Giants

From Bible Exegesis

jī´ants:

The word appears in the King James Version as the translation of the Hebrew words נפילים, nephīlīm (Genesis 6:4; Numbers 13:33); רפאים, rephā'īm (Deuteronomy 2:11, Deuteronomy 2:20; Deuteronomy 3:11, Deuteronomy 3:13; Joshua 12:4, etc.); רפא, rāphā' (1 Chronicles 20:4, 1 Chronicles 20:6, 1 Chronicles 20:8), or רפה, rāphāh (2 Samuel 21:16, 2 Samuel 21:18, 2 Samuel 21:20, 2 Samuel 21:22); in one instance of גּבּור, gibbōr, literally, “mighty one” (Job 16:14).

In the first two cases the Revised Version (British and American) changes “giants” into the Hebrew words “Nephilim,” nephīlīm, and “Rephaim,” rephā'īm, respectively (see these words). The “Nephilim” of Genesis 6:4 are not to be confounded with the “mighty men” subsequently described as the offspring of the unlawful marriages, of “the sons of God” and “the daughters of men.” It is told that they overspread the earth prior to these unhallowed unions. That the word, whatever its etymology, bears the sense of men of immense stature is evident from the later passages; Numbers 13:33. The same is true of the “Rephaim,” as shown by the instance of Og (Deuteronomy 3:11; Joshua 12:4). There is no doubt about the meaning of the word in the ease of the giants mentioned in 2 Samuel 21 and 1 Chronicles 20:1-8.

(1) Hebrew (נפילים) nephilim, meaning “violent” or “causing to fall” (Genesis 6:4). These were the violent tyrants of those days, those who fell upon others. The word may also be derived from a root signifying “wonder,” and hence “monsters” or “prodigies.” In Numbers 13:33 this name is given to a Canaanitish tribe, a race of large stature, “the sons of Anak.” The Revised Version, in these passages, simply transliterates the original, and reads “Nephilim.”

(2) Hebrew רפאים (rephaim), a race of giants (Deuteronomy 3:11) who lived on the east of Jordan, from whom was descended. They were probably the original inhabitants of the land before the immigration of the Canaanites. They were conquered by Chedorlaomer (Genesis 14:5), and their territories were promised as a possession to Abraham (Genesis 15:20). The Anakim, Zuzim, and Emim were branches of this stock.

In Job 26:5 (R.V., “they that are deceased;” marg., “the shades,” the “Rephaim”) and Isaiah 14:9 this Hebrew word is rendered (KJV) “dead.” It means here “the shades,” the departed spirits in Sheol. In 2 Samuel 21:16, 2 Samuel 21:18, 2 Samuel 21:20, 33, “the giant” is (KJV) the rendering of the singular form ha raphah, which may possibly be the name of the father of the four giants referred to here, or of the founder of the Rephaim. The Vulgate here reads “Arapha,” whence Milton (in Samson Agonistes) has borrowed the name “Harapha.” (See also 1 Chronicles 20:5, 1 Chronicles 20:6, 1 Chronicles 20:8; Deuteronomy 2:11, Deuteronomy 2:20; Deuteronomy 3:13; Joshua 15:8, etc., where the word is similarly rendered “giant.”) It is rendered “dead” in (KJV) Psalms 88:10; Proverbs 2:18; Proverbs 9:18; Proverbs 21:16 : in all these places the Revised Version marg. has “the shades.” (See also Isaiah 26:14.)

(3) Heb. 'Anakim (Deuteronomy 2:10, Deuteronomy 2:11, Deuteronomy 2:21; Joshua 11:21, Joshua 11:22; Joshua 14:12, Joshua 14:15; called “sons of Anak,” Numbers 13:33; “children of Anak,” Numbers 13:22; Joshua 15:14), a nomad race of giants descended from Arba (Joshua 14:15), the father of Anak, that dwelt in the south of Palestine near Hebron (Genesis 23:2; Joshua 15:13). They were a Cushite tribe of the same race as the Philistines and the Egyptian shepherd kings. David on several occasions encountered them (2 Samuel 21:15-22). From this race sprung Goliath (1 Samuel 17:4).

(4) Heb. 'emin, a warlike tribe of the ancient Canaanites. They were “great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims” (Genesis 14:5; Deuteronomy 2:10, Deuteronomy 2:11).

(5) Heb. Zamzummim (q.v.), Deuteronomy 2:20 so called by the Amorites.

(6) Heb. gibbor (Job 16:14), a mighty one, i.e., a champion or hero. In its plural form (gibborim) it is rendered “mighty men” (2 Samuel 23:8-39; 1 Kings 1:8; 1 Chronicles 11:9-47; 1 Chronicles 29:24.) The band of six hundred whom David gathered around him when he was a fugitive were so designated. They were divided into three divisions of two hundred each, and thirty divisions of twenty each. The captains of the thirty divisions were called “the thirty,” the captains of the two hundred “the three,” and the captain over the whole was called “chief among the captains” (2 Samuel 23:8).

The sons born of the marriages mentioned in Genesis 6:4 are also called by this Hebrew name.

See also Antediluvians.