Biblegems #264
Question: The Bible mentions the existence of
giants, especially in Old Testament times. Did they really exist and, if so,
are they now extinct?
The word
“giant” in reference to humans is
found 20X in the Old Testament (KJV). In fact, two Hebrew words are used in
Scripture of the giants who existed in early human history.
The first
term for “giants” is Nephilim:
Gen. 6:4 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 (NIV).
The root
of the word nephilim (“naphal”—pronounced naw-fal) means: “fall.” It
is used only three times, referring to the origins of the now extinct race of
giants. Genesis 6:4 explains that these giants were the offspring of “the sons of God”—fallen angels—who took
on human form and impregnated human women in the Pre-Flood world, approximately
2300 B.C.
The Nephilim born from these unions were not
a one-time phenomenon, but “also
afterward”—meaning, generations that followed. This is confirmed almost a
thousand years later by the twelve spies sent by Moses into the Promised Land (1490
B.C.):
Numb.
13:33 “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.”
This
fascinating verse gives us insight into one branch of the family tree of the Nephilim: the descendants of Anak. The
Anakites dwelt in large, heavily fortified cities in the region of Hebron in
Judah (Numb. 13:22, 28; Josh. 15:13; 21:11; Judg. 1:20).
Elsewhere,
the Old Testament uses the word “rafah”
of giants. The word simply means “giants,” and the name was carried over to
another branch of this mutation in the human family tree—the Rephaites:
Dt.
2:11 Like the Anakites, they too were considered Rephaites, but the Moabites
called them Emites.
These
giants were of immense size:
Dt.
3:11 Og king of Bashan was the last of the Rephaites. His bed was decorated with
(or, “made of”) iron and was more than nine cubits long and four cubits wide (“that
is, about 14 feet long and 6 feet wide or about 4 meters long and 1.8 meters
wide” —Expositor’s Bible Commentary, in loc. Notes). It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.
Deformities
may not have been unusual:
2Sam. 21:20 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.
These “heroes of old, men of renown,” (Gen. 6:4) were likely the source of
humanity’s fascination with supernatural superheroes and super-villains. But the
giants of history were sad human deformities brought about by rebellious
angels, now imprisoned for their wickedness (2Pet, 2:4; 1Pet 3:19-20). Once,
giants terrorized mankind. But their judgment is certain and eternal (Rev.
20:11-15), for they and their demonic progenitors have been defeated by the
crucified and risen Lamb of God:
Rev.
5:9 And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the
scroll and to open its seals,
because you were slain, and with your blood
you purchased for God
persons from every tribe and
language
and people and nation.
