Difference between revisions of "Giants"

<p> Two [[Hebrew]] terms. </p> <p> I. Νephilim; Hebrew "those who fall on" men; men of violence, robbers, tyrants; compare [[Genesis]] 6:13, "the earth is filled with violence through them." [[Applied]] to antediluvians (Genesis 6:4). Distinct from the gibbowrim , "mighty men of old, men of renown," the offspring of the intermarriage of the "sons of God" (the Sethites, Genesis 4:26, margin" then men began to call themselves by the name of the Lord"; Deuteronomy 14:1-2; Psalms 73:15; Proverbs 14:26; Hosea 1:10; Romans 8:14) and the "daughters of men." The Sethites, the church separated from the surrounding world lying in the wicked one, had been the salt of the earth; but when even they intermarried with the corrupted races around the salt lost its savor, there was no seasoning of the universal corruption; (compare Exodus 34:16; Ezra 10:3-19; Nehemiah 13:23-28; Deuteronomy 7:3; 1 Kings 11:1-4;) a flood alone could sweep away the festering mass, out of which one godly seed alone, Noah, was saved. </p> <p> Hence our Lord dwells on the "marrying" in the list of the things lawful, but then unlawfully absorbing men wholly, as characteristic of the age just before the flood, as it shall be of the age when the Son of man shall appear (Luke 17:27). The Hindu tradition of two races, Suras and Asuras, and the Greek legend that the demi-gods were sons of the gods and that the [[Titan]] giants sprang from the union of heaven and earth, flow from the history of Genesis 6 corrupted. Moreover nephilim is applied to the giant in the report of the spies (Numbers 13:33); compare on the [[Anakim]] ("longnecked") about Hebron, Debir, Ahab, and the mountains of [[Judah]] and Israel, Deuteronomy 2:10; Deuteronomy 2:21; Deuteronomy 9:2. (See ANAKIM.) </p> <p> II. Rephaim; a people defeated by [[Chedorlaomer]] at Ashteroth [[Karnaim]] (Genesis 14:5), occupying the N.E. of the [[Jordan]] valley (Peraea) before the [[Canaanites]] came. Og, the giant king of Bashan, was the last of them (Deuteronomy 3:11). They once extended to the S.W., for the valley of "Rephaim" was near the valley of [[Hinnom]] and Bethlehem, S. of Jerusalem, "the valley of the giants" (Joshua 15:8; Joshua 18:16; 2 Samuel 5:18; 2 Samuel 5:22; 2 Samuel 23:13). [[Rephaim]] was used for "the dead," or their "ghosts" (Job 26:5, translated "the souls of the dead tremble; (the places) under the waters, and their inhabitants (tremble)"; Psalms 88:11; Proverbs 2:18; Proverbs 21:16; Isaiah 14:9; Isaiah 26:14; Isaiah 26:19) perhaps because scheol or hades was thought the abode of the buried giants. </p> <p> [[Raphah]] "the weak," or "resolved into their first elements," expresses the state of the deceased. Whether it has any connection with the tribe Rephaim is doubtful. Possibly "tall" was the primary sense (Gesenius); then the tall national Rephaim; then giants in guilt, as in might; these being doomed to gehenna , the term became the general one for "ghosts." Or else from ghosts being magnified by fear to more than human size. EMIM "terrors"; so-called from their terrible stature by the Moabites, who succeeded them in the region E. of Jordan (Deuteronomy 2:10). Or rather the word equates to the [[Egyptian]] term Αmu , i.e. nomadic Shemites. [[Smitten]] by Chedorlaomer at Shaver [[Kiriathaim]] (Genesis 14:5). (See ANAKIM also.) </p> <p> The ZUZIM of [[Ham]] were a northern tribe of Rephaim between the [[Arnon]] and Jabbok, smitten by Chedorlaomer. The [[Ammonites]] who supplanted them called them [[Zamzummim]] (Deuteronomy 2:20; Genesis 14:5). Connected with the Horim. LeClerc explains the name "wanderers" from zuz "to wander." Ham may be the original of [[Rabbath]] Ammon. The ruined cities of [[Bashan]] are thought by many to evidence their possession formerly by giant races. The success of David and his heroes against [[Goliath]] and the giants of [[Philistia]] (a remnant of the old giant races) illustrates the divine principle that physical might and size are nothing worth, nay are but beaststrength, when severed from God and arrayed against the people of God. [[Samson]] was but of average height (Judges 16:17), yet was irresistible by the [[Philistines]] so long as he was faithful to God. David was chosen above his brothers in spite of their "height of stature" (1 Samuel 16:7; 1 Samuel 17:36-37; 1 Samuel 17:45-47; 2 Samuel 21:15-22). </p>

<p> Old [[Testament]] The earliest biblical reference to giants is to the <i> nephilim </i> born to the “daughters of men” and the “sons of God” ( Genesis 6:1-4 ). Interpreters differ on the origin of these giants. Some understand the “sons of God” to be angelic beings who intermarried with human women (see Jude 1:6 ). Others view them as descendants of [[Seth]] who intermarried with the ungodly. Later descendants of the <i> nephilim </i> were called “the sons of Anak” ( Numbers 13:33 ) or <i> Anakim </i> ( Deuteronomy 2:11; Deuteronomy 9:2 ). They inhabited the land of [[Canaan]] prior to Israel's conquest. Egyptian records testify to their presence as early as 2000 B.C. [[Similar]] races of giants had also inhabited [[Moab]] (Deuteronomy 2:9-10 ) and [[Ammon]] (Deuteronomy 2:19-20 ). </p> <p> A second class of giants who inhabited pre-Israelite [[Palestine]] was the rephaim. Their last survivor was Og, king of Bashan (Deuteronomy 3:11 ,Deuteronomy 3:11,3:13 ). A valley near [[Jerusalem]] (Joshua 15:8; Joshua 18:16 ) and part of the wooded country in the tribal territory of [[Ephraim]] (Joshua 17:15 ) retained their name. </p> <p> The Old Testament also records cases of individual giants. The well-known Goliath (1 Samuel 17:1 ) was a [[Philistine]] champion. A family of giants from [[Gath]] were among the Philistine enemies slain by David and his followers (2 Samuel 21:16-22; 1 Chronicles 20:4-8 ). </p> <p> [[Michael]] Fink </p>

<p> Earth-born. It is supposed by many that the first men were of a size and strength superior to those of mankind at present, since a long life is usually associated with a well-developed and vigorous frame. We know also that there were giants and families of giants, even after the average length of human life was greatly abridged. These, however, appear to have been exceptions; and if we judge from the mummies of Egypt, and from the armor and implements of the earliest antiquity, found in ancient tombs, in bogs, and in buried cities, we should conclude that mankind never exceeded, in the average, their present stature. There were, however, giants before the flood, Genesis 6:4; fruits of the union of different families, and extraordinary in stature, power, and crime. After the flood, mention is made of a race called Rephaim, Genesis 14:5 Joshua 17:15; kindred with whom were the Emim, early occupants of the land of Moab, and the Zamzummim in Ammon, Deuteronomy 2:10,20 . [[Og]] was one of the last of this race, Deuteronomy 3:11,13 . West of the [[Dead]] Sea, around [[Hebron]] and Philistia, lived the Anakim, whose aspect so terrified the Hebrew spies, Numbers 13:33 Joshua 11:21,22 . Of this race were Goliath and his kindred, 1 Samuel 17:4 1 Chronicles 20:4-8 . See ANAKIM, [[Goliath]] , and [[Rephaim]] . </p>

<li> 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; 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 Samuel 23:8 ). The sons born of the marriages mentioned in Genesis 6:4 are also called by this Hebrew name. <div> <p> Copyright StatementThese dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated [[Bible]] Dictionary, Third Edition, published by [[Thomas]] Nelson, 1897. Public Domain. </p> <p> Bibliography InformationEaston, Matthew George. Entry for 'Giants'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/g/giants.html. 1897. </p> </div> </li>

<p> GIANT, GIANTS </p> <p> The [[Scripture]] speaks of such characters in the old world, Genesis 6:4. And in the days of the church going though the wilderness, the king of Bashan, which opposed Israel, is described as having a bedstead of iron of nine cubits long, and four wide; so that the length was fifteen feet and four inches. And yet of later times, even in our own days, Mr. O'Brien, the Irish giant so called, was said to have been nine feet high. (See 2 Samuel 21:16-22) The term for giant in Hebrew is very singular; it is Nophel: meaning, a monster. </p>

<p> ''''' jı̄´ants ''''' The word appears in the King James Version as the translation of the Hebrew words נפילים , <i> ''''' nephı̄lı̄m ''''' </i> ( Genesis 6:4; Numbers 13:33 ); רפאים , <i> '''''rephā'ı̄m''''' </i> (Deuteronomy 2:11 , Deuteronomy 2:20; Deuteronomy 3:11 , Deuteronomy 3:13; Joshua 12:4 , etc.); רפא , <i> '''''rāphā'''''' </i> (1 Chronicles 20:4 , 1 Chronicles 20:6 , 1 Chronicles 20:8 ), or רפה , <i> '''''rāphāh''''' </i> (2 Samuel 21:16 , 2 Samuel 21:18 , 2 Samuel 21:20 , 2 Samuel 21:22 ); in one instance of גּבּור , <i> '''''gibbōr''''' </i> , literally, "mighty one" (Job 16:14 ). </p> <p> In the first two cases the Revised Version (British and American) changes "giants" into the Hebrew words "Nephilim," <i> ''''' nephı̄lı̄m ''''' </i> , and "Rephaim," <i> ''''' rephā'ı̄m ''''' </i> , 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 Sam 21 and 1 Chronicles 20:1-8 . See also [[Antediluvians]] . </p>