That is a really good question.
In 1 Samuel chapter 18 we are told that, after Goliath had been felled by David's slingstone, David ran up and cut off his head with Goliath's own sword. The Philistine army panicked and fled, pursued by the Israelites as far as the gates of the Philistine cities of Gath and Ekron. Verse 52 tells us that the Philistine dead were scatted all along the road from the site of the battle to the gates of these two cities. So Goliath's would have been one body among many, indistinguishable from the others apart from its height and the fact that it was decapitated.
We are also told that David took Goliath's head back to Jerusalem, where presumably it was set up on a stake at the city gate or something. David also kept Goliath's weapons as trophies of war, but apparently did not strip him of his armor. Later Goliath's sword found its way to the Tabernacle, possibly dedicated to God by David. Ahimelech, the Priest, gave it back to David when he fled from Saul, 1 Samuel ch 21 vs 9.
The Bible says almost nothing about how the Israelites disposed of their enemy dead. We do know that they used to count them by cutting off a hand from each man, or sometimes the penis! And then counting them. Armour and any weapons found with dead enemies were regarded as spoils of war. As David did not take Goliath's armour, presumeably one of the ordinary Israelite soldiers stripped him and took it.
It is unlikely that Goliath's, or any one else's body would have just been left to rot in the sun. Israelite bodies were probably claimed by their families, and it is possible that the Israelites would have allowed the Philistines to recover their own dead, under strict supervision, of course, once they had been stripped of anything of value. In this case, the bodies would be buried by each person's family.
One might think with that amount of carnage, that the simplest method of disposal would be to pile the bodies in heaps and burn them, but there is no record of that. In fact, it is implied, though not directly stated, that the Israelites buried their fallen enemies' bodies if there was no-one else to do it.
So Locke is probably right. The likelihood is that Goliath was buried in a very big grave!
In 1 Samuel chapter 18 we are told that, after Goliath had been felled by David's slingstone, David ran up and cut off his head with Goliath's own sword. The Philistine army panicked and fled, pursued by the Israelites as far as the gates of the Philistine cities of Gath and Ekron. Verse 52 tells us that the Philistine dead were scatted all along the road from the site of the battle to the gates of these two cities. So Goliath's would have been one body among many, indistinguishable from the others apart from its height and the fact that it was decapitated.
We are also told that David took Goliath's head back to Jerusalem, where presumably it was set up on a stake at the city gate or something. David also kept Goliath's weapons as trophies of war, but apparently did not strip him of his armor. Later Goliath's sword found its way to the Tabernacle, possibly dedicated to God by David. Ahimelech, the Priest, gave it back to David when he fled from Saul, 1 Samuel ch 21 vs 9.
The Bible says almost nothing about how the Israelites disposed of their enemy dead. We do know that they used to count them by cutting off a hand from each man, or sometimes the penis! And then counting them. Armour and any weapons found with dead enemies were regarded as spoils of war. As David did not take Goliath's armour, presumeably one of the ordinary Israelite soldiers stripped him and took it.
It is unlikely that Goliath's, or any one else's body would have just been left to rot in the sun. Israelite bodies were probably claimed by their families, and it is possible that the Israelites would have allowed the Philistines to recover their own dead, under strict supervision, of course, once they had been stripped of anything of value. In this case, the bodies would be buried by each person's family.
One might think with that amount of carnage, that the simplest method of disposal would be to pile the bodies in heaps and burn them, but there is no record of that. In fact, it is implied, though not directly stated, that the Israelites buried their fallen enemies' bodies if there was no-one else to do it.
So Locke is probably right. The likelihood is that Goliath was buried in a very big grave!
