Giants

(1.) Heb. nephilim, meaning “violent” or “causing to fall” (Gen. 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 Num. 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.) Heb. rephaim, a race of giants (Deut. 3:11) who lived on the east of Jordan, from whom Og was descended. They were probably the original inhabitants of the land before the immigration of the Canaanites. They were conquered by Chedorlaomer (Gen. 14:5), and their territories were promised as a possession to Abraham (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 Isa. 14:9 this Hebrew word is rendered (A.V.) “dead.” It means here “the shades,” the departed spirits in Sheol. In Sam. 21:16, 18, 20, 33, “the giant” is (A.V.) 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 Chron. 20:5, 6, 8; Deut. 2:11, 20; 3:13; Josh. 15:8, etc., where the word is similarly rendered “giant.”) It is rendered “dead” in (A.V.) Ps. 88:10; Prov. 2:18; 9:18; 21:16: in all these places the Revised Version marg. has “the shades.” (See also Isa. 26:14.)

(3.) Heb. ‘Anakim (Deut. 2:10, 11, 21; Josh. 11:21, 22; 14:12, 15; called “sons of Anak,” Num. 13:33; “children of Anak,” 13:22; Josh. 15:14), a nomad race of giants descended from Arba (Josh. 14:15), the father of Anak, that dwelt in the south of Palestine near Hebron (Gen. 23:2; Josh. 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 Sam. 21:15-22). From this race sprung Goliath (1 Sam. 17:4).

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

(5.) Heb. Zamzummim (q.v.), Deut. 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 Sam. 23:8-39; 1 Kings 1:8; 1 Chr. 11:9-47; 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 captians 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 Sam. 23:8). The sons born of the marriages mentioned in Gen. 6:4 are also called by this Hebrew name.

1. They are first spoken of in (Genesis 6:4) under the name Nephilim. We are told in (Genesis 6:1-4) that "there were Nephilim in the earth," and that afterwards the "sons of God" mingling with the beautiful "daughters of mens produced a race of violent and insolent Gibborim (Authorized Version "mighty men").
2. The Rephalim, a name which frequently occurs. The earliest mention of them is the record of their defeat by Chedorlaomer and some allied kings at Ashteroth Karnaim. The "valley of Rephaim," (2 Samuel 5:18; 1 Chronicles 11:15; Isaiah 17:5) a rich valley southwest of Jerusalem, derived its name from them. They were probably an aboriginal people of which the EMIM, ANAKIM and ZUZIM, THE [which see] were branches. [See also GOLIATH]

ji'-ants The word appears in the King James Version as the translation of the Hebrew words nephilim (Ge 6:4; Nu 13:33); repha'im (De 2:11,20; 3:11,13; Jos 12:4, etc.); rapha' (1Ch 20:4,6,8), or raphah (2Sa 21:16,18,20,22); in one instance of gibbor, literally, "mighty one" (Job 16:14).

In the first two cases the Revised Version (British and American) changes "giants" into the Hebrew words "Nephilim," nephilim, and "Rephaim," repha'im, respectively (see these words). The "Nephilim of Ge 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; Nu 13:33. The same is true of the "Rephaim," as shown by the instance of Og (De 3:11; Jos 12:4). There is no doubt about the meaning of the word in the ease of the giants mentioned in 2Sa 21 and 1Ch 20.

See also ANTEDILUVIANS.

James Orr

• → General scriptures concerning Ge 6:4
• → See ANAKIM
• → See EMIMS
• → See GOLIATH
• → See ISHBI-BENOB
• → See OG
• → See REPHAIM
• → See ZAMZUMMIM