Trash Talking in the Tanakh

Goliath vs  Larry Bird

Larry Bird is one of my favorite basketball players of all time.  Despite being labeled as slow, unathletic and unable to jump, he led his team to victory after victory.  But he is well known for his trash talking.  For those of you unfamiliar with the term, it refers verbally getting into your opponents head by a barrage of non stop threats or predictions of how you're going to beat him.  Larry would famously tell the player who was guarding him- "I'm going into the corner and I'm going to shoot a three pointer and there's nothing you can do about it".  This cerainly takes the surprise out of the play, but he would generally get the shot off and score.  

There are two examples of trash talkers in Tanakh.  One is Ravshakeh the Assyrian general who put Jerusalem under siege during the reign of Hezekiah.  (2Kings 17 and 18)  He stood outside the wall of the city addressing both the common folk and the Hezekiah's officers.  In a nutshell he told everyone that they need to surrender to Assyria.  He tells them of other kingdoms that he has defeated including the northern kingdom of Israel some twenty years earlier.  In a moment of irony he tells them not to depend on God to save them because Hezekiah has removed all the bamot - the high places where people would sacrifice near their homes- because this is an insult to God.  He didn't realize that bamot were a vestige of illegal worship.  He lists the other peoples who depended on their gods and now are prisoners of the Assyrians.  Hezekiah's men on the wall tear their clothing in mourning as does the king himself.  Hezekiah prays to God.  He asks the advise of Isaiah the prophet.  Isaiah tells him God has heard his prayer and Sancheirev (Sennacherib) will not enter Jerusalem.  A plague strikes the Assyrians and they retreat back where they came from.  Sancheirev is later assassinated by members of his family.   So for all his trash talk Ravshakeh goes down to defeat.  

The other trash talker in Tanakh is Goliath the Phillistine. 1Samuel 17.  On the field of battle he curses David and says he will feed his body to the birds of the air  and the beasts of the field. Not as long winded as Ravshakeh but reminiscent of Larry Bird in that Goliath makes fun of David saying -Am I a dog that you come at me with sticks.  Larry would often taunt the player guarding  him- you can't guard me,  get someone who can play defense.  In the end Goliath is defeated by a single stone shot to his head.

Finally an interesting comparison between Goliath and Larry.  In our Masoretic text Goliath is 6 cubits and a span- about nine and a half feet tall.  The Septuagint and the Dead Sea scrolls  Samuel both give his height as 4 cubits and a span- about 6 foot and six inches.  Most likely the Masoretic exaggerated the height to increase the dramatic effect of David vs Goliath.  The height of 9 feet is unheard of and may exceed the limits of human physiology.  So Goliath at 6 ft 6 inches and Larry Bird at 6 foot 9 inches, both classic trash talkers.  It makes for an interesting matchup.