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The Legend of Goliath of Garth


Biblical archeological research indicates that Goliath of Garth stood most likely, 6'6" tall, possibly, 6'7". This is tall. Very tall. I remember years ago at a former working place there was a 6'6" guy. He seemed more like 7'0". Everytime you looked at him in the large hallways, he towered over everyone. You could see him coming from a long distance. Goliath came from a family reputedly consisting of all very tall people. His mother according to legend was an extremely tall woman, a giantess in her own right. The mother's name was, Orpah, possibly the inspiration for the name, Oprah, today.

The average Israelite is thought to have stood 5'4". Even if this is on the low side still a 6'6" warrior would have looked like an enemy jolly green giant to the intimidated Israelite army. A guy that size could wield a large heavy sword that would slice an ordinary infantryman in half. By comparison, King Saul is reported in the Old Testament to have stood a whole head taller than his citizen Israelites. Bible scholars put King Saul's height at 6'0", which was indeed tall for that time. Six feet in height for a man would remain tall all the way through the end of the 20th century. Only now is six feet approaching average height in the western nations.

Nonetheless, in the movie, KING DAVID, you see Goliath becoming overconfident and discarding his shield, which had been successfully warding off David's sling stones. I find Goliath's hubris inexplicable. As a seasoned warrior in the Phillistine army, Goliath would have witnessed the long-range lethal efficacy of slingers. Logically he would have held on to his shield. But this is Hollywood. We don't know if in reality Goliath did in fact discard his shield.

My opinion is that in actual history, Goliath was smart enough to hold on to his shield. But David, being extremely agile and fast, was able to maneuver around the giant and aim a slingstone at the forehead when Goliath lowered his shield just a little too much. The problem for Goliath was that if he kept his face fully protected, he couldn't see David. On one of those moments when Goliath had to lower or move his shield to retain visibility of David, that is when the shepherd boy slung a fast stone at the giant's forehead.

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Goliath was descended from the Nephilim, which is what gave him his enormous stature and strength.

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Duty Now For The Future

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I think the city was called Gath not Garth. Garth was Waynes sidekick.

"Sorry I'm late guys. I was taking a crap."
Paul Newman

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Thank you; that's what I was thinking (lol).

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