You are undoubtedly familiar with the story of the epic struggle between a young shepherd boy and a Philistine giant who stood outside his camp and mocked the Israelite army challenging any one of them to meet him in armed combat (1 Samuel 17). Now an Israeli archaeologist claims to have found evidence of Goliath.
Goliath was a "champion" of the Philistines (v 4) and according to the Biblical record stood nearly 9' 9" and his body armor weighed 80 kg or about 160 pounds. In prelude to the battle, he was there to intimidate his opponents. It’s what giants do best.
It would appear Goliath was part of a race of giants called the Anakim (also called Rephaim-- Hebrew lit. giants). This exceptionally tall tribe was mentioned numerous times throughout the Old Testament.
Finding Goliath
Most liberal theologians have discounted the story of Goliath being taken down by a young shepherd boy with a sling, as little more than a myth concocted years later to bolster David’s reputation.
J. Maxwell Miller and John Hayes in their book "A History of Ancient Israel and Judah" describe the Goliath story this way, "Folk themes, such as the lad killing the giant with a sling stone (1 Sam. 17) ... remind us that we are dealing with largely legendary materials." [4]
However, these notions were put to rest in 2005, when Israeli archaeologist Dr. Aren Maeir -- from the archaeology department of the Tel Aviv Bar-Ilan University -- announced he had found Goliath.
Though Maeir didn't exactly find a giant body, minus a head, he did find a shard of pottery with the name Goliath etched on it from the Tel es Shafi mound -- the site of an ancient Philistine city located 21 miles west of Bethlehem. Most archaeologists believe this is the original site of Gath – the home of Goliath (v 4). In fact, Joshua specifically labeled Gath as the home of the giants (Joshua 11:22).
In its news release announcing the find, Bar-Ilan University states, “The discovery is of particular importance since the Bible attributes Gath as the home of Goliath. ‘Gath of the Philistines,’ was one of the major cities of the Philistines, the well-known arch-enemies of the Israelites in the Biblical text.” [7]
“The archaeological find may also be seen as the first clear extra-Biblical evidence of the well-known Biblical story of the battle between David and Goliath,” the release added.
The inscription found on a small piece of reddish colored pottery -- probably the remnant of a larger pot -- had the words "Alwat and Wlt" written on it in "Proto-Canaanite" lettering -- the Hebrew equivalent of Goliath. When the Hebrews heard the name Goliath they translated so it had the same etymological sound in their language.
Stunned by his discovery, Maier circulated the shard to a number of experts who confirmed this finding. Aside from its Goliath inscription, the shard was also the earliest known form of Philistine writing.
In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, Maeir said he does not believe this is a reference to the Goliath of the Biblical record stating he dated the shard 50 years after the infamous confrontation. According to Maier, the Biblical account is placed around 1,000 BC and the shard is from 950 AD. However, it should be noted that archaeological dating is not an exact science. [8]
Maier described it as “a ground breaking find,” as it was evidence that this account “is not some later literary creation.” [5]
Names were etched on pottery for a number of reasons. First it was often used to indicate ownership. Secondly, it took on the form of hero worship. Today, people buy football jerseys with the name and number of their favorite player emblazoned on it. Back then they did the same thing with pottery using it to display the heroes and gods of their culture.
If the name is later, as Maier suggests, it was common for parents to name their children after relatives and famous people in their culture. At the very least, the small piece of pottery tells us the name was in common use during this period. A fact, writers would have been unaware of if the story was written hundreds of years later as liberals suggest.
But archaelogy has uncovered more about this story. Having accepted Goliath's challenge, David quickly realized he was no match fighting the Philistine champion on his terms -- swords. The young shepherd strategically chose a deadly weapon he was intimately familiar with -- the sling.
The sling was not only used for hunting, but was also incorporated into ancient armies such as the Assyrian, Persian and Egyptian. Even the Israeli military had a contingent of slingers (2 Kings 3:25). Homer -- in his odyssey on the retreat of the 10,000 -- records the Greek army suffered heavy casualties at the hands of Persian slingers under King Artaxerxes II and this ultimately forced the Greeks to withdraw from the battle.
A sling had advantages over the bow. It could be launched with one arm allowing a shield to be held in the other. A sling could also be used while running – a tactic David used (v 48). It was cheap to make and ammo was readily available and even had a longer range than the bow. Easy to transport, soldiers often carried a sling as a back-up weapon. [1]
A well-trained slinger was extremely accurate. The slogan for a contingent of left-handed slingers based in Gibeah was they could knock a hair off a man's head (Judges 20:16
In preparation for his battle, David collected five smooth stones from a nearby stream (v 40). It always puzzled me why the writer was so specific about the number, but this may be due to the fact Goliath had four sons (2 Samuel 21:22) and David anticipated he would be fighting the whole family before the day was over.
However, the word, stones, does leave the wrong impression. Archaeologists have found slinger's rocks up to 3.5 inches in diameter. With most ranging in size between a billiard ball and tennis ball, even the smaller ones were heavy artillery. We even have a hint that these were the size of rocks David was looking for. Verse 40 says, “He took a stick in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones…” David needed a stick to pry out the rocks embedded in the mud of the creek bed. He wasn’t picking pebbles scattered on the surface.
There is also another interesting twist. As mentioned earlier, Goliath was from a race of giants who lived in Canaan (Numbers 13:22, 28, 33; Deuteronomy 1:28; Deuteronomy 2:21; Joshua 11:21). They were called the Anakim or Rephaim (Gen 14:5). The Moabites referred to them as Emim (Deuteronomy 2:11) and the Amorites called them Zamzummin (Deuteronomy 2:20).
It was this group the 12 spies encountered when Moses sent men into the Promised Land to spy out the land. Most of the spies returned totally overwhelmed by what they saw. They said the land was inhabited by giants (Numbers 13:28, 31, 33). When the Israelites pulled back from entering the Promised Land, they were destined to wander the wilderness for forty years until the unbelieving generation died off.
However, giants don't go away and when Joshua finally led the Israelites into the Promised Land, he needed to defeat the giants. When Israel defeated OG King of Basham (Joshua 12:4), they noted that his bed was nine cubits long and four cubits wide (Deuteronomy 3:11).
References to these giants are even found in other ancients texts of that time. The Ugarit administration texts (found at the site of Ugarit an ancient seaport in Syria) refer to the Rephaim. Egyptian writings speak of the Anak or Anakim. Specifically, the Execration texts refer to a group in Canaan "ly-aneg" the Egyptian phonetic equivalent of Anak. The script actually involved a curse the Egyptians put on the Anakim. The curse was traditionally written on pottery, which was then broken to symbolize their impending destruction. (2)
Curiously, the Bible traces the roots of these giants back to another equally strange group -- the Nephilim -- first mentioned in Genesis chapter six. When the Israelites encountered the Anakim they initially referred to them as Nephilim.
“There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim) …” (Numbers 13:22 NASV)
Mentioned in the same passage as the “sons of God” (Genesis 6:4), many suggest the Nephilim were the sons of God or the children born when the ‘sons of God’ married the ‘daughters of men.’ In fact if we read the text carefully, we realize the Nephilim and sons of God were two distinct groups that coexisted side-by-side and instead the verse implies the Nephilim had aligned themselves with the "sons of God."
"The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty who were of old, men of renown." (Genesis 6:4 NASV)
Moses, the author of the Genesis and Numbers, wrote of the existence of Nephilim prior to the flood and then after. Since Noah and his family were the only ones who survived, a remnant of the Nephilim must have joined Noah on the ark -- perhaps a wife of one of Noah’s sons – and survived the flood (3).
But aside from the Biblical record, stories have come down through history of races of giants from almost every region of the world. Pliny, a Roman senator and historian, refers to a family of giants -- Pusio and Secundilla – who lived in Caesar Augustus’ day (27 BC – 14 AD). One of them stood 10’ 3’ in Roman feet.
Brad Steiger writes that in the past century, the New York Times reported findings of giant graves in North America. [6]
In its June 9th, 1936 edition, the NY Times wrote that zoologist E. M. Miller from the University of Miami discovered a number of eight foot long human skeletons on a small island off the coast of Florida. The article stated that these individuals had a number of unusual features including eyes unusually high on the forehead – note the Greek story of Cyclops similarly focused on the eyes.
In the December 2, 1930 edition, the paper reported the story of mining engineer J. E. Coker who said he discovered a cemetery of giants in the small town of Sayopa, Sonora located 300 miles south of the Mexican border. His crew found a number of bodies at least eight feet long in a burial ground along the Yazul river. He said, they “were found buried tier by tier.”
As well, the Times reported of a giant skeleton found in El Boqui, Nicaragua. In its February 4, 1936 edition, the Times reported that it was at least eight feet long – curiously the individual’s head was missing.
References:
1. Sling (weapon) -- Wikipedia
2. Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia, editor Charles Pfeiffer (Moody Press: Chicago, Ill)
3. Read Brian Sass’ article entitled “Who were the Nephilim” for a different perspective on this group. http://opentheword.org/content/view/138/71/
4. Dr. Claude Maritime’s bog, Professor of Old Testament, Northern Baptist Seminary.
5. Goliath’s name found in archaeological dig, by Allyn Fisher Ilan (Reuters: November 13, 2005)
6. Did giant reptiles share the earth with giant humans by Brad Steiger (www.agoracosmopolitan.com)
7. Has the Biblical Goliath been found? (Bar-Ilan University of Archaeologists News Release: www.imra.org.il --:November 10,2005)
8. Goliath found? by Oren Klass (Jerusalem Post: November 10, 2005)
Other sources:
David and Goliath Archeological Evidence (BBC News: May 30, 2006)
Apologetics 
Israeli archaeologist Aren Maeir made a startling discovery at the site of the ancient 
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