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Religion: Semitic Exaggeration

After all, who did kill Goliath? Elmer Davis, letting his imagination zoom, said in his novel Giant Killer that it was not David, but his sturdy nephew Joab. Stumbling on the huge carcass, David made bold to slice off the head and stagger back with it to camp, claiming a victory that was not his.

On the other hand, cautious scholars who have no imagination have been troubled by the statement in II Samuel 21:19 where the killing of "Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam" is ascribed...

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MICHAEL BREEN, vice president of the Truman Project, a national security leadership institute, on the possible outcome of the U.S. and Israel's tough stance on Iran's nuclear program
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