1 Samuel 17:4-11

Goliath's Challenge

4. a champion Lit. " The (well-known) man of the interspaces," or "interval between two camps" (Gr. μεταίχμιον : see Eur. Phoen. 1361, in the account of the combat between Eteocles and Polynices), in which single combats took place: so E. V. rightly "champion."

Goliath of Gath A survivor probably of the ancient race of Anakim, a remnant of which found refuge in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod, when they were exterminated by Joshua from the mountains of Judah (Joshua 11:21-22).

six cubits and a span The cubit, or distance from the elbow to the extremity of the middle finger, is variously estimated at from eighteen to twenty-one inches: the span, or distance between the extremities of the thumb and little finger in the outstretched hand, is reckoned as half a cubit: so that Goliath's height was between nine feet nine inches and eleven feet four inches. The most probable estimate is about ten feet three inches. Among parallel instances of gigantic stature may be quoted Pusio and Secundilla, who lived in the reign of Augustus, and are said by Pliny (Nat. Hist. VII. 16) to have been over ten feet high. Josephus says that a certain Eleazar the giant who was sent to the emperor Tiberius, was seven cubits high.