Almost all these monstrous people were defeated by the Israelites, under the leadership of Joshua, at this time. But a remnant remained, as recorded in the Book of Joshua:
And at that time came Joshua, and cut off the Anakims from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir . . .
There was none of the Anakims left in the land of the children of Israel; only in Gath, Gaza and in Ashdod [they] there remained.
Book of Joshua 11:21:22
We began this chapter showing that, at the time Abraham travelled through Canaan, these races of giants already inhabited the region. This was circa 1912 BC, about 436 years after the Flood of Noah. Because their number was already great, we may assume that they had begun to multiply sometime during these 400 years. So there was a second irruption of “fallen” spirit beings who had procreated with women during this period to produce these tribes of giants. By the time Moses and Joshua arrived on the scene and defeated these huge people, another 461 years had elapsed, taking us to 1451 BC. So these superhuman beings had all this time to multiply and grow in number.
We had the
Emim
, a race of gigantic stature dwelling to the east of the Salt Sea. In ancient times, the whole of the land of Canaan was held by this race of giants. The
Rephaim
inhabited the north. Next the
Zuzim
, then the
Emim
, with the
Horim
in the south. Afterwards, the kingdom of Bashan embraced the territories of the
Rephaim;
the Amonites that of the
Zuzim
; the Moabites that of the
Emim
; while Edom embraced the mountains of the
Horim
. The
Emim
were related to the
Anakim
and generally called by the same name, but the Moabites referred to them as the “
giants
” or “
terrible ones
”
27
(see
Figure 4
).
Now we come to the year 974 BC and a boy of 16 years named David. Another 477 years have elapsed since Joshua entered the Promised Land and destroyed all the giants. All, that is, except for a remnant at Gaza, Gath and Ashdod. We pick up the story in 1 Samuel 17:
2. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines.
4. And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
5. And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.
6. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders.
7. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and one bearing a shield went before him.
8. And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them: “Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? Am not I a Philistine and ye servants to Saul? Choose you a man for you and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants. But if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.”
11. When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
12. Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem-Judah whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons;
16. And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.
26. And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying: “What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
32. And David said to Saul: “Let no man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
33. And Saul said to David: “Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”
34. And David said unto Saul: “Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth, and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them seeing that he hath defied the armies of the living God.”
37. David said moreover: “The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said unto David: “Go, and the Lord be with thee.”
40. And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand; and he drew near to the Philistine.
41. And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him.
42. And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.
43. And the Philistine said unto David: “Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44. And the Philistine said to David: “Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.”
45. Then said David to the Philistine: “Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield; and I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, Whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the Earth; that all the Earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into our hands.”
49. And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.
50. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.
51. Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
The story of David versus Goliath has become an oft-used metaphor in our daily language. Let us now look a little closer at this record. Goliath was a champion of the Philistines (which are now the modern-day Palestinians). You will note that he hailed from Gath which, along with Gaza and Ashdod, was where a remnant of giants, who had not been defeated by the armies of Joshua 477 years earlier, escaped to. Goliath was descended from this remnant of giants.
This was a big man. His height is given as six cubits and a span. That would make him about 13 feet 6 inches tall at 25.025 inches to the Hebrew cubit. We are not given his weight, but it must have been in proportion to his height as his coat of mail weighed more than 11 stone. The head of his spear was over a stone in weight and the shaft was like a weaver's beam. He wore six pieces of armour in all, he was 6 cubits tall and his spearhead was 600 shekels in weight. Thus the number six is here stamped all over him like a hallmark. David, on the other hand, was between 16 and 17 years of age. He was so scrawny that, when they put the armour on him, he could not move. So he discarded this and went out to meet Goliath armed only with a shepherd's crook and a sling. He chose five stones, which is significant,
28
but only needed one to bring down the giant. When the stone sunk into Goliath's forehead, he had not even bothered to draw his sword, such was his disdain for this unworthy whelp of an opponent. David subsequently drew out Goliath's sword and used it to chop off his head.
This victory by David was the beginning of his rise to the eventual kingship of Israel.
Now we go forward in time to note some more battles and obtain further evidence concerning the descendants of
Rapha
, who were of the
Nephilim.
First to the second book of Samuel:
Moreover the Philistines had yet war with Israel; and David went down and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines; and David waxed faint.
And Ishbi-Benob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass, he being girded with a new sword, said that he would slay David. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him and smote the Philistine and killed him.
And it came to pass after this that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob; then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which was of the son of the giant.
And Elhanan the son of Jaare-Oregim, a Bethlehemite, slew Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam (
This giant was different from the Goliath David slew
)
.
And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.
And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shameah, the brother of David, slew him.
These four were born to the giant in Gath and fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
2nd Book of Samuel 21:15-22
This record is corroborated in the first Book of Chronicles, which adds in some extra information:
And it came to pass after this there arose a war at Gezer with the Philistines at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Sippai, that was of the children of the giant, and they were subdued.
And Elehanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite . . .
And yet there was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand, six on each foot, and he also was the son of the giant.
Jonathan the son of Shimea, David's brother, slew him. These were born unto the giant in Gath and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
1st Book of Chronicles 20:4-8
There are other passages not quoted which make mention of the
Rephaim,
which were another branch of the
Nephilim
. But I believe enough evidence is provided to give us a broad picture of the existence of this race of giants and the area they inhabited.
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In conclusion, let us briefly summarise the major points in this chapter.
We have seen that a group of spirit beings, called
sons of God
, took human women to wife and produced offspring. The record states that they chose “wives,” which would suggest polygamy. The offspring they produced were superhuman in size and character and were monsters of iniquity.
The first irruption was before the Flood of Noah, which killed all living things on the Earth, according to Genesis. But we are told that there was a second irruption by the words
“and also after that” â
i.e. after the Flood.
So all the way down from the time of Abraham (1912 BC) to the entry into the Promised Land by Joshua (1451 BC) and to the time of David (974 BC; see App. 1), these giants were numerous in the land. This is a period of almost 1,000 years. But the land we have described here was called the land of Canaan. There is absolutely no reason to believe that these
Nephilim,
and their related branches, did not travel and populate other areas of the then known world. In fact, later in this study I believe we shall prove that this was indeed the case.
We have seen that these giants were known by various names such as
Rephaim
, from one
Rapha,
a notable one among them. Also
Emim, Horim, Zamzummim
and
Avim,
as well as
Anakim.
The principal locality of the
Rephaim
was evidently “Ashtaroth Karnaim,” while the
Emim
were in the plain of Kiriathaim (Genesis 14.5).
Ten out of the 12 spies sent in by Joshua were too afraid to invade the Promised Land. The cluster of grapes which two of them carried out on a pole was so heavy that it suggests genetic engineering. Also, one of the giants killed by David's men later on had six fingers and six toes on each hand and foot. Does this not also suggest genetic modification?