049 --> 00:01:11.761 It's gorgeous, with forests of oak 00:01:11.761 --> 00:01:13.961 and wheat fields and vineyards. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:13.961 --> 00:01:17.401 But more importantly, though, in the history of that region, 00:01:17.401 --> 00:01:21.089 it's served, it's had a real strategic function, 00:01:21.089 --> 00:01:23.849 and that is, it is the means by which hostile armies 00:01:23.849 --> 00:01:26.417 on the coastal plain find their way, 00:01:26.417 --> 00:01:30.254 get up into the mountains and threaten those living in the mountains. 00:01:30.254 --> 00:01:33.025 And 3,000 years ago, that's exactly what happens. 00:01:33.025 --> 00:01:37.465 The Philistines, who are the biggest of enemies 00:01:37.465 --> 00:01:39.737 of the Kingdom of Israel, 00:01:39.737 --> 00:01:42.449 are living in the coastal plain. 00:01:42.449 --> 00:01:44.529 They're originally from Crete. They're a seafaring people. 00:01:44.529 --> 00:01:46.721 And they may start to make their way 00:01:46.721 --> 00:01:48.961 through one of the valleys of the Shefala 00:01:48.961 --> 00:01:50.990 up into the mountains, 00:01:50.990 --> 00:01:52.969 because what they want to do is occupy the highland area 00:01:52.969 --> 00:01:56.385 right by Bethlehem and split the Kingdom of Israel in two. 00:01:56.385 --> 00:01:59.065 And the Kingdom of Israel, which is headed by King Saul, 00:01:59.065 --> 00:02:01.137 obviously catches wind of this, 00:02:01.137 --> 00:02:03.899 and Saul brings his army down from the mountains 00:02:03.899 --> 00:02:07.907 and he confronts the Philistines in the Valley of Elah, 00:02:07.907 --> 00:02:10.166 one of the most beautiful of the valleys of the Shefala. 00:02:10.166 --> 00:02:13.233 And the Israelites dig in along the northern ridge, 00:02:13.233 --> 00:02:17.337 and the Philistines dig in along the southern ridge, 00:02:17.337 --> 00:02:20.225 and the two armies just sit there for weeks 00:02:20.225 --> 00:02:22.624 and stare at each other, because they're deadlocked. 00:02:22.624 --> 00:02:25.082 Neither can attack the other, because to attack the other side 00:02:25.082 --> 00:02:27.984 you've got to come down the mountain into the valley 00:02:27.984 --> 00:02:30.193 and then up to the other side, and you're completely exposed. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:30.193 --> 00:02:33.216 So finally, to break the deadlock, 00:02:33.216 --> 00:02:35.784 the Philistines send their mightiest warrior 00:02:35.784 --> 00:02:37.816 down into the valley floor, and he calls out 00:02:37.816 --> 00:02:40.024 and he says to the Israelites, 00:02:40.024 --> 00:02:42.056 "Send your mightiest warrior down, 00:02:42.056 --> 00:02:44.567 and we'll have this out, just the two of us." NOTE Paragraph 00:02:44.567 --> 00:02:48.071 This was a tradition in ancient warfare called single combat. 00:02:48.071 --> 00:02:50.197 It was a way of settling disputes 00:02:50.197 --> 00:02:53.768 without incurring the bloodshed of a major battle. 00:02:53.768 --> 00:02:57.267 And the Philistine who is sent down, 00:02:57.267 --> 00:02:59.448 their mighty warrior, is a giant. 00:02:59.448 --> 00:03:01.593 He's 6 foot 9. 00:03:01.593 --> 00:03:05.936 He's outfitted head to toe in this glittering bronze armor, 00:03:05.936 --> 00:03:08.795 and he's got a sword and he's got a javelin 00:03:08.795 --> 00:03:11.539 and he's got his spear. He is absolutely terrifying. 00:03:11.539 --> 00:03:14.784 And he's so terrifying that none of the Israelite soldiers 00:03:14.784 --> 00:03:17.033 want to fight him. 00:03:17.033 --> 00:03:20.556 It's a death wish, right? There's no way they think they could take him. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:20.556 --> 00:03:22.957 And finally the only person who will come forward 00:03:22.957 --> 00:03:25.652 is this young shepherd boy, 00:03:25.652 --> 00:03:28.700 and he goes up to Saul and he says, "I'll fight him." NOTE Paragraph 00:03:28.700 --> 00:03:31.156 And Saul says, "You can't fight him. That's ridiculous. 00:03:31.156 --> 00:03:33.494 You're this kid. This is this mighty warrior." NOTE Paragraph 00:03:33.494 --> 00:03:35.933 But the shepherd is adamant. He says, "No, no, no, 00:03:35.933 --> 00:03:38.740 you don't understand, I have been defending my flock 00:03:38.740 --> 00:03:43.140 against lions and wolves for years. I think I can do it." NOTE Paragraph 00:03:43.140 --> 00:03:46.108 And Saul has no choice. He's got no one else has come forward. 00:03:46.108 --> 00:03:48.172 So he says, "All right." 00:03:48.172 --> 00:03:49.969 And then he turns to the kid, and he says, 00:03:49.969 --> 00:03:52.570 "But you've got to wear this armor. You can't go as you are." NOTE Paragraph 00:03:52.570 --> 00:03:54.343 So he tries to give the shepherd his armor, 00:03:54.343 --> 00:03:56.717 and the shepherd says, "No." 00:03:56.717 --> 00:03:58.883 He says, "I can't wear this stuff." 00:03:58.883 --> 00:04:02.957 The Biblical verse is, "I cannot wear this for I have not proved it," 00:04:02.957 --> 00:04:05.827 meaning, "I've never worn armor before. You've got to be crazy." NOTE Paragraph 00:04:05.827 --> 00:04:08.740 So he reaches down instead on the ground 00:04:08.740 --> 00:04:10.803 and picks up five stones 00:04:10.803 --> 00:04:13.068 and puts them in his shepherd's bag 00:04:13.068 --> 00:04:17.268 and starts to walk down the mountainside to meet the giant. 00:04:17.268 --> 00:04:19.675 And the giant sees this figure approaching, 00:04:19.675 --> 00:04:22.479 and calls out, "Come to me so I can feed your flesh 00:04:22.479 --> 00:04:26.933 to the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field." 00:04:26.933 --> 00:04:29.891 Right? He issues this kind of taunt towards this person 00:04:29.891 --> 00:04:32.018 coming to fight him. 00:04:32.018 --> 00:04:34.834 And the shepherd draws closer and closer, 00:04:34.834 --> 00:04:38.345 and the giants sees that he's carrying a staff. 00:04:38.345 --> 00:04:40.317 That's all he's carrying. Right? 00:04:40.317 --> 00:04:42.185 Instead of a weapon, just this shepherd's staff, 00:04:42.185 --> 00:04:44.203 and he says, he's insulted, 00:04:44.203 --> 00:04:47.545 "Am I a dog that you would come to me with sticks?" NOTE Paragraph 00:04:47.545 --> 00:04:50.001 And the shepherd boy takes one of his stones 00:04:50.001 --> 00:04:53.057 out of his pocket, puts it in his sling 00:04:53.057 --> 00:04:55.865 and rolls it around and lets it fly 00:04:55.865 --> 00:04:58.390 and it hits the giant right between the eyes, 00:04:58.390 --> 00:05:00.657 like, right here, in his most vulnerable spot, 00:05:00.657 --> 00:05:03.470 and he falls down either dead or unconscious, 00:05:03.470 --> 00:05:05.841 and the shepherd boy runs up and takes his sword 00:05:05.841 --> 00:05:08.065 and cuts off his head, 00:05:08.065 --> 00:05:12.463 and the Philistines see this and they turn and they just run. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:12.463 --> 00:05:17.393 And of course, the name of the giant is Goliath 00:05:17.393 --> 00:05:20.306 and the name of the shepherd boy is David, 00:05:20.306 --> 00:05:22.929 and the reason that story has obsessed me 00:05:22.929 --> 00:05:25.089 over the course of writing my book 00:05:25.089 --> 00:05:27.937 is that everything I thought I knew about that story 00:05:27.937 --> 00:05:30.241 turned out to be wrong. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:30.241 --> 00:05:33.937 So David, in that story, is supposed to be the underdog. 00:05:33.937 --> 00:05:36.504 Right? In fact, that term, "David and Goliath," 00:05:36.504 --> 00:05:38.854 has entered our language a metaphor for 00:05:38.854 --> 00:05:41.161 improbable victories 00:05:41.161 --> 00:05:44.272 by some weak party over someone far stronger. 00:05:44.272 --> 00:05:46.386 Now why do we call David an underdog? 00:05:46.386 --> 00:05:49.538 Well, we call him an underdog because he's a kid, 00:05:49.538 --> 00:05:53.350 a little kid, and Goliath is this big, strong giant. 00:05:53.350 --> 00:05:55.482 We also call him an underdog 00:05:55.482 --> 00:05:58.650 because Goliath is an experienced warrior, 00:05:58.650 --> 00:06:00.986 and David is just a shepherd. Right? 00:06:00.986 --> 00:06:03.106 But most importantly, we call him an underdog 00:06:03.106 --> 00:06:07.762 because all he has is, it's that Goliath is outfitted with 00:06:07.762 --> 00:06:10.490 all of this modern weaponry, right, 00:06:10.490 --> 00:06:12.682 this glittering coat of armor 00:06:12.682 --> 00:06:15.778 and a sword and a javelin and a spear, 00:06:15.778 --> 00:06:19.050 and all David has is this sling. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:19.050 --> 00:06:21.490 Well, let's start there with the phrase 00:06:21.490 --> 00:06:24.015 "All David has is this sling," 00:06:24.015 --> 00:06:26.586 because that's the first mistake that we make. 00:06:26.586 --> 00:06:30.466 In ancient warfare, there are three kinds of warriors. 00:06:30.466 --> 00:06:33.282 There's cavalry, men on horseback and with chariots. 00:06:33.282 --> 00:06:35.962 There's heavy infantry, which are foot soldiers, 00:06:35.962 --> 00:06:39.652 armed foot soldiers with swords and shields 00:06:39.652 --> 00:06:41.690 and some kind of armor. 00:06:41.690 --> 00:06:44.272 And there's artillery, and artillery are archers, 00:06:44.272 --> 00:06:46.521 but, more importantly, slingers. 00:06:46.521 --> 00:06:49.274 And a slinger is someone who has a leather pouch 00:06:49.274 --> 00:06:52.394 with two long cords attached to it, 00:06:52.394 --> 00:06:55.489 and they put a projectile, either a rock or a lead ball, 00:06:55.489 --> 00:06:58.579 inside the pouch, and they whirl it around like this 00:06:58.579 --> 00:07:01.529 and they let one of the cords go, 00:07:01.529 --> 00:07:04.630 and the effect is to send the projectile forward 00:07:04.630 --> 00:07:08.412 towards its target. 00:07:08.412 --> 00:07:11.178 That's what David has, and it's important to understand 00:07:11.178 --> 00:07:14.041 that that sling is not a slingshot. 00:07:14.041 --> 00:07:17.290 It's not this, right? It's not a child's toy. 00:07:17.290 --> 00:07:20.730 It's in fact an incredibly devastating weapon. 00:07:20.730 --> 00:07:23.706 When David rolls it around like this, 00:07:23.706 --> 00:07:27.072 he's turning the sling around probably 00:07:27.072 --> 00:07:29.915 at six or seven revolutions per second, 00:07:29.915 --> 00:07:33.129 and that means that when the rock is released, 00:07:33.129 --> 00:07:35.499 it's going forward really fast, 00:07:35.499 --> 00:07:37.425 probably 35 meters per second. 00:07:37.425 --> 00:07:40.729 That's substantially faster than a baseball 00:07:40.729 --> 00:07:44.193 thrown by even the finest of baseball pitchers. 00:07:44.193 --> 00:07:48.137 More than that, the stones in the Valley of Elah 00:07:48.137 --> 00:07:50.793 were not normal rocks. They were barium sulphate, 00:07:50.793 --> 00:07:54.481 which are rocks twice the density of normal stones. 00:07:54.481 --> 00:07:56.918 If you do the calculations on the ballistic, 00:07:56.918 --> 00:08:00.649 on the stopping power of the rock fired from David's sling, 00:08:00.649 --> 00:08:02.985 it's roughly equal to the stopping power 00:08:02.985 --> 00:08:07.357 of a 45 mm handgun. Right. 00:08:07.357 --> 00:08:09.874 This is an incredibly devastating weapon. 00:08:09.874 --> 00:08:13.934 Accuracy, we know from historical records 00:08:13.934 --> 00:08:18.097 that slingers, experienced slingers could hit 00:08:18.097 --> 00:08:24.609 and maim or even kill a target at distances of up to 200 yards. 00:08:24.609 --> 00:08:27.395 From medieval tapestries, we know that slingers 00:08:27.395 --> 00:08:30.321 were capable of hitting birds in flight. 00:08:30.321 --> 00:08:32.448 They were incredibly accurate. 00:08:32.448 --> 00:08:36.312 When David lines up, and he's not 200 yards away from Goliath, 00:08:36.312 --> 00:08:38.321 he's quite close to Goliath, 00:08:38.321 --> 00:08:40.921 when he lines up and fires that thing at Goliath, 00:08:40.921 --> 00:08:44.137 he has every intention and every expectation 00:08:44.137 --> 00:08:46.825 of being able to hit Goliath at his most vulnerable spot 00:08:46.825 --> 00:08:48.953 between his eyes. 00:08:48.953 --> 00:08:50.953 If you go back over the history of ancient warfare, 00:08:50.953 --> 00:08:53.257 you will find time and time again 00:08:53.257 --> 00:08:57.063 that slingers were the decisive factor against infantry 00:08:57.063 --> 00:09:01.087 in one kind of battle or another. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:01.087 --> 00:09:06.052 So what's Goliath? He's heavy infantry, 00:09:06.052 --> 00:09:11.180 and his expectation when he challenges the Israelites to a duel 00:09:11.180 --> 00:09:15.062 is that he's going to be fighting another heavy infantryman. 00:09:15.062 --> 00:09:17.406 Right? When he says, "Come to me that I might 00:09:17.406 --> 00:09:20.143 feed your flesh to the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field," 00:09:20.143 --> 00:09:22.358 the key phrase is "Come to me." 00:09:22.358 --> 00:09:24.358 Come up to me because we're going to fight, 00:09:24.358 --> 00:09:26.438 hand to hand, like this. 00:09:26.438 --> 00:09:28.551 Saul has the same expectation. 00:09:28.551 --> 00:09:30.694 David says, "I want to fight Goliath," 00:09:30.694 --> 00:09:32.854 and Saul tries to give him his armor, 00:09:32.854 --> 00:09:35.166 because Saul is thinking, "Oh, when you say 'fight Goliath' 00:09:35.166 --> 00:09:38.248 you mean 'fight him in hand-to-hand combat,' 00:09:38.248 --> 00:09:40.482 infantry on infantry." NOTE Paragraph 00:09:40.482 --> 00:09:43.487 But David has absolutely no expectation. 00:09:43.487 --> 00:09:46.222 He's not going to fight him that way. Why would he? 00:09:46.222 --> 00:09:49.230 He's a shepherd. He's spent his entire career 00:09:49.230 --> 00:09:53.430 using a sling to defend his flock against lions and wolves. 00:09:53.430 --> 00:09:55.640 That's where his strength lies. 00:09:55.640 --> 00:09:58.295 So here is, this shepherd, experienced 00:09:58.295 --> 00:10:00.334 in the use of a devastating weapon, 00:10:00.334 --> 00:10:02.358 up against this lumbering giant 00:10:02.358 --> 00:10:05.151 weighed down by a hundred pounds of armor 00:10:05.151 --> 00:10:07.390 and these incredibly heavy weapons 00:10:07.390 --> 00:10:09.903 that are useful only in short range combat. 00:10:09.903 --> 00:10:14.871 Goliath is a sitting duck. He doesn't have a chance. Right? 00:10:14.871 --> 00:10:17.415 So why do we keep calling David an underdog, 00:10:17.415 --> 00:10:23.423 and why do we keep referring to his victory as improbable? NOTE Paragraph 00:10:23.423 --> 00:10:26.340 There's a second piece of this that's important. 00:10:26.340 --> 00:10:29.370 It's not just that we misunderstand David 00:10:29.370 --> 00:10:31.566 and his choice of weaponry. 00:10:31.566 --> 00:10:34.905 It's also that we profoundly misunderstand Goliath. 00:10:34.905 --> 00:10:37.725 Goliath is not what he seems to be. 00:10:37.725 --> 00:10:40.805 There's all kinds of hints of this in the Biblical text, 00:10:40.805 --> 00:10:44.918 things that are in retrospect quite puzzling 00:10:44.918 --> 00:10:48.509 and don't square with his image as this mighty warrior. 00:10:48.509 --> 00:10:51.061 So to begin with, the Bible says that Goliath 00:10:51.061 --> 00:10:55.805 is led onto the valley floor by an attendant. 00:10:55.805 --> 00:10:58.260 Now that is weird, right? 00:10:58.260 --> 00:11:00.283 Here is this mighty warrior 00:11:00.283 --> 00:11:03.197 challenging the Israelites to one-on-one combat. 00:11:03.197 --> 00:11:06.125 Why is he being led by the hand 00:11:06.125 --> 00:11:08.821 by some, you know, young boy, presumably, 00:11:08.821 --> 00:11:11.421 to the point of combat? 00:11:11.421 --> 00:11:15.637 Secondly, the Bible story makes special note 00:11:15.637 --> 00:11:18.864 of how slowly Goliath moves, 00:11:18.864 --> 00:11:21.069 another odd thing to say when you're describing 00:11:21.069 --> 00:11:24.725 the mightiest warrior known to man at that point. Right? 00:11:24.725 --> 00:11:26.887 And then there's this whole weird thing 00:11:26.887 --> 00:11:30.206 about how long it takes Goliath to react 00:11:30.206 --> 00:11:32.725 to the sight of David. 00:11:32.725 --> 00:11:35.119 So David's coming down the mountain, 00:11:35.119 --> 00:11:39.286 and he's clearly not preparing for hand-to-hand combat. 00:11:39.286 --> 00:11:41.439 Right? There is nothing about him that says, 00:11:41.439 --> 00:11:43.581 "I am about to fight you like this." 00:11:43.581 --> 00:11:45.573 He's not even carrying a sword. 00:11:45.573 --> 00:11:47.901 Why does Goliath not react to that? 00:11:47.901 --> 00:11:51.929 It's as if he's oblivious to what's going on that day. 00:11:51.929 --> 00:11:55.646 And then there's that strange comment he makes to David: 00:11:55.646 --> 00:11:59.925 "Am I a dog that you should come to me with sticks?" 00:11:59.925 --> 00:12:03.061 Right? Sticks? David only has one stick. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:03.061 --> 00:12:06.253 Well, it turns out that there's been a great deal 00:12:06.253 --> 00:12:09.051 of speculation within the medical community over the years 00:12:09.051 --> 00:12:12.093 about whether there is something wrong, 00:12:12.093 --> 00:12:14.709 fundamentally wrong with Goliath, 00:12:14.709 --> 00:12:17.949 an attempt to make sense of all of those apparent anomalies. 00:12:17.949 --> 00:12:19.973 There have been many articles written. 00:12:19.973 --> 00:12:23.069 The first one was in 1960 in the Indiana Medical Journal, 00:12:23.069 --> 00:12:25.229 and it started a chain of speculation 00:12:25.229 --> 00:12:28.999 that starts with an explanation for Goliath's height. 00:12:28.999 --> 00:12:31.429 So Goliath is head and shoulders above 00:12:31.429 --> 00:12:34.005 all of his peers in that era, 00:12:34.005 --> 00:12:37.589 and usually when someone is that far out of the norm, 00:12:37.589 --> 00:12:39.878 there's an explanation for it. 00:12:39.878 --> 00:12:42.203 So the most common form of giantism 00:12:42.203 --> 00:12:45.154 is a condition called acromegaly, 00:12:45.154 --> 00:12:48.165 and acromegaly is caused by a benign tumor 00:12:48.165 --> 00:12:50.421 on your pituitary gland 00:12:50.421 --> 00:12:53.276 that causes an overproduction of human growth hormone. 00:12:53.276 --> 00:12:56.573 And throughout history, many of the most famous giants 00:12:56.573 --> 00:12:58.834 have all had acromegaly. 00:12:58.834 --> 00:13:01.016 So the tallest person of all time 00:13:01.016 --> 00:13:02.989 was a guy named Robert Wadlow 00:13:02.989 --> 00:13:05.101 who was still growing when he died at the age of 24 00:13:05.101 --> 00:13:08.405 and he was 8 foot 11. 00:13:08.405 --> 00:13:10.389 He had acromegaly. 00:13:10.389 --> 00:13:12.478 Do you remember the wrestler Andre the Giant? 00:13:12.478 --> 00:13:14.453 Famous. He had acromegaly. 00:13:14.453 --> 00:13:18.684 There's even speculation that Abraham Lincoln had acromegaly. 00:13:18.684 --> 00:13:20.901 Right? Anyone who's unusually tall, 00:13:20.901 --> 00:13:23.005 that's the first explanation we come up with. 00:13:23.005 --> 00:13:25.956 And acromegaly has a very distinct set of side effects 00:13:25.956 --> 00:13:28.029 associated with it, 00:13:28.029 --> 00:13:31.189 principally having to do with vision. 00:13:31.189 --> 00:13:34.485 The pituitary tumor, as it grows, 00:13:34.485 --> 00:13:38.533 often starts to compress the visual nerves in your brain, 00:13:38.533 --> 00:13:41.053 with the result that people with acromegaly 00:13:41.053 --> 00:13:45.878 have either double vision or they are profoundly nearsighted. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:45.878 --> 00:13:49.101 So when people have started to speculate 00:13:49.101 --> 00:13:52.117 about what might have been wrong with Goliath, 00:13:52.117 --> 00:13:54.069 they've said, "Wait a minute, 00:13:54.069 --> 00:13:56.433 he looks and sounds an awful lot like someone 00:13:56.433 --> 00:13:58.545 who has acromegaly." 00:13:58.545 --> 00:14:00.929 And that would also explain so much of what was strange 00:14:00.929 --> 00:14:03.117 about his behavior that day. 00:14:03.117 --> 00:14:05.231 Right? What does he move so slowly 00:14:05.231 --> 00:14:08.466 and have to be escorted down into the valley floor 00:14:08.466 --> 00:14:10.456 by an attendant? 00:14:10.456 --> 00:14:12.767 Because he can't make his way on his own. Right? 00:14:12.767 --> 00:14:15.027 Why is he strangely oblivious to David 00:14:15.027 --> 00:14:18.289 that he doesn't understand that David's not going to fight him 00:14:18.289 --> 00:14:20.866 until the very last moment? 00:14:20.866 --> 00:14:23.375 Because he can't see him. Right? 00:14:23.375 --> 00:14:26.339 When he says, "Come to me that I might feed your flesh 00:14:26.339 --> 00:14:28.912 to the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field," 00:14:28.912 --> 00:14:33.832 the phrase "Come to me" is a hint also of his vulnerability. 00:14:33.832 --> 00:14:36.279 Come to me because I can't see you. Right? 00:14:36.279 --> 00:14:41.154 And then there's, "Am I a dog that you should come to me with sticks?" 00:14:41.154 --> 00:14:46.437 He sees two sticks when David has only one. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:46.437 --> 00:14:49.541 So the Israelites up on the mountain ridge 00:14:49.541 --> 00:14:52.214 looking down on him thought he was 00:14:52.214 --> 00:14:55.571 this extraordinarily powerful foe. 00:14:55.571 --> 00:14:57.685 What they didn't understand was that 00:14:57.685 --> 00:15:00.613 the very thing that was the source of his apparent strength 00:15:00.613 --> 00:15:04.169 was also the sources of his greatest weakness. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:04.169 --> 00:15:06.617 And there is, I think, in that, 00:15:06.617 --> 00:15:09.469 a very important lesson for all of us. 00:15:09.469 --> 00:15:13.469 Giants are not as strong as powerful as they seem. 00:15:13.469 --> 00:15:16.973 And sometimes the shepherd boy has a sling in his pocket. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:16.973 --> 00:15:19.345 Thank you. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:19.345 --> 00:15:23.345 (Applause)