Bible Strands
1 Samuel 17:24
When all the men of Israel saw Goliath, they fled from him in great fear.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the Israelite army's immediate physical response to Goliath's approach from the Philistine lines. The moment follows Goliath's repeated shouts of defiance and precedes the king's promise of reward for his defeat.
The words — The verb וַיָּנֻסוּ (va-yānūsû) literally renders "they fled" or "they took flight." It is coupled with מִפָּנָיו (mippānāw), meaning "from before him," which denotes a direct, backward retreat triggered by terror.
The thread — This motif of rout before a single adversary recurs in Leviticus 26:36, Numbers 13:33, and Deuteronomy 32:30. Each passage documents how fear overrides military formation when a formidable opponent appears.
Why it lands — The text requires acknowledgment that human instinct defaults to retreat when confronted by overwhelming physical threat. It establishes the baseline of collective panic that makes a lone defender's intervention historically and narratively necessary.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 26:36 As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.
- Numbers 13:33 We even saw the Nephilim there—the descendants of Anak that come from the Nephilim! We seemed like grasshoppers in our own sight, and we must have seemed the same to them!”
- Deuteronomy 32:30 How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
- 1 Samuel 13:6 Seeing that they were in danger because their troops were hard-pressed, the men of Israel hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in cellars and cisterns.
- 1 Samuel 17:11 On hearing the words of the Philistine, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and greatly afraid.
- Isaiah 7:2 When it was reported to the house of David that Aram was in league with Ephraim, the hearts of Ahaz and his people trembled like trees in the forest shaken by the wind.
- Isaiah 30:17 A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee, until you are left alone like a pole on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.