David overcomes goliath (1 SAMUEL 17): Genre, texf, origin and message of the story

The story of David's battle with Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 is built on two pivotal themes, each expressing a different perception of the conflict between the two heroes. This story stands out as the longest in the cycle of David's Rise. This fact already betrays its particular origin. According to its literary genre, besides being an account of the beginnings of the hero, the story shows the features of both a fairy-tale and a paradigm. The former is dominant and original and the latter is secondary. This observation contributes to solve the textual problem of 1'Samuel 17 namely the presence of a shorter text in the LXX vis-a-vis a larger one in the MT. The paradigmatic elements obtain also in the LXX; therefore the longer MT text did not result from a theological reworking, On the other hand, the shorter LXX text seems to have excised all contradictions with the preceding narratives about David in 1 Samuel 16. In addition., the late linguistic features of this chapter are common to all its portions. The late diction shows in all realms: orthography (plene writing vocabulary , idioms WU semantics, morphology Tl]) and syntax (vss. 34-35, 55, 57). Some of these features have been noted in the past (Driver). Military institutions and theological concepts concur in establishing a date of composition about the end of the Persian domination. Written in the Second Temple period, the story cannot testify about the real, historical DavidI On the other hand, it can be a witness to the rise of Jewish eschatology. What could be the message of this story, if written in the 4th century BCE? It would express the political expectations nitrtured by a Jewish author at that time. David redivivus will vanquish the uncircumcised giant, who represents the heathen empire, and will usher in the supremacy of Israel.