In scripture, there are many references to Giants. I’m not talking about the spiritual giants like Moses, Samuel or David. No, I’m talking about literal Giants! Yes, the bible has a very interesting sub story about giants in the land, beginning in the book of Genesis and ending in 1 Chronicles. Although there aren’t concrete answers in this story, it is nonetheless interesting to take a trip through scripture to track where they show up.
First, the giants of the bible are referred to in four different ways:
Genesis 6:1-4 1 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal ; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
Early in Genesis, right before the flood, chapter 6 begins this story. The earth is being populated. But what we find is an interesting development: the Sons of God married women of earth. So first, what we have is something unnatural happening there. These sons of God are some sort of celestial beings. It is commonly understood that Sons of God refers to fallen angels. Demons, in other words. So demons impregnated human women, and thus created what is referred to as Nephilim. In verse 4 they are mentioned, and there is a unique thread of story given to them: They were alive before the flood- and after the flood- and there was some sort of history concerning them, being heroes of old, respectable men.
Genesis 14:1-7 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim 6 and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran near the desert. 7 Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazezon Tamar.
In chapter 14, before Abram reduces Lot, we see a battle ensue. This battle, where a number of kings team up to take down a few other kingdoms. One of them is the Raphite kingdom. The Raphites are also termed as giants.
Numbers 13:22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
We fast forward to the Book of Numbers. Moses has sent the spies into the Promised Land to see if it is as wonderful s promised. But the spies run into opposition from the Anak. Although there is no battle, the spies investigating the land realize that cities are fortified by giants. The names given ( Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai), are the descendants of Anak, who was one of the greatest known giant warriors. This passage shows us that either the giants somehow survived the flood, or that the demons restarted their acquisition of women after the flood. Nevertheless, giants have created cities and have lived in them for long periods of time, enough to have historical importance to these spies.
Numbers 13:30-33 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
During the spies’ assessment of the Promised Land, which 10 of them decide taking of the Promised Land is unattainable (see our study of Numbers), the reason ten of the twelve spies would not enter the Promised Land was because of the giants who lived in the land. They referred to them as Nephilim, which is the original name of giants of Genesis.
Deuteronomy 2:10-11 (The Emites used to live there—a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. 11 Like the Anakites, they too were considered Rephaites, but the Moabites called them Emites.
Moses makes it clear that the Emites are just like the Anakites, which we already know as giants. Interestingly, he is showing that the giant problem was not only widespread but well-known, as referenced that the Moabites also knew about them.
Deuteronomy 2:16-21 That too was considered a land of the Rephaites, who used to live there; but the Ammonites called them Zamzummites. 21 They were a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. The Lord destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place.
Again, Moses refers to the historical accounting of them, as well as other nations recognizing them.
Deuteronomy 3:1-13 At that time we took all his cities. There was not one of the sixty cities that we did not take from them—the whole region of Argob, Og’s kingdom in Bashan. (Og king of Bashan was the last of the Rephaites. His bed was decorated with iron and was more than nine cubits long and four cubits wide. It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.) The rest of Gilead and also all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (The whole region of Argob in Bashan used to be known as a land of the Rephaites.
King Og is referred to here. Og was notably considered a giant, and his bed gives us an idea of his size. It is literally 6 foot wide and 13.5 long.
Deuteronomy 9:1-2 Hear, Israel: You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls up to the sky. 2 The people are strong and tall—Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: “Who can stand up against the Anakites
Again, we have reference to the Anakites (giants of the Promised Land).
Joshua 11:21-22 At that time Joshua went and destroyed the Anakites from the hill country: from Hebron, Debir and Anab, from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua totally destroyed them and their towns. 22 No Anakites were left in Israelite territory; only in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod did any survive.
Here there is reference from Joshua, the first Israelite to wage war in the Promised Land against the people of the land. We see the reference to the Anakites, who he has conquered.
Joshua 15:13-14 In accordance with the Lord’s command to him, Joshua gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh a portion in Judah—Kiriath Arba, that is, Hebron. (Arba was the forefather of Anak.)
Joshua reminds us that the giants have a rich history for the people of this time.
1 Samuel 17:4-7 4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.[c] His shield bearer went ahead of him.
This is the most famous story dealing with biblical giants. Here we meet Goliath, who is part of the Philistine army. In these times, it was common for one man, from each side, to come to the line of scrimmage and battle each other. Based on who won, the losing side would give them reparations and the battle would be decided without a full battle. This is why Goliath is taunting Saul’s army. He knows no one can effectively battle him and win. His size is given in detail: the cubits equal 9 feet, 6 inches tall. He has over 250 pounds of battle armor on. Not only is he huge and menacing, but the armor is impenetrable.
2 Samuel 21:15-22 15 Once again there was a battle between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his men to fight against the Philistines, and he became exhausted. 16 And Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, whose bronze spearhead weighed three hundred shekels and who was armed with a new sword, said he would kill David. 17 But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue; he struck the Philistine down and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, saying, “Never again will you go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel will not be extinguished.” 18 In the course of time, there was another battle with the Philistines, at Gob. At that time Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants of Rapha. 19 In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod. 20 In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha. 21 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David’s brother, killed him. 22 These four were descendants of Rapha in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his men.
Here we see some very interesting things. We see David and his men clearing Philistines out of the land. In verse 16, we see that Ishbi-Benob is a descendent of Rapha (giant), whose spearhead alone weighed 7.5 pounds. In verse 18 two of David’s men kills another descendant of Rapha. In verse 19, there is a reference to the killing of Goliath’s brother. And finally in verse 20, there is a description of a large man with a mutation.
1 Chronicles 11:22-23 22 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a valiant man[a] of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds. He struck down two heroes of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen. 23 And he struck down an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits tall. The Egyptian had in his hand a spear like a weaver’s beam, but Benaiah went down to him with a staff and snatched the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.
The final verse in scripture that refers to physical giants lists a battle between one of David’s men. This is a 7.5 foot tall Egyptian warrior.
Although scripture doesn’t give us all the answers, the journey from Genesis to David’s time is an intriguing one. It seems that David put the finishing touches on the Anak’s reign. But they were there all along, hiding in plain sight in the pages of scripture.