Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: GIANTS (10/22/20)
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TITLE: The Giants of the Old Testament | Previous Challenge Entry
By Bruce Phenix
10/29/20 -
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The most basic and generic term is Rephaim, apparently referring to some very tall original inhabitants of Canaan and adjacent areas. King Og of Bashan, described in Deuteronomy 3:11 as the last of the 'remnant of the Rephaim', was famous for his iron 'bed' (perhaps a sarcophagus) measuring 9 cubits by 4 cubits (about 13 feet x 6 feet) and still to be viewed at that time in Rabbah of the Ammonites.
To judge from Deuteronomy 2:11 and 2:20, the Emim and the Zamzummim may simply be alternative names for the Rephaim used by the Moabites and the Ammonites respectively.
Nothing is known with certainty about the Zuzim, mentioned only in Genesis 14:5 along with the Rephaim and Emim. They may have been allies of the Rephaim or possibly were identical with the Zamzummim.
The Nephilim are mentioned in Genesis 6:4, which seems to indicate that they were heroic warriors, the gigantic hybrid offspring of the 'sons of God' and the 'daughters of humans'. But the best-known reference to them is in Numbers 13:33, where the faint-hearted spies, sent out to explore the Promised Land of Canaan, report that these giant inhabitants made them feel like grasshoppers by comparison.
According to Deuteronomy 2:11, the Anakim were usually reckoned as Rephaim. They may be the same as the Anakites, who in Numbers 13:33 are said to come from the Nephilim. If so, we can probably categorise both the Anakim and the Nephilim under the general heading of Rephaim. The Anakim and the Nephilim are also connected by the references to the giant inhabitants of Canaan seen by the spies as Nephilim (Numbers 13:33) and the offspring of the Anakim' (Deuteronomy 1:28).
The most famous giant of the Old Testament, Goliath of Gath, seems to confirm the connection between the Anakim and the Rephaim. In Joshua 11:21-22 Joshua is said to have wiped out all the Anakim in Israel, with some remaining only in the Philistine cities of Gaza, Gath and Ashdod. It seems likely that Goliath, along with the other giant Philistine warriors mentioned in 2 Samuel 21:16-22 and 1 Chronicles 20:4-8, was descended from these Anakim. The Valley of Rephaim near Jerusalem is probably the area originally occupied by these giants. In discussing Goliath in his Introduction to the Old Testament (page 716), R K Harrison gives hyperostosis resulting from the degeneration of the familial stock as a possible explanation of his gigantism. This may be consistent with the abnormality of the 12-fingered and 12-toed Philistine warrior mentioned in 2 Samuel 21:20 and 1 Chronicles 20:6. Modern readers of the Bible may understandably doubt whether Goliath was six cubits and a span (about 9 feet 6 inches) tall, but it’s a remarkable and fascinating fact that skeletons of this length, dating from roughly his time (around 1,000 BC), have been found by archaeologists at Gezer and other sites in Israel.
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