Was Goliath a Nephilim? Are they Still Among Us? How Tall Were They?

In the Hebrew Bible, Goliath, the giant King David defeated, is standing at a dizzying height. According to a new study, that formation may not have been an actual physical measurement but rather a metaphor based on the breadth of his hometown’s city wall. But, of course, that doesn’t tell us anything about whether additional portions of the narrative are real, such as if Goliath was a giant or his mismatched combat with David ever happened.

“We’re not trying to claim the story’s veracity,” said Jeffrey Chadwick, Israel Center Professor of Archaeology and Near Eastern Studies at Northwestern University, in a paper presented at the American Schools of Oriental Studies (ASOR) digital annual meeting on November 19. “The problem is “The meter,” he explained, “where does it institute from, how could it have been brought?”

Ancient metrics

Some ancient libraries say that Goliath walked at “four cubits and a span,” which Chadwick calculates to be around 7.80 feet (2.38 meters), while others believe he stood at “six cubits and a span,” which Chadwick calculates to be about 11.35 feet (3.46 m). That would have been an amazing height.

Hometown measurement

The crew recently dug a defense wall in the northern half of the Lower City. According to Chadwick, the wall was constructed around the 10th century BC, “when the Philistines dominated the municipality as it used as their capital,” according to Chadwick.

“At every location along the 40 m of its line unveiled by our excavations, the stone wall foundation was rigorously 2.38 m — four cubits and a span — in breadth,” Chadwick added. He estimated that the wall was 23 feet (7 meters) tall.

A FAMILIAL ASPECT TO GOLIATH’S GIGANTISM

Goliath, the Gittite, is a remarkably well-biblical giant. We derived Goliath’s ancestry from Sam and Chronicles. According to a strict reading of the words, the brother and three sons were again of massive proportions. Unfortunately, the surname of Goliath’s third kind does not exist in the Bible.

The Book of Samuel’s Composition

The Books of Samuel and Josh, Judges, and Kings comprise a coherent history of Israel known to biblical historians as the Deuteronomistic History. The first edition of the record was most probably written during Judah’s King Josiah (late 7th century BCE).

A revised second edition was probably produced during the exile (6th century BCE), with additional changes in the post-exilic era. There are traces of this in the Goliath narrative, such as the conflict, which claims that David brought Goliath’s head to the City and states that Jerusalem was still a Jebusite fortress and was not taken until David was king.

The Goliath story’s frame

The Goliath story is constituted of a base effulgence with multifarious embellishments appended, most doable after the exile:

The Original Tale

The Israelites & Philistine square off; Goliath challenges David to single combat; David volunteers to battle Goliath; David chooses controlled stones easily from a creek bed to use in his sling;

The Philistines depart the battlefield after David overcomes Goliath.

Additions

David is dispatched by his father to carry food to his siblings; he hears the challenge and is willing to undertake it.

Details of the competition narrative

When Saul inquires about David, he is brought to the king by Abner.

Goliath’s stature

Andrea Vaccaro’s David with the Skull of Goliath, about 1635. The earliest manuscripts, namely the Sea Scrolls text of Samuel from the late first century BCE, the first-century CE scholar Josephus, and the major Latin Vulgate manuscripts, all start giving it as “four mm× and a time frame” (6 feet 9 inches or 2.06 meters).

In comparison, the Biblical texts Text gives it as “six mm× and a span” (6 feet 9 inches or 2.06 meters) (9 feet 9 inches or 2.97 meters). Many academics believe that the lower consonance rose through transmission (just a few believe an initial greater integer was lowered), presumably because a scribe’s attention was attracted to the sixth position in line.

Saul and Goliath

When faced with Goliath, Saul refuses to lead the Israelites over their enemy; Saul is a head higher than anybody else in all of Israel, implying he was over 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and the logical opponent for Goliath.

Yet, David is the one who finally beats him. Furthermore, Saul’s armor and spears materialize to be no worse than Goliath’s (of course, David declines Saul’s equipment in any event). Finally, “David claims whenever a tiger or bear arrived and threatened his family’s sheep, he fought it and defeated it.”

The Greeks and Goliath

The armor described arises to be indicating Greek armor from the 6th century Bce rather than Philistine armor from the tenth century; narrative equations such as battle gain by single combat between champs have been thought to be defining features of the Homeric epics (the Iliad) instead of the ancient Near East.

The title “man of in” (a long-standing issue in translating emerges to be a derivation of the Greek “man of the ” i.e., the distance between two opposing army camps where the champion fight would take place.

Final Verdict

Goliath of Gath is, of course, the most well-known giant (2 Samuel 15:21-22). But, first, we learn just how tall he is. The Hebrew Masoretic reading for this passage reads, “And there came out from the camp of a Philistine a champion called Goliath of Gath, his height was six cubits and a span.” That equates to 9 feet, 9 inches tall.