Aimee K
Talking about giants often puts us in a state of suspended reality, as we are so accustomed to do when reading fairy tales replete with fantastical creatures. However, the account of David and Goliath is in the context of a real time and a real place in history.
Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongs to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephes-Dammim.
And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, and there was a valley between them.
1 Sam. 17:1-3
Included below is a map of the area to get a better idea of the positions of the army of the Philistine’s and the Israelites.
Philistine Champion
And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
1 Samuel 17:4
Have you ever thought about Goliath’s size in literal terms?
A cubit is approximately 18 inches, and a span is about 9 inches. Based on these measurements, Goliath’s height would be approximately 9 feet 9 inches. Andre the Giant was seven feet four inches. Robert Wadlow, the tallest man in history, at least according to modern records, was only 8 feet 11 inches.
Weight of Arms
And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail. And the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.
One brass shekel weighs 11.34 grams. In modern terms, 5000 Shekel is equivalent to approximately 125 pounds.
And he had greaves of brass upon his legs and a spear of brass between his shoulders.
Greaves are pieces of armor that protect the leg, specifically the lower leg, from attack. They are usually composed of front and back pieces. The brass, as the material of composition, is mentioned as each piece of armor was described. The armor looked not only impressive, especially if polished, but it was all matching.
And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam.
What is a weaver’s beam? It is the heavy, round, pole that accommodates the maximum width of material as it is woven on a loom. The widest fabric made today is 108 inches (9 feet) wide. We can estimate that Goliath’s spear was at least 2 inches in diameter and 10 feet long.
And his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And one bearing a shield went before him.
On the end of that weaver’s beam was the spearhead. The spearhead weighed six hundred shekels of iron, which would be about 17 pounds. In order to balance the beam 1/3 of the distance to the spearhead, we should expect the beam itself to weigh 34 pounds.
The density of a ten foot long beam weighing 34 pounds, assuming it was solid, excludes any woods as the potential material of composition. It also excludes most common metals unless the spear pole was hollow. Since the spearhead was made of iron, we can assume that the pole too was made of iron; a hollow iron pole, originally used as a weaver’s beam.
Between armor and arms we can safely estimate that Goliath carried about 200 pounds.
Coat of Mail – 125 lbs
Spear – 34 lbs weaver’s beam + 17 spearhead = 51 lbs
Helmet – 15 lbs
Greaves – 5 lbs each = 10 lbs
Sword – 5 lbs
We can estimate that Goliath himself weighed about 580 pounds.
With the additional weight of his armor and weapons, Goliath would have been an intimidating and fearsome opponent.
Context
And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are you come out to set your battle in array? Am not I a Philistine, and you servants to Saul?
Goliath called the men, “servants to Saul”. There is some important context that we need to recall. Prior to this confrontation with the Philistines Saul had led the armies of Israel to battle against the Amalekites. The Lord gave him instruction, through the prophet Samuel:
Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
1 Samuel 15:3
Rather than follow the instruction with exactness, Saul let the people take livestock as spoils of war. When questioned by Samuel afterwards to explain the obvious bleating of sheep and lowing of cattle, Saul responded:
They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord your God. And the rest we have utterly destroyed.
THEY brought them, meaning his men. The Lord YOUR God? Not our God? But WE utterly destroyed the rest? Notice how he is deflecting responsibility and simultaneously taking credit for the part that was done as required?
Samuel relayed to Saul that he had been disobedient, that his actions were evil in the sight of the Lord. But again Saul refused to accept the Lord’s rebuke delivered by Samuel and excused himself:
Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord your God in Gilgal.
Where is the sacrifice? There is no sacrifice in giving something to God that you took from someone else in order to spare your own flocks. Saul blamed his men to protect himself. It was a weak and cowardly response. Finally Saul admitted, “I feared the people and obeyed their voice” (1 Samuel 15:24). Unbecoming behavior from someone claiming to lead as the king of Israel.
So Goliath was correct, the men assembled before him were “servants to Saul.” Not the armies of the God of Israel. Not led by a king. Saul had, by the way, at this point been stripped of the honor, his kingdom rent away from him by God for his disobedience and rebellion.
The men standing in the valley across from the armies of the Philistines were servants to Saul. Goliath spoke truly, however insulting it may have been for them to hear it.
The Challenge
Goliath offered a challenge that would spare the armies bloody combat and prevent hundreds, if not thousands of casualties.
Choose a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and to kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then shall you be our servants and serve us.
And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day, give me a man, that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
Maybe if the one-on-one combat offer had been made by a normal sized soldier it would seemed like an equitable or even winnable fight. But against the son of a giant? These sons of men were clearly no match. Goliath wasn’t just challenging Israel’s army—he was mocking their God.
Goliath’s offer was taunted, both morning and evening, and went unaccepted for forty days (1 Samuel 17:16). This seems significant. Forty is the number of days Christ fasted alone in the wilderness. It’s the number of days Moses was away from the children of Israel on Mount Sinai. It’s the period of time allotted to Nineveh before Jonah told them they’d be destroyed. Forty as a period of time symbolizes testing, trial and transformation.
The challenge ought to have been accepted by the king, but we already knew that Saul was weak and cowardly.
Greatest of All Predators
Goliath was not just intimidating. He was as fearsome an opponent as one can imagine. He wielded his strength and destruction followed in his wake. Who could have possibly challenged him?
His character was developed under the auspices of always getting his way. Beyond this battlefield he probably not only engaged in, what to him would have been delightful and easy bloodshed, but the spoils of war which included taking the best of the plunder and ravaging the most beautiful of women; likely to death, given his size.
While other predators have not had the advantage of Goliath’s size and might, we are familiar enough with the abuses of men that took place in the early days of the Restoration.
Men were overcome with feelings of importance, self deluded that they were above the laws that God had established. Many works were done in secret and then the record later altered to gaslight the whole of the church.
There was no system of checks and balances with the priesthood that they had been endowed with, and women, overcome with the truthfulness of a restored gospel, failed to weigh every principle put forth by these men, who had let themselves become corrupted then predatory.
They knew what they were doing was wicked, because they hid it from general knowledge, yet garnered strength in their ranks by appealing to the pride of other men who succumbed to the spirit of adultery.
Predatory Women
In considering the nature of predators, is it possible for women to have a predatory nature? Yes, but it looks entirely different than a man.
There is an example in the Old Testament of a woman named Delilah and a covenant man of great strength named Sampson.
While Sampson had been away, his wife was taken from him, given to another man and then killed along with his father-in-law by the Philistines in a fire (Judg. 6:6). After the death of his wife, he began seeing harlots, unfortunately. The record says that after that “he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah” (Judg. 6:9).
By virtue of her relationship with Sampson, Delilah was approached by the lords of the Philistines tempting her with 1100 pieces of silver if she would discover the secret of his strength.
Women are soft and tender. Beautiful and alluring. Needing protection but with welcoming arms after a hard battle has been won. What’s to fear from a woman? There is no strength that is so fearsome as with a man!
In the wisdom of God, where woman is weak man is strong. And maintaining balance in the power dynamic, where men are vulnerable, women are capable.
Many men assume that women are naturally nurturing and sincere, which is why manipulative women can be particularly dangerous—they weaponize their perceived innocence.
Delilah gained Samson’s trust over time, pretending to love him while working toward his downfall. She played the long game, subtly wearing him down applying ever increasing emotional pressure. She repeatedly asking Samson for the source of his strength, seeing how much resistance he would give. To Samson’s credit he did not tell her, at least not at first. He was told not to disclose the truth of the matter, and gave her something just to get her to stop pestering him.
And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green cords that were never dried, then I shall be weak and be as another man. Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green cords which had not been dried and she bound him with them.
When discovered that the information was false she said, “you have mocked me and told me lies”.
Lady, you just tried to kill your boyfriend but now YOU’RE the victim?!? And Samson, dumb love struck dope that he was, did not recognize that she turned the tables on him. He placated her by giving her yet another false reason, without recognizing that somehow his enemies thought that binding him with seven green cords might work. How they would have gotten that information, I wonder?
So she again pressed the matter:
Now tell me, I pray you, with what you might be bound.
And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.
Delilah therefore took new ropes and bound him with them, and said unto him, The Philistines are upon you, Samson. And there were men lying in wait abiding in the chamber. And he broke them from off his arms like a thread.
Surprise, surprise.
What’s baffling to me is that Samson continued to engage with her even after she used the decoy information he gave her against him. Not once, not twice but THREE TIMES!
And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me with what you might be bound. And he said unto her, If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web. And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines are upon you, Samson.
In retrospect we know that he did not recognize the pattern that would have allowed him to understand what was actually going on because it was obscured by her manipulation. He had three damning pieces of evidence that somehow were ignored. Actions speak louder than words.
And she said unto him, How can you say, I love you — when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me wherein your great strength lies.
Instead of force, she used charm, intimacy, and emotional guilt to extract the information. She accused him of not truly loving her when she discovered, by treachery no less, that his answers were fake.
Without recognizing the predatory behavior of this woman Samson, the strongest man undefeated in all the world was undone.
She pestered him yet again and to his own destruction he told her. Despite the evidence that she would use it against him, he told her anyway. I’m sure it was not without some feigned shows of sorrow and promises covered in kisses.
And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death, that he told her all his heart…
You know the rest.
How to Recognize Predator Behavior
I won’t pretend to take credit for the following. I pasted Denver Snuffer’s blogspot titled Predators into ChatGPT and asked,
Normally, in Restoration Fellowships men have been identified as predators and had their priesthood certificates removed. My question to you is what would it look like for a woman to display predatory behavior? The nature of men and women is very different, so one would expect the approach between the two to be different.
ChatGPT’s answer (formatting as provided)
While male predators often use physical dominance or overt control, female predators tend to operate more covertly—through emotional manipulation, spiritual distortion, and social influence. Understanding their tactics is essential for protecting individuals and maintaining the integrity of a fellowship.
Core Traits of Predatory Behavior:
Control Over Connection
Predators, regardless of gender, are not interested in mutual respect or true fellowship. Their goal is control, validation, and power—always on their terms. Relationships are not sacred to them; they are tools for dominance.Emotional and Spiritual Manipulation
Female predators may exploit emotional closeness, maternal roles, or spiritual influence to gain control. They might use false revelation, exaggerated spiritual authority, or play the victim to manipulate others into loyalty or submission.Gaslighting and Reality Distortion
They may deny things they’ve said or done, rewrite history, and make others question their own perceptions. Arguing with them puts you on the defensive and strengthens their control.Intermittent Reinforcement (Emotional Addiction)
A powerful tactic involves cycling unpredictably between kindness and cruelty, creating a toxic emotional dependency. You end up chasing the brief moments of warmth, which were simply tools of manipulation.Projection and Accusation
Female predators may accuse others of the very sins they are committing—lying, emotional instability, manipulation—to deflect attention and keep their targets off balance.Weaponizing Victimhood
They may appear weak or wounded to gain sympathy, sidestep accountability, or shift blame. This can be especially dangerous in fellowships, where compassion is highly valued.Undermining Others Socially or Spiritually
This includes spreading gossip, sowing division, or turning others against someone they see as a threat. It can also include subtle power grabs, especially under the guise of “helping” or “spiritual concern.”Avoidance of Accountability
True repentance is rare. Instead, they may offer shallow apologies, shift blame, or manipulate others into feeling responsible for their actions.Manipulating Perception and Validation
Predators thrive when you seek their approval. Every time you adjust your behavior to appease them, you reinforce their dominance. They constantly move the goalposts to keep you insecure.Resistance to Truth or Correction
When confronted, they may become defensive, escalate conflict, or turn others against the person offering correction. They do not respond to reasoning or moral appeals—only to boundaries and consequences.Lack of Closure and Emotional Exhaustion
Waiting for them to acknowledge harm or take responsibility keeps you in their web. The only closure you’ll receive is the one you give yourself—by walking away.
What to Do in a Fellowship Setting:
- Discern Patterns, Not Promises: Pay attention to repeated behaviors over time, not momentary remorse or charming words.
- Be Patient, But Firm: Allow space for genuine repentance, but don’t tolerate persistent harm.
- Withdraw Fellowship When Necessary: As the Teaching & Commandments say, those who sin and will not repent must be cast out to protect the community.
- Don’t Argue or Explain: Refuse to be baited into justifying yourself. Detach emotionally and spiritually.
- Reclaim Your Worth: Stop looking for approval from the predator. See yourself clearly and honor your God-given value.
Final Thought:
Whether male or female, predators wear different masks, but the spirit behind them is the same—control, deception, and destruction. The gospel of Christ is not about blind tolerance. It is about truth, love, and protection of the innocent. Fellowship must be a refuge for the humble and penitent, not a playground for the predatory.
Directive from the Lord
There have been disputes among the women about the conduct of women’s councils and disputes about how they are to proceed. I have given direction and it is not wise for the women to be commanded in every particular, but it is also not wise for the direction I have given to be used to achieve a predetermined outcome. The outcome should be based on, and the result of, what is learned in the council.
All my revelations are intended to guide you, and therefore remember that I have told you that I suffered the Constitution of the United States to be established to maintain the rights and protection of all based upon just and holy principles; and that I established the Constitution by the hands of wise men whom I raised up for this very purpose. The abuses and mistreatment of mankind by unjust governments needed to end, and the principles adopted in the Bill of Rights were intended to secure the protection of those accused of transgressing the laws of the land. The women should consider those protections as they decide how to conduct councils involving those accused of transgressing the laws of God.
Let the women call a conference at a suitable time and place convenient to allow interested women to attend. Have your wife, Stephanie Snuffer conduct the conference deliberations and let any who want to speak present their concerns. Reason together and draw upon the experiences from those past women’s councils. Let the women learn to come to agreement and the voice of that conference decides all matters raised. And I remind you that the majority of those who vote decide the voice of the conference of women. If 100 vote, the vote of 51 decides the matter. And, if another dispute later arises from other women’s councils, and there is a need, call another conference of the women and resolve the dispute by the voice of the women’s conference, as often as need arises.
Living Under a Rock
I was fully under the impression that the 12 April “Reasoning Together” conference was fulfilling the directive of the Lord. I supported it, understanding that the Lord is willing to allow us to work through matters regarding Women’s councils, drawing on lessons from past councils and the guidance He has given us.
However, I apparently have been living under a rock. I attended my first ever conference in Zion Ponderosa in October 2024 and was in such an epic afterglow I did not have any awareness that the Women of Peace conference had taken place only 4 weeks later on November 23rd.
This has put me into a profound state of confusion regarding the nature of “Reasoning Together,” which is separately organized from proposals vote taking place between 4:30pm and 6:30pm, and to which all are invited.
Produced from the Women of Peace Conference was a unanimously accepted Document for use by Women to facilitate Women’s Councils to use “as a guide for the proceedings of future women’s councils for the ensuing twelve months, with leeway to make adjustments to or not adhere to disputed items”. The burden for general acceptance, according to the Lord, is a simple majority, so it is rather profound that the document was approved unanimously. The line items still in dispute have been noted throughout and are not binding.
However, the Reasoning Together document titled WCF Announcement says, “We will only be considering whether the man was given a fair trial and whether we as a community will choose to uphold these WCLs as fair and in alignment with the Lord’s instructions. Should the WCF determine the council was not held to the Lord’s instructions, the man’s certificate should be considered undisputed and intact. A fair and legitimate WCL can then be held for the man at a future date should any women determine it is important to do so.”
In other words, a previously held women’s council to revoke a man’s priesthood certificate is on trial before the general assembly of women. This is outside of the scope of what the Lord has authorized. We are to only “draw upon the experiences from those women’s councils” and agree upon matters pertaining to future women’s councils.
As a reminder, Stephanie Snuffer is conducting the conference deliberations and parliamentary rules cannot be unilaterally dictated by conference organizers.
The document unanimously approved in the Women of Peace Conference does not nullify the outcome of any previous women’s councils. That is called ex post facto, where a new rule is applied retroactively to an action taken prior to the rule existing. As a nation, gross injustice would result from accepting ex post facto laws. To prevent such injustice, ex post facto laws are prohibited, codified in Article I Sections 9 and 10 of the US Constitution. Likewise, a women’s council cannot be nullified for something that was done in good faith following all the Lord’s guidance received up to that point in time.
The controversy is provided on the conference host’s personal blog. The women who sat on the council in question, some of whom are necessarily anonymous, are also indirectly on trial because someone outside of the process did not like the outcome. All of these women would have had to unanimously collude to violate the Lord’s wisdom and guidance in removing the man’s priesthood certificate. This is an outrageous and offensive insinuation.
The checks and balances that ensure fairness is within the process itself, “so that no injustice results.” (T&C 157:57) The council is not a singular body, but twelve independent women who know the man personally and are familiar with his daily walk. And in this particular case it sounds like 14, more than meeting the minimum required.
There ought not be an appellate process because that suggests that there was injustice in the order of what the Lord provided, in which He testifies there is not. And these women, not as a singular council body, but twelve independently are all accused of having dealt unjustly with the man. Because during the council, if even one woman doubts, or doesn’t agree, already has 100% authority to stop the process and vote a singular “No”.
If we have 12+ women independently all voting to enact injustice upon helpless men, we have a much bigger problem as a covenant body.
Even a single disobedient soul who breaks the hearts of others by his sinful disobedience can destroy the peace of all my people.
Revelation given August 8, 2022
This matches the description of what is now underway. There is one disobedient soul destroying peace. He is clearly unrepentant, given how long this has dragged on, both publicly and ( I can’t imagine how long ) privately. Crying foul, but not taking the time to honestly have some introspection and resolve what faults has brought him to this point.
When I was brand new in this movement there was a women’s council held in my fellowship. I was not a part of the process and was only made aware of the proceedings after a decision had been reached. I was mortified! Not that the council had happened, but that the council was even necessary in the first place. What surprised me and reassured me was the outpouring of love afterwards. It was SO unlike how the corporate church handles similar situations. The man admitted his sins, was humble and repentant. The validity of the council was not called into question. The decision was not appealed to the general body of covenant women. The dirty laundry was not aired. It was washed quietly at home and that man now serves with clean garments in full capacity; a priesthood certificate in hand and his family intact. And the general body has no idea that any of this went on.
There is no injustice. And there ought not be any procedural opportunity for disobedient men to abuse, accuse, harass and exhaust the women willing to hold them accountable for their sins. This has drug on long enough. I did not sit on the council. I don’t know all of the details. But here we are, my peace disturbed as we mull over this ever putrefying pile of dirty laundry.
Additional Witnesses
Protected: Regarding the Women’s Conference
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Open House
There is now an open house posted on Remnant Events to host the men while the women attend the “Reason Together” conference. If any woman does not want to be embroiled in the conflict, they are welcome to attend the open house instead. If any woman needs a break from the 8 hour browbeating that is planned, here is a safe landing spot.
Independently organized are Zoom meetings that will prepare those who would be Peacemakers. Finding peace doesn’t mean capitulating to abuse, manipulation and predatory behavior. We must recognize how to find Peace in Christ. That takes preparation. These meetings do not interfere with the already planned Zoom meetings that are being held by conference organizers. You may attend both, if you’d like.
Preparing the Peacemakers
05:30 PM to 06:30 PM MOUNTAIN Time (US and Canada)
DATES:
Firm Boundaries: 23 March 2025
God Heals Our Pain: 30 March 2025
Reclaim Your Power: 06 April 2025
Recordings posted below
Series: Sons of Giants, Sons of Men, Son of God
