Deuteronomy 2 provides some interesting information about the Rephaim. If so, this would help explain why the spies were so fearful. . . Once Israel entered the land of Canaan under Joshua's leadership, they had to face the Anakim that the spies in Numbers 13 had feared 40 years prior. As will be seen, Israel initially refused to enter the land because of giants, and only men of great faith (Joshua, Caleb, and David) were able to defeat them. The Psalmist asks whether the Rephaim will rise up to praise God (Psalm 88:10-11; cf. The other passages highlight the Rephaim as inhabitants of Sheol (Job 26:5-6; Proverbs 2:18; 9:18; 21:16). However, this is a spiritual war, not one of flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12). They were descendants of a man name Anak, whom we are told had three sons, Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai (Joshua 15:14; Judges 1:10, 20). However, they gave a bad report about the people in the land: However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Goliath had cursed David “by his gods,” but in the end it was Goliath who was cursed (1 Samuel 17:43). . David and His Men Finish Off the Giants (2 Samuel 21; 1 Chronicles 20). As far as we know, the gibbor David (1 Samuel 16:18) and his group of gibborim (2 Samuel 23:8) brought an end to the giants, those gibborim of old (Genesis 6:4). These groups, including the Amalekites, Amorites, and Anakim-Rephaim, were still in the land during the time of Joshua (Numbers 13:29, 33). Joshua and Caleb were the only two of the 12 spies who believed that Yahweh would give them victory over the giants in the land (Numbers 13:30; 14:6-9), and thus they were the only two allowed to enter the land 40 years later (Numbers 14:30). Deuteronomy 2:10-11 says that the “Emim” were also as “tall as the Anakim,” but then it says that both the Anakim and Emim “are also counted as Rephaim.” This is important, as it links the Anakim with the Rephaim. In killing Goliath, David was finishing the task of herem in Deuteronomy 7 that Joshua began to carry out. Deuteronomy 2:11). Christians, including many pastors and scholars, tend to gloss over the references to giants in the Bible. This should at least make us open to the idea of Goliath being closer to 10 feet tall. The four cubit and a span reading (6’9”) would make Goliath’s height less impressive, nine inches shorter than the five cubit (7’6”) Egyptian man killed by Benaiah, one of David’s mighty men (gibborim) (1 Chronicles 11:23-24). The spies were to scout out the land and assess “whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak” (Numbers 13:18). Rapha (רָפָה) is mentioned six times in the Bible (2 Samuel 21:16, 18, 20, 22; 1 Chronicles 20:6, 8), in contrast to the more common plural Rephaim (רְפָאִ֥ים). The Sons of God and Giant Nephilim (Genesis 6:1-4). There are three possibilities. This makes sense, as Goliath and his relatives are associated with both the Anakim and the Rephaim. Sibbecai killed the giant Saph. Joshua later devoted the Anakim to destruction, only leaving them in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod (Joshua 11:21-22). By defeating Goliath and his relatives, David completed the conquest that Joshua began. . One principle of text criticism is to prefer the harder reading, and the 9’9” measurement is certainly the harder reading. Also, a great deal of misinformation about giants in the Bible has been proliferated on the Internet along with some fake pictures of supposed giants. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. It is a hard task we have been given, and just like the Israelites, we must trust the Lord to bring it about. There has been much discussion over Goliath’s height. There is the possibility that the Septuagint used the longer Egyptian cubit in its description, meaning the Septuagint was essentially in agreement with the Hebrew. Second, the Philistines, with whom the Anakim remained, became Israel’s chief enemy during the time of Samuel. (1 Samuel 17:4 says that Goliath was from Gath, leading us to conclude he was a descendant of Anak.) In general, we should prefer the Hebrew Masoretic Text, unless we have good reason to go with alternate readings. There are problems with the MT textual tradition of 1-2 Samuel, so there may be a good reason to favor the alternate readings.[3]. The spies were to scout out the land and assess “whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak” (Numbers 13:18). Moses Defeats Og of Bashan, One of the Last Rephaim (Deuteronomy 3). After wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, Joshua and Caleb—the two faithful spies—then drove out the giant Anakim from Canaan. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. One of those cities was Gath, from where Goliath hailed. Elhanan killed Goliath the Gittite (though 1 Chronicles 20:5 says he struck down “Lahmi the brother of Goliath”). Nephilim and Anakim in the Land of Canaan (Numbers 13:21-33). (Saph and Sippai are likely variant spellings of the same name.) However, there are three reasons for believing the statement in Numbers 13:33 is correct and that the Anakim in fact came from the Nephilim: Genesis 6:4 says the Nephilim were on the earth at a later time—“The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward.” The “afterward” is presumably after the flood. David killed Goliath with a stone to the head, and then he cut off Goliath’s head (1 Samuel 17:48-51). The Hebrew Rephaim is in every one of these passages, yet you would never see this in the English if reading translations like the ESV, NASB, or KJV. The false gods that Israelites at times worshipped are described as dead Rephaim that will not rise (Isaiah 26:14). While some argue that the flood was only local, this would still be an unlikely explanation because the flood was intended to wipe out the Nephilim in Genesis 6. Though not the primary point of God’s command, the destruction of the Canaanites included the giants who were in the land. This connection is made explicit in the use of the plural Rephaim (רְפָאִ֛ים) in 1 Chronicles 20:4 for Sippai and the use of the singular Rapha (רָפָה) for Saph in 2 Samuel 21:18. Who were the Rephaim? Both Joshua 12:4 and 13:12 also say Og was of the remnant of the Rephaim, which the LXX interestingly translates as “giants” (γιγάντων). [5] And Jonathan (David’s nephew) killed the unnamed 24-digit giant. However, Israel still had to deal with a giant while in the in the wilderness, Og of Bashan. Judges 1:10, 20). KnowingScripture.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Bashan is seen as a place of darkness in the Old Testament and may even be called the “mountain of the gods” (Psalm 68:15). Israel was afraid of the giants in the land of Canaan, and it would have to be a later generation that dealt with the giants under Joshua’s leadership. The Anakim apparently became aligned with Israel’s new enemy, the Philistines. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Seeing that a cubit was about 18 inches, Og’s bed was about 13 feet 6 inches long. God continued the human race through Noah, a new Adam, who was not tainted by Nephilim blood. In the power of Christ, we now drive out His enemies through the faithful preaching and teaching of God’s Word. Genesis 6:4). God even killed the 10 unfaithful spies with a plague, sparing only Caleb and Joshua (Numbers 14:20-38). And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. I have previously argued that the “sons of God” were spirit beings that mated with women and produced the Nephilim. It says the Rephaim were as “tall as the Anakim,” but were mostly wiped out by Yahweh (Deuteronomy 2:21). ” Scripture calls this both the “land of the Rephaim” (Joshua 17:15) and the “Valley of Rephaim” (Joshua 18:16; 2 Samuel 5:18, 22; 23:13; 1 Chronicles 11:15; 14:9; Isaiah 17:5). Caleb is said to have driven out the Anakim from Hebron (Joshua 14:12; 15:14; Judges 1:20), a city that was formerly called Kiriath-arba, named after Arba, who “was the greatest man among the Anakim” (Joshua 14:15; cf. This would make sense because 1 Samuel 17 says that it was David who killed Goliath, not Elhanan. [2] Michael Heiser, The Unseen Realm, 107. Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, according to the common cubit (Deuteronomy 3:11). The story of giants starts with the mysterious Nephilim in Genesis 6:4, who were wiped out by the flood. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the LORD said. Like his god Dagon, Goliath fell facedown and his head was cut off (1 Samuel 17:49-51; cf. The typical sermon on Goliath today encourages Christians to “slay the giants” in their lives, usually referring to sin and the fears of life. This armor weighed over 125 pounds, implying he was massive. This puts David’s battle with Goliath in proper context. Numbers 13 is the key passage on giants in the land of Canaan. (The ESV translates gibbor as “champion” in 1 Samuel 17:51, but this is a different Hebrew word than that for “champion” in 17:4.) We are told that both Og and Sihon were considered Amorite kings (Deuteronomy 3:8). Caleb went to Joshua and said that he was as strong at 85 years of age as he was at 45, after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness (Joshua 14:6-11). After the Flood, giants appear in the Bible as descendants of Ham’s son Canaan; they were living in Canaan when Moses sent agents to … There is no mention of giants in Scripture after the time of David. And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.