The giant goliath seems to have actually existed. The Story of David and Goliath in the Bible Goliath in Religion

, (whom God himself ordered to be chosen) defeats Goliath in a duel with a sling, and then cuts off his head (1 Samuel 17:49-51).

David's victory over Goliath began the offensive of the Israeli and Jewish troops, who were expelled from their land (1 Sam. 17:52). Koran (2.251)

According to another version, Goliath was killed by Elkhanan, the son of Jagare-Orgim of Bethlehem: “...There was another battle in Gob; Then Elchanan, the son of Jagare-Orgim of Bethlehem, killed Goliath the Gittite, whose spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam” (2 Sam. 21:19). Goliath's brother, Lachmiah (also a giant, a descendant) was defeated by Elhanam, the son of Jairus (1 Chron. 20:5).

Old Testament

Goliath was an unusually strong warrior of enormous stature, a native of the city. Goliath was 6 cubits and a span tall, or 2.772 m (1 cubit = 42.5 cm, 1 span = 22.2 cm). The Philistine giant was dressed in scale armor weighing about 57 kg (5000 shekels of copper, 1 shekel = 11.4 g) and copper knee pads, on his head was a copper helmet, and in his hands was a copper shield. Goliath carried a heavy spear, the tip alone weighing 600 shekels of iron (6.84 kg), and a large sword.

David had no armor at all, and his only weapon was a sling. ordered to dress him in copper armor and give him a sword, but David was unaccustomed to carrying weapons, and therefore took off his armor.

The Philistine giant considered it an insult that a young man, just a boy, came out to fight him. Goliath and David were chosen by their fellow tribesmen for single combat, which was supposed to decide the outcome of the battle: the winner in the duel won victory for his side.

It seemed to everyone who watched what was happening that the result of the fight was a foregone conclusion, but physical strength does not always determine the outcome of the battle.

Details of the duel between Goliath and David, which took place in the oak valley between Succoth and southwest of Jerusalem, are described in the Bible, in the 17th chapter of the 1st book of Samuel:

...The Philistine also stepped forward, walking and approaching David, and the armor bearer walked ahead of him... And the Philistine said to David: “Why are you coming at me with sticks and stones? Am I a dog? And David said: “No, but worse than a dog.” And the Philistine cursed David with his gods. And the Philistine said to David: “Come to me, I will give your body to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.” And David answered the Philistine: “You come against me with sword and spear and shield, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, which you have defied; Now the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will kill you, and take off your head, and I will give your corpse and the corpses of the army of the Philistines to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth, and all the earth will know that there is a God in Israel. and this entire crowd will know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for this is the Lord’s war, and He will deliver you into our hands.” When the Philistine stood up and began to approach David, David quickly ran towards the line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand into his bag and took a stone from there, and threw it with a sling and struck the Philistine on the forehead, so that the stone pierced his forehead, and he fell face down to the ground, so David overpowered the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him; but the sword was not in David's hands. Then David ran up and, stepping on the Philistine, took his sword and took it out of its scabbard, struck him and cut off his head with it; The Philistines, seeing that their strongman had died, ran...

1 Sam. 17:41-51

The sword of Goliath, kept by David, was first kept in Nob, and then was transferred by him to Jerusalem.

Photo gallery

Most educated people consider the battle of David and Goliath to be an allegory. According to legend, David managed to defeat a giant from the enemy (Philistine) army and thereby ensured the victory of his army. Of course, there cannot be giants, these are all fairy tales...

However, was Goliath really that great? Let's take a look at TANAKH. This is what the Book of the Prophet Samuel (Samuel) tells us, 1, 17:4:

“And a single combatant named Goliath, from Gath, went out from the camps of the Philistines; his height is six cubits and a span. And he had a copper helmet on his head, and he was dressed in chain mail, and the weight of this chain mail was five thousand shekels of copper. And the copper shields were on his feet, and the copper javelin was on his shoulders. And the shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and the blade of his spear was 600 shekels of iron. And the shield-bearer walked before him.”

Let's first look at the tactical and technical indicators of Goliath.

To measure height, the ancient Jews used the so-called “Egyptian cubit” - this is 48 centimeters. A span is also a well-known measure, approximately 8 centimeters. That is, Goliath’s total height is 2 meters 96 centimeters. A little further we will talk about whether this is a lot or a little.

Each shekel mentioned in the TANAKH is the so-called “sacred shekel”, 22 grams. That is, Goliath’s chain mail weighed 110 kilograms.

Although it is possible that in this case they meant the usual shekel - 11 grams. This brings the entire Goliath chain mail down to 55 kilograms - I think that's not much heavier than the old diving equipment.

The “blade,” that is, the tip of the spear, weighed 600 shekels - that is, 12.5 kilograms (quite feasible for a trained person), or a little more than six kilograms, which is not even too heavy. Let's say the author of this book could easily lift such a spear (although he would no longer be able to fight with it).

The sword of Goliath, according to ancient sources, was first kept in Nob, and then was transferred to Jerusalem.

Let's move on to growth - is it so fantastic? Let's say that today the tallest man on earth is officially the Ukrainian Leonid Stadnik. His height is 2 meters 57 centimeters. That is, Stadnik is only 42 centimeters short of Goliath.

However, Stadnik is not the limit. It has been documented that the tallest man who lived in our time was Robert Pershing Wadlow. He was born in 1918 in Alton, Illinois, USA. Wadlow's height reached 2 meters 72 centimeters. By the way, his arm span reached 288 cm, and his weight reached 223 kg.

So, American Wadlow was only 24 cm behind Goliath. The difference is quite small.

I think that if my average reader is of average height, then he has repeatedly had to meet people who are 24 cm taller than him, and even more. That is, Wadlow wouldn't be all that surprised if he met Goliath.

In our time, it was said about the Terek Cossack Timofey Bakulin that his height was almost three meters. (True, some witnesses claim that Bakulin’s height did not exceed two and a half meters).

In the mid-fifties of the last century, according to memoirs, near the city of Izberbash (New Town) in Dagestan, a father and son, almost three meters tall, lived on a pier near the lighthouse. The reason for the seclusion from ordinary people was not the enormous height of the two men, but the unusual appearance of the younger one, who was completely covered with hair. People called this guy “kaptar”, that is, Bigfoot.

In the mountains of Dagestan there was one village in which people more than two meters tall lived. However, at the end of the fifties of the last century, there was a strong earthquake in the mountains of Dagestan, which buried an aul with tall people in the gorge. People say that one of the tall people from the dead village remained alive. The three-meter man was often seen high in the mountains of Dagestan with a flock of sheep. The further fate of the giant is unknown.

But these are already legends (in no way do I want to discredit the people who provided this information, but they did not make scientific observations).

One more giant remained in the memory of previous generations - Fyodor Makhnov.

According to the Russian Book of Records, the tallest man in world history was Russian citizen Fyodor Makhnov! His height was 2 meters 85 centimeters (with a weight of 182 kilograms).

A correspondent for the magazine “7 Days” reports that he personally saw the grave of our hero - at the Staroye Selo railway station, near Vitebsk. Today the giant is called in newspapers either Makhnov or Makhno.

Boris Mikhailov Young David. 1999

Anastasia Khokhryakova David and Goliath 2002

Pietro da Cortona David takes a lamb from the mouth of a lion 17th century.

Pietro da Cortona David kills Goliath 17th century.

Michelangelo David

He refuses the full armor (because he is not used to it), which Saul gives him, and opposes Goliath only with a sling. With the words: “You come against me with a sword and a spear and a shield, and I come against you in the name of ... the god of the armies of Israel,” David hits the giant with a sling so that a stone pierces his forehead and he falls to the ground.
Then, stepping on Goliath, David cuts off his head. This ensures victory for the Israelis.

Benozzo Gozzoli. David and Goliath

Michelangelo David and Goliath 1509

Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld David and Goliath

Edgar Degas David and Goliath 1863

James Tissot David and Goliath

The Philistines, seeing that their strongman had died, fled.
According to a briefer summary of the heroic motive of the duel with Goliath, a warrior named Elhanan defeated the giant. Many researchers believe that this is the hero’s true name, while David is his later nickname.

Unknown thin Scenes from the Legend of David and Goliath 1450
Pietro della Vecchia Saul and David with head of Goliath

Rembrandt David Presenting the Head of Goliath to King Saul 1627

Nicolas Poussin The Triumph of David

Nicolas Poussin The Triumph of David 1627-30

Ilya Glazunov Hymn to the heroes 1984

Ostritsky Arkady Gershevich David and Goliath 1994

David with a harp

Awarded the royal squire, who became famous in battles with the Philistines, who dared to fight with a lion and a bear, a skilled musician and poet, David soon became a favorite of the people.
He appears at the court of the Israeli-Jewish king Saul. According to one version, David was called to Saul as a guslar singer to calm the king by playing when he was disturbed by an evil spirit. According to another, David gained the favor of Saul by winning a duel with Goliath.

Jan de Bray David Playing the Harp

It is interesting that de Bray portrayed David as an old man, although according to legend he was a youth. Rembrandt's image looks more truthful.

Rembrandt David playing the harp before Saul 1629

Rembrandt David playing the harp before Saul 1655-60.

Nikolai Zagorsky David plays the harp in front of Saul. 1873

And the next two paintings depict David the harpist, who is fond of playing the instrument, already being a king.

Ivsha King David

Often David appears as a musician with an instrument (usually a harp) in his hands (a book miniature of the Psalter - the so-called Khludov Psalter of the 9th century, stored in the Historical Museum in Moscow, the Parisian Psalter of the 19th century - in the National Library in Paris, etc.; stone carving of the facades of the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl and Demetrius Cathedral in Vladimir, 12th century, stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral, 13th century).
This also includes the paintings “David plays the harp before Saul” by Pinturicchio. Luke of Leiden, Rembrandt, M. Preti and others.

David won the devoted love of Jonathan, Saul's eldest son, and won the hand of Princess Michal (Mikhali), Saul's daughter. But the more unbearable David becomes for Saul (whenever they returned from another battle, people everywhere said: “Saul killed thousands, and David - tens of thousands”).
The king plots to kill David. David flees from Saul, hiding in the desert, in a cave, in the forest. Having rallied the freemen around himself, David keeps the population in fear. He goes into the service of the king of the city of Gath. In the fight with Saul, David manages to win over the priests from Nova, but Saul incurs the wrath of the worshipers of Yahweh by exterminating the priests of this shrine.
After the death of Saul, defeated by the Philistines, and his sons, Saul’s military commander Abner proclaims Ishbosheth (Ishbaal), Saul’s surviving son, king, while David is proclaimed king in Hebron (i.e., over Judah).
Ishbaal was soon killed by his guards (David publicly executes them for regicide, demonstrating his innocence in the death of the Saulid dynasty), then David is proclaimed king by both the Israelis and the Jews.
“David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for forty years,” writes the Old Testament.

David and Bathsheba

David is portrayed as a patriarch, as the father of many children born to his many wives and concubines.

Pedro Berruguete King David 15th century.

The stories about David's love for the smart and beautiful Abigail and especially for Bathsheba (Bathsheba), whom he saw bathing and then took as his wife, and sent her husband, the faithful warrior Uriah the Hittite, to the war with the Ammonites, knowingly to his death, are famous.
Yahweh punishes David with the death of the baby born by Bathsheba, but Bathsheba’s second son, Solomon, turns out to be pleasing to God (the prophet Nathan gives him the name Jedidiah, “beloved of God”).

Lucas Cranach Sr. David and Bathsheba 1526

Ian Masseys David and Bathsheba 1562

Artemisia Gentileschi David and Bathsheba 1640s

Angelika Kaufman Nathan denounces David 1797

The feud with his son Absalom (which began with the murder of Amnon, the son of David, as revenge for the rape by Amnon, Absalom's half-brother, Tamar, Absalom's sister) develops into open rebellion, during which David is forced to flee Jerusalem. This dispute ends with the suppression of the rebellion and the death of the prince (he is killed by the military leader Joab).
David mourns his son (to the bewilderment of those who saved the king by victory). Another son of David, Prince Adonijah, strives to reign during the life of his elderly father, but the prophet Nathan skillfully persuades David to appoint Solomon as heir.

The Old Testament image of David is contradictory. This, on the one hand, indicates the presence of reliable information about the historical figure, and on the other, contributes to the development of the legend by strengthening some features and smoothing out others.
The chroniclers of David's contemporaries embodied in his biography the concept of God's impartial punishment of the vicious king through the prophets, therefore paying considerable attention in the books of Kings to the description of David's misdeeds.
In the book of the Israeli prophet Amos, David is mentioned as a skilled musician. According to later tradition, he is credited with composing the psalms (collected in the biblical book of Psalms).
The books of Isaiah and Jeremiah, prophets who lived during the period of the threat of loss of independence hanging over the kingdom of Judah, express hopes for the upcoming restoration of the “kingdom of David.”
The image of David, whose descendants continued to rule in the kingdom of Judah for about 400 years, until its conquest in 587/586 BC. e. Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, acquires from the time of the Babylonian captivity the features of an immortal king-savior.
David's appearance has already received attention in the Old Testament texts: he is blond, with beautiful eyes and a pleasant face. The Kabbalistic book “Zohar” says that David’s eyes were the color of the rainbow and sparkled, but after the “sin” with Bathsheba they began to dim.

And finally, a modern look at this legend in the works of an artist living in Kazakhstan - Vyacheslav Luiko.

Vyacheslav Luiko David and Goliath 2002

Vyacheslav Luiko David and Goliath 2008

Information from the site.

Among the Philistine army there was one undaunted strongman, the giant Goliath. He wore scale mail on his body, a copper helmet on his head, a copper shield over his shoulders, and held a heavy spear in his hands. A squire was next to him. And when the Philistines met with the army of Israel to resolve many years of hostility, they sent Goliath forward.

He was very formidable, he was not afraid of anyone or anything, he walked along his army, shouted loudly, boasted of his strength, and rattled his weapons. He was so powerful that it seemed that there was no person on earth who could defeat him. Even angrier and stronger, he shouted towards the Israelites, urging them to fight him: “If your warrior kills me, then the Philistines will become slaves of the Israelites, if I kill him, then the Israelites will become slaves of the Philistines. Everything will be fair."

The Israelis heard his cries, but did not know what to do. They did not have such a strongman in their army. For forty days and forty nights Goliath boasted of his strength, reviled the Israelites in every possible way and threatened to destroy everyone.

Young David, the future king of Israel, who brought food to his brothers, heard the boast of the giant Goliath. He was very young, but he had strong muscles and was not afraid of anything. And he also heard from the Israeli soldiers that whoever kills Goliath, the Israeli king will endow him with great wealth and marry his daughter to him.

David asked his brothers if he should fight Goliath. The brothers immediately became angry with him and told him that he should tend sheep and not fight. But other soldiers heard David’s words and reported him to the leader Saul. He called David to him. The young man told Saul that since childhood he had been tending sheep and had often fought with wild animals, tearing apart a lion and a bear with his bare hands. Saul had no other choice, he had to answer the challenge of Goliath, he gave the young man his chain mail and helmet. David tried on the equipment, but then abandoned it. He took his staff, sling, and shepherd's bag, put stones in it and went out in front of the Israeli army.

Goliath looked with contempt at the young man in shepherd's clothing. He shouted: “Why are you coming against me with a stick, am I a dog?” David answered him: “You come against me with a sword and a spear and a shield, but I come against you in the name of the Lord... and I will kill you, and take off your head.”

Goliath became very angry when he heard such offensive words and quickened his pace. They were getting closer, preparing for a fierce fight. Goliath was confident in his victory, he was not afraid of anything and only smiled fearfully, but the young man was not frightened by his brutal appearance.

When the distance between them was reduced to the flight of an arrow, David lowered his hand into his bag, took a heavier stone from there and inserted it into the sling. He took aim and fired. The stone hit the giant directly on the forehead. He couldn't stay on his feet and fell to the ground. Neither the Philistines nor the Israelites expected this.

David ran up to Goliath, he did not move, he was dead. David took his sword and cut off his head. The Philistines watching this scene were horrified and ran. Israeli troops began to pursue them. With victorious cries they entered the enemy camp and plundered it. And David, together with the severed head of Goliath, entered Jerusalem triumphantly.