How Tall was Goliath? (feat. Toasters) 

Thank you Toasters for helping me with this video. Go check out his channel! ru-vid.com/show-UC0rL-D5o11bO1ap6TyLHOXA

Everyone's asking how tall is Goliath. No ones asking how small is David.

As someone who knows someone who is a quarter inch shy of 7 feet tall (no genetic issues; his whole family is about 6 and a half feet tall including his mother) may I just point out that 7 feet tall is PLENTY tall to freak out even modern day humans, let alone how terrifying large it would have been to humans a few thousand years ago. Even being friends with him I’ve never quite gotten over the shock of when he goes from sitting to standing up. It’s alarming.

I reckon Goliath would have done well on Tinder

I find it odd how people underplay the power of a sling, they’re deadly

i still like the idea that because people were smaller back then, that Goliath is just regular guy sized and everyone else was 5'3

Also, I'd like to point out that David was a shepard.... who would've regularly had to defend his flock from lions and bears... with his sling. Not only that, i remember watching a documentary about professional sling shoters, the good ones can hit a target with the same energy as a .45 ACP (just over a larger area). In top of this all, there's a possible interpretation of the Bible that suggests Goliath was near sighted, referencing that fact that Goliath couldn't see David very well. Tl;dr, a professional sharp shooter with experience against savage animals killed a visually disabled man.

Small Asparagus: "I WILL FIGHT GOLIATH" Large, Royal Asparagus: (Spits out water violently)

If the average height was 5'5" to 5'9", then someone who was around 7' tall would be considered a giant. I have a friend who is 6'9" and know about physical problems someone that tall has, so I don't believe Goliath would be much taller than that, and still be able to be a warrior.

Loved how the video turned out! It was great working with you!

The sling was almost equivalent to the musket, don’t be fooled…

So many strongmen are huge and very athletic, it's hard to imagine that there couldn't be a great warrior giant.

One thing to consider: If the average height of an adult man was 5 feet, then his measurement of a cubit would likely be much shorter than the standardized 18 inches. It may well have been 12-14 inches long. (I actually measured my own cubit length which is 18 inches, and I'm 6"1')

I really appreciate your channel, I'm a scientist and a Christian, and it can be a little frustrating when people cover topics like this from a place of bias. I know you may not believe in a lot of Christian stuff, but I do appreciate you respectfully talking about it. Edit: check your spelling kids 😅 I wish I did

The Dead Sea Scrolls written in Hebrew from 100 BC also say four cubits and a span, agreeing with the Septuagint.

The nephilim: the heroes of old, warriors of renown, and sufferers of bad eyesight, headaches, and short lifespans, apparently

As a shepherd, David probably had to regularly deal with wild animals like wolves and bears. Animals far stronger than a man, even one who’s at most 10 feet tall.

Considering we've got guys like Shaq and Yao Ming, I would imagine Goliath would be around that range (i.e., 7' - 7' 4").

I always wondered about how big Goliath's size was. I'm quite sure Shaquille O'NEIL is bigger. That dude is a legit giant if you stand next to him.

i remember in my pre-teens reading that goliath was about 6'10", which is still fucking tall by today's standards.

"never bring a gun to a sword fight" then david out here only with a *ROC* and *SLING*

Goliath has eye sight complication tho, he sees the sling and stones as sticks

I knew that 9 foot 9 would've came with some serious healh risks, also could you please make a video on some popular biblical parablepsis? Because that kind of stuff needs it's own video.

04:10 in the background is polish translation of a bible :)

I have a friend who is 2,07m (about 6 foot 9 in imperial measurements, the same size as Goliath) and we both practice historical swordfighting (HEMA). I can tell you from personal experience that as a "normal" sized person it is no fun fighting against him, his reach is absolutely enormous. You'd approach him for an attack and he'd just hit you across the head with his sword before you can even reach him. This would also probably have played a big role in Goliath's reputation as a warrior, especially with weapons that really extend your reach like a spear. He would probably have been able to hit his opponents far before they would have been able to reach him. I'm 1,78m, I can't imagine how it would have been for an ancient Israelite warrior who was only 1,50-1,60m tall. It's interesting to see how my personal experiences fit into the explanation of a bible story.

See, it’s things like the 4 cubits to 6 cubits mistranslation that make stories like this more plausible

6:17 the idea of them just dragging this deformed giant man onto a field and him shouting "FIGHT ME" from the ground just made me spit my coffee 😂

I had a student in my jujutsu class who was 6'09" or so. That is an intimidating height even today. Back then, especially in armor, waiving around a flag-pole sized spear, I can understand Saul's army being cowed. That's much more realistic and would be a giant to the smaller folks in those days (especially add in a little legend building chatter from the soldiers wanting to explain why they didn't want to fight and also to make David's feat even greater).

in christian bibles genesis is the first book and speaks of giants in one chapter "There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown." and then nothing else about them for quite some time

Great video. I’m always waiting for new ones from you. Every video has a new and intriguing topic and I love them!

I like to measure things by animal parts. For example circumference is measured in "about as big as a cat's belly". And height is "dang near a dog's knee high". I really wish the rest of the world was educated enough to follow suit.

Older ppl: video games cause violence, it was never like this back in the days... Back in the days: 2:35

Dude you don’t understand how much I adore your channel. You are my all time favorite youtube channel

Good sir, your videos are amazing, and love how they open up a whole new world for us!

Slingers were the elite ranged skirmishers of antiquity; they were prized and irreplaceable since you couldn't levy some shmuck and train him to use the sling; it has to be a shepherd boy (such as David) who would have used his sling every day of his life to have a hope of hitting anything at all. But when they did the sling did horrendous damage.

In the land of 4ft 8s, a man 7ft tall is a legitimate giant.

I instantly click on a new Hochelaga video. Awesome job, the video is informative and the editing is nice.

Good that 1) you mentioned the Septuagint and 2) the Wandering Eye problem. As someone old enough to remember taking notes from books for research papers by hand w/o laptops/tablets etc., I know of that problem first hand! As always, A Great Video! From You and your collaborator Toasters. Thanks!

Gosh, I love your videos so much. I get so excited when you post something new. :) really wish some of them were longer haha

These videos are so damn good, I would love some more mythology one, appreciate your work man!

I always get excited for a new upload from you, you've become one of my favorite channels these past few weeks. Keep up the good work !!

5:09 “Altitude” fucking legend lmao

These Videos deserve way more attention, they are well made and intresting. Love to watch them while eating ^^

If I remember correctly, King Saul was a head taller than everyone else. He also had the best armour and the best weapons and was a warrior and general. The height of Goliath and the list of his equipment puts him as a match with Saul, with the latter not accepting the challenge although apparently being the only warrior to match up to the "Giant".

The story of David and Goliath always kind of amused me, because even if you discount the height part, and the strange battle scenario, and the way that the Philistines were defeated; David legit just cheated. Imagine you challenge people to sword fight you, and one guy steps forward and just shoots you in the head with a pistol from 10 meters away. Yeah you can say the guy had really good aim, but that doesn’t change the fact that he didn’t actually win the duel in any meaningful way lol. Edit: Just to clear up some misunderstandings of my comment, it's a bit less funny to explain the joke I guess, but I don't want people to have the wrong idea: I'm not saying that David shouldn't have used a sling. War definitely isn't about "fighting fair", and I wasn't complaining about the fact that David didn't. My point was that, it wasn't "war" at that moment. It was a "duel". You can do whatever you want in a duel, but if you "cheat", you didn't win. You just didn't die. And in the heat of battle, that's really all that matters. But the whole point of the story, as I understand it, is it's meant to have a moral; "Don't be overconfident", or "just because someone looks weak doesn't mean they are", and even if you were trying to take a religious lesson, it would be "God will help the good guys win" or something. What I was pointing out is that none of those morals are really applicable. Goliath was overconfident to be fair, but he was expecting (and was obviously asking for) a melee fight, so that's what he was confident about. David looked weak, and he still won, but not because he was strong, it was because he used a tool that had a massive advantage in that specific situation. And the last one makes the least sense, because it doesn't seem to imply anything about God helping David. I guess you could say that God magically made it so David didn't miss, but a sling is a pretty amazing ranged weapon, so if David knew how to use it, he would have had a good chance of hitting Goliath anyway. If David had beat Goliath in a fight that they were both prepared for (even if they both had slings instead of swords), that would make more sense, whether David was just a badass that didn't look it, or God helped him, or whatever. But again, the point is he didn't win through a competition of skill. At the very best, you could argue that he won because he thought outside the box or something. And completely regardless of the morals, the "historical" event doesn't make any sense either, because if you saw your best guy fight the enemy's best guy before the battle, and this scenario happened, the reaction wouldn't be "oh no God is clearly on their side, everyone run away", it would be "wtf that kid just killed our friend by cheating and giving himself a huge mechanical advantage in a duel, I'm even more pissed now." That was what I was trying to point out with my original comment; I was amused by the fact that the story doesn't really make sense, and more importantly, neither does the morals. Hopefully I beat the funny out of the joke enough at this point lol.

I like how in 4:15 you talk about old English and the background is old Polish.

I truly embrace this channel as one of my favorites

I really enjoyed your video. You have one of the best RU-vid channels. Keep up the good energy!

Given the nephilim are angels, their offspring would have different bodies than humans with gigantism

Goliath: (Is 9'9 tall) Giant of Castelnau: *"PATHETIC!"*

i love this channel so much, thank you for all this interesting content!

I really enjoy this channel! The amount of research and effort is very impressive!

He was 6’1. Because I’m 6’1 and no one is taller than me of course

There is another way of looking at this which i am more in favor of, back then our language was not as evolved as it is today, meaning we had less specific words. So we borrowed words that had different meanings to say the same thing. Instead of writing "the most accomplished fighter" he would become a "great fighter" or a "big fighter" because they just didnt have the right words to describe it to us. Now great and big means something else as well, he was big or great or of a substantial size. While that may never have been the intent of the first person who wrote it. Another guy got the text and interpreted it as how big he was, and now that was important to write down, and its very likely they took the biggest human they could think of. We can see how this could change the meaning of the text and how it also made it a more impressive story. Instead of being the most accomplished fighter against a shepherd, now its also a fight about a big guy against a small guy. So the story became more impressive as well. I think a lot of this has happened to the bible over the years, today when we read "afterlife" it means life after death, but what if that was never the intent of the writer who just lacked the vocabulary to write, life after today because they didnt have those distinctions. Another example, lets take the firmament this time. God separated the waters from the waters, well what does that actually mean? In some sense it must mean there are two types of water, what about salt water and fresh water. Water you can drink and water you cant drink. Fresh water is in lakes and salt water is in the oceans, and they are separated by land, which is firm as in firmament. Now someone writes that down and someone thinks it means something else and that was what they ran with and all of a sudden its a firmament above our heads and there is water above that too, which also makes sense from a pre science society, water is blue the sky is also blue, water below and water above.

Fascinating. Love the content, keep it up!

Was not expecting the "wasted" 😂 Great Channel btw! I subscribed just a few weeks ago and keep watching your videos every time I get a chance.

Love how David and Goliath is just biblical Big Iron

1:26 Smash Bros Character Intro

Your videos are great! I love how you balance accurate information with a dose of humor. I'm Brazilian and my English isn't very good, but I'll keep watching your videos and learning more.

Excellent video once again man, thank you

The editing on this video is superb 2:52

As a Catholic, this channel makes learning biblical stories much more fun.

I'm loving the editing man, this is awesome!

A very well put together presentation. Thank you, I enjoyed it very much.

Literary flair is all over the bible. I always assumed he was around the size of andre the giant. 7', 320-400 lbs. Also, the size of the cubit depends on who was doing the measuring.

He forgot the fact that the giants that came from fallen angels don't have the same body rules as regular humans even noting that they had 6 fingers instead of 5

Your videos are just amazing, heck every time i notice there is a new video, i stop everything im doing and wach inmediately!

This why im here :) Btw i like/love your vids.

When you talk about Old English Imperial System you got a book with words in Polish in the background. Got me confused for a second lol

4:20 Polish Bible in the background

As usual, an extremely well made video

Love the video man

It also illustrated how effective ranged infantry were too, I remember reading somewhere that a stone from a sling could rival an English longbow for initial and impact velocities depending on the range and slinger

My Goliath x Lady Dimitrescu fanfic has been dashed

Super interesting video, great as always

RU-vid viewers are sleeping on this channel, always great stuff Hochelaga!

@6:15 thats why he got wrecked by a sligshot. They probly used him as an actor to scare people knowing nobody would call the bluff.

Oh wow I'm really early! So excited to watch this video. You have a really calming voice and it actually helps me feel more sleepy although its kindof annoying to miss the rest of the video since I usually fall asleep at around the middle lol! Anyways I hope you're having a nice evening :)

Thank you for this video! Very interesting!

Awesome video! Keep on keeping on, brother! 🤙🏼

Well compared to the rest of the people there with quite a short average height of like 1.50 or something anything over 2 meters is hella tall. Or david himself who was even shorter, Saul was actually really tall for an Israelite so probably like 1.60-1.70 (which is partly why david couldn't wear his Saul's heavy armor)

Hello Hochelaga can you record video about language before tower of babel? Ly btw

I always learn something new from your videos - thank you! ✌🏻🎨☕️

I have watched literally every single one of the videos you have uploaded to RU-vid.

this was so cool. i love learning about human error being preserved in a religious text thats still in use today. feels grounding.

Grunbeld: "Finnaly a worthy opponent our battle will be legendary"

Another fantastic video!

Love your channel

I love mythology and I consider myself a fan of the mystical despite also loving sciences, along with seeing myself as a religious person that's why as opposed to a lot of people who try to fit a fantastical or mythical story into a more plausible reality. While I do agree with so many of the points you've made towards Goliath being 6'9, I also like to believe the original height of a "giant". Mostly because well genetics and what is considered normal for a human has changed a lot throughout the years, such as life expectancy. Also this might be a stretch but, in ancient prehistoric times, creatures often tended to grow to gargantuan sizes since ancient times had more oxygen than carbon dioxide which allowed for bigger growth. So I have this theory that certain species or races of humans far before David's time (around the "first human" mythos, specifically the Nephilim), might have actually grown to larger sizes such as 9 ft. given that the environment then could probably have supported their existence? In my mind it would also explain their sudden disappearance and extinction as the Earth grew older, despite their seemingly overwhelming physical advantages over the human race. What do you think?

i'm the only one that thought he would measure goliath using toasters for scale?

I've always wondered about this, thanks hoch.

Another very interesting video, thank you.

Something else I remember hearing is that Saul was well known for being a big man. I think 6'3" . He was literally the biggest man in the Israelite army and while Goliath might have had half a foot on him. Saul as King and a big man in his own right, should have been the one to face Goliath as was the custom among the many kingdoms of the Levant at the time. The fact that he cowered instead and a little shepherd boy had to do his job was another mark against him being the right man to be king.

A follow up on the weight of his weapons and armor would be kewl...

Love the channel

I loved this content!!!

Never clicked on a video so quickly.

David had so much faith that the lord would lead him to victory against Goliath that he brought 5 stones instead of just 1.

Definitely improving on the editing front. Just keeps getting better and better!

awesome video like always