to go (causatively · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
champion
אִֽישׁ'ish-
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular construct
camp
מִמַּחֲנ֣וֹתmi.ma.cha.Not
H4264
an encampment (of travellers or troops) · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct
Philistines
פְּלִשְׁתִּ֔יםpe.lish.Tim
H6430
a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
named
שְׁמ֖וֹshe.Mo
H8034
an appellation · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Goliath
גָּלְיָ֥תgal.Yat
H1555
Goljath · proper noun, a man's name
Gath
מִגַּ֑תmi.Gat
H1661
Gath · preposition + proper noun, a place name
height
גָּבְה֕וֹga.ve.Ho
H1363
elation · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
six
שֵׁ֥שׁshesh
H8337
six (as an overplus beyond five or the fingers of the h… · noun, common both genders singular absolute
cubits
אַמּ֖וֹת'a.Mot
H520
properly · noun, common feminine plural absolute
span
וָזָֽרֶתva.Za.ret
H2239
the spread of the fingers · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Joshua 11:22 There was none of the Anakims left in the land of the children of Israel: only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, there remained.
1 Samuel 17:23 And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistine…
2 Samuel 21:16-22 And Ishbi-benob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being gi…
1 Chronicles 20:4-8 And it came to pass after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines; at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Sippai, that…
Deuteronomy 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 child…
1 Samuel 21:9-10 And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth beh…
1 Samuel 27:4 And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought no more again for him.
1 Chronicles 11:23 And he slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits high; and in the Egyptian’s hand was a spear like a weaver’s beam; and he went…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 17:1-11
It was not long ago that the Philistines were soundly beaten, and put to the worse, before Israel, and they would have been totally routed if Saul's rashness had not prevented; but here we have them making head again. Observe,
I. How they defied Israel with their armies, Sa1 17:1. They made a descent upon the Israelites' country, and possessed themselves, as it should seem, of some part of it, for they encamped in a place which belonged to Judah. Israel's ground would never have been footing for Philistine-armies if Israel had been faithful to their God. The Philistines (it is probable) had heard that Samuel had fallen out with Saul and forsaken him, and no longer assisted and advised him, a…
GOLIATH CHALLENGES A COMBAT. (Sa1 17:4-11)
a champion--Hebrew, a "man between two"; that is, a person who, on the part of his own people, undertook to determine the national quarrel by engaging in single combat with a chosen warrior in the hostile army.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 17:4
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 איש הבנים 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 Sep…
And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines,.... Or a "middle person", or a man "between two" (y); 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" (z), 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…
The Church Fathers
And a man went out from above... named Goliath, etc. This notable man is the devil, who, daily going out from the camps of the Philistines, that is, from the hearts of the impious to rebel against God, does not cease to provoke the pious. And rightly he is called Goliath, that is, revealed or transmigrating. For he had long been hidden from mortals, seemingly in vain troubling Saul and the men of Israel; in vain boasting in the minds of the depraved, as in the camps of the Philistines, that he was the strongest; but now, through the diligence of the boy David, he is revealed to them, who can say: For we are not ignorant of his thoughts. Long pridefully inhabiting the hearts of the wretched, he is now transmigrated through the same strong hand, that is, the Lord Savior, who said: Now is the judgment of this world, now the prince of this world will be cast out (John XII). Or certainly, he is rightly called transmigrating because he transmigrated from angelic happiness to hell through pride. But if we wish to understand him who transmigrates others, that is, transfers them from place to place, in an active sense, the name should be referred to him; because he strives to transmigrate all his followers from the land of promise to the land of perdition, from life to death. He is well described as being six cubits and a palm high, because he who boasts to be similar to the Most High, promises to preach perfect works and a blessed end through his philosophers. For God made the world in six days and rested on the seventh; and he established for mortals through the law six days of work, the seventh of rest. Indeed, Ezekiel saw in the hand of the man measuring the new city, a reed of six cubits and a palm; because the Lord measures the perfection of work in His chosen ones, as if in six cubits; and He contemplates the hope of eternal rest, which will be completed in the future, as if the part of the seventh. Therefore, what the Lord truly exhibits, the devil falsely promises. The height of Goliath, comparable to the Lord's measure, is asserted to fall. His city also, Gath, which is interpreted as "press," aptly shows the multitude of the wicked, namely the devil's city, always practiced in the torments of the good in the world. It is also worth informing those unaware that he is a bastard, who is generated by an ignoble father but a noble mother; just as conversely,…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Champion — (1 Sam. 17:4, 23), properly “the man between the two,” denoting the position of Goliath between the two camps. Single combats of this kind at the head of armies were common in ancient times. In ver.…
David — Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam.…
Elah, The Valley Of — (valley of the terebinth), the valley in which David killed Goliath. (1 Samuel 17:2,19) It lay somewhere near Socoh of Judah and Azekah, and was nearer Ekron than any other Philistine town. 1Sam. 17.
Elhanan — Whom God has graciously bestowed. (1.) A warrior of the time of David famed for his exploits. In the Authorized Version (2 Sam. 21:19) it is recorded that “Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a…
Gath — A wine-vat, one of the five royal cities of the Philistines (Josh. 13:3) on which the ark brought calamity (1 Sam. 5:8, 9; 6:17). It was famous also as being the birthplace or residence of Goliath (1…
Giants — (1.) Heb. nephilim, meaning “violent” or “causing to fall” (Gen. 6:4). These were the violent tyrants of those days, those who fell upon others. The word may also be derived from a root signifying…
Goliath — Great. (1.) A famous giant of Gath, who for forty days openly defied the armies of Israel, but was at length slain by David with a stone from a sling (1 Sam. 17:4). He was probably descended from the…
Philistines — (Gen. 10:14, R.V.; but in A.V., “Philistim”), a tribe allied to the Phoenicians. They were a branch of the primitive race which spread over the whole district of the Lebanon and the valley of the…
War — The Israelites had to take possession of the Promised Land by conquest. They had to engage in a long and bloody war before the Canaanitish tribes were finally subdued. Except in the case of Jericho…
Weights And Measures — A. WEIGHTS.—The general principle of the present inquiry is to give the evidence of the monuments the preference on all doubtful points. All ancient Greek systems of weight were derived, either…
A war between the Philistines and the Israelites furnished David with the opportunity of displaying before Saul and all Israel, and greatly to the terror of the enemies of his people, that heroic power which was firmly based upon his bold and pious trust in the omnipotence of the faithful covenant God (Sa1 17:1-3). A powerful giant, named Goliath, came forward from the ranks of the Philistines, and scornfully challenged the Israelites to produce a man who would decide the war by a single combat with him (Sa1 17:4-11). David, who had returned home for a time from the court of Saul, and had just been sent into the camp by his father with provisions for his elder brothers who were serving in th…
champion: In ancient times, rival forces would sometimes agree to let selected individuals from each side decide a conflict. This reduced casualties and other costs. The same kind of combat is reflected in 2 Sam 2:12-17. • Gath was one of five Philistine cities with a reputation for having giants as citizens (2 Sam 21:15-22).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 17:4
A champion. A mighty person who went out from his battalion, to stand between the two battalions.2Following the literal meaning of אִישׁ הַבֵּנַיִם as ‘the man of between.’ However, Maseches Sotah 42b states that the word הַבֵּנַיִם is from the root בנה, to build, i.e., he was as sturdy as a building.—Da’as Sofrim
Philistines · Men of great strength and stature amongst — Men of great strength and stature amongst
Rephaim, Or Giants, The · The last of, destroyed by David and his warriors — The last of, destroyed by David and his warriors
Tents · Were used by: All eastern nations — Were used by: All eastern nations
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
