The Valley of Elah
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David takes five smooth stones from the brook of the Elah valley and goes out to meet the Philistine.
The Valley of Elah runs from the hill country down to the coastal plain, one of the natural gateways into Judah. There the Philistine and Israelite armies faced each other across the brook, and there boy killed the champion and the war turned.
The broad valley with the dry brook bed where David met Goliath with five smooth stones.
- the Valley of Elah (the valley of the terebinth)
- Wadi es-Sunt · Israel
The text is topographically exact: two ridges, a valley between, a brook with smooth stones. Slings were the weapon of in exactly this terrain, and a slinger outranged a spearman.
The valley is still identifiable, still crossed by the same road, and its brook bed still carries smooth stones.
- 1 Samuel 17:40 David takes five smooth stones from the brook of the Elah valley and goes out to meet the Philistine.
- 1 Samuel 17:1-3 The armies drawn up on the two hills with the valley between them
- 1 Samuel 17:51-52 The Philistines flee down the valley toward Gath and Ekron
What we know
Certain
- The valley's identity and its fit with the narrative are among the most secure in biblical geography.