TRADITION VS SCHOLARSHIP
The answer
Agree. The New Oxford Annotated Bible's essay on the historical books says the long David and Goliath story is written in late biblical Hebrew, the kind of Hebrew found in the Bible's later-written books. Its story also does not fit with what the chapters around it in Samuel tell. And it is shaped like a folk tale: an unlikely young hero kills the giant who defied the Lord and wins the king's daughter.
Why it’s interesting
Plain records in the Bible's history books are the parts scholars trust most, and each passage is still weighed on its own. One example is 1 Kings 15:18, where Asa sends the silver and gold left in the temple and the palace to the king of Aram. Hebrew changed over the centuries, so a passage's language is one clue to when it was written, not a date.
Genuinely debated
Learn the Bible.
Not just the stories, but the history, authorship, and scholarship behind it.