Goliath is dressed in metal: Bronze helmet, bronze scale armor, bronze greaves. His javelin is bronze, the head of his spear is iron.
The original metal outfit in the Bible is the breastplate of the high priest, with its gold thread woven with other threads.
With his scale armor, Goliath is a serpent. With his metal clothing, he is a serpent-priest, blaspheming rather than praising Yahweh.
One thing he lacks: On his forehead, the high priest wore a “stone” of gold (cf. Zechariah 3:9), inscribed with “Holy to Yahweh.”
Goliath has no forehead stone, until David provides it.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Lift My Chin, Lord
Lift my chin, Lord,Say to me,“You are not whoYou feared to be,Not Hecate, quite,With howling sound,Torch held…
Letters
Two delightful essays in the March issue, by Nikolas Prassas (“Large Language Poetry,” March 2025) and Gary…
Spring Twilight After Penance
Let’s say you’ve just comeFrom confession. Late sunPours through the budding treesThat mark the brown creek washing Itself…
