By: Nathan Steel
Read First: Genesis 3.14–15; 1 Samuel 17.1–54; Matthew 27.27-37; Romans 16.20
You probably know how the story of David and Goliath ends — David kills Goliath, cuts off his head, and Israel wins the battle. But then the story includes a strange detail we usually skip right over: “David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem” (1 Samuel 17.54).
Why did David do this? Jerusalem wasn’t even David’s capital yet. David wouldn’t conquer the city until years later. So why does the writer make a point of telling us that Goliath’s head ended up there?
The answer actually begins much earlier in Scripture… like at the very beginning.
THE PROPHECY
After the rebellion in the Garden, God tells the serpent that the offspring of the woman would strike his head, while the serpent would strike the offspring’s heel (Genesis 3.15).
Then, generations later, David walks onto a battlefield to face Goliath. And it’s here that the Hebrew description of Goliath contains some fascinating details.
The NRSV describes Goliath as wearing a “coat of mail”. This follows the imagery preserved in the Greek Septuagint — generally a detail I prefer. But for this text, the Hebrew actually reveals an important detail. It describes the giant’s armor with the word qasqassim, meaning “scales”… like a serpent. Translations like the NASB and LEB preserve this detail as “scale armor”.
(This is one reason I find it helpful to read Scripture in multiple translations. Sometimes their differences reveal details in the biblical text we might otherwise never know to look for.)
And in this case, the word “scales” matters.
Everywhere else this Hebrew word appears in Scripture, it describes the scales of a creature. And Goliath is the only human described this way.
But the imagery doesn’t stop there.
THE TYPE
Goliath is repeatedly associated with bronze. The Hebrew word for bronze, nehoshet, sounds strikingly similar to nahash, the Hebrew word for serpent. Scripture itself plays with this similarity. In Numbers, for example, Moses makes a nahash nehoshet — a “bronze serpent” (Numbers 21.9).
The Hebrew storyteller seems to be trying to get its readers to see a greater narrative playing out — Goliath is covered in “snakey” scales and repeatedly associated with bronze, creating an audible connection to serpent language. These details matter as they are giving us literary hyperlinks to a more important storyline.
In the Garden, God promised that the offspring of the woman would strike the serpent’s head. Now God’s anointed future king confronts an enemy dressed in serpentine imagery, strikes his head, removes it, and carries it to Jerusalem.
THE FULFILLMENT
Centuries later, another Davidic King arrives — the Messiah enters Jerusalem to confront a much greater enemy. His decisive victory takes place at a hill named Golgotha — a name the Gospel writers translate for us as meaning “the Place of the Skull”. This isn’t a linguistic or alliterative connection between Goliath and Golgotha. But stepping back and looking at the larger story Scripture has been telling, the imagery is difficult to ignore:
- The serpent
- An enemy
- The promised offspring defeating this serpent
- The enemy’s head is crushed and underfoot of the conquering king
Jesus’ death and resurrection accomplish the decisive victory over the serpent and the powers of darkness.
But wait, there’s more.
THE REALIZATION & PARTICIPATION
Here’s the part I find even more incredible. The story doesn’t end with Jesus. Paul closes his letter to the Romans with a promise: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16.20).
The Church’s feet — our feet.
The victory belongs to Jesus, but somehow, we participate in it.
Every time we expose a lie with truth, bring something hidden into the light, forgive instead of retaliating, refuse hatred, help someone find freedom, love someone who cannot repay us, or faithfully carry God’s Kingdom into the world around us, we aren’t defeating Satan again; we’re participating in the victory Jesus has already won.
That’s part of what it means to be the Church — we’re not spectators standing around admiring what Jesus accomplished. We’re a people empowered by His Spirit to continue carrying His victory into the world. And I love the way Paul says it; it isn’t the God of violence, domination, or revenge who crushes Satan beneath our feet. It’s “the God of peace“.
We don’t overcome the serpent by becoming more like him. We overcome by becoming increasingly like Jesus.
The serpent’s defeat was promised in a Garden. We catch a glimpse of it on a battlefield in the Hebrew Scriptures. But then, Jesus accomplishes the decisive victory at the place of a defeated foe’s head.
And now, as we allow the Holy Spirit to empower us, the God of peace continues to put the enemy under our feet.
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