Bible Strands
2 Samuel 21:20
And there was also a battle at Gath, where there was a man of great stature with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He too was descended from Rapha,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records a Philistine engagement at Gath following prior battles at Gob, introducing a giant combatant just before his death at Jonathan’s hand.
The words — מָד֗וֹן (madôn) denotes physical stature, and אֶצְבְּעֹת (etsbôʿôṯ) refers to fingers, together describing the man’s abnormal twenty-four digits.
The thread — This Gathite giant parallels the Rapha-descended fighters in 2 Samuel 21:16 and 2 Samuel 21:18, and the account is cross-referenced in 1 Chronicles 20:6.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that divine deliverance operates through specific historical agents against formidable, lineage-marked opposition.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 21:16 Then Ishbi-benob, a descendant of Rapha, whose bronze spear weighed three hundred shekels and who was bearing a new sword, resolved to kill David.
- 2 Samuel 21:18 Some time later at Gob, there was another battle with the Philistines. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, a descendant of Rapha.
- 1 Chronicles 20:6 And there was also a battle at Gath, where there was a man of great stature with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He too was descended from Rapha,