SEV Biblia, Chapter 17:4
Salió entonces un varón del campamento de los filisteos que se puso entre los dos campamentos , el cual se llamaba Goliat, de Gat, y tenía de altura seis codos y un palmo.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 17:4
Verse 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 µynbh Ťya 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, anhr dunatov, "a strong or powerful man;" the Targum, whynybm arbg 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 anhr pammegeqistatov, "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 tessarwn phcewn kai spiqamhv, 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.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 4. And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines , etc.] Or a “middle person”, or a man “between two” f341 ; 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” f342 , 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 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 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 to be seven cubits high; and one Gabbara of Arabia, in the times of Claudius Caesar, measured nine feet nine inches, as Pliny f346 relates, and who elsewhere 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 f348 ; that is, about eight feet.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-11 - Men so entirely depend upon God in all things, that when he withdraw his help, the most valiant and resolute cannot find their hearts of hands, as daily experience shows.
Original Hebrew
ויצא 3318 אישׁ 376 הבנים 1143 ממחנות 4264 פלשׁתים 6430 גלית 1555 שׁמו 8034 מגת 1661 גבהו 1363 שׁשׁ 8337 אמות 520 וזרת׃ 2239
