2 Samuel 21:20

20 The fourth battle was in Gath; wherein was an high man, that had six fingers in his hands and (six toes) in his feet, that is, four and twenty (digits); and he was of the kin of Harapha, (the father of the giants); (And the fourth battle was at Gath; and there was a very tall man there, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, that is, twenty-four digits altogether; and he was a descendant of Harapha, that is, the father of the giants;)

2 Samuel 21:20 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 21:20

And there was yet a battle in Gath
Besides the battles in the above place or places; for this does not necessarily suppose that one of the said battles had been there, only that this, which was another battle, had been there:

where was a man of [great] stature;
for so the sense of the word appears to be from ( 1 Chronicles 20:6 ) ; though here it signifies a man of strife and contention, a man of war, and both were true of him:

that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four
and twenty in number;
twelve fingers on his two hands, and twelve toes on his two feet. Pliny ^F1 speaks of one M. Curiatius, a patrician, who had two daughters that had six fingers on an hand, and were called "Sedigitae", six-fingered; and of Volcatius, a famous poet, called "Sedigitus", or six-fingered, for the same reason; and elsewhere, from other writers ^F2 he makes mention of a people that had eight toes each foot; so Ctesias ^F3 speaks of a people in the mountains of India, which have eight fingers on each hand, and eight toes on each foot, both men and women:

and he also was born to the giant;
a son of a giant.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F1 Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 43.
F2 Megasthenes apud ib. l. 7. c. 2.
F3 In Indicis, c. 31.

2 Samuel 21:20 In-Context

18 Also the second battle was in Gob against [the] Philistines; then Sibbechai of Hushathites smote Saph, of the generation of Harapha, of the kin of giants. (And there was a second battle against the Philistines at Gob; there Sibbechai of the Hushathites struck down Saph, a descendant of Harapha, that is, the father of the giants.)

19 Also the third battle was in Gob against [the] Philistines; in which battle a man given of God, the son of a forest, and a(n) (em)broiderer, a man of Bethlehem, smote (the brother of) Goliath of Gath, whose spear shaft was as a beam of webs. (And the third battle against the Philistines was also at Gob; in which battle Elhanan, the son of Jair/the son of Jaareoregim, a man of Bethlehem, struck down the brother of Goliath of Gath, whose spear shaft was like a weaver's beam.)

20 The fourth battle was in Gath; wherein was an high man, that had six fingers in his hands and (six toes) in his feet, that is, four and twenty (digits); and he was of the kin of Harapha, (the father of the giants); (And the fourth battle was at Gath; and there was a very tall man there, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, that is, twenty-four digits altogether; and he was a descendant of Harapha, that is, the father of the giants;)

21 and he blasphemed Israel; and Jonathan, the son of Shimeah, the brother of David, killed him.

22 These four were born of Harapha in Gath, and they felled down in the hand of David, and of his servants. (These four were descendants of Harapha of Gath, that is, the father of the giants, and they all fell down at the hands of David and his men.)