A giant problem

Had to be there

Most people recognize the Bible is deficient in various ways: mistranslations, wonky editing, and one of the worst deficiencies, omissions.

It's a huge problem for me to realize what kinds of details have been left out. And you might say it's a giant problem, especially when it comes to giants.


Everyone knows about Goliath of Gath, estimated to be about 6 cubits, or 9 feet 9 inches tall. Compare that to Robert Pershing Wadlow's puny 8 feet 11 inches.

But what you should have seen is the rest of Gath. Apparently, Goliath had several giant brothers, and Gath was known as a hometown of giants and the likely corporate headquarters of B.C.-era Big&Tall stores.

And there may have been some gene mutation going on, as well.

1 Chronicles 20:6
"And yet again there was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand, and six on each foot: and he also was the son of the giant."

If you look in the Bible Dictionary, there are no more than 11 references to the extra tall people of the days of yore. That's more than I expected to find, but still not enough. There's no explanation about where they came from and why, if they were so mighty, that they were basically destroyed. Though if they were anything like Goliath, they might have been jerks.

Really big jerks.

But I want to know more. How tall were they really? Did people fear all of them? Or were there gentle giants, too? Were there giant women? Did they have special eating utensils? Did their teachers call them the "special" students? Come on, Bible. Help me out.