Goliath was 9 ft. 9 in. The tallest man in modern history was 8 ft. 11in.
Yes, and at that it was a different kind of giant. It was not as much of a blessing as many people perceive it to be for him, and was a case of gigantism. Wadlow was a human.
Robert Wadlow's condition caused him an early death at the age of 22 years old and health complications leading up to it. The giants we are referring to in the Bible are not human beings with gigantism and their shoulders likely displayed prominently through great width the extent of their genetics being the reason for their incredible size.
Robert Wadlow, the tallest man ever, measured a mighty 8 ft 11 in (2.72 m). His record has remained unbroken in the 80 years since and it's unlikely that any human will reach such a height again - but why?
www.guinnessworldrecords.com
The tragic story of the death of Robert Wadlow, the tallest man ever, who passed away aged 22.
www.guinnessworldrecords.com
In other words, these were fast, strong creatures that were mutants made by the fallen ones. There have been attempts by some in the ignorance of modernity by individuals who cannot fathom the frightful sight of a giant who could easily kill them, to describe these beings as slow, awkward, clumsy, frail, and even going as far as claiming they likely had poor eyesight and other senses. These faulty fabrications are caused by the arrogance instilled within a man when he thinks highly of himself and needs to feel superior to the subject that he is speaking about to a crowd of people, as a frail ego cannot admit that things exist that could quite easily destroy him if it were in his presence.
The opposite is true of these giants recorded in the Bible. They were anything but clumsy, weak, slow, or awkward and they were highly intelligent. This makes what God done through king David and his extremely fierce men all the more astonishing. These were not mere mediocre men that managed to pull off a few great feats of brave valor with God's help "in spite of being normal." They simply were not normal men to begin with and God made them strong and fierce in their time for a purpose.
Consider these accounts for example:
2 Samuel 23:8
These
are the names of the mighty men whom David had:
Josheb-Basshebeth the Tachmonite, chief among the captains. He was called Adino the Eznite, because
he had killed eight hundred men at one time.
2 Samuel 23:18
Now
Abishai the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of
another three.
He lifted his spear against three hundred men, killed them, and won a name among
these three.
2 Samuel 23:20
Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man from Kabzeel, who had done many deeds.
He had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab.
He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day.
1 Samuel 17:36
Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.”
If Josheb killed 800 men in one battle all by himself, how many men did king David kill throughout all his battles over the course of his life? King David also stated he killed a lion and bear, and Benaiah also killed a lion.
Now, I know there are a lot of men that would like to think highly of themselves in believing they could "easily" kill a bear or lion without a high powered rifle, and only a sword in their hand... but it isn't as easy to do as it is to say. To add to this, I don't know if king David had a sword when he was tending sheep and killed the lion and bear, and the account of Benaiah doesn't reference any sword, though I personally would suppose him to use one if he had it, or a spear.
Even then, we know that these kind of men existed that could kill lions bare-handed, as we have the account of Samson doing so long before kind David's time:
Judges 14:5-6
5So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah.
Now
to his surprise, a young lion
came roaring against him.
6And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though
he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.
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The skulls and bones of the giants were on display in Israel, during Josephus' day in the first century and are described by him as a "terror" and resembling nothing similar to humanity:
Antiquities 5.125 So they moved their camp to Hebron, took capture of that town and massacred all therein. There remained still a race of giants, who, by reason of their huge frames and figures in no way like the rest of mankind, were an amazing spectacle and a tale of terror to the ear. Their bones are shown to this day, bearing no resemblance to any that have come within men’s ken.
Greek, Roman, Christian, and Jewish authors described discovering enormous bones buried just beneath the earth’s surface and interpreted them through their own lenses: Greeks and Romans saw mythic heroes and monsters; Jewish writers identified them as biblical giants, especially Og, king of...
www.thetorah.com
