Giants of Biblical Antiquity

I remember one scene in the epic trilogy “ The Lord of the Rings”, where the main heroes of the film battled giants of enormous sizes. The question is— do giants existed sometime in the history of men?

The bible tells of a time when giants lived among men. In Genesis 6:4, we find that there was a time when the “sons of God” slept with the “daughters of men”. This union between flesh and holy, spiritual beings bore offsprings described as “mighty men which were of old, men of renown”. Why are they men of renown? Because they were of enormous height, “giants in the earth.” And how big are they?

In Amos 2:9, we find that these giants were of the height as the cedars of Lebanon[1] and as “strong as an oak”. (What the prophet was trying to describe was the height of the inhabitants of heaven, which, in the bible was described as “cedars of Lebanon”. What is meant by `strong as an oak’? It means that these giants were hard to kill. They cannot be smitten) They probably have an average height of “six cubits [2]and a span”, which in 1 Samuel 17:4 was written as the height of Goliath, a Philistine from Gath. Their average height, in today’s measurements, could be about 18.5 feet. They were probably clothed in warriors clothes, being described as warriors of old in the bible.

Armaments

Anakims were warriors of old. As warriors, they were equipped with sophisticated weaponry of the time such as a sword, a shield and a spear or staff. (1 Samuel 17:45). The sword probably was the choice weapon, for in battle at the valley of Elah, Goliath had a sword which was made “like no other,” as what David said (1 Sam 21:9). It seems that these giants from Gath where Goliath lived had weaponry like no other they seen before. One example was the spear of the brother of Goliath named Lahmi (1 Chro 20:5) which was described with “staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam”.

And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. (2 Samuel 21:19)

The common weight of these spears could be between 300-400 shekels of brass. (2 Samuel 21:16). No other reference can be found in the bible about their physical attributes, except that they have six toes in each foot and six fingers in each hand. (1 Chro. 20:6). Probably, they looked human, but with this anomaly in their hands and feet.

These gigantuan beings caused havoc and violence on the earth, leading God to decide to annihilate all flesh. In the Great flood, these anakins were destroyed along with all flesh (Gen. 7:12). But were they?

Giants after the flood

Apparently after the great flood, these giants called the sons of Anak (Deut 9:2), probably referring to them as the children of a son of God named “Anak” lived, suggesting that the union between the sons of God and the daughters of men continued even after the time of Noah. The last reference to these giants was in the book of Samuel, at the time of David, suggesting that, probably all of these giants were annihilated at that time? Or were they?

The Giants at the wilderness of Paran

Moses and the Israelites encountered the Amalekites, a people of giants in the wilderness of Paran. After getting out of Egypt, the Israelites went to the desolate plains which were populated by cities of the giants. These sons of Anak had a kingdom called the Kingdom of Og in Bashan (Numbers 13:33) located at the city of Ashtaroth and at Edrei (Joshua 12:4). This kingdom extends to all the Palestinian plains, Gilead and Salchah and Edrei. It is said that this kingdom was ruled by a giant king whose height was nine cubits or about 27 feet and about 12 feet (4 cubits) in girth. He allegedly slept in an iron bedstead in Rabbath (Deut 3:10-11). This Bashan formed part of the region of Argob, the land of the giants (Deut 3:13). Moses destroyed this kingdom (Joshua 13:12) from the valley of Hinnom (Joshua 15:8). At the time of Joshua, the Israelites destroyed another land of the giants called Perizzites (Joshua 17:15)

Amorites

These sons of anak were of three kinds. The first kind of giants called themselves Amorites (Deut 1:28). In Amos 2:9, we find a reference to the Amorites where it was said that they have a height “like the height of the cedars and he was as strong as a oak”, referring of course to the Amorites as giants. Before the occupation of the Israelites of Palestine, Amorite territory extended to Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon (Joshua 10:5). They were all destroyed (Joshua 9:10).

Some remnants of the Anakims were also destroyed by Joshua’s army. In Joshua 11:21-22, it says that Joshua’s hordes cut off the Anakims from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, the mountains of Judah, and Israel. However, Joshua was unable to defeat those living in Gaza, Gath and in Ashdod. Hebron, which was called Kirjatharba (the land of the great anakim warrior named Arba) was also spared and given to Caleb, a lieutenant of Joshua (Joshua 14:15)

The Emims and the Zamzummims

In the land of Moab, there lived the Effims who dwelt with the children of Esau in the wilderness (Deut 2:10-11). They were described as “tall and mighty” but possibly different from the anakims in physical forms. It’s not clear whether they were destroyed by God or allowed to live in Moab. They were probably killed when the armies of Joshua routed the Moabites.

Another kind of giant, the Zamzummims, lived in the land being occupied at that time by the Ammonites. They were destroyed by God (Deut. 2:20-21).

The Battle of David with the Four Giants of Gath

After Joshua, the bible narrated four great battles waged by King David. The first of these battles occurred in an undisclosed place, possibly in the territory of the Philistines where Isbhibenob, a son of a giant was killed by Abishai the son of Zeruiah (2 Samuel 21:16-17). This giant nearly killed David with his new sword, but apparently the king lived (2 Samuel 21:16).

Another battle at Gob saw another giant, Saph, killed by Sibbechai the Hushathite (2 Samuel 21:180 in the battle at Gezer (1 Chro 20:4). These battles extended at the heart of Gath, where the armies of David encountered and killed a giant with six fingers and six toes, also born to a giant (verse 20 of 2 Samuel 21). The last battle, again at Gob, saw the death of Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who has a staff “of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam (2 Samuel 21:19, 1 Chro 20:5). It seems that these giants were brothers of Goliath the Gittite and were all born to “the giant in Gath” (2 Samuel 21:22). No reference were given as to the name of this giant who sired these giants in Gath.

Giants in our midst?

Is it possible for these giants to still exist among us? Yes. The bible did not say that they were annihilated altogether.

[1] This reference to “cedars of Lebanon” has a mystical meaning. It refers to the inhabitants of heaven, those who reside in the garden of God, in Eden. In Ezekiel 31:8, we find a description of these cedars “The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.” Likewise in Ezekiel 31:16: “ I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth. “. The average height of a cedar in Lebanon is

[2] Cubit

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

For the unit of information, see qubit. For the bone, see ulna.

Cubit is the name for any one of many units of measure used by various ancient peoples and is among the first recorded units of length. The Cubit is possibly based on the forearm length of an average person, and the Egyptian hieroglyph for the unit shows this symbol. It was employed consistently for measuring products like timber, stone, cords and textiles through Antiquity, the Middle-Ages up to the Early Modern Times. The earliest known cubit is the Egyptian cubit of 28 digits (523/4mm, 20.6"), and other cubit measures, often divided into 24 digits, or 6 palms of 4 digits are known from Antiquity.

Over time, units similar in type to the cubit have measured:

* 6 palms, ~53.3 cm, or 21 inches (1.75 ft)

* 7 palms, ~52.5 cm, or 21 inches (1.75 ft)

* 8 palms, ~60 cm, or 24 inches (2.00 ft)

* 9 palms, ~67.5 cm, or 27 inches (2.25 ft)

From late Antiquity, a Roman cubit of 16 palms, which is about 120 cm, was also used. This length is the measure from a man's hip to the fingers of the outstretched opposite arm. Since the ulna is approximately 1/4 of this length (30 cm or 12 inches), this Roman cubit was considered highly practical for quickly measuring textiles or cords over the elbow.

The English yard could be considered to be a type of cubit, measuring 12 palms, ~90 cm, or 36 inches (3.00 ft). This would be the measure from the middle of a man's body to his fingers, always with outstretched arm. The English Ell is essentially a kind of great cubit of 15 palms, 114 cm, or 45 inches (3.75 ft). Metric cubit, used in some countries, is 1/2 m or 50 cm.