2 Samuel 21:20

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

2 Samuel 21:20-22. There was yet a battle in Gath — That is, in the territory of that city; which circumstance intimates, that this, and consequently the other battles here described, were fought before David had taken Gath out of the hands of the Philistines, which he did many years before this, 2 Samuel 8:1, compared with 1 Chronicles 18:1; and therefore not in the last days of David, as some conceive, from the mention of them in this place. A man of great stature — Or, a man of Medin, or Madon, as the Seventy render it; so called from the place of his birth, as Goliath is said to be of Gath for the same reason. Who had on every hand six fingers, &c. — Tavernier, in his relation of the grand seignior’s seraglio, p. 95, says, that the eldest son of the emperor of Java, who reigned in the year 1648, when he was in that island, had six fingers on each hand, and as many toes on each foot, all of equal length. These four fell by the hand of David — That is, by his conduct and counsel, or concurrence. Indeed he contributed by his hand to the death of one of them; while maintaining a fight with him, he gave Abishai the easier opportunity of killing him. But what is done by the inferior commanders is commonly ascribed to the general, both in sacred and profane authors.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

21:15-22 These events seem to have taken place towards the end of David's reign. David fainted, but he did not flee, and God sent help in the time of need. In spiritual conflicts, even strong saints sometimes wax faint; then Satan attacks them furiously; but those who stand their ground and resist him, shall be relieved and made more than conquerors. Death is a Christian's last enemy, and a son of Anak; but through Him that triumphed for us, believers shall be more than conquerors at last, even over that enemy.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Hebrew text is manifestly very corrupt. First, for "Jaare-oregim," 1 Chronicles 20:5 gives us the reading Jair. "Oregim" has evidently got in by a transcriber's error from the line below, where "oregim" is the Hebrew for "weavers." Again, the word the "Bethlehemite" is very doubtful. It is supported by 2 Samuel 23:24, but it is not found in the far purer text of 1 Chronicles 20:5, but instead of it we find the name of the Philistine slain by Elhanan, "Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite." It is probable, therefore, that either the words "the Bethlehemite," are a corruption of "Lahmi," or that the recurrence of "Lahmi," and the termination of "Beth-lehemite" has confused the transcriber, and led to the omission of one of the words in each text.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15-22. Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel—Although the Philistines had completely succumbed to the army of David, yet the appearance of any gigantic champions among them revived their courage and stirred them up to renewed inroads on the Hebrew territory. Four successive contests they provoked during the latter period of David's reign, in the first of which the king ran so imminent a risk of his life that he was no longer allowed to encounter the perils of the battlefield.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

In Gath, i. e. in the territory of the city of Gath; which circumstance intimates that this, and consequently the other battles here described, were fought before David had taken Gath out of the hands of the Philistines, which he did 2 Samuel 8:1, compared with 1 Chronicles 18:1, and therefore not in the last days of David, as some conceive from their mention in this place.

A man of great stature, or, a man of Middin or Madon, as the LXX. render it; so called from the place of his birth, as Goliath is said to be of Gath for the same reason.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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 (a) 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 (b) he makes mention of a people that had eight toes each foot; so Ctesias (c) 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.

(a) Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 43. (b) Megasthenes apud ib. l. 7. c. 2.((c) In Indicis, c. 31.

Geneva Study Bible

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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

20. six fingers … six toes] Pliny mentions such a peculiarity (Hist. Nat. 11:43), and it is not unknown in modern times.

2 Samuel 21:20

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(cf. 1 Chronicles 20:6-7). In another war at Gath, a Philistian warrior, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot,

(Note: Men with six fingers and six toes have been met with elsewhere. Pliny (h. nat. xi. 43) speaks of certain sedigiti (six-fingered) Romans. This peculiarity is even hereditary in some families. Other examples are collected by Trusen (Sitten, Gebruche, und Krankheiten der alten Hebrer, pp. 198-9, ed. 2) and Friedreich (zur Bible, i.-298-9).)

defied Israel, and was slain by Jonathan the son of Shimeah, the brother of David (see at 2 Samuel 13:3). The Chethib מדין is probably to be read מדּין, an archaic plural ("a man of measures, or extensions:" de Dieu, etc.); in the Chronicles we find the singular מדּה instead.