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The first sling (weapon) I recall seeing, Porky Wice had one.  Porky was the son of a Baptist preacher, and sort of a free spirit.  He also had a souped-up motorcycle that would do over 90 miles per hour it’s said.  Porky was 14 then.

Porky had made his sling out of two rawhide strings, joined together at the bottom by a flat, leather pocket for holding a rock.  He would sling that thing around his head and just at the right time pop it like a whip and send forth the rock at great speed.  

The sling differed from a slingshot in that it was made from a small tree fork; two strands of flat rubber — usually cut from a rubber tire tube, attached to a flat leather pocket.  A slingshot was not as strong and deadly as a sling.

I also knew a boy of 14 who had a sling. I read of him in the Bible (1 Samuel 17).  He was a shepherd boy by the name of David; the son of Jesse.

The Philistines were making war against the armies of Israel.  Their main force was the Philistine giant, Goliath.  All the men of Israel were afraid of his Goliath.  When they saw him, they fled from him.

Then David said to his king, Saul, “Your servant will go and fight this giant, this Philistine.”

King Saul objected, “You are a youth, he is a man of war.”  

“But your majesty,” David said, “I killed both a bear and a lion when guarding my father’s sheep.  The Lord delivered me from them; He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine giant.”

So, the king relented, and clothed David with his own armor and gave David his (the king’s) own sword.  David couldn’t even walk with all this on.  He took it off; with his sling he went to a nearby brook, and selected five smooth stones, and put them in his shepherd’s bag.  His sling was in his hand.

With only a sling, David drew near the giant.  The giant cursed him by his own gods, “Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks, I will give your flesh to the birds and the beasts.” 

David answered the giant, “You came to me with sword and spear, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defiled.  This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand; that all the earth will know that there is a God in Israel.”

So with his sling, David put in a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine giant in his forehead.  The giant fell on his face to the earth.  The stone sank into the giant’s forehead.  Then David took out the giant’s’ own sword and cut of his head.  When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.

Then the men of Israel shouted and pursued the Philistines, killing and wounding them along the road as far as Gath, and Ekron. Then David took the head of the Philistine giant back to Jerusalem and put it into King Saul’s hand.

We don’t know exactly the velocity of the stone as it penetrated the giant’s forehead.  It must have been much, for David was a strong, good sized boy.

Kindest regards…