CHAMPION

cham'-pi-un ('ish habenayim): In 1 Sam 17:4,23 this unusual expression occurs in the description of Goliath. It means literally "the man of the two spaces," "spaces," or "space between," and is perhaps to be explained by the fact that there was a brook flowing through the valley separating the two armies. In 1 Sam 17:51 the word champion is the rendering of the Hebrew gibbor, "mighty man."

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.