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dateblock Wednesday, September 8th, 2010 




 


 




ARTICLES

 

Q&A 1109 - The Dead Sea Scrolls & height of Goliath

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I recently visited San Diego to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, and there was a mistake where the scribe wrote that Goliath was six and a half feet tall, not nine and a half. I know since people were smaller back then, six and a half feet tall could easly be considered a giant. Still, I'm not sure. Do you think the older copies and the DSS were correct and all newer cpoies mistaken, or do you think the DSS really had this specific error?

Y
es, it is an incredible exhibit, isn't (wasn't) it?  Anyway, copyists often made mistakes with numbers. The Hebrew text normally reads 9'4". That would be a real giant. But no, 6'6" would not be a giant! Take Saul -- he was was a head taller than everyone else (1 Samuel 9:2), so he himself was certainly over 6'.  But not a giant. I think the DSS in question had an error.

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