Goliath, a giant

Goliath, the not-so-giant giant?

Introduction

Back in December 2022, an interloper swooped down into the “King James Bible / Textus Receptus Defenders” Facebook group. He was anti-King James, anti-Masoretic text, and pro-Greek Old Testament. In about three or four days he put up hundreds of posts, then, either having expended all the contrary items he knew or having worn out his welcome – or both – he moved on to play games elsewhere.

One of his anti-KJV anti-Masoretic text screeds was about the height of Goliath, the not-so-giant giant, reduced in height by 3 feet. The Hebrew Masoretic text was wrong; the Greek LXX was right. Here is the relevant verse for inspection.

KJV English translation from the Masoretic text

1 Samuel 17:4 And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

וַיֵּצֵ֤א אִֽישׁ־הַבֵּנַ֙יִם֙ מִמַּחֲנ֣וֹת פְּלִשְׁתִּ֔ים גָּלְיָ֥ת שְׁמ֖וֹ מִגַּ֑ת גָּבְה֕וֹ שֵׁ֥שׁ אַמּ֖וֹת וָזָֽרֶת׃

Brenton English translation from the LXX

1 Samuel 17:4 And there went forth a mighty man out of the army of the Philistines, Goliath, by name, out of Geth, his height [was] four cubits and a span.

καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἀνὴρ δυνατὸς ἐκ τῆς παρατάξεως τῶν ἀλλοφύλων Γολιὰθ ὄνομα αὐτῶν ἐκ Γέθ, ὕψος αὐτοῦ τεσσάρων πήχεων καὶ σπιθαμῆς·

Immediately a difference stands out – the Hebrew Goliath stands at 6 cubits and a span (about 9 feet 9 inches) while the Greek Goliath is two cubits shorter, four cubits and a span (about 6 feet 9 inches).[i] What to do?

Witnesses for the short Goliath

The interloper, with great intent to slight the Masoretic text, argued that the Greek reading is supported by Josephus and the Dead Sea Scrolls. In that he is correct. Josephus stated:

Now there came down a man out of the camp of the Philistines, whose name was Goliath, of the city of Gath; a man of vast bulk, for he was of four cubits and a span in tallness: and had about him weapons suitable to the largeness of his body: for he had a breast-plate on that weighed five thousand shekels. Josephus, Antiquities, Book VI, Chapter 9, Verse 1

Josephus is an historian to whom we often turn to see what he has to say about 1st century Jewish and Christian history. Often, he can be very interesting and helpful. On the other hand, he is neither inspired nor infallible. What his description tells us is that he had access to a text that was corrupted in this verse, perhaps like the Dead Sea Scroll or the Greek Old Testament. On the other hand, folks like the interloper mentioned above mention the late date of the Masoretic Text we are using. Then keep quiet about the date of the manuscripts of Josephus. I believe none of them are older than the 11th century AD.[ii]

What Josephus wrote has been known for centuries, but perhaps revived in interest with the discovery of scroll 4QSam(a). Translated into English, the scroll says something like:

“Then a champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was FOUR CUBITS and a span.” 1 Samuel 17:4, Dead Sea Scroll 4QSam(a) circa 75 BC

The Qumran scrolls, discovered in 1947, had been out of the possession of both the Jews or the Lord’s churches – or anyone else – for over one thousand nine hundred and fifty years. They are a grand historical find, but they are not part of the scriptures God preserved in the pillar and ground of his truth. We cannot accept the Bible doctrine of the preservation of his word and also insert hidden words outside the provenance of the Lord’s churches. These scrolls have been preserved as historical documents, but not as words in use by the Lord’s people. In fact, just who produced and used these still seems an unsettled question.

The interloper boldly claimed, “The oldest Dead Sea Scroll manuscripts, which are MSS of the Book of Samuel, go back to the 1st to the 3rd century BC. These agree perfectly with the LXX today.” Quite the lie, known to be so by those who carefully study the Dead Sea Scrolls. Either he was deceived himself, or set out to deceive. Sometimes the scrolls agree with the Hebrew Masoretic Text, and sometimes with the Greek Old Testament, and sometimes have differences from both.[iii]

Here is a closer look at the scroll “containing” 1 Samuel 17:4. For his readers, the interloper did not give a fair and honest representation of the DSS 1 Samuel 7:14. In English translations we find many of the words either bracketed or italicized as below – because this portion of the scroll is very fragmentary. All the relevant words are not actually visible and must be supplied!

[Then] a cha[mpion named Goliath, who was from Gath, ca]me out [of the Philistine camp. His height was f]our [cubits] and a span.[iv]

A champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was four cubits and a span went out.[v]

Notice in both presentations (though slightly different) there are more unreadable words than readable ones. This is problematic in that are entire change in the Bible could rest on either the skill or guesswork of those trying to reconstruct this text.

Concerning the Greek translation of the Old Testament, we also must understand that there is not one THE Septuagint – not just one that is complete, final, and authoritative. There are numerous ones, some of which have five cubits or six cubits rather than four cubits.[vi] For example, see a reference book on Origen’s Hexapla on 1 Samuel 17:4.[vii]

Notably, Greek Old Testaments have other corruptions in 1 Samuel. For example, the text preferred in the Brenton translation is missing 17:12-31, 41, 50, 55-58, 18:1-5 – but the Alexandrine text has these verses, which Brenton supplies in an appendix.[viii]

Witnesses supporting the Masoretic text

Those clamoring for the “shorter” reading sometimes fail to recognize or mention other witnesses in addition to the Masoretic Text – such as the Vulgate, Peshitta (“his height was six cubits and a half cubit”), and Targums (Jonathan, שִׁתָּא אַמִין וְזֵירְתָא). The Greek translation of the Old Testament by the Jew Symmachus (circa AD 200) has six cubits and a span. He attempted to accurately translate the Hebrew into Greek. The use of “six cubits and a span” indicates he had a manuscript at that time, with that reading. The fifth column of Origen’s Hexapla also contains the reading six cubits and a span. The Latin Vulgate of Jerome in the fourth century is another witness to the greater elevation of Goliath – “sex cubitorum et palmo,” that is, “six cubits and a span.” This height may also be found in Midrash Jewish exegesis.[ix]

Other Bible evidence

It is worthwhile to note other mentions of height in the Bible, though there are not that many.

Several commentators and historians (including the NET Bible), however accurately, put the average height of an Israelite male around the time of David and Goliath at about 5 feet 3 inches.[x] Saul was head and shoulders taller than the tallest Israelite of his time – maybe around 6 feet tall, or perhaps a little more (1 Samuel 9:2). Og king of Bashan’s height is not given in the Scriptures, but he had a nine-cubit bedstead (13-1/2 feet). LXX (ἐννέα πήχεων) agrees here. It is unlikely that a “7 ft. giant” would need or want a 13 ft bed. Benaiah the son of Jehoiada slew an Egyptian who was five cubits high (that is, about 7-1/2 ft. See 2 Samuel 23:21; 1 Chronicles 11:23). This Egyptian would be taller than the LXX Goliath. He is simply called a man of great stature.

Many exegetes have noted the size and weight of Goliath’s armor and weapon. The staff of his spear was “like a weaver’s beam” with the head itself weighing about 15 pounds.[xi] His armor probably weighed about 130 pounds. This is not conclusive, but certainly is suggestive of the larger Goliath.

The Companion Bible points out the characterization of Goliath by the number six: “Note his number ‘6’ is stamped like a ‘hallmark’ on this ‘man’” – the six cubits, “the six pieces of armour,” and the six hundred shekels of iron.[xii]

Conclusion

To me, it seems like a thread running through the supporters of short Goliath is the difficulty to believe this man could actually have been over nine feet tall. In “The Height of Goliath: A Text Critical Question,” Jonathan Burke wrote:

“This is a height which is not only highly unlikely for any Iron Age man, but far beyond what would have been considered a giant at the time.” (2011, p. 1)

Burke continues, “Archaeology has shown that the heroes buried in the ‘royal tombs’ at Mycenae were 1.76 ‐ 1.80 mtr. tall, [about 5’10”] while the height of the average man at that period (according to the skeletons excavated) was 1.64 mtr. [about 5’4”] both in the Aegean lands and in Canaan.”[xiii]

In contrast to Burke, the Unger’s Bible Dictionary (among other sources) claims that “Skeltons recovered in Palestine attest the fact that men as tall as Goliath [i.e., “over nine feet”] once lived in that general region.”[xiv]

Modern textual critics seem split on the issue. Peter Gurry and John Meade write:

“Although the six-nine Goliath has the earlier and perhaps better external evidence, the nine-nine Goliath is probably more likely original because a later scribe probably found a contextual reason (1 Sam. 9:2) to shorten Goliath to six nine.”[xv]

Benjamin J. M. Johnson concludes similarly Gurry and Meade. Johnson argues that the change to “six” in cubits from reading the number later in “six hundred” is unlikely, and that the height of the giant is so iconic that a scribe would not likely miss that. He argues rather that it is more likely an intentional change from six to four.

“…the reference to ‘six hundred’ in v. 7 seems fairly far removed from v. 4. For example in 4QSam^a it is four lines apart. Furthermore, if the reception history of this story is anything to judge by, it strikes me as unlikely that a scribe would accidentally change something as iconic as the height of Goliath. It seems more likely that the change in height is the result of intentional exegesis…there does seem to be a good narrative reason for a scribe to lower the height of Goliath. If Goliath is merely four cubits, or around six foot six inches tall, then, though a towering figure, he is not a creature of legend but merely an extremely big man. Rather than give the account verisimilitude, this shortening of Goliath serves as a critique of Saul, who is head and shoulders taller than everyone in Israel (1 Sam 9:2). After all, who better to face the Philistine giant, than the Israelite giant—Saul?[xvi]

Modern translators are slow to agree with a short Goliath. For example, on Bible Gateway, of 54 translations of 1 Samuel 17:4, 50 of these accept the Masoretic reading, 3 take the LXX reading, and 1 vaguely says “almost twice as tall as most men.” The majority of translators are not beating a path to the LXX door on this verse.

The interloper’s argument mostly falls flat as an anti-KJV screed. We should never fear believing our King James and Masoretic Text, six cubits and a span / שֵׁ֥שׁ אַמּ֖וֹת וָזָֽרֶת.

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[i] In this essay, I am using the measurement of a cubit equaling about 18 inches, and a span about half that, 9 inches. There are other opinions about these measurements.
[ii] Josephus: all the Greek Manuscripts. This, in my mind, leaves open the possibility that his text was “corrected” to match the Septuagint reading. I have not researched this carefully. It is just an initial thought. Others may have already proven whether this could or could not be so. Other things that could be researched – possibly have been and I am not aware of it – are (1) might Josephus have been a member of the Jewish party who used the Dead Sea Scrolls, and (2) could the cubit have been adjusted to what translators felt was a changing standard of how many increments comprised a cubit.
[iii] Scrolls editor Emanuel Tov identifies 5 different groups of DSS texts: 1. Texts written in Qumran practice (about 20% of the texts); 2. Proto-Masoretic texts (about 35%); 3. Pre-Samaritan texts (about 5%); 4. Texts close to the presumed Hebrew source of G (about 5%); and Non-aligned texts (about 35%). Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible (2nd revised edition), Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2001, pp. 114-116.
[iv] The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible: The Oldest Known Bible Translated for the First Time into English, Martin G. Abegg Jr., Peter Flint, Eugene Ulrich, Editors (translation and commentary) HarperCollins, p. 229
[v] Words in italics cannot be seen in the scroll, since the scroll is fragmentary. Words present in the scroll but with some letters unreadable or missing are in blue. Dead Sea Scrolls English Bible Translation.
[vi] LXX^A and LXX^L have 4, while LXX^B has 6. The “odd man out” is the 8th century manuscript known as Codex Venetus, which has the reading five cubits and a span (i.e., circa 7 feet 3 inches). 1 Samuel is not in Sinaiticus.
[vii] 4. שֵׁשׁ. Ο. τεσσάρων. Alia exempl.  Πεντε.7 Σ και οι λοιποι εξ.8 7. Sic Codd. XI, 29, 52, 55 alii (inter quos 243).  So Codices 11, 29, 52, 55 others (including 243). 8. Cod. 243. Sic in textu Ald., Codd. III, 44, 74, alii, Arm. I. Codex 243. Thus in the text Ald., Codd. III, 44, 74, others, Arm. I. Origenis Hexaplorum Quae Supersunt; Sive Veterum Interpretum Graecorum in Totum vetus Testamentum Fragmenta, Tomus I, Genesis-Esther, Fridericus Field, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1875, p. 515.
[viii] Brenton’s translation is based on Codex Vaticanus, via Sixtine edition of 1587 and the Valpy edition of 1819 (which was Brenton’s immediate source). For more on LXX manuscripts, see Manuscripts of the Septuagint. An Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek. Additional Notes, by Henry Barclay Swete.
[ix] On I Samuel 17:49, medieval French rabbi Rashi cites Midrash Tehillim 18:32, which says that Goliath fell forward rather than backwards, “so that David wouldn’t have to go to so much trouble to cut off his head. He gained twelve cubits and two spans.” Noticeably, this is twice the height of Goliath, if he is considered to be six cubits and a span. Midrashes Vayikra Rabbah and Shir Hashirim Rabbah also say that Goliath fell forward toward David, although they only give Goliath’s actual height, six cubits and a span. Some interpreters think all three of these intend to express the same idea – the former (Tehillim) expressing it in the distance difference of falling forward instead of backward (12 cubits and 2 spans), while the other two simply express how far he fell forward (6 cubits and a span).
[x] NET Bible note on 1 Samuel 17:4 – tc Heb “his height was six cubits and a span.” The LXX, a Qumran manuscript of 1 Samuel, and Josephus read “four cubits and a span.” A cubit was approximately 17.5 inches, a span half that. So the Masoretic text places Goliath at about 9½ feet tall (cf. NIV, CEV, NLT “over nine feet”; NCV “nine feet, four inches”; TEV “nearly 3 metres” while the other textual witnesses place him at about 6 feet, 7 inches (cf. NAB “six and a half feet”). Note, too, that the cubit was adjusted through history, also attested in Babylon (NIDOTTE 421-424 s.v. אַמָּה). If the cubits measuring Goliath were reckoned as the cubit of Moses, his height at 6 cubits and a span would be approximately 7 feet 9 inches tall. This is one of many places in Samuel where the LXX and Qumran evidence seems superior to the Masoretic text. It is possible that the scribe’s eye skipped briefly to the number 6 a few lines below in a similar environment of letters. The average Israelite male of the time was about 5 feet 3 inches, so a man 6 feet 7 inches would be a very impressive height. Saul, being head and shoulder above most Israelites, would have been nearly 6 feet tall. That is still shorter than Goliath, even at “four cubits and a span,” and makes a sharper contrast between David and Saul. There would have been a greater expectation that a 6 foot tall Saul would confront a 6 feet 7 inches Goliath, placing Saul in a bad light while still positioning David as a hero of faith, which is fitting to the context.
[xi] Oddly, Jonathan Burke argues that the description refers to being like looped cords on a weaver’s beam, “that enabled a warrior to throw it harder and further.” Then he says “spears were commonly used to thrust at short range rather than thrown (note Goliath does not throw his spear.” Burke, p. 2.
[xii] The Companion Bible, E. W. Bullinger, editor. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, (original) 1922, p.389.
[xiii] Burke, page 1, fn 1; from Margalith, “The Sea Peoples in the Bible,” p. 49 (1994).
[xiv] Unger’s Bible Dictionary, Merrill F. Unger, Chicago, IL: Moody Press, p. 419.
[xv] “How Tall Was Goliath? A Textual Dilemma,” at Crossway.
[xvi] B. J. M. Johnson, “Reconsidering 4QSam^a and the Textual Support for the Long and Short Versions of the David and Goliath Story,” Vetus Testamentum 62 (2012), pp. 539-540.