Golit suffered from problems of excess growth hormone

If the Philistine Goliath had arrived ahead of time at Professor Vladimir Barginer's clinic, the entire history of the Mediterranean basin might have looked different. Berginer, a neurologist from Be'er Sheva, would have immediately diagnosed the Philistine giant's illness and spared him the humiliation of the famous battle in the Elah Valley. "For Goliath, the battle with David was already lost," states Berginer emphatically, "David was young and energetic who fought against a terrifying giant
But ill."
Berginer refers to the biblical story as a sick sheet. Golith, according to Berginer, had a tumor in the brain. "The tumor caused the formation of growth hormone in his body in larger quantities than usual, which caused the body to grow to unusual heights. Goliath was huge. According to one version, he reached a height of six cubits and a finger, which is about three meters. According to another version, he was four cubits tall, which is two meters, and this was also considered a great height in those times, because then most people were shorter."
The great height made Goliath difficult to move. This too, Berginer explains, is one of the signs of the disease. "The disease probably broke out in him before the end of puberty and it is called acromegaly. There were several other giants at that time, but not all of them were sick with this disease. Growth disorders have different causes. In the tribe of Gad there were several such giants. Even today an ordinary person does not reach such heights. Some of the bright basketball players should check their growth hormone and pituitary gland. I'm sure most of them did it and discovered interesting things."
"Why didn't Golit see a shower?
The abnormal height is only one of the signs of Goliath's illness, and not the most serious of them. "At a certain point, the brain tumor presses on the optic nerves and causes disturbances in the field of vision," says Berginer, "a patient with such disturbances cannot see to the sides. This is probably the reason why Goliath was unable to defend himself against David's rogatka."
A careful study of the book of XNUMX Samuel, chapter XNUMX, convinced Barginer that his diagnosis was accurate. "Any doctor who reads the story will understand what I understood. The writer of this chapter was a very intelligent man, very knowledgeable, almost a scientist. He described Goliath's illness accurately but sparingly." Berginer, for example, found in the chapter a short description of Goliath's heavy walk. "It is written several times that he went and fought, while David is said to have run to battle."
David had one stick in his hand. Golit, who could not see well, thought he was holding some sticks in his hand. David ran around Goliath. At a certain moment it disappeared from his field of vision, and therefore, says Barginer, Goliath was unable to protect himself from the stone that was thrown at him with such great force.
If Goliath were alive today, says Berginer, it would be possible to treat his illness. "He would receive drug treatment that moderates the secretion of growth hormone. The tumor can be surgically removed, X-rays can be irradiated on the tumor to try and reduce its dimensions, or all treatment methods can be combined together. But even without appropriate treatment, one can live with the disease for years, although in the late stages the patient suffers from muscle weakness and joint problems."
His theory, Berginer says, could cause a stir. He is aware of this, and prepares mentally and intellectually for the attacks that will come. "I will have no problem defending my diagnosis, which is accurate. But I hope they don't attack me. We have enough polarization in the nation. I don't want to add to that."
Attempts to find scientific explanations for the stories of the Bible always cause a storm. "This should not happen to those who understand my theory. A person of faith can accept my theory and tell himself that God is the one who arranged the event so that David actually encountered a sick Philistine. The miracle does not lose its effect. Even after my explanation
He still remains a miracle."
But your theory turns David from a strong hero into a cheeky boy who throws stones at a sick cripple.
"David was a hero and remains a hero even now. He is the only one who had the mental courage to go into this battle. The whole army, including King Saul, was afraid of this giant and for many days no one dared to go against him. David, who was a shepherd, felt the need to go to the defense of God and the people. The symbol of the war between good and evil was not damaged even after my research because David did not know that Goliath was sick. Goliath looked scary and only this little guy, David, had the courage to go out and fight him. Today we can explain the details of the battle and understand why its outcome was the way it was, but that does not take away from the power of faith and the symbolism of this battle, which symbolizes the victory of good and intellectual over brute physical force. Believers think this battle was a miracle. To me it was also a miracle, but intelligent people should be satisfied that the information today, at the beginning of the 21st century, strengthens and confirms what is written in the Bible."

You don't really confirm what is written in the Bible. exactly the opposite. You say that Goliath was not as strong as it is written in the Bible.
"What does it matter. I know that today. David didn't know that and Golit probably didn't know that he was sick either. Acromegaly was only discovered two hundred years ago."

For twenty years Berginer has been walking around with this theory. He gives lectures about the battle between David and Goliath but mainly talks about it with his colleagues, neurologists. Professor Amos Korchin, director of the department of neurology at the Ichilov Hospital, heard this theory from Berginer a few years ago. "It's a very original idea and certainly not far-fetched," he says, "its explanation is neurologically plausible. It is impossible to know if this is a correct explanation because none of us was able to examine Goliath, but the disease exists and the manifestations of overgrowth and disturbances in the field of vision are well known."
Is it possible that a patient with acromegaly will be a terrifying Philistine soldier?

"It depends on what stage of the disease he is in. Acromegaly is mainly a hormonal disorder and such people are among us. Many times the person himself does not know that he is sick until an advanced stage where there are serious disturbances in vision. Apparently the disorders were just beginning for him. It is possible that if David had not done him this kindness, his medical condition would have deteriorated."
Professor Avinoam Raks from the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem is also familiar with the disease. "If this happens before the growth of the bones is finished, the person grows taller. If the disease erupts after puberty, the patient has a lateral size. It is likely that such a person, with a tumor in the pituitary gland, has not seen David. It's all speculation, we can't know for sure, but it's a possibility that exists medically. I would not rule out this possibility outright."

"How did David gather intelligence?

Berginer's study rekindles an old medical debate. 17 years ago, two American doctors presented for the first time the explanation that the fight that became a symbol of the war of the small and righteous young man against the evil giant was nothing but a street fight between a strong and healthy boy and a sick Philistine. "The Philistines demanded from the Israelites that their wars be decided in a duel between two warriors, one from each side," David Rabin and Pauline Rabin of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Tennessee wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine in 83. Goliath appeared, tall and armed Saul was stunned. His policy of deterrence was in jeopardy. He called his chief of staff, a national security adviser and other experts. The consensus was depressing. The chances of the Israelites aim at zero. Mr. Yausham suggested that someone call George Smiley from intelligence. Smiley looked through Goliath's personal file carefully. Give me a few more minutes, he asked and rushed to Connie, the human computer. Connie, what do we have about giants in Canaan? He asked. We have the story that Joshua brought about families of giants. They all got sick, some of them went blind, others went into comas and they all developed soft as butter bones, Connie replied. With this information, Smiley returned to the Elah Valley and met with Shaul. We only have one chance, he said. You must choose a young and agile guy who is an expert in identifying stones in Cape Kela. The choice was clear, as evidenced by Michelangelo's statue: David, son of Jesse. There is no need for you to arm yourself, Smiley told David. Take a stone, come towards Goliath from the side so he doesn't see you and hit him in the forehead. David took a stone, threw it in his hand and killed the Philistine." David became a glorious king, the pair of doctors write, thanks to the fact that Smiley, the hero of John Le Carré's books, understood what was hidden behind the giant's armor: an acromegaly patient with a limited field of vision. The American doctors believed that Golit also suffered from a pancreatic tumor, which made him feel bad that morning, and if all this was not enough, the hyperactivity of the thyroid gland made his skull very soft "so that the stone sank into his forehead without difficulty".
A few years later, in another medical journal, another American doctor, Dr. Stanley Sparcher from the Peninsula Medical Center in New York State, wrote that indeed Goliath's tall stature was due to acromegaly. He did not receive the diagnosis of overactivity of the thyroid gland. "One illness is enough to explain the death of Goliath", he claimed.
In the same issue, Dr. Robert Shapira and Dr. Avraham Mintz from the University of Miami School of Medicine diagnose Golit's death as a result of annular narrowing of the visual fields and a stroke from cerebral palsy. Professor Moshe Feinsud, director of the neurosurgery department at Rambam Hospital in Haifa confronted these diagnoses in an amusing way. In an article in the "Medicine" newspaper published five years ago, he asked: "Was the situation of the Philistines so desperate that they sent as their representative to the decisive battle such a severe endocrine and visual handicap?" Feinsud's explanation for the outcome of the battle is taken from the world of military concepts. "The searchers of Goliath's diseases probably did not know that an experienced Maida can throw a stone, and especially a pebble whose shape is suitable for flight, up to forty meters away. With the help of the slingshot even for a hundred meters or more. A hit from such a range can be bad or even fatal to a healthy soldier even without having a rare endocrine syndrome." The debate between the doctors, which until now was conducted over the pages of medical newspapers, crossed the lines this time. Professor Berginer has already told the BBC and Sky about his theory. Reuters broke the story around the world. The New York Times asked in a story in its foreign news section last week: Was Goliath, after all, easy prey? "It was a miracle that a small and young shepherd managed to defeat Goliath in battle," Berginer told the newspaper, "but now I have found the explanation for that."

"Is Saul also depressed?

Vladimir Barginer was born in Chisinau, fourth generation of doctors in his family. He is not ready to reveal his age. "I always say that I am one year older than my wife. When my wife is asked how old she is, she answers that she is 29. Then she is asked how it is that she is 29 but has a daughter at the age of 40. To this she answers that every woman has
her age."
He studied medicine in Chisinau and studied neurology in Moscow. In '73 he immigrated to Israel with his wife, Yula, a radiologist, and their two children. His daughter is a doctor, his son is an engineer. "I was disturbed by the lack of intellectual freedom in Russia," he says. "I didn't like that I had to keep quiet and not say what I was thinking. When they just started opening the iron gates, we decided to immigrate to Israel."
A few days before the Yom Kippur war they arrived at the studio in Dimona. "I didn't know a single word of Hebrew. I only knew how to say 'peace be upon you'. I didn't know you could just say hello without adding the word 'Alichem'."
When they finished the studio, they found a job in Gush Dan. Berginer in Tel Hashomer, his wife in Ichilov. "But then Professor Moshe Prives, who was the dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Ben Gurion University, asked me to come and teach at the university and work at Soroka Hospital."
As part of the terms of employment, Priebs offered Berginer to buy a house in Omer at a discounted price. "My wife said she is not ready to live in Omer. 'It's not enough that you brought me to Be'er Sheva, now you still want to drag me to live in a village,' she told me. A few years later, when we decided to move to Omar, we already had to pay full price for the house." From the entrance wall of Berginer's house in Omer, it is clear that a neurologist lives in this house. On the wall is a large relief of a human brain and two paintings of human brain waves. In his first seven years in Israel, he says, he was the only neurologist between Kiryat Gat and Sharm el-Sheikh. "Today there are 12 neurologists here in the area and they are busy with work. Imagine how much I worked."
When more neurologists arrived in the area, Berginer, who worked at Soroka Hospital, took time off to read books. "The first book I read in Hebrew was the Bible. I decided that if I find free time, I should go to the sources." Berginer reads the Bible like a doctor. "From reading the stories about Shaul, I immediately understood that he was suffering from manic depression. The signs of this are very clear. The moods, the jealousy of David, he was a sick man."
"Is Red Riding Hood a rib?
Of all the heroes of the Bible, Reginer fell in love with King David. He forgives him for human weaknesses (the story of Uriah and Bathsheba) and the neurological explanation for the victory over Goliath also does not detract from his admiration for the red king. About six months ago, he founded an association, "David's Victory", which works for the establishment of a monument in the Elah Valley that will commemorate the battle between David and Goliath. Berginer has already contacted the sculptor Danny Karvan with a request to sculpt a statue of the battle. He is also trying to recruit donors from among the richest people in the country and the world named David. "Following my research on Goliath, I traveled to Emek Elah. I even found there the same pebbles that David threw at Goliath. Probably because of the time that has passed since then, there is no David's signature on these stones.
When I got there I was surprised to find an empty place, without any sign or sign of the battle that became one of the great symbols of civilization. The best writers wrote about this event, the best artists painted and sculpted statues, and only with us nothing, as if nothing had happened. When tourists come to Israel, they are taken to Masada, where we committed suicide. In the Ella Valley, where we won, no tourists come. What is more educational, education for suicide or education for victory?"
Like Berginer, most members of the association adore King David. Professor Dina Pepper, an epidemiologist, speaks of David with undisguised affection. "He was a poet, a thinker, a musician, a man with a rare sense of beauty, with an exceptional sensitivity to words, this is David's character in my eyes. The battle in the valley of Ella symbolizes the victory of the good and the beautiful over the clumsy, the ugly and the brutal. Don't you see the beauty in the fact that a young man whose almost only advantage is his quickness sets out to fight against the bad and the ugly?
We want to encourage creation and thinking in the direction of the good and the beautiful against the bad and the ugly. We will encourage the value of justice, of not trampling on the weak."
According to Berginer's research, the agile David actually overcame the weak and sick Goliath. "David didn't know Golit was sick. At that time Goliath symbolized the clumsy and the desire to subdue the weak."
Professor Victor Horowitz, Head of the Department of Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Ben Gurion University is also a member of the association. He does not agree with Berginer's medical research. "I'm not sure he reads the text correctly. David's running speed plus the shooting speed created the speed of the stone that killed Goliath. The medical interpretation in this context seems narrow to me. I don't think he has anything to trust. In addition to that, the question arises as to whether this event even happened. Even if the book of Samuel reflects the time of David, this story, which is somewhat legendary, raises doubts about its authenticity. And even if the story did happen, and let's say that Ha'aretz newspaper sent a journalist to cover the battle and the journalist sent the report that appeared in the book of Samuel, even then I would not have learned from this story that Goliath was blind. This theory depends on containment."
So why are you a member of the association?
"Because this story is part of the national-literary heritage of the people of Israel and when people visit Israel they ask where this act happened, and even if it didn't happen, it is located in a certain place. Just as in Hollywood tourists tour houses where fictitious events took place, why not bring tourists to Elah Valley?"
The opposition to Berginer's theory is widespread. Professor Shmuel Vergon from the Bible department at Bar Ilan University says that "it's a stupid theory like that. The battle between David and Goliath is a legendary story with historical truth, but it does not reflect reality one to one. Even television is not an accurate depiction of reality, so surely such a story does not reflect reality. The main thing, in the interpretation of such a text, is not what happened but what the narrator wanted to say. I am interested in the message of the story. There is no hint in the Bible that Goliath was sick. on the contrary. He appears as a strong and perfect hero. So what is the logic in searching for diseases? After all, this is a story that entered the codex of world culture. Why do you want to spoil it? If the Bible says that the Israelites killed a hundred thousand people in one day, then we will go to the math department to check if this is possible?
You need to know how to read the Bible. I suggest that a doctor deal with medicine and leave the reading of the Bible to the appropriate professionals. And I personally suggest to you that if you ever come across gout, do not rely on the doctor's diagnosis and stay away from this patient."
Professor Yair Hoffman, Head of the School of Jewish Studies at Tel Aviv University says that "myths and legends are not difficult. Is it true that Little Red Riding Hood limped when she got to Grandma? According to the biblical story Goliath was a healthy thug with tremendous strength and David killed him with God's help. The fundamental question is whether he existed."
And the answer?
"who knows? There is no evidence for this. We need to conclude from this story in which ways the Bible writers chose to glorify David, for example. There are Bible stories from which historical conclusions can be drawn. It is clear, for example, that a king named Zedekiah reigned in Jerusalem. But it is not at all clear that Goliath is a historical figure. What is clear is that the story presents him as a healthy person. To come now and present him as a sick person is against the whole purpose of the story."
Professor Israel Finkelstein of the Department of Archeology at Tel Aviv University says he cannot say what he thinks of Berginer's research. "Until I have found Goliath and his bones, I cannot form an opinion. It is impossible to know what this story is based on. It is impossible to tell if it is historical or legendary. Treating it as a simple historical story is a very naive approach to the text. The book of books is a wonderful book, it needs no compliments from me, but it is not history writing. The purpose of the story is to glorify David, and this is the meaning of the text. It has no other meaning. I could argue that Goliath drank wine before the battle and because he was drunk David defeated him, but that is completely ridiculous. It's a drudgery of research towards me. Let the neurologist treat the sick and let the Bible scholars study the Bible. If I treat the sick, it will look as bad as what happens when a doctor studies the Bible."

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