Even individuals with only a nodding acquaintance of the Bible are aware of
how Goliath died: “David killed the giant with a sling and a stone, of
course.” Indeed, that is what 1 Samuel 17:48-50 indicates:

> David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. Then David put
> his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the
> Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he
> fell on his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a
> sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him.

Skeptics, however, are quick to point out that the above verses contradict
what is stated in the very next verse: “Therefore David ran and stood over the
Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and
cut off his head with it” (17:51). How could David have killed Goliath with a
rock and then have killed him with a sword? According to atheist Rayan Zehn,
the question of how David killed Goliath is a “favorite,” because “it
contradicts itself in a single breath”—in back-to-back verses (“Bible
Contradictions”). “So Bible believer tell me, exactly how did Goliath die?”

We first need to make the observation that few, if any, sane individuals are
going to contradict themselves in the very next sentence of what they are
speaking or writing. Even liars rarely contradict themselves in the very next
breath. Are we really to believe that the ancient individual who was
intelligent enough to pen the book of Samuel was so ignorant that he actually
thought at one moment David literally killed Goliath with a rock and the very
next moment that David killed the giant with a sword? Such an allegation seems
suspect at best.

Second, we need to keep in mind that there are many specific questions that
Bible students cannot answer about things mentioned in Scripture. For example,
God created light without the Sun on day one of Creation, but we are
uninformed about the nature of that light (see
Miller,
2014). Consider also how Luke mentioned that “one of the criminals” hanged
with Jesus blasphemed Him (Luke 23:39), while Matthew mentioned that the
“robbers” (plural) reviled Jesus (Matthew 27:44). Why the difference? The
truth is, we can’t know for sure without more information. (One thing we can
know is that the accounts have not proven to be contradictory; i.e., there are
logical possibilities for the differences; see
Lyons, 2013.) Likewise, we do not
know exactly why 1 Samuel 17 refers to David killing Goliath after sinking a
stone into his forehead and again after using a sword to cut off his head. The
writer does not elaborate further. However, at least one perfectly legitimate
possibility exists for the difference.

The inspired writer of 1 Samuel could easily be indicating that David struck
Goliath with an initial, unrecoverable blow to the forehead, and then quickly
finished him off via decapitation. How many individuals have we truthfully
spoken of as “dying” in an accident, yet they actually “died” in an ambulance
or a hospital minutes, hours, or days later? How many murderers have been
convicted of “killing” someone who actually survived for several hours or days
before being removed from life support? Is it fair or logical to conclude that
the murderer didn’t actually kill the person, but the doctor did when he
removed the still-living patient from the ventilator a week later? Would a
just judge and jury accept this argument as valid? Certainly not.

It seems equally unjust to accuse the Bible of a contradiction for using words
and phrases in ways not all that different from how we truthfully,
understandably, and defensibly use them in 21st-century America. Why can’t we
be as fair with Scripture as we are with each other? David dealt a crushing
blow to Goliath with a sling and a stone, and then finished him off with the
giant’s own sword.

Problem: First Samuel 17 records the dramatic story of how David the son of Jesse killed the giant Goliath. However, 2 Samuel 21:19 says clearly: “Elhanan ... killed Goliath the Gittite.” But both texts cannot be right.

Solution: The 2 Samuel text is probably a scribal error in copying the manuscript and should read “Elhanan ... slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite.” This conclusion is supported by a parallel report of the story in 1 Chronicles 20:5 which has the missing highlighted phrase “Lahmi the brother of,” thus showing it was the brother of Goliath that Elhanan killed and not Goliath, whom David slew just as 1 Samuel 17 reports.

Exodus 20:13

“You shall not murder.”

Exodus 22:2

“If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed.”

Leviticus 24:15–16

“Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. And whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death.”

Leviticus 24:17

“Whoever kills any man shall surely be put to death.”

1 Samuel 17:50

So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him.

In order to answer this apparent contradiction, we must make a distinction between killing someone and committing murder. Murder is the unlawful taking of a life, while killing may be lawful or unlawful. The establishment of capital punishment actually extends back to the Noahic Covenant when God declared, “Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man” (Genesis 9:5–6).

Even before this, Cain was afraid of the other members of his family seeking to kill him after he had murdered his brother Abel (Genesis 4:13–15). In the cases outlined in Scripture, taking the life of another in the name of justice was not murder. The question poses a false dilemma in that killing does not have to be always right or always wrong—God has provided qualifications.

Because man is made in the image of God, the death of a human is not taken lightly. In the laws given to Israel through Moses, those sins that were worthy of death were detailed. Leviticus 19 is one such place where these commands are given. Since these are commands directly from God and God cannot lie, we understand that there must be no contradiction in the commands. Those who committed sexual sins were to be justly killed, but only upon the clear affirmation of their crime established by witnesses.

As the author of the first five books of the Bible, Moses would not have written contradictory ideas. If we allow for killing to be wrong in every case, when a person carried out capital punishment, as commanded by God, they would have to be killed for the taking of a life. Then their life would be demanded, and so on until humanity was left with one. Extending the logic allows us to see how absurd the claim of a contradiction truly is.

The Bible provides many circumstances under which the taking of a life is legally allowed by Scripture. Killing another person in an act of self defense (Exodus 22:2) was permitted with no consequences. There are examples of God calling the people to war against other nations to punish them for their sins. When Joshua led the children of Israel into the Promised Land, God commanded the Israelites to utterly destroy the idolatrous peoples who inhabited the land (Deuteronomy 20:16–17). A list of their sins can be found in Leviticus 18, including incest, murdering children, and so on. When God called Israel to war against those in the Promised Land, then He was permitting the killing in this situation, making men His agents of justice, as in the case with capital punishment.

The killing of Goliath by the young David was, likewise, justified in the eyes of God. In fact, David was angered by the way that Goliath blasphemed God and met him in battle. David did not trust in himself, but in the Lord to deliver Goliath into his hands. This is an example of continuance of the war the Israelites had been engaged in with the inhabitants of the Promised Land, as directed by God.

God repeatedly chose war and capital punishment as a way to bring judgment on peoples and individuals who were acting in defiance of His will by doing great sin. He ordained the killing as a punishment to accomplish His purposes in the world.

This should give an idea of seriousness of sin. In the eyes of a perfect and holy God, one sin is worthy of death (Genesis 2:17). Since we are all sinners, we are all under the death sentence already. In essence, we are all on “death row,” and those who murder or do other terrible sins as described in Scripture, simply had their wait on “death row” shortened.

God hates sin, especially those that lead to any situation where a human life is lost. His holy nature and subsequent hatred of sin make the taking of a life acceptable only in the rarest of cases. We should never seek to minimize the taking of a life—a life made in the image of God. Remember that taking a life for justifiable reasons is only necessary because we live in a world of sin. The perfect creation would not have required death for any reason.

In 1 Samuel 17:50–51, there appears to be a contradiction about how David killed Goliath. Verse 50 states in all English versions that David killed Goliath without a sword in his hand (meaning from the previous verse that he killed Goliath with the stone from his sling). Yet in verse 51, most versions state that David killed Goliath by taking Goliath’s own sword and cutting off his head. Admittedly, there are four English translations which either do not state this or have wording which could allow for a different interpretation. But even taking the versions which do mention David killing Goliath with Goliath’s own sword, there are two explanations which resolve any apparent discrepancy. But let’s examine the four versions previously mentioned below.

# English Translations* Which Allow for a Different Interpretation

The original NASB has different wording in verse 51 than the NASB 1995 version, which states that David “took his [Goliath’s] sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him.” I’ll list the original below and also a few other English translations of the verse. There are some interesting statements in these translations that might be passed over at first glance. The CJB says, “finished killing him,” the CEV, ERV, and NIRV make no mention of killing Goliath with the sword, and the Darby version says, “killed him completely.”

1 Samuel 17:51

NASB: Then David ran and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and finished him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

CJB: Then David ran and stood over the P’lishti, took his sword, drew it out of its sheath, and finished killing him, cutting off his head with it. When the P’lishtim saw that their hero was dead, they fled.

CEV: David ran over and pulled out Goliath’s sword. Then he used it to cut off Goliath’s head. When the Philistines saw what had happened to their hero, they started running away.

ERV: So he ran and stood beside the Philistine. Then David took Goliath’s own sword out of its sheath and used it to cut off his head. That is how David killed the Philistine. When the other Philistines saw their hero was dead, they turned and ran.

NIRV: David ran and stood over him. He picked up Goliath’s sword and cut off his head with it. The Philistines saw that their hero was dead. So they turned around and ran away.

DARBY: And David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of its sheath, and killed him completely, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they fled.

GW and NOG: David ran and stood over the Philistine. He took Goliath’s sword, pulled it out of its sheath, and made certain the Philistine was dead by cutting off his head. When the Philistines saw their hero had been killed, they fled.

In the original NASB and CJB, the translators’ text could be read to say that David stunned Goliath with his slingstone and finished him off with the sword. The CEV, NIRV, and ERV seem to state that Goliath was already dead and David only used the sword to cut off Goliath’s head after his demise. The Darby translation is rather strange but implies that Goliath was “mostly dead” but David made him “completely dead” by decapitating him. The GW and NOG versions state that David made certain that Goliath was dead by cutting off his head.

# What Does the Hebrew Say in These Verses?

But verse 50 makes it clear that Goliath had already been killed before David grabbed Goliath’s sword.

NASB: So David prevailed over the Philistine with the sling and the stone: he struck the Philistine and killed him, and there was no sword in David’s hand.
ESV: So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David.

The Hebrew word (muwth) is used in both verses, and this word means “die,” “kill,” or “slay.” There are actually different Hebrew words for murder (ratsach, harag, and sometimes nakah). When speaking about killing or sacrificing an animal, the Hebrew word used is usually shachat. But for killing in war, the word usually used is muwth or nakah. So the Hebrew wording supports that David killed Goliath with his slingstone in verse 50 and with Goliath’s sword in verse 51.

# A Biblical Contradiction?

If this is indeed the intent of Scripture here, it shows us exactly how Goliath died and when David knew for sure he was dead.

So how do we explain this discrepancy? The first and foremost explanation is that David hit Goliath in the forehead with his slingstone and that the stone actually killed Goliath. This is the Spirit-inspired description of what happened. However, the Spirit quite probably lets us in on David’s thoughts at the time. David would likely be unable to tell if Goliath was dead or just rendered unconscious, so to make sure he was dead, he cut off Goliath’s head, “finishing him off,” so to speak. Keep in mind that the text says Goliath fell face down (1 Samuel 17:49), so David couldn’t put his head to Goliath’s mouth to make sure he was breathing or to his chest to make sure Goliath’s heart wasn’t beating. Not wanting to risk the giant waking up if he was only unconscious, he cut off his head to finalize his death. If this is indeed the intent of Scripture here, it shows us exactly how Goliath died and when David knew for sure he was dead.

A secondary explanation hinges upon the words at the end of verse 51: “When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.” David (as well as the rest of the Israelite army) wanted a quick and decisive end to this battle. The Philistines would have no idea that Goliath had been killed by the slingstone. They almost certainly thought that he was merely stunned or unconscious. Had David just walked away at that point, the Philistines would have not fled the battle but would have fought all the harder to make sure their unconscious hero was not harmed before they had swarmed the Israelites. If this is the case, then Scripture is probably disclosing that Goliath’s death would not be accepted until his body was checked or they saw incontrovertible proof (such as decapitation) that Goliath would fight no more. In this explanation, David was showing to the Philistines and the Israelites that Goliath was truly dead. He was dead beforehand but now was proven to be dead.

And what subsequently happened showed that Goliath’s death needed to be proven, for as soon as the Philistines fled, “the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron” (1 Samuel 17:52). The proof of Goliath’s death rallied and invigorated Israel’s army.

# No Contradiction Here

In addition to meaning “die” and “kill,” muwth can also mean “execute” in the sense of a public display of justice involving capital punishment. It is used in that way several times in Scripture, including twice in 2 Samuel (14:7 and 14:32). It might be this second sense that is meant in 1 Samuel 17:51. David killed Goliath with his sling per 1 Samuel 17:50 but executed him publicly by decapitation (1 Samuel 17:51). There is even biblical precedent for dead bodies to be executed publicly, as Joshua killed the five kings of the Amorites who had attacked Israel and then hanged their lifeless bodies as examples (Joshua 10:26) and David had his soldiers kill and then hang the men who murdered Saul’s son Ish-bosheth (2 Samuel 4:12).

But whether this passage of consecutive verses is the Holy Spirit giving the reader insight into the actual event and the simultaneous thoughts of David or merely declaring Goliath’s means of death as well as his means of public execution, the point is clear. There is no real contradiction here. In fact, if the former hypothesis is correct, then the Spirit is relaying the absolute truth as well as communicating the lack of knowledge and difficulty that David and the people of that time had in determining the cause of death in the case of blunt-force trauma to the head. But whichever hypothesis is correct, David, without having any means to know for sure if Goliath was dead, had to act to ensure there was no question. God then used that event as a means to revitalize Israel’s army and lead them to a decisive victory.

• The Bible versions listed are as follows: CEV (Contemporary English Version), CJB (Complete Jewish Bible), DARBY (not an acronym: named after John Darby, who translated the Bible in 1890), ERV (Easy-to-Read Version), ESV (English Standard Version), GW (God’s Word), NASB (New American Standard Bible), NIRV (New International Readers Version), NOG (Names of God).