And there was again a battle, at Gath; and there was a man [there] of great stature, that had on each hand six fingers, and on each foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to Raphah.
This verse ends a short list of Philistine giants killed in David's wars. The last of them has no name. Scripture describes his body instead: great size, and twenty-four fingers and toes. The battle is at Gath, Goliath's own town. Writers ask two things of the verse. What does such a figure stand for, and who brought him down?
He "was descended from the giants" — the line writers call Rapha. Size in Scripture carries a moral meaning.
The first set of victories here is over the seed of Rapha, the giant. These were the relatives of Goliath of Gath. They were met and overcome in the wars with the Philistines, just as he was. In Scripture the idea of a giant is always tied to evil. He is man lifting himself up against God. He is the symbol of pride and self-sufficiency, and of oppressive power. He is the opposite of the little and the lowly, the humble in heart, with whom God delights to dwell.
His fingers and toes come in sixes. One writer traces that number through the whole Philistine family.
Seven is the number of completeness and perfection. Six is the number of human incompleteness and imperfection. It is striking that six is a number stamped on the Philistine giants — see 1 Samuel 17:4-7; 2 Samuel 21:20. Goliath's height was six cubits and a span. The record lists six pieces of his armour. His spear's head weighed six hundred shekels.
The same writer sets these giants beside the beast of Revelation.
His brother had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. Yet the giants fell like ninepins before David and his warriors. The imposing beast, whose number is six three times over, will fall in the same way before the presence of the Lord.
The extra fingers and toes are not random. Hands and feet each stand for something.
The hands speak of work, the feet of walk. In both there is something extra, like a sixth finger or a sixth toe. The number five is the feeble creature (four) together with the almighty Creator (one). Hands and feet in their normal condition bear witness to this. But this six destroys the relation. The creature no longer walks with his Creator. He is subject to every kind of human, invented rule, and conscience is not before God but before man.
This giant taunted Israel, as Goliath had. One writer notes that the Philistine giants kept coming back, and that the taunt sealed his end.
When Israel comes to face the Philistines, it finds giants, and these are more of an internal enemy… They were the most persistent of all. The Israelites do not subdue them by one victory. They may be defeated again and again, and yet again there is war. And they come with increased power. But this man of great stature was the son of the giant, and the killing of Goliath is the pledge of his own. This man defied Israel like Goliath. It was his death-warrant.
The same article names what such an enemy answers to in a believer's life.
This man of great stature is a fitting picture of the flesh. The world and the flesh both serve the devil, yet the flesh seems more powerful than either. To the Christian it is an enemy more to be feared, more to be watched against, because it has its home in the old heart. At times its attack is so terrible that it appears as a giant with six fingers and six toes. But the faith that killed Goliath also gives us the victory over this man, however terrible he looks.
David does not kill this one. Jonathan, the son of David's brother Shimeah, does.
The last enemy, a monstrous, intimidating man, is not named, but he too was born to the giant. As Goliath once did, so he defies Israel. In Christ's absence we must fight for Him as well as for His people. To defy the one is to defy the other… Let us stand in the breach like Jonathan the son of Shimeah. Like him, by grace, let us show that we bear the name "David's brothers."
These victories follow David's restoration. One writer sees meaning in that order.
David is restored to his true position. Grace now overflows so much that his servants become mighty men. Their brave deeds only announce who is on the throne… The servants are mighty because David is on the throne, and they kill giants.
- Giant — Size in Scripture pictures pride and self-sufficiency — man lifted up against God. It is the opposite of the lowly heart God dwells with.
- Six — Six is the number of human incompleteness. It marks Goliath's height, armour and spear, and this man's twenty-four fingers and toes. Six three times over returns in Revelation's beast.
- Deformity — The extra fingers and toes fall on hands and feet — work and walk. Five is the weak creature with the Creator. Six breaks that.
- Defiance — He taunted Israel as Goliath had. Goliath's fall already promised his own. His defiance was his death-warrant.
- Throne — He fell to David's kinsman, not to David. Servants are mighty because their king reigns. So we fight for Christ while He is away, and the same faith that beat Goliath beats the flesh.
And he defied Israel; but Jonathan the son of Shimea David's brother smote him.
A nameless giant with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot taunts Israel, and David's nephew Jonathan cuts him down. Goliath was already dead, so why does this enemy keep coming back, and who answers him now?
The taunt is not new. One writer notes whose son he was, and what his defiance cost him:
They may be defeated again and again, and still there is war. And they come back with greater power. Here is a man of great size, not normal; he has twenty-four fingers and toes. But he was the son of the giant, and the killing of Goliath is the pledge that he will fall too. This man defied Israel as Goliath did (1 Sam. 17:10). That was his death sentence.
Giants are never neutral figures in Scripture. Their size carries a moral meaning:
In Scripture the idea of a giant is always tied to evil. He is man lifting himself up against God, the symbol of pride and self-sufficiency, and of oppressive power as well. He is the opposite of the small and the lowly, the humble in heart, with whom God delights to dwell.
Commentators differ on what this particular giant pictures. One sees in his huge shape a picture of the flesh — the old nature in us — and points back to the faith that felled Goliath:
This man of great size pictures the flesh well. The world and the flesh are both servants of the devil, yet the flesh looks stronger than either. To the Christian it is the enemy more to be feared and more to be guarded against, because it is at home in the old heart. Its attack is so terrible that at times it appears as a giant "with six fingers and six toes on each hand and foot." But the faith that killed Goliath also gives us the victory over this man, however terrible he looks. And because our David — the Lord Jesus — is exalted and on the throne, we conquer in His Name.
David meets a giant at the end of his course as he did at the beginning — but the writer is careful to say it is a different one:
At the end of his course, just as at the beginning, he meets a giant — not the same giant, for what we once truly conquer we never have to conquer again. But other giants rise up and test our strength. We come to feel that what is easy to faith is a crisis for anyone who walks without using it. If our dependence on God is less, our strength is less, however great our experience and progress may be.
David himself is not in this fight. That absence is the point of the application:
He defies Israel, just as Goliath once did (v. 21; 1 Sam. 17:10). While Christ is away we must fight for Him as well as for His people. To defy the one is to defy the other... Let us stand in the gap like Jonathan the son of Shimeah, and let us show that by grace we bear the name "David's brothers" as he did (cf. v. 21). Like him, may we have the interests of His people at heart.
This writer starts with the extra fingers and toes, then reads the names. (The ESV spells the father's name Shimei.)
The hands speak of work; the feet of walk. In both there is something extra, like a sixth finger or a sixth toe... So again, what destroys this twisting of nature is what brings in God and His goodness to His creatures, a goodness He never takes back — Jonathan, "Jehovah" — the Unchangeable — "has given"; and he is the son of Shimea, "hearing" — obedience to God alone. Here the line of giants, and of those who overcame them, comes to an end.
Another writer suggests where the young man's courage came from:
What a joy young Jonathan must have been to his Uncle David in 2 Sam. 21:21, when he killed the giant with six fingers and six toes on each hand and foot. Very likely it was his Uncle David's example that had given him the courage to do it.
One writer sets the whole struggle between Satan's servants and David's:
Satan has to learn that his own servants, however frightening, were nothing before the mighty men of David. The sons of the giant are killed, and the kingdom grows all the stronger through the war in which the best servants of each side meet face to face.
- Defiance — The giant repeats Goliath's challenge to Israel. That defiance is what marks him for death.
- Pride — In Scripture a giant pictures man lifting himself up against God. He is the opposite of the lowly heart God dwells with.
- Return — Not the same giant, but another. What faith truly conquers stays conquered, yet new giants keep testing our dependence on God.
- Stand-in — David is off the field, so his servants fight for him. To defy Christ is to defy His people, and those who stand in the gap bear the name of David's brothers.
- Victory — The giant's killer is named "Jehovah has given," son of "hearing." Satan's servants are nothing before David's men, and the kingdom comes out of the war stronger.
These four were born to Raphah, in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.