GOLIATH (go-li'ath), (Heb. 71:71;, exile).
1. The giant whom David slew at Ephes-dam mim (I Sam. xvii). In the account of the fight he is spoken of as a Philistine from Gath. He was so politically, but it does not follow that he was of the ordinary Philistine blood. Presum ably, he was of the rephaite or giant breed, else where spoken of as living at Gath (2 Sam. xxi: 15-22; Chron. xx :4-8), and was descended from the ancient Avim or Anakim. (Sec ANA KIM ; AVIM ; GIANTS ; RAPHA ; REPHAINI.) The Hebrew text makes hint six cubits and a span in height. Josephus and some MSS. of the Septuagint reduce this to four cubits and a span. On general principles the Hebrew reading is the morc authoritative,and it fits bcst the figures given for the tremendous weight of his armor and weapons. Counting the cubit at twenty-one inches, this would make him over eleven feet high, and over nine feet high if we count the cubit a handbreadth shorter. If he was measured in his armor, from the ground to the top of his helmet crest, this is not incredible, though he is probably the largest man of whom we have any authentic record. (NV. J. Beecher, Hastings' Bib. Dict.) For forty days he went out from the camp of the Philistines, and haughtily defied the Hebrews to produce a man that durst engage him in a sin gle combat. He offered to decide the subjection of the one nation to the other on the victory by this single combat. The Hebrews were terrified at the very sight of him; but David, coming to the catnp, undertook to attack him with a staff, a sling, and a few small stones. NN'ith disdain Goliath cursed him by his idols. and bade him come on, and he would give his flesh to the fowls of the air; meanwhile David slung a stone, which, penetrating by the hole left in the helmet for the giant's eye, or while he was tossing up his fore head, and leaving it bare, in contempt of his puny antagonist, sank into his head. and brought him to the ground, flat on his face. David then ran up to him, and with his own sword cut off his head (I Sam. xvii). Perhaps, on occasion of this victory, he composed the 9th and 1.44th Psalms. Four of his brethren were afterward slain by Da vid's warriors (2 Sam. xxi; Chron. xx). (See GrAx.rs.) 2. The Goliath of 2 Sam. xxi:i9 is probably a different person.
GOME (gorn), (Heb. 71Y.; go'meh), translated 'rush' and 'bulrush,' is mentioned in four places of Scripture, from which there is no doubt that it was a plant growing in moist situations in Egypt, and employed in the construction of vessels of differ ent kinds, intended to float upon the water, such as the ark in which Moses was hid, and vessels for transit (Job viii:1 i; Is. xxxv:7; Exod. ii:3; Is.
xviii:2). Though other plants are adduced by translators and commentators as the gome of Scripture, yet it is evident that only the Patvrus can bc meant, and that it is well suited to all the passages.
The papyrus is now well known: it belongs the tribe of sedges or cyPeracecr, and is not bush or bulrush, as in the Authorized Version. may be seen growing to the height of six eight feet, even in tubs, in the hothouses of tl country, and is described by the ancients as gro ing in the shallow parts of the Nile. The rc is fleshy, thick, and spreading; the stems triang lar, eight or ten feet in height, of which two or are usually under water, thick below but taper ing towards the apex, and destitute of leaves; those of the base broad, straight, and sword shaped, but much shorter than the stem. This last is terminated by an involucel of about eight leaves,sword-shaped and acute, much shorter than the many-rayed umbel which they support. The secondary umbels are composed only of three or four short rays, with an involucel of three awl shaped leaflets. The flowers are in a short spike at the extremity of each ray.
The papyrus was well known to the ancients as a plant of the waters of Egypt. Papyrunt nasci tur in palustribus iEgypti aut quiescentibus Nili aquis, ubi evaga.tre stagnant' (Pliny, xiii:ii). Theophrastus, at a much earlier period, described it as growing, not in the deep parts, btu: where the water was of the depth of two cubits, or even less. Ii: was found in almost every part of Egypt inundated by the Nile, in the Delta, especially in the Sebennytic nome, and in the neighborhood of Memphis, etc.
The plant is sweet, and was used by the Egyp tians for food and for making many sorts of ves sels ; the root was burned for fuel. The construc tion of papyrus boats is mentioned by Theo phrastus. That the papyruswas employed for mak ing paper is also well known, and Wilkinson men tions that from ancient paper heing found at Thebes and elsewhere, it is evident that this ap plication of it was much anterior to the time of Alexander the Great. (See PAPYRUS; REED.)