David, who the biblical theologians have arbitrarily assigned to the 10th century BCE for his time on earth, was the youngest son of Jesse. As a young boy he was a shepherd and a harpist. He was introduced to Saul, who appointed him as his armorbearer. Goliath, who was an armored and strong giant, came from the Philistine camp to intimidate the Hebrews, by challenging them to a man-to-man contest. Goliath had a strong iron spear, sword and a shield. Goliath asked the Israelites to choose an opponent and promised: If he be able to fight with me, and kill me, then we will be your servants. David volunteered to fight Goliath but Saul tried to persuade him otherwise. Then David told Saul [according to I Samuel 17:34-37]:

Thy servant kept his father sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he rose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear . . . . The Lord has delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of the Philistine.

David refused to wear armor or carry a sword and went to face Goliath; David then knocked Goliath down with a stone from his sling and took Goliaths sword and cut off his head.

Many academicians have noted the similarities between the most famous Ancient Egyptian folktale The Autobiography of Sinuhe and the biblical account of David and Goliath.

The Sinuhe folktale existed in many texts as far back as the 20th century BCE. Therefore, it was developed a thousand years before the biblical account of David and Goliath was supposed to have occurred.

The Bible tells us that Goliath was a Philistine (which is the same as Palestinian). But when did these Philistines settle and establish themselves in Canaan? The archeological evidence indicates that the Philistines became an established community only after the reign of Ramses III (c. 1182-1151 BCE), as per:

1. The wall reliefs in Medinet Habus temple in western Ta-Apet (Thebes), which depict the mass invasion by the Peoples of the Sea, of the coastal plain of Canaan, around 1174 BCE, which coincided with the Greek war against Troy. The wall inscriptions also indicate that the Peoples of the Sea consisted of fighters as well as refugees with their whole familes. They were a combination of Peleset (which are Palestinians/Philistinesthe word Palestine came from Peleset), Tjekker, Sheklesh, Danu and Weshesh. Ramses III defeated the invaders in a naval battle, but allowed the family refugees to settle in southwest Canaan.
2. The Egyptian papyrus known as the Harris Papyrus, now located in the British Museum, states that Ramses III built a temple for Amen/Amon in Canaan after he defeated the invaders.

After the reign of Ramses III, Egypt lost its influence over Palestine, and the Philistines established themselves in the coastal plains of Canaan. Then they started expanding towards the Dead Sea and the River Jordan. It was at the same time, that the Hebrews were trying to establish themselves in the area. As a result, both Philistines and Hebrews began fighting over the same piece of land.

Historically speaking, if David did do battle with the Philistines, he could not have lived before the 12th century BCE, because that was when the mass migration of the coastal plain of Canaan by the Philistines took place. Therefore, historical facts contradict the biblical time period of the David and Goliath duel, to occur during the first half of the 10th century, BCE.

Based on all the above, the story of David and Goliath is a fictional story which was inserted in the Bible in an attempt to enhance the biblical King Davids trait as a hero and a warrior, and that the events of the duel between David and Goliath were actually borrowed from the Egyptian literary work The Autobiography of Sinuhe.

Moustafa Gadalla

For more information about the Ancient Egyptian identification of the biblical characters–David, Solomon, Moses and Jesus–refer to:

The Ancient Egyptian Roots of Christianity by Moustafa Gadalla 192 pages, 5.5″ x 8.5″ List Price: $12.95 USD (paperback) $8.50 USD (eBook)