1 Samuel 17:4

Contextual Overview

¹Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Socoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah. ¹ Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah. ¹ The Philistines gathered their troops for battle. They assembled at Socoh in Judah. They camped in Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah. ¹ The Philistines gathered their hoast to battayle, and came together to Socho which is in Iuda, and pytched betweene Socho and Azekah, in the coaste of Dammim. ¹ Forsothe Filisteis gaderiden her cumpenyes in to batel, and camen togidere in Socoth of Juda, and settiden tentis bitwixe Socoth and Azecha, in the coostis of Domyn. ¹ And the Philistines gather their camps to battle, and are gathered to Shochoh, which [is] to Judah, and encamp between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephes-Dammim; ¹And the Philistines gather their camps to battle, and are gathered to Shochoh, which [is] to Judah, and encamp between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephes-Dammim; ¹ Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; and they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Aze'kah, in E'phes-dam'mim. ¹ Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and were gathered at Sochoh, which belongs to Judah; they encamped between Sochoh and Azekah, in Ephes Dammim. ¹ Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and they were gathered together at Socoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes–dammim.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Goliath: 1 Samuel 17:23, 1 Samuel 21:9, 1 Samuel 21:10, 2 Samuel 21:19, 1 Chronicles 20:5

of Gath: 1 Samuel 27:4, Joshua 11:22, 2 Samuel 21:16-22, 1 Chronicles 20:4-8

whose height: Deuteronomy 3:11, 1 Chronicles 11:23, Amos 2:9

six cubits: According to Bp. Cumberland's calculation, the height of Goliath was about eleven feet ten inches; but Parkhurst estimating the ordinary cubit at seventeen inches and a half, calculates that he was nine feet six inches high. Few instances can be produced of men who can be compared with him. Pliny says, "The tallest man that hath been seen in our days was one name Gabara, who, in the days of Claudius, the late Emperor, was brought out of Arabia: he was nine feet nine inches." Josephus mentions a Jew, named Eleazar, whom Vitellius sent to Rome, who was seven cubits, or ten feet two inches high. Becanus saw a man near ten feet, and a woman that was full ten feet. And, to mention no more, a man of the name of John Middleton, born at Hale, near Warrington, in Lancashire, in the reign of James the First, was more than nine feet high. Dr. Plott, in his history of Staffordshire, says, that "his hand, from the carpus to the end of the middle finger, was seventeen inches, his palms eight inches and a half broad, and his whole height was nine feet three inches; wanting but six inches of the height of Goliath of Gath.

Reciprocal: Genesis 6:4 - giants Numbers 13:33 - saw the giants 1 Samuel 5:8 - Gath 1 Samuel 9:2 - from his shoulders 1 Samuel 10:23 - he was higher Job 39:21 - and Psalms 33:16 - mighty Jeremiah 9:23 - neither Amos 6:2 - Gath

Cross-References

Genesis 12:2
"I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

Genesis 12:2
"I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

Genesis 12:2
Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you will exemplify divine blessing.

Genesis 12:2
I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.

Genesis 12:2
And I will make of thee a great people, and wyll blesse thee, and make thy name great, that thou shalt be [euen] a blessyng.

Genesis 12:2
And I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed.

Genesis 12:2
And I make thee become a great nation, and bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing.

Genesis 12:2
And I make you become a great nation, and bless you, and make your name great; and be a blessing.

Genesis 12:2
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

Genesis 12:2
and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing:

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines,.... Or a "middle person", or a man "between two" y; meaning either one that went and stood between the two armies of Israel and the Philistines, as the Jewish writers generally interpret it: or a "dueller" z, as others, with which our version agrees; one that proposed to fight a duel, and have the war decided by two persons, of which he would be one:

named Goliath of Gath; which was one of the places where the Anakims or giants were driven, and left, in the times of Joshua, and from whom this man descended, Joshua 11:22

whose height was six cubits and a span; and taking a cubit after the calculation of Bishop Cumberland a to be twenty one inches, and more, and a span to be half a cubit, the height of this man was eleven feet four inches, and somewhat more; which need not seem incredible, since the coffin of Orestea, the son of Agamemnon, is said b to be seven cubits long; and Eleazar, a Jew, who because of his size was called the giant, and was presented by Artabanus, king of the Parthians, to Tiberius Caesar, is said by Josephus c to be seven cubits high; and one Gabbara of Arabia, in the times of Claudius Caesar, measured nine feet nine inches, as Pliny d relates, and who elsewhere e speaks of a people in Ethiopia, called Syrbotae, who were eight cubits high; the Septuagint version makes Goliath to be only four cubits and a span high, and so Josephus f; that is, about eight feet.

y איש הבינים "vir intermedius", Montanus; "inter duo", Vatablus; "vir medietatum", Noldius, p. 194. No. 283. z "Quidam duellator", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. a Of Scripture Weights and Measures, c. 2. p. 57. b Herodot. Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 68. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 7. c. 16. c Antiqu. l. 18. c. 5. sect. 5. d Nat. Hist. ib. e Ibid. l. 6. 30. f Antiqu. l. 6. c. 9. sect. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A champion - literally, “a man between the two camps:” i. e., one who did not fight in the ranks like an ordinary soldier, but came forth into the space between the hostile camps to challenge the mightiest man of his enemies to come and fight him.

Goliath of Gath - One of the places mentioned in Joshua 11:22 as still retaining a remnant of the sons of Anak; Gaza and Ashdod being the others. The race of giants (the Rephaim, from רפא râphâ' ) is mentioned again in the account of David’s Philistine wars 2 Samuel 21:15-22; 1 Chronicles 20:4-8. It appears from these passages that Goliath had a brother Lahmi. Four are named as being “born to the giant in Gath.” See Deuteronomy 2:10-11, Deuteronomy 2:20-21; Deuteronomy 3:11-13.

Six cubits ... - If the cubit, the length from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, is about 1 12 feet; and the span, the distance from the thumb to the middle or little finger, when stretched apart to the full length, be half a cubit, six cubits and a span would equal about nine feet nine inches. The bed of Og king of Bashan was nine cubits long Deuteronomy 3:11.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Samuel 17:4. There went out a champion — Our word champion comes from campus, the field; Campio est enim ille qui pugnat in campo, hoc est, in castris, "Champion is he, properly, who fights in the field; i.e., in camps." A man well skilled in arms, strong, brave, and patriotic.

But is this the meaning of the original איש הבנים ish habbenayim, a middle man, the man between two; that is, as here, the man who undertakes to settle the disputes between two armies or nations. So our ancient champions settled disputes between contending parties by what was termed camp fight, hence the campio or champion. The versions know not well what to make of this man. The Vulgate calls him sir spurius, "a bastard;" the Septuagint, ανηρ δυνατος, "a strong or powerful man;" the Targum, גברא מביניהון gabra mibbeyneyhon, "a man from between them;" the Arabic, [Arabic] rujil jibar, "a great or gigantic man;" the Syriac is the same; and Josephus terms him ανηρ παμμεγεθιστατος, "an immensely great man." The Vulgate has given him the notation of spurius or bastard, because it considered the original as expressing a son of two, i.e., a man whose parents are unknown. Among all these I consider our word champion, as explained above, the best and most appropriate to the original terms.

Whose height was six cubits and a span. — The word cubit signifies the length from cubitus, the elbow, to the top of the middle finger, which is generally rated at one foot six inches. The span is the distance from the top of the middle finger to the end of the thumb, when extended as far as they can stretch on a plain; this is ordinarily nine inches. Were we sure that these were the measures, and their extent, which are intended in the original words, we could easily ascertain the height of this Philistine; it would then be nine feet nine inches, which is a tremendous height for a man.

But the versions are not all agreed in his height. The Septuagint read τεσσαρων πηχεων και σπιθαμης, four cubits and a span; and Josephus reads the same. It is necessary however to observe that the Septuagint, in the Codex Alexandrinus, read with the Hebrew text. But what was the length of the ancient cubit? This has been variously computed; eighteen inches, twenty inches and a half, and twenty-one inches. If we take the first measurement, he was nine feet nine; if the second, and read palm instead of span, with the Vulgate and others, he was ten feet seven inches and a half; if we take the last, which is the estimate of Graevius, with the span, he was eleven feet three inches; or if we go to the exactest measurement, as laid down in Bishop Cumberland's tables, where he computes the cubit at 21.888 inches, the span at 10.944 inches, and the palm at 3.684 inches, then the six cubits and the span will make exactly 11 feet 10.272 inches. If we take the palm instead of the span, then the height will be 11 feet 3.012 inches. But I still think that the nine feet nine inches is the most reasonable.