Goliath: A Giant of a Man

“Only a boy named David, only a little sling…” Every Sunday School child likely knows the story of David and Goliath. Most of them have spun themselves dizzy going “round and round and round and round and round and round and round.” And then, mimicking the giant, they came tumbling down.

The story is one that easily impresses itself on young minds. It is the triumph of good over evil and weakness over strength. It showcases God’s ability to triumph over anyone, no matter how big. The unlikely hero of the story, a mere shepherd boy, trusts in God and takes down a giant Philistine warrior using nothing but his sling and one of five smooth stones.

The views expressed in this article reflect those of the author, and not necessarily those of New Creation.

But was Goliath really a giant? Or was he just a really big man? These are questions that I hear a lot, from two very different groups of people.

Minimalists, people trying to minimize the historical accuracy of Scripture, ask these questions. They don’t believe in giants and they don’t believe in miracles, either. They seek to sow distrust toward the word of God. 

But I also hear these questions from a very different group of people. These are serious biblical scholars who embrace the veracity of God’s word. They believe it to be inspired and historically accurate. And yet, they question Goliath’s status as a giant.

Faith and Truth

Choosing to believe God’s Word is a matter of faith. But it is not without foundation. Let me illustrate. If you believe that you are the king of England, you are wrong—unless the king of England is reading this. In that case, you are the exception. But otherwise, it doesn’t matter how much faith you have in yourself, you are not, and never will be, the king of England. On the other hand, if you believe that Ronald Regan served as president of the United States, then you are right. Historians have kept careful records, and many people are alive today who remember him being president of the United States. This is a verifiable fact. 

In the same way, if you believe that the Bible is God’s inerrant Word, then your faith has a firm foundation because you believe something that is true. And, since it is true, it is, at least to some extent, verifiable. We do not need to verify it in order to believe it, but neither should we fear careful study of the Word of God. Since it is true, it will withstand scrutiny.

However, we must be careful not to confuse the Bible with our interpretation of it. Believing that the Bible says something does not make it so. We must study the Scriptures diligently to make sure that we are interpreting them correctly.

For example, I grew up believing that Goliath was a giant. Since then, both secular, minimalist scholars and respected biblical scholars have challenged my beliefs in this matter. And, a careful reading of the Bible reveals that the text never specifically calls Goliath a giant. So, then, was Goliath a giant? Or not?

What is a Giant?

In order to determine if Goliath was a giant, we must first define the word giant. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word giant can refer to either “a legendary humanlike being of great stature and strength” or a “living being of great size.” 

The word giant does not appear in the Hebrew Old Testament. But that is not surprising, because giant is not a Hebrew word! The English word giant comes from the Greek word gigantas. In ancient Greek poems, giants were half god and half earth. They were powerful, fearsome mythical creatures. Some were exceptionally tall, others were not.¹ 

In the third and second centuries BC, the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek. This Greek text is known as the Septuagint. There are two different Hebrew words that were translated as gigantas in the Septuagint. These are Nephalim  and Rephaim. Many English Bibles translate both these words as giant. Using one English word to describe two different Hebrew terms can be confusing. There is one Hebrew term that is also of interest in a study of giants, and that is Anakim. Let’s look at each term to learn the differences between the Nephilim, the Rephaim, and the Anakim.

Who Were the Nephalim?

According to Genesis 6:4, there were Nephalim on the earth before the Flood. This passage seems to indicate that the Nephalim were the mixed offspring of the sons of God and the daughters of men, although there is some ambiguity in the text. Some biblical scholars believe that the sons of God refer to the descendants of Seth who married into the family line of Cain.² Other biblical scholars believe that the sons of God were fallen angels who mated with human women.³ The Book of Enoch, Jewish literature written in the third century BC, supports the view that the Nephalim were the offspring of fallen angels and human women. The meaning of the Hebrew word Nephilim is uncertain, but it seems to have a connotation of falling, perhaps meaning, “the fallen ones.”

During Noah’s Flood, the Nephilim were presumably wiped out. However, there is one post-Flood reference to the Nephilim. In Numbers 13:33, ten spies reported back to Moses that they had seen the Nephilim. The question is, did they really see the Nephilim? Or were they giving a false report? According to Numbers 13:22 and Numbers 13:28, the spies saw the Anakim, and in Numbers 13:33, they equated the Anakim with the descendants of the Nephilim. So, it seems that the spies saw Anakim, and reported seeing Nephilim. 

Based on the biblical description of the Nephilim, it is unlikely that they were particularly tall. Genesis 6:4 simply describes them as being mighty men and men of renown. 

Who Were the Rephaim?

The Rephaim appear in both biblical texts and other texts from the Ancient Near East. Extrabiblical texts describe the Rephaim as heroes of old who had died and gone to the underworld.⁵ Biblically, the Rephaim were originally a people group living in the trans-Jordan region (Genesis 14:5; 15:20; Deuteronomy 2:20). By the time of the Conquest, there were very few Rephaim left alive. Og, king of Bashan, was one of the few remaining Rephaim (Deuteronomy 3:11; Joshua 12:4; 13:12).

Yet, some descendants of the Rephaim survived all the way until the time of David, when David’s mighty men killed four descendants of the Rephaim: Ishbi-Benob, Saph, Lahmi, and an unnamed man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot (2 Samuel 21:16–22; 1 Chronicles 20:4–8). Lahmi is described as the brother of Goliath, which suggests that Goliath was also a descendant of the Rephaim. 

The biblical text indicates that Rephaim were unusually tall. Moses reported in Deuteronomy 3:11 that King Og had an iron bed that was 9 cubits (approx. 13 feet) long. However, it is unclear whether that means that Og was unnaturally tall, or if it simply means that he was wealthy enough to have an extravagant bed. The extravagance of his bed is apparent in the fact that it was made of iron.⁴ Iron had just been invented and was a rare metal at that time in history. So, its large size might be another indicator of its extravagance, or it might relate to Og’s height.

Scripture contains other hints, though, of the size and nature of the Rephaim. The Rephaim that David’s mighty men killed carried unusually large weapons (2 Samuel 21:16, 19; 1 Chronicles 20:5). One of them was a man of great stature who had extra fingers and toes (1 Chronicles 20:6). Additionally, there is a connection between the Rephaim and the Anakim (see below), who were also tall people (Deuteronomy 2:11).

Who Were the Anakim?

Although Bible translators did not translate the word Anakim as giant, the Anakim are also of interest in a study of biblical giants. Numbers 13:33 describes the Anakim as being descendants of the Nephilim, but it is unclear whether they truly were descended from the Nephilim or whether this was a falsehood reported by the spies.

Anak appears to have been a person who lived around the time of the Conquest. Anak’s father’s (or perhaps anscentor’s) name was Arba, and Anak had at least three sons (or perhaps descendants) named Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. Joshua and Caleb, with God’s help, drove the Anakim out of the central hill country, leaving them only in Philistine cities (Joshua 11:21–22; 15:14; Judges 1:20). 

Multiple Bible passages describe the Anakim as being tall people (Deuteronomy 2:10, 21; 9:2). However, their exact height is unknown. 

Egyptian texts may also reference the Anakim. An Egyptian execration text (a curse against an enemy), now in the Berlin Museum, references a people group known as the ly Anaq, very likely the Anakim. Another text, the Papyrus Anastasi I dates to around 1300 BC. It describes the Egyptian army encountering nomadic people in Canaan who were very large: four to five cubits (6’ 8” to 8’ 6”) tall. An Egyptian stone carving from the time of Ramses II shows captured slaves who are larger than their captors. This is unusual, since Egyptian art typically portrays captives as smaller than Egyptians, indicating the superiority of the Egyptians over their enemies.⁶ Thus, it seems likely that the Egyptians encountered very tall people, likely the Anakim, in Canaan, corroborating the biblical assertion that the Anakim were unusually tall people. 

What About Goliath?

Having examined the biblical references to three different people groups who might be described as giants, we return to the question of Goliath. Biblical texts do not directly associate Goliath with any of the three groups discussed above. However, they do provide an indirect link with the Rephaim, since Goliath’s brother, Lahmi, was a descendant of the Rephaim (1 Chronicles 20:5–8). Thus, Goliath was likely descended from the Rephaim.

Goliath may have also been one of the Anakim, since according to Deuteronomy 2:11, the Anakim were counted as Rephaim. Also, Joshua 11:22 notes the presence of Anakim in Gath, which is Goliath’s hometown. However, this connection is tentative at best since Goliath may have belonged to a different group of Rephaim from the Anakim. The presence of Anakim in Gath centuries before the time of Goliath may be coincidental. 

How Tall Was Goliath?

Biblical texts vary regarding the height of Goliath. The Masoretic text is the Hebrew version of the Old Testament that was carefully copied by scribes. The oldest known copy of the Masoretic text dates to the 10th century AD, but it reflects a much older text. The Masoretic text describes Goliath as being six cubits and a span (9’ 9”) tall.

The Septuagint is a Greek copy of the original Hebrew text that was translated in the second or third century BC. The oldest known surviving copies of the Septuagint date to the second century BC. In most points, the Septuagint agrees with the Masoretic text, but there are some differences. One of these is the height of Goliath. According to the Septuagint, Goliath was four cubits and a span (6’ 6”) tall. 

Typically, scholars consider the Masoretic text to be more reliable than the Septuagint. However, in this case, there is another text to consider. The Dead Sea Scrolls are Jewish manuscripts including biblical books. They date to the second century BC through the first century AD. The vast majority of the Dead Sea Scrolls were written in Hebrew. The Dead Sea Scrolls agree with the Septuagint regarding Goliath’s height.

Thus, the weight of textual evidence seems to point to Goliath being four cubits and a span tall. This matches well with the Papyrus Anastasi I, in which the Egyptians encountered people in Canaan ranging in height from four to five cubits tall.

Was Goliath a Giant?

So, was Goliath just a big man? Or was he a giant? Remember, the dictionary definition of giant is: “a legendary humanlike being of great stature and strength” or a “living being of great size.” Goliath does not fit the first definition because he was a real historical person, not a “legendary humanlike being.”

However, Goliath does fit the second definition of “a living being of great size.” This is true whether he was 6’ 6” or 9’ 6”. Considering that the average height of a full-grown man in the Ancient Near East was around 5’ 6”,⁷ Goliath would have been abnormally tall even at 6’ 6”.

Goliath might not have been as large as we might have imagined when, as children, we went “round and round and round and round and round and round and round,” and finally came tumbling down. Yet, he was a giant of a man, and God, working through David, brought about a great victory. The Philistines trusted in their champion, Goliath, while David, representing the Israelites, trusted in God. The moral of the story is that God is greater than any human champion, no matter how tall. 

Footnotes

^1. See Hesoid’s Theogony; The Gigantomachy. 

^2. Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Genesis 6; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown commentary on Genesis 6.

^3. Chuck Smith Verse by Verse Study on Genesis 6–7.

^4. Millard, Alan R. 1990. “King Og’s Iron Bed.” Bible Review 6:2.

^5, Yogev, Jonathan. 2023. “The Riddle of the Rephaim.” Bible History Daily, March 8, 2023.

^6. Sullivan, Rob. 2015. “Egyptian War Correspondents and the Biblical Giants.” Associates for Biblical Research, February 27, 2015.

^7. Zakrzewski, Sonia R. 2003. “Variation in Ancient Egyptian Stature and Body Proportions.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 121: 219–229.