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Polydactyly in the Bible
HISTORICAL NOTE Polydactyly in the Bible Jean-Philippe A. Nicolai, M.D., * and S. Lowik Schoch, ** The Netherlands
Many students of the Bible come across medical and pathologic rarities, although the case histories more often than not leave one with questions about a diagnosis based on contemporary standards. This is not so with II Samuel 21: 20 and I Chronicles 20:6, the last text of which in the Manl's' bible reads as follows: "And yet again there was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand, and six on each foot: and he also was the son of the giant. But when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea, David's brother, slew him." . In the seventh century B. c., an equally unknown author described the life and times of the great leader Samuel, who lived in the eleventh century B.C. There, the polydactylous giant who appeared in yet another of David's raids with the Philistines is first mentioned. The coincidence is that Goliath, David's first heroic casualty,2 was also a Philistine who was almost 3 m tall and also a native of Gath, a city about 33 km west of Bethlehem across the Judaic mountain range. Gath was the city to which David later fled from SauP and Received for publication Feb. 28, 1985; accepted in revised form April 15. 1985. Reprint requests: Jean-Philippe A. Nicolai, M.D., Department of Plastic Surgery, Municipal Hospital, Wagnerlaan 55, 6815 AD Amhem, The Netherlands. *Department of Plastic Surgery, Municipal Hospital, The Netherlands. **Minister of the Dutch Reformed Church. The Netherlands.
where he misled the credulous king for more than a year. It probably was the place where Rapha, who sired several giants able to wield spears as large as a weaver's beams, originated. 4 ' 6 The mention of polydactyly stimulates our curiosity to know how people regarded and handled these deformities. The Philistines (or author of the Books of Samuel) were not superstitious enough to consider polydactyly a reason to kill an infant or to make him a king. Polydactyly is probably universally the most frequent of the congenital hand deformities. 7 • 8 It can be very conspicuous, especially when fully grown and functioning digits are supernumerary. It is therefore not surprising that the deformity is mentioned in early literature, at least 3000 years ago. REFERENCES I. The Holy Bible, according to the authorized version; with notes, explanatory and practical; prepared and arranged by George d'Oyly, B.D., and Richard Mant, D.O. Oxford, 1817, Clarendon Press 2. I Samuel 17: 4-58 3. I Samuel 27: 2 4. I Samuell7:7 5. II Samuel 21: 16 6. II Samuel 21: 19 7. Mellin GW: The frequency of birth defects. In Fishbein M, editor: Birth defects. Philadelphia. 1963, JB Lippincott Co, pp 1-17 8. Blauth W, Schneider-Sickert F: Handfehlbildungen. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York, 1976, Springer Verlag, p 119
THE JOURNAL OF HAND SURGERY
293
Many students of the Bible come across medical and pathologic rarities, although the case histories more often than not leave one with questions about a diagnosis based on contemporary standards. This is not so with II Samuel 21: 20 and I Chronicles 20:6, the last text of which in the Manl's' bible reads as follows: "And yet again there was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand, and six on each foot: and he also was the son of the giant. But when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea, David's brother, slew him." . In the seventh century B. c., an equally unknown author described the life and times of the great leader Samuel, who lived in the eleventh century B.C. There, the polydactylous giant who appeared in yet another of David's raids with the Philistines is first mentioned. The coincidence is that Goliath, David's first heroic casualty,2 was also a Philistine who was almost 3 m tall and also a native of Gath, a city about 33 km west of Bethlehem across the Judaic mountain range. Gath was the city to which David later fled from SauP and Received for publication Feb. 28, 1985; accepted in revised form April 15. 1985. Reprint requests: Jean-Philippe A. Nicolai, M.D., Department of Plastic Surgery, Municipal Hospital, Wagnerlaan 55, 6815 AD Amhem, The Netherlands. *Department of Plastic Surgery, Municipal Hospital, The Netherlands. **Minister of the Dutch Reformed Church. The Netherlands.
where he misled the credulous king for more than a year. It probably was the place where Rapha, who sired several giants able to wield spears as large as a weaver's beams, originated. 4 ' 6 The mention of polydactyly stimulates our curiosity to know how people regarded and handled these deformities. The Philistines (or author of the Books of Samuel) were not superstitious enough to consider polydactyly a reason to kill an infant or to make him a king. Polydactyly is probably universally the most frequent of the congenital hand deformities. 7 • 8 It can be very conspicuous, especially when fully grown and functioning digits are supernumerary. It is therefore not surprising that the deformity is mentioned in early literature, at least 3000 years ago. REFERENCES I. The Holy Bible, according to the authorized version; with notes, explanatory and practical; prepared and arranged by George d'Oyly, B.D., and Richard Mant, D.O. Oxford, 1817, Clarendon Press 2. I Samuel 17: 4-58 3. I Samuel 27: 2 4. I Samuell7:7 5. II Samuel 21: 16 6. II Samuel 21: 19 7. Mellin GW: The frequency of birth defects. In Fishbein M, editor: Birth defects. Philadelphia. 1963, JB Lippincott Co, pp 1-17 8. Blauth W, Schneider-Sickert F: Handfehlbildungen. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York, 1976, Springer Verlag, p 119
THE JOURNAL OF HAND SURGERY
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