This is How Tall Goliath REALLY Was…
“Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; and they were gathered at Socoh
which belongs to Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim.
Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and camped in the valley of Elah, and drew up
in battle array to encounter the Philistines.
The Philistines stood on the mountain on one side while Israel stood on the mountain on
the other side, with the valley between them.
Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines named Goliath, from Gath,
whose height was six cubits and a span.
He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was clothed with scale-armor which weighed
five thousand shekels of bronze.
He also had bronze greaves on his legs and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders.
The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and the head of his spear weighed six
hundred shekels of iron; his shield-carrier also walked before him.”
(1 Samuel 17:1-7)
Goliath is one of the most infamous characters recalled within the pages of the Bible.
His name has become synonymous with all things great or large – especially those obstacles
we face which, upon first glance seem insurmountable.
Verse number 4 of this passage gives us Goliath’s height as six cubits and a span, roughly 9-1/2
to 10 feet tall by our modern standards of measurement.
This height has also been roughly attributed to other figures from the biblical text who
are remembered as, “giants.”
This in part has fueled the efforts of some to look for artifacts and remains that would
correspond to these enormously large humans.
However, is this really how tall Goliath was?
To be sure, every modern English translation of the Bible will document Goliath’s height
as six cubits and a span.
This is because the Hebrew text that underlies the English translation is based upon what’s
known as the Masoretic Text.
The form of this text we possess dates from roughly 1,000 A.D., though it has origins
going back to the early centuries after Christ’s appearing.
It was preserved by a collection of scribes called the Masoretes.
These scribes are also credited with giving us the Hebraic vowel signs that we use to
read Hebrew today.
The reason the Masoretic Text is the text used to translate into English is because
it is the oldest text we have access to that accounts for the entirety of the Old Testament
in the original language.
With that being said, we also have access to other witnesses of the Old Testament that
pre-date the Masoretic Text – two of which are the Septuagint (or the LXX), the Greek
version of the Old Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The Septuagint, or the Greek Old Testament’s translation dates from roughly 250 B.C. in
Alexandria, Egypt.
This text represents the oldest translation of the Old Testament.
It’s composition of the Old Testament canonical books is also in the same order as your English
Bible – Genesis through Malachi.
You might be asking, “if it’s older than the Masoretic Text, why isn’t it used for
my English Bible?”
The reason is because it, itself is a translation, rather than a text of the original language.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of books found near the Dead Sea in 1947, with dates
of composition ranging from roughly 400 B.C. through 100 A.D.
Among their contents are fragments of the entirety of the books of the Old Testament,
all of which are in the original Hebrew language.
Again, you might be asking, “if it’s older than the Masoretic Text, why isn’t it used
for my English Bible?”
Even though the Dead Sea Scrolls are written in Hebrew, they are fragmentary, rather than
complete.
All of the books of the Hebrew Bible are represented in the Dead Sea Scrolls, but they are not
all represented in whole.
Even though both the Greek Septuagint and the Dead Sea Scrolls are not used as the basis
for the translation of the modern English Old Testament, they are still incredibly useful
in helping Bible scholars understand the content of the Old Testament text from pre-Christian
times.
Coming back to Goliath, we find something interesting when we compare the text of 1
Samuel 17:4 in the Masoretic text to the Septuagint.
Where the Masoretic text lists Goliath’s height as six cubits and a span, the Septuagint,
in contrast, gives his height as four cubits and a span.
Rather than being somewhere between 9-1/2 – 10 feet tall, four cubits and a span would
make Goliath between 6-1/2 – 7 feet tall; about the size of most NBA players.
This is what’s called a textual variant – a portion of the Biblical text in which
multiple readings are attested among the tradition of manuscripts.
The study of textual variation (known as textual criticism) is the pursuit to determine what
the scriptures said when they were first written down.
The orthodox understanding of the Bible’s inspiration and inerrancy is that the text,
as it was originally revealed by the Holy Spirit through the biblical authors, is both
inspired and inerrant.
The transmission of the text through time sometimes sees certain portions of text take
on discrepancies within a given manuscript.
When these instances occur, it is the role of Bible scholars to determine which reading
is the original one, as this reading is the one that should ultimately be regarded as
scriptural.
Regarding Goliath’s height in 1 Samuel 17:4, how do we know which reading is the original
one?
The Greek Seputagint is a much older reading.
This is a strong indication that it is likely the original reading of this passage.
However, we must remember that it is not in the original language.
So, perhaps the Septuagint’s discrepancy on Goliath’s height could be attributed
to an error in translation, thus making the Masoretic reading original, even though those
manuscripts are much newer.
Is there a way that we can break this stalemate?
Prior to 70 years ago, the best we could do would be to speculate.
But, with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, we now have an ancient source in the original
language, roughly contemporaneous, if not older than the Septuagint that can help us
identify the text of the Hebrew at this time.
So, what do the Dead Sea Scrolls say at 1 Samuel 17:4?
As it happens, the Dead Sea Scrolls’ reading of 1 Samuel 17:4 lists Goliath’s height
as four cubits and a span, the same as the Greek Septuagint, which means that the Septuagint
is likely an accurate translation of the Hebrew text as it existed during the 3rd Century
before Christ.
This leads me, and many others, to believe that this number is the accurate representation
of Goliath’s height, rather than the reading of 6 cubits and a span common to our modern
English Bible.
It’s likely that 1 Samuel 17:4 was a honest mistake on behalf of a scribe at some point
in the transmission of the Old Testament text down through history.
Though some in the unbelieving community – some being ignorant and others who should know
better – point at textual variants (such as this) to suggest that the Bible cannot
be trusted, this is disingenuous to the historical process.
Scribes, both of the Old and New Testaments, of necessity, copied the text by hand – a
tedious task for anyone.
In addition, they did so in a world without electric lighting, being largely exposed to
the elements and often under threat of persecution.
It’s only human that occasionally a scribe would make a mistake – which would then
be copied by future scribes who used that particular manuscript.
However, given that we possess other manuscripts contemporary to any given textual variant,
as well as before and after, we are actually in the position of being able to often identify
when these variants crept into the textual tradition, as well as the influence they have
in their wake.
It’s of little consequence whether Goliath was 10 feet tall or 7 feet tall.
Still, the process of identifying a textual discrepancy and reconciling it with the collective
witness of manuscripts in history reenforces our ability to accurately and honestly transmit
God’s word in the modern day.