Goli'ath (Heb. Golynth', r'y:)t^ ; Sept. roXiaSr, Jo- sephus VoXiai^oc), a famous giant of Gath, who "morn- ing and evening for forty days" defied the armies of Israel ; but was eventually slain by David, in the re-
markable encounter, with a sling (1 Sam. xvii). B.Co 1063. Although repeatedlj' called a Pliilistine, he was possibly descended from the old Rephaim, of whom a scattered remnant took refuge with the Philistines af- ter their dispersion by the Ammonites (Dent, ii, 20 21 • 2 Sam. xxi, 22). Some trace of this condition nun- be preserved in the giant's name, if it be connected with n?15, an exile, as thought by Gesenius (Thes. Htb. p. 285). Simonis, however, derives it from an Arabic word meaning stout (Onom. s. v.) ; while Furst merely" indicates it as of Philistian etymology (Heh. Lex. s. v.). Hitzig (GescJt. u. Mythol. der Philist. p. 76) regards it as merely = r«)A£W7-*;f, i. e. sorcerer. His height was " six cubits and a span," which, taking the cul)it at 21 inches, would make him IQi feet high. But the Sept. (at 1 Sam. xyii, 4) and Josephus (Ant. vi, 9, 1) read '■'■four cubits and a span." This will make him about the same size as tlie royal chamj)ion slain l)y Antimen- idas, brother of Alcajus (aTroXinrovTa juav pavui' iza- XfwJ' «:ro -jveinron', ap. Strabo, xiii, p. 617, with MUl- ler's emendation). Even on this computation Goliath would be, as Josephus calls him, ai't'ip TranpiyiQiaTa- roc — a truly enormous man. (See Wichmannshausen, De armatura Gol. Viteb. 1711.) After the victory Da- vid cut off Goliath's head (1 Sam. xvii, 51 ; compare Herod, iv, 6; Xenoph. Anab. v, 4, 17; Nicbuhr men- tions a similar custom among the Arabs, Beschr. p. 304), whicli he brought (ver. 54) to Jerusalem (proba- bly after his accession to the throne, Ewald, Gesch. iii, 94), while he hung the armor in his tent. See Fight. His sword was afterwards received bj' David in a great emergency from the hands of Ahimelech at Nob, where it had been preserved as a religious trophy (1 Sam. xxi, 9). See Giant.
The scene of this famous combat (see Trendelenburg, De pugna Dav. cum GoUatho, Gedan. 1792) was the Vallej' of the Terebinth, between Shochoh and Aze- kah, probabh' among the western passes of Benjamin, although a confused modern tradition has given the name of Ain-Jahlad (s^r'mit, of Goliath) to the spring of Harod, or " trembling" (Stanley', Palest, p. 342 ; see Judg. vii, 1). See Elah,Vallev of. This modern name, however, may rather be ( = the spring of Gilead) a reminiscence of Gideon's exploit (Judg. vii, 3). See Gilead. The circumstances of the combat (q. v.) are in all respects Homeric, free from any of the puerile legends which Oriental imagination subsequently in- troduced into it ; as, for instance, that the stones used by David called out to him from the brook, ' ' By our means you shall slay the giant," etc. (Hottinger, Hist. Orient, i, 3, p. Ill sq.). The fancies of the Rabbis are 3'et more extraordinary. By the Mohammedans Saul and Goliath are called Taluth and Kaluth (Jalut in Ko- ran, ii, 131 sq.), perhaps for the sake of the homoiote- leuton, of which they are so fond (Hottinger, Hist. Orient, i, 3, p. 28). Abulfeda mentions a Canaanite king of the name Jalut (Hist. Anteislam, p. 176) ; and, according to Ahmed al-Fassi, Gialout was a dynastic name of tiie old giant-chiefs of the Philistines (D'Her- belot, Bill. Or. s. v. Gialout). In the title of the psalm added to the psalter in the Sept. we find roi Ani'i J Trpog rii' VoXiuC ; and although the allusions are vague, it is thought by some that this psalm maj' have been written after the victory. This psalm is given at length under David, p. 687 (see Hilscher, Psa. centes. quinquages. piim. illustr., acced. vita Goliathi, Bautzen, 1716). It is strange that we findno more definite al- lusions to this combat in Hebrew poetry ; but it is the o])inion of some that the song now attributed to Han- nah (1 Sam. ii, 1-10) was originally written really in commemoration of David's triumph on this occasion (Thenius, Die Biicher Sam. p. 8; comp. Bertholdt, Einl. iii, 915; Ewald, Poet. Bucher des A. B.i, 111). See
PSALJIS.
In 2 Sam. xxi, 19, we find that another Goliath of Gath, of whom it is also said that "the staff' of his
GOLIUS
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spear was like a weaver's beam," was slain bj' Elha- nan, also a Bethlehemitc. St. Jerome (_Qii<Est. Heb. ad loc.) makes the unlikcl}' conjecture that Elhanan was another name of David. The A.V. here interpolates the words "the brother of,"from 1 Chron.xx,5, where this giant is called " Lahmi." See Stiebritz, Die Da- vidisclie Erlegung des Goliath's (Halle, 1742). — Smith, s. V. See Eliian.vn.
Goliiis, Jacobus, was bom at the Hague in 159G. After finishing his studies at the University of Ley- den, he was called to give instruction in the Greek lan- guage at Kochelle. In 16'-'4 he became professor of the Arabic language, and in 1G29 also of mathematics at the University of Leyden. He died Sept. 28, 16G7. He brought out an edition of the New Testament in modern Greek. He also had the Confession of Faith of the Keformed Church of Holland, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Liturgy translated into modern Arabic by an Armenian for circulation in the Levant. His principal work is his Lexicon Arah.-Latinum cum ind. Lat. It was first published in London, and sub- sequently at Leyden, 1(553, in fol. See Glasius, Godge- Icerd Nederland, i, 534 ; Bayle, Diet. hist, et Crit. (J. P. W.)