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David and Goliath's Beheading in 1 Samuel 17 — Biblical Glorification of Mutilation and Its Colonial Legacy

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How to Navigate This Note The Biblical Account — 1 Samuel 17 — David kills Goliath with a stone, then beheads the already-dead body Psalm 151 — The Beheading Immortalized in Coptic Liturgy — the psalm chanted in Coptic Orthodox churches commemorating the act The Divine Endorsement — 1 Kings 15:5 — the Old Testament declares this “right in the eyes of the Lord” Matthew 7:5 — A Word to Those Who Object — the plank and the speck Historical Legacy — The Rif War and Morocco — Spanish and French colonial armies, beheading documented in the press and on postcards Historical Legacy — The Americas — Bartolomé de las Casas’s testimony on the atrocities of the Spanish Christian armies

The Old Testament does not merely record David’s beheading of the already-dead Goliath as a historical incident — it immortalizes it in liturgical poetry, endorses it as behavior that was “right in the eyes of the Lord,” and places it at the center of a psalm that Coptic Orthodox Christians chant to this day. The argument here is not that Christianity caused colonialism, but that the glorification of a specific act — beheading a defeated enemy and celebrating it as divine favor — appears in the founding texts of a tradition and appears again, documented in newspaper print and military photography, in the behavior of armies that carried priests in their front lines and acted in the name of the God of the Old Testament.

The Biblical Account — 1 Samuel 17

The seventeenth chapter of the First Book of Samuel contains the story of David and Goliath. The relevant verses are as follows:

1 Samuel 17:49-51 Then David put his hand into the bag, and took a stone from it, and slung it, and struck the Philistine on the forehead; and the stone stuck in his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

So David gained the upper hand over the Philistine with the sling and the stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. And there was no sword in David’s hand.

Then David ran and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of its sheath, and slew him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their mighty man was dead, they fled.

Verse 50 states explicitly that David killed the Philistine with the stone — “there was no sword in David’s hand.” Goliath was already dead. He had fallen face-down to the ground. What followed — running to stand over the body, drawing the dead man’s own sword, and cutting off his head — was not an act of combat. It was mutilation of a corpse. The Old Testament does not present this as a regrettable excess committed in the heat of battle. It presents it without censure, as part of the victory narrative.

Psalm 151 — The Beheading Immortalized in Coptic Liturgy

What makes this more than a historical narrative is that the act was not left to sit quietly in a war chronicle. It was elevated into liturgical poetry — into a psalm chanted by Coptic Orthodox Christians as an act of worship.

Psalm 151:6-8 — Coptic Orthodox Canon I went out to meet the Philistine, and he cursed me with his idols.

But I drew the sword that was in his hand, and cut off his head.

And I removed the shame from the children of Israel. Hallelujah!

The beheading of a dead man’s body is commemorated in a psalm that ends with “Hallelujah” — meaning “Glory to the Lord.” The act is not acknowledged as a moment of excess to be set aside. It is presented as a moment of divine deliverance, worthy of praise, worthy of liturgical repetition, worthy of the word that means glory to God. This psalm is not fringe material. It is part of the Coptic Orthodox canon and is chanted in Coptic churches to this day.

The Divine Endorsement — 1 Kings 15:5

The wider Biblical context seals the matter. The First Book of Kings offers a retrospective evaluation of David’s entire life and conduct before God:

1 Kings 15:5 For David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and did not turn aside from anything that the Lord commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

The single exception noted is the matter of Uriah. The beheading of Goliath is not listed as an exception. It falls within the sweep of what David did that was “right in the eyes of the Lord.” This is the Old Testament’s own verdict on the act: it was right. It was approved. It was not a departure from God’s commandments but a fulfillment of them.

Matthew 7:5 — A Word to Those Who Object

Matthew 7:5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Those who object to the behavior of others while their own scripture contains and endorses the act under discussion might consider these words from their own Gospel.

Historical Legacy — The Rif War and Morocco

The following section documents historical instances of beheading carried out by Christian colonial armies against Muslim populations, drawing on contemporary sources.

The Duchy of Victoria’s Gift — Spain, October 1921

The Spanish researcher Manuel Leguineche documents the following in his work Annual 1921: Spain’s Crimes in the Rif (Alfaguara, Madrid, 1996), page 126. In October 1921, the daily newspaper El Sol published news that a Spanish noblewoman received a gift from Spanish soldiers — a basket containing the severed heads of Moroccan Muslims:

Manuel Leguineche — Annual 1921: Spain’s Crimes in the Rif, p. 126 This morning, the Duchess Victoria received a basket of roses, in the middle of the basket there were two shining heads, the most beautiful of the two hundred heads that were picked yesterday.

The following image shows documentary evidence related to this incident and the Rif War context:

Documentary image related to the Annual 1921 disaster and Spanish colonial violence in the Rif War
Documentary image related to the Annual 1921 disaster and Spanish colonial violence in the Rif War

The French Army in Morocco — Aghoray, Meknes Region

In the Aghoray region near the Moroccan city of Meknes, during the period of the French occupation, the French colonial army carried out beheadings of Moroccan resistance fighters and converted the photographs into postcards — souvenirs of military action distributed and preserved as trophies.

The following image shows one of these documented photographs from the French occupation period in Morocco:

Photograph from the French occupation of Morocco near Meknes showing the aftermath of colonial military action against Moroccan resistance fighters
Photograph from the French occupation of Morocco near Meknes showing the aftermath of colonial military action against Moroccan resistance fighters

The Rif War — Spanish Christian Colonial Forces

The following images document the conduct of Spanish Christian colonial soldiers during the Rif War, including the parading of Amazigh heads as spoils of war, carried out with the presence and blessing of monks and priests who accompanied these armies in their front lines:

Spanish colonial soldiers during the Rif War with documented evidence of colonial violence against Amazigh Muslims
Spanish colonial soldiers during the Rif War with documented evidence of colonial violence against Amazigh Muslims

A second image from this period documents the colonial parade of Amazigh heads as military trophies:

Second image from the Rif War period documenting Spanish colonial forces parading Muslim heads as spoils of war
Second image from the Rif War period documenting Spanish colonial forces parading Muslim heads as spoils of war

A third image from this documented historical record:

Third image from the Rif War period showing the conduct of Spanish Christian colonial armies against Moroccan Muslims
Third image from the Rif War period showing the conduct of Spanish Christian colonial armies against Moroccan Muslims

A fourth image continues this historical documentation:

Fourth image from the Rif War period documenting colonial military conduct in Morocco
Fourth image from the Rif War period documenting colonial military conduct in Morocco

The following image is a historical map related to the Annual 1921 disaster and the geography of the Rif War:

Historical map of the Rif War region related to the Annual 1921 disaster in Spanish colonial Morocco
Historical map of the Rif War region related to the Annual 1921 disaster in Spanish colonial Morocco

Historical Legacy — The Americas

The testimony of the priest Bartolomé de las Casas — a Spanish Dominican friar who witnessed the conduct of Spanish Christian armies against the indigenous peoples of the Americas — records the following atrocities carried out in the name of the God of the Old Testament:

  • Annihilation of entire villages
  • Slitting the bellies of pregnant women and killing their fetuses
  • Crushing the heads of children with rocks
  • Burning people alive

The following image shows documentation related to Bartolomé de las Casas’s testimony on the crimes of the Spanish Christian armies in the Americas:

Documentation related to Bartolomé de las Casas's testimony on Spanish Christian colonial atrocities against indigenous peoples of the Americas
Documentation related to Bartolomé de las Casas's testimony on Spanish Christian colonial atrocities against indigenous peoples of the Americas

All of this was carried out by armies that were accompanied by priests and monks in their front lines — armies that acted in the name of the commandment of the God of the Old Testament: kill to destroy.

Conclusion — The Text and Its Fruits The Old Testament records that David killed Goliath with a stone and then beheaded the dead body. It places this act within a liturgical psalm that ends with “Hallelujah.” It endorses the totality of David’s conduct as “right in the eyes of the Lord.” The historical record then shows armies carrying priests in their vanguard, sending baskets of severed heads as gifts to noblewomen, photographing beheaded resistance fighters and selling the images as postcards, and annihilating indigenous peoples from the Americas to the Rif Mountains. The connection being drawn here is not that the Bible caused all of this — it is that a book which glorifies the beheading of a dead enemy in a psalm of praise, and endorses the act as divinely approved conduct, should not be invoked by those who wish to condemn others for violence. The plank must come before the speck.

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