Valley of Elah

Valley of Elah

As a young boy the story of David and Goliath was more like a comic book, or legend of a superhero. Whether Jewish or Gentile every one of my friends could relate to a young boy vanquishing the evil giant and saving his people, after all is it not that unlike Jack and the Bean stock fable, and the hero being Jewish was so much the better. Flash forward 6 decades later and we (I) find our group walking the exact battlefield, in the Valley of Elah. This place is a sliver of land that lays between the Mountains of Judea and the coastal plane by the sea which was home to the Philistines. 

As our group walked the flat terrain through plowed fields and brush we came to the site of this historic battle and reflected not just what occurred but the significance it had in the adoption and transformation to the Jewish One God Monotheism belief over the Polytheistic deities worshiped by the majority of people found in these times. In actuality, when David defeats Goliath it establishes him as the leader and heart of God’s Chosen People and this victory propels him to ultimately unite the 12 tribes of Israel and become a Jewish Nation with an eternal capital of Jerusalem. We come to small group of trees and Bob Henley leads a discussion of the significance of these events as we find shelter under the branches keeping out of the hot sun. In this discussion we come to recognize that a powerful revelation and stated so clearly by the renown historian, Paul Johnson. He writes of David saying, “although Moses is the dominating biblical figure, the supreme lawgiver and recorder without whom the Old Testament would not have come into existence, David is the culminating hero of the narrative”. This will set the stage for the future Christian association of Jesus to be the fulfillment of hope to restore Israel to the greatness of their Davidic past.

While I cannot clearly articulate the Christian narrative, I have to say that leaving the battle field I could not of been more proud of the accomplishments of my ancestors in setting the stage for a modern world based on the rule of Law and we have David to thank for this. So much better than a comic book and I am truly thankful that Bob and Jan Henley lead this very reflective, balanced discussion for Jew and Gentile.