Was Goliath really a Giant?

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was goliath a giant, Was Goliath really a Giant
Was biblical Goliath really a giant? This is what scientists want to discover in a new study.

Goliath, described as having a jaw-dropping height, was felled by King David in the Hebrew Bible.

But a new research questions whether or not Goliath was a giant.

Some ancient texts say that Goliath stood from “four cubits and a span” (7.80 feet or 2.38 meters) to “six cubits and a span” (11.35 feet or 3.46 m). To put it in perspective, the tallest recorded person in modern times stood an impressive 8 feet 11 inches (2.72 m) tall. 

But how much these “cubits” and “spans” are in modern-day measurements?

Scientists aren’t sure. In ancient Israel, a “cubit” was equal to 1.77 feet (54 centimeters), and a span was equal to 0.72 feet (22 cm).

Current archeological studies excavate Gath, the city where Goliath grew up.

Recently, the team unearthed a fortification wall found in the northern part of the lower city. The stone wall foundations measured exactly 2.38 meters (four cubits and a span) in width at every point along the 40 meters of its line.

Scientists argue that biblical writers may have gotten Goliath’s height from the width of the north lower city wall of Gath. They also notice that Goliath is the only person whose precise height is recorded in the Bible.

So where did the Bible’s authors have gotten Goliath’s height of “four cubits and a span?”

It’s possible that the Bible writers “have been metaphorically describing Goliath as being comparable to the size and strength of the Philistine capital’s city wall.

What do you think? Was Goliath a giant or not? More biblical news on Live Science, Strange Sounds and Steve Quayle.

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11 Comments

  1. Goliath was compared to being of those who were of the giants such as the Anakim extension of the Nephilim. Og was over 15 feet tall having a bed over 17 feet long & 7 feet wide. Goliath, which 1 Samuel 17:4 lists as a height of 6 twenty-one inch cubits and 1 Zereth (a large span, equal to 1/2 a cubit) comes to 126″ plus 10.5″ for a total of 136.5″ or a height of 11′ 6 1/2″. The cubit relative to the time period is inferred, just as Josephus reckons pre-Cyrus antiquity as the 10 month years of ca. 305 days that threw all seasons out of whack in Greek calendars until stabilized by Cyrus, so ancient historical reckonings revert to an assumption that you would already know that the Ezekiel & prior cubits are ca. 21″ in length. There is much illiteracy among 99+% of scholarship because they have NOT done the research themselves to find out why the discrepancy of years in Josephus etc what really are not discrepancies when you have the key to the formulation Josephus used.

    Nephilim in Hebrew is spelled from right to left as Nun – Pe – Yod – Lamed – Yod – Mem. Nephil (Nun – Pe – Yod – Lamed ) and in the 1st definition, appears to come from a 3 letter root of Nun – Pe –Lamed is napal, and means “to fall, lie down, or be cast down” . In the second definition, Nephilim is seen as an expansion of (Pe – Lamed – Alef – Yod) pil’i – “(to be) wonderful / incomprehensible” and finding for its 3 letter root word: pala – (to be ) wonderful / marvelous (Pe – Lamed – Alef). Not told you is the third definition, Nun – Pe – He / NaPaH. NaPaH as a word root that can sometimes be used to describe what we might term as excessive “height”. NaPaH is an assumed root for TeNUPaH (Tav – Nun – Vav – Pe – He) / a “shaking or wave offering.”
    In Isaiah 19:16,
    16 In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he shaketh over it.
    TeNUPaH is used to describe GOD “shaking” His Hand in a manner that proscribes Judgment.

    In Isaiah 30:32,
    32 And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.
    we are informed of “battles of shaking” where an earthquake replaces the awesomeness of an army without number whose great weight of the horses and amount of humanity actually shakes the earth under the feet of the participants as they wage war on one another.
    And so on we can go. However, in returning to NaPaH as the root word from which Nephilim is derived, the emphasis we need to look at is on height and that which causes the shaking under the feet or the shaking of fear in the beholding of the object in question. When an object is heavy and concentrated enough, its movement can make the earth rumble or shake under one’s feet. I believe that is what is in the word picture of Nephilim as seen from the root word of NaPaH. It is a combination of a height and a shaking that is experienced through a specific set of human beings we must by necessity call giants, whose very movements were not only loud, but because of the concentration of their height and weight, they shook they earth beneath their feet as they moved hither and thither.
    In Berachot 54b
    http://halakhah.com/berakoth/berakoth_54.html
    the rabbis hold the tradition that Moses the Law-giver stood at a height of 10 Cubits, but in fact, what was likely meant was a height of 10 zereths @ 105″ or 8′ 9″.

    To say that a height of 17′ 6″ was the intent of Berachot 54b seems very unlikely to have been the intent kept by Talmud, when 10 half cubits using 10 as a perfect measure of the Law (i.e., enveloped within the 10 Commandments) was meant. So, in effect, if you REALLY want a conversation starter, look to the height of Moses, as he, like Robert Pershing Wadlow in 1940, was an 8′ 9′ giant, but Moses lived to a healthy age of 120. But how long was a Hebrew or Egyptian year in 1511 B.C., the actual year Moses died? That actual Greek calendar, ancient Christian retained, & Bible genealogy retained & provable date is at length for another day.

  2. Joshua’s men said they looked like grasshoppers before the giants of promised land ,and so did the giants see them as such.
    Is this site bent on disproving what is strange to biased science?

  3. Is that why Joshua said his men felt like grasshoppers, King Og had a nine foot bed? So convenient to leave out the other important verses.

  4. The weight of Goliath’s armor – 5000 shekels (1 Sam 17:5), or 150 lbs – would be too much for anyone under 9 feet tall to wear. That pretty much settles the case – he was a giant!

      • I’ve seen those giant videos on the internet. The elongated skulls video. The reports of giants in caves of Afghanistan. I’ve seen the video with the enormous skeletons.
        Still not 100% convinced yet. The videos seemed faked or enhanced.

  5. Modern day giants often suffer from acromegly. Perhaps there were cases back during the days of David and Goliath?

    Of course, (back then) the people wouldn’t know about acromegly, so somebody with that condition would probably be classified as a giant?

    • The angel / human hybrids mentioned in Genesis 6:2-4 did not suffer from acromegly. How do we know this? Some of their genetic material still exists in mankind today. For example, there is a married couple in Brazil both of whom have 6 functioning digits on each hand and foot. All of their children have six functioning digits on their hands and feet.

      • Yeah, six digits is a marker.
        The weirdo that painted a picture of commiebama, painted him with six digits.

        It was that lame picture of him sitting on a chair, surrounded by foliage.

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