And the people told him, saying, Thus shall it be done for the man who kills him — the soldiers' response (*vayomer lo ha'am*) affirms the covenant that if one man defeats Goliath, he shall be made great, honored, and the king's family connected to his own. Yet their recitation is empty of conviction; they speak the reward but not the faith that makes it imaginable. Their words are formulaic, the ritual utterance of compensation, not the passionate affirmation of a people who believe victory is possible.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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