Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <Yigal-Levin AT utc.edu>]

At 01:17 AM 9/5/2002 EDT, Russell Gmirkin wrote:
>    Iron spearhead aside, given that Goliath's armament is that of a typical 
>Greek hoplite, replete with shield-bearer (1 Sam. 17:3-5), a rather late
date 
>is indicated.
>
This claim was made several years ago by Israel Finkelstein of TAU. But:

1. The description is generic enough to be read like practically anything. 

2. Since we have no idea what a 10th century Philistine warrior looked like
(the Medinat Habu pictures are 200 years earlier), this is an argument from
silence.

3. Even assuming that he is correct, this could be the result of a late
redactor "filling in" details from his own experience. 



Dr. Yigal Levin
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga TN 37403-2598
U.S.A.