Goliath probably wasn't even a giant either, by our standards. The LXX and Dead Sea Scrolls say he was about 6' 6". This makes believers in human/angel hybrids very angry.
No 6 1/2 foot man can wield a spear with a head of 17 lbs. He would be a sitting duck and be killed immediately.
Same goes for the enormous armor weight and everything else.
If anything, some fool showing up geared up like this would be mocked on the battlefield, not feared.
Coat of scale armor:
5,000 shekels =
50–62.5 kg =
110–138 lb. Some older estimates go as high as about
125–156 lb depending on the shekel used.
Spear head alone:
600 shekels =
6–7.5 kg =
13–17 lb.
Add helmet, greaves, javelin/target, shield-bearer support, and a large spear shaft: Goliath’s total carried battle load may plausibly be
150–200+ lb, though not all of it was necessarily held in his hands at once.
My estimate: a man able to fight effectively with this would likely need to be at least
7½–9+ feet tall, perhaps
350–600+ lb, with extraordinary strength. A normal 6-foot strong man could maybe lift pieces of it, but not move and fight comfortably under it.
So the text is portraying not merely a “big warrior,” but a
giant-class champion, massively larger and stronger than ordinary soldiers.
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Deu 3:11
For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead
was a bedstead of iron;
is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits
was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.
If it was an actual bed intended proportionally for his body, then Og himself may plausibly have been:
- roughly 9–11 feet tall,
- perhaps larger if heavily built.
That aligns remarkably well with the Masoretic height of Goliath (~9½ ft).
The broader biblical context also matters:
Og is specifically said to be:
- “of the remnant of the Rephaim” (giants),
- and Bashan/Rephaim traditions consistently describe unusually gigantic warriors.
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Giant clans before and after Israel entered Canaan
The Nephilim
Genesis introduces the mysterious Nephilim:
“The Nephilim were in the earth in those days…”
— Book of Genesis 6:4
The spies later claim:
“We saw the Nephilim… and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers.”
— Book of Numbers 13:33
That verse is debated because frightened spies may be exaggerating, but the text clearly intends exceptional stature.
Anakim — the famous giant race
The Anakim are repeatedly described as terrifyingly large.
Deuteronomy 1:28
“The people is greater and taller than we…”
Deuteronomy 2:10–11
The Emim:
“a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim;
these also are accounted Rephaim…”
Deuteronomy 2:20–21
The Zamzummim:
“a people great, and many, and tall…”
Joshua 11:21–22
Joshua destroys most of the Anakim, but remnants remain specifically in Philistine territory:
“only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, there remained.”
That is important because Goliath later comes from Gath.
Og king of Bashan
As discussed:
“Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim…”
— Book of Deuteronomy 3:11
His enormous iron bedstead is cited as surviving evidence.
Goliath and the giants of Gath
Goliath
“his height was six cubits and a span”
— First Book of Samuel 17:4
His armor and spear are described in extraordinary terms.
The six-fingered giant
This is the explicit polydactyly passage:
2 Samuel 21:20
“there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.”
Parallel account:
1 Chronicles 20:6
This is not symbolic language. It plainly describes:
- 24 digits total,
- linked to the giant lineage from Gath.
Polydactyly is a real genetic condition today, though usually not associated with gigantism. In the biblical narrative, however, it serves as another marker of abnormality among these giant clans.
Additional giant warriors from Gath
2 Samuel 21:15–22
Lists multiple giant descendants killed by David’s warriors.
One has:
“a spear weighing three hundred shekels”
Again connecting giant stature with massive weaponry.
The chapter concludes:
“These four were born to the giant in Gath…”
So the biblical writers present Gath as a surviving center of giant lineages.
Summary of the biblical picture
The Old Testament consistently portrays:
- unusually tall peoples,
- linked family/clan lineages,
- extraordinary strength,
- oversized weapons,
- and even unusual physical traits like six fingers/toes.
the Bible unquestionably intends these figures to be understood as far beyond ordinary human size and power.
