Orpah as Mother of Goliath

And David went out to Goliath and said to him, “Hear this word before you die. Were not the two women, from whom you and I were born, sisters? And your mother was Orpah, and my mother Ruth. And Orpah chose for herself the gods of the Philistines and went after them, but Ruth chose for herself the ways of the Most Powerful and walked in them.”

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The book of Ruth contrasts the behavior of Ruth and Orpah, Naomi’s two daughters-in-law. When Naomi’s sons die, their Moabite wives are left widowed and childless, as is Naomi. When Naomi entreats her daughters-in-law to return to their fathers’ houses, Orpah takes leave of Naomi, while Ruth clings to her (Ruth 1:14). Eventually, Ruth returns to the land of Judah and bears a son, who is the grandfather of King David (Ruth 4:17–21). Although the biblical text presents Orpah’s decision to return to her father’s house neutrally, her legacy as preserved in later retellings is largely negative. According to traditions found in Pseudo-Philo’s Biblical Antiquities and rabbinic midrash, Orpah’s progeny include the Philistine giant Goliath, against whom David fights in 1 Samuel 17.

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