And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from before him and were very much afraid — the *vayivrashu* (fled) is not military retreat but panic, the collapse of organized resistance into individual flight. The doubled expression *vayigur'u m'od meod* (very much afraid) indicates emotional extremity, a terror that paralyzes rationality. Yet this collective flight creates the condition for David's intervention; only when conventional warfare has proven inadequate can the unconventional deliverer emerge.

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