The King James Bible states, “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown” (Gen. 6:4). But what does it mean by “giants”? Could there really have been giants living among humanity? This post will explore the “giants” that God’s people encountered.
Modern translations refer to “Nephilim” instead of “giants” in Genesis 6:4.[1] “Nephilim” is the transliteration of the Hebrew noun nĕpilîm.[2] The Septuagint (LXX), an ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament,[3] translates nĕpilîm with gigantes,[4] from which is derived “giants.”
The idea that nĕpilîm refers to “giants” or humans of significant bulk and stature is a common interpretation; however, it is more intelligible to take nĕpilîm to be tyrants. Noting that the noun nĕpilîm comes from nāpal[5] meaning “to fall upon (Job. 1:15; Josh. 11:7), signifies the invaders,” Keil and Delitzsch point out “Luther gives the correct meaning, ‘tyrants:’ they were called Nephilim because they fell upon the people and oppressed them.”[6] Tyrants designated the Nephilim then were in the world around the time the sons of God married the daughters of man.
The downfall of the sons of God, i.e., the line of Seth, along with the tyrannical Nephilim set the stage for the judgment: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man…the Lord regretted that he had made man…the Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land” (Gen. 6:5-7). The stage is set for the flood and Noah’s deliverance.
Similar tyrannical Nephilim were presumed to be around even after the flood. Such is intimated in the false report given to Moses and the Israelites by the men who returned from spying out the land of Canaan: “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them” (Num. 13:32-33). Here there is obvious exaggeration to discourage moving into the promise land. Joshua and Caleb attempted to refute the false negative report but the congregation rejected their message and attempted to stone them along with Moses and Aaron, but Yahweh intervened (Num. 14:5-10).
“Giant” is occasionally used to translate the Hebrew noun rəpāʾîm [רְפָאִים] in the King James Version and the New King James, but other modern Bible versions employ the transliteration “Rephaim” (cf. Deut. 2:20; 3:11; 13; Josh. 12:4; 13:12; 17:15).[7]
Og of Bashan, a rival to the Hebrew sojourners, was among “the remnant of the Rephaim,” whose “bed was a bed of iron” located “in Rabbah of the Ammonites,” and “nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, according to the common cubit” (Deut. 31:11). The bed would be approximately 13 ft. long and 6 ft. wide.[8] Og’s bed was “the same size as Marduk’s bed in the temple Esagila in Babylon” and “beds were not just for sleeping but were often used for reclining on during feasts and celebrations.”[9] Scripture then only tells us the size of the man’s bed but not the size of the man on the bed. One can only guess whether Og was a man of extraordinary stature.
Ishbi-benob, Saph or Sippai, Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who carried a spear “like a weavers beam,” and a six fingered six toed man of great stature who were identified as “giants” (cf. 2 Sam. 21:15-21; 1 Chron. 20:4-8). Yet the term “giants” is more precisely the proper name: hārāp̄â[10] or Rapha.[11] Keil and Delitzsch indicate “Raphah was the tribe-father of the Rephaim, an ancient tribe of gigantic stature, of whom only a few families were left even in Moses’ time”[12] and “As for these four, they were born to Rapha,” i.e., they were descendants of the Rephaite family at Gath, where remnants of the aboriginal Canaanitish tribes of gigantic stature were still to be found, as in other towns of the Philistines.”[13] But specified height measurements are never provided for any of the four Philistine warriors.
Medieval Hebrew manuscripts, generally used as the basis for English translations, describe Goliath, who carried “a spear like a weaver’s beam,” as being “six cubits and a span” tall—approximately 9 ½ feet (1 Sam. 17:4). This extraordinary height places him at the uppermost extreme of known human stature. For example, the Guinness Book of World Records indicates that “the tallest man in medical history for whom there is irrefutable evidence is Robert Pershing Wadlow. He was born at Alton, Illinois, USA, on February 22, 1918, and when he was last measured on June 27, 1940, was found to be 2.72 m (8 ft 11.1 in) tall.”[14] A 9 ½ ft. tall Goliath would be extraordinary.
But a 9 ½ foot tall Goliath may never have been the case. The LXX reading of 1 Samuel 17:4 indicates the Philistine warrior’s height was “four cubits and a span,”[15] or a little over 6 ½ ft. tall. The Philistine being 6 ½ feet tall is likewise mentioned in the Samuel Scroll, which is one of the ancient manuscripts associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran. Dr. Bible scholar Craig Evans find that “this implies that the Greek translator of 1 Samuel did not modify the details about Goliath. Rather, the Hebrew text he used said Goliath was six feet six inches rather than nearly ten feet tall. Thus the findings at Qumran suggest that the seemingly impossible height of Goliath resulted from a corruption of the original version of 1 Samuel.”[16]
A height of “four cubits and a span” for Goliath seems well-suited for an optimal ancient warrior, built for mortal combat with spears, swords, and even bare hands. This height is more plausible than “six cubits and a span.” Considering that the average male height in antiquity was around 5 ½ feet, facing off against a 6 ½-foot, armed, and battle-hardened opponent in a one-on-one fight to the death would have been especially intimidating.
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, a mighty warrior in David’s army, struck down an Egyptian who stood five cubits high, or 7 ½ feet tall, who carried “a spear like a weavers beam” (1 Chron. 11:22-23).
Scriptures never tell of “giants” reaching fantastical heights like 25 to 30 ft. tall.
God’s people faced off against giants on numerous occasions. Their foes were often larger in size and equipped with more advanced armor, weapons, and chariots. Never upon his own strength did David triumphed over Goliath. Rather, the battle belonged to the Lord.
The Word of God reminds us: “The horse is made ready for the day of battle | but the victory belongs to the Lord (Prov. 21:31). “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Cor. 1:27-29).
We all face off against giants. Maybe not literal giants in hand-to-hand combat to the death. But our daily struggles can leave us with insurmountable odds against us from accomplishing the assignments God has given us to do. But we are comforted in the truth that our battles belong to the Lord.
— WGN
[1] Cf. English Standard Version; New American Standard Bible; New Revised Standard Version; Christian Standard Bible; New International Version.
[2] נְפִלִים
[3] Production of the Septuagint traces back to around 100 BC. Since these Greek translations were then produced from ancient copies of the Hebrew Old Testament, they are certainly helpful in understanding how accurately the Bible was preserved and transmitted to us. The Masoretic Text is a standard Hebrew manuscript developed around AD 800-900 and forms the basic text for Hebrew Bibles; however, the Septuagint and Dead Sea Scrolls represent earlier ancient manuscripts of the Old Testament. The modern discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls also provides a cache of ancient Hebrew manuscripts dating between 100 BC and 100 AD.
[4] γίγαντες
[5] נָפַל
[6] Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 1 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996), 86–87. Nephilim is understood by Martin Luther “to designate not bulk of body, but tyranny and oppression, inasmuch as they domineered by force, making no account of law and honor, but merely indulging their pleasure and desire. Rightful rulers the Scripture calls shepherds and princes, but those who rule by wrong and violence are rightly called ‘Nephilim,’ because they fall and prey upon those beneath them” (Genesis 6:123). Cited from Matin Luther, Commentary on Genesis: Volume 2: Luther on Sin and the Flood, translated by John Nicholas Lenker, (Minneapolis, MN: 1910), n.p. accessed at https://www.gutenberg.org/files/27978/27978-h/27978-h.htm
[7] The Hebrew word gibbôr [גִּבּוֹר] in Job 16:14 is translated “giant” in the King James Version and the New King James Version but other modern English translations use the word “warrior.”
[8] A cubit would be the length from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. But more precisely the Hebrew cubit would be 17.5 inches. See discussion in J. D. Currid, “Weights and Measures,” in Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch, ed. T. Desmond Alexander and David W. Baker (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 888.
[9] Victor Harold Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, and John H. Walton, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, electronic ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), Dt 3:11.
[10] הָֽרָפָה
[11] Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver, and Charles Augustus Briggs, Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977), 952.
[12] Keil and Delitzsch, 680.
[13] Ibid., 681.
[14] Guinness Book of World Records,“Tallest Man Ever,” https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/tallest-man-ever
[15] tessarōn pēcheōn kai spithamēs [τεσσάρων πήχεων καὶ σπιθαμῆς]. Cf. Sir Lancelot C.L. Brenton, The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and English (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999), 379; Ronald F. Youngblood, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy-1 & 2 Samuel, vol. 3, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 695; Robert P. Gordon, 1 and 2 Samuel: A Commentary (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1986), 154.
[16] Craig A. Evans, Holman Quicksource Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2010), 272–273.
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