- Aug 19, 2008
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heres a useful theory
Biblical Goliath may not have been a giant
Goliath, the giant who was felled by King David in the Hebrew Bible, is described as having a jaw-dropping height. Turns out, that may not have been accurate.www.livescience.com
Recently, the team has excavated a fortification wall found in the northern part of the lower city. The wall was built in the 10th century B.C., a time "when the Philistines controlled the city as it served as their capital," Chadwick told Live Science. "The stone wall foundations measured exactly 2.38 m — four cubits and a span — in width at every point along the 40 m of its line exposed by our excavations" Chadwick said. He noted that the wall may have been 23 feet (7 m) high .
In his ASOR presentation, Chadwick proposed that biblical writers may have gotten Goliath's height from the width of the north lower city wall of Gath. He noted that Goliath is the only person whose precise height is recorded in the Bible. "Nobody else's height is recorded as an actual metric," Chadwick said.
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Given that the Bible's authors likely didn't have access to Goliath's corpse, this leaves the question of where biblical writers would have gotten Goliath's height of "four cubits and a span."
So it's possible the writers may "have been metaphorically describing the champion [Goliath] as being comparable to the size and strength of the Philistine capital's city wall —a metric that would have been preserved over many centuries and would have known from those familiar with Gath," Chadwick said.
Live Science contacted several experts not affiliated with the research to get their thoughts on Chadwick's theory. None were able to reply at time of publication. Excavations at Gath are led by Aren Maeir, a professor of archaeology at Bar-Ilan University in Israel.
Goliath was probably a three and a half foot tall little girl that David beat up for her candy.
Then he told the rest of the Jews that Goliath was a huge giant when Goliath's parents complained to his parents.
