DID THE GIANTS IN THE BIBLE REALLY EXIST? PART III SCRIPTURE

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I WILL POST A LINK ON THIS SITE SO IF YOU FORGET, YOU CAN STILL GET TO MY NEW BLOG SITE FROM HERE!

Hello all my friends!

It is a cold wintery day here in the northern hemisphere in the mountains! I have a fire blazing in our little pot belly stove and it is doing its best to beat back the cold. If I had a bigger fire place, it would heat up my place quickly and keep it heated! But I have to keep going back and adding more wood to this little stove.

And that is what we are going to do…continue to look into the history of giant humans. So far we have covered archeological skeletons and legends. Now, let’s take a look at what scripture says (remember we have learned we must go back to scripture for everything).

The bible actually describes giants in two ways; large individuals and several people groups of large size. Genesis 14 has the earliest reference to giants in the bible. “In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him came and attacked the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, and the Horites in their mountain of Seir . . . . Then they turned back and came to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and attacked all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who dwelt in Hazezon Tamar (Genesis 14:5–7, emphasis added).”¹ Though this sentence does not state that the Rephaim, Zuzim, Emim, or Amorites were giants, that can be found in other places in the bible: the Rephaim-Deuteronomy 3:11 and 2 Samuel 21:16, 18, 20, 13; the Zuzim-Deuteronomy 2:20–21; the Emin-Deuteronomy 2:10–11; and the Amorites -Amos 2:9–10.

Let’s take a closer look. In scripture, the common Hebrew terminology for describing giants is rephaim, along with its singular form raphah. Both can refer to a group of people, an individual, or just mean giants.

            For example, Deuteronomy 3:11 speaks of a king named Og of Bashan, the only survivor of rephaim (giants). He had a bedstead made of iron (bedsteads in those days were made of wood), nine cubits long and four wide. The standard cubit at that time was about eighteen inches long. Which would make Og’s bed about thirteen feet five inches long and six feet wide. Even if he didn’t stretch the entire length of the bed (as is typical even today to have one or two feet of extra room), a person who stood eleven and a half feet could easily qualify as a giant.

            Genesis 19:37 tells us that “Moses told the people that the Emim used to live in the territory that God had given to the descendants of Lot’s son Moab. Deuteronomy 2 reveals that the Emim, which likely means ‘terrors,’ were giants: ‘The Emim had dwelt there in times past, a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. They were also regarded as giants [Hebrew rephaim], like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim’ (Deuteronomy 2:10–11).”²

            Also Deuteronomy 2:20–21 says “[The land of Ammon] was also regarded as a land of giants [Hebrew rephaim]; giants [rephaim] formerly dwelt there. But the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. But the Lord destroyed them before them, and they dispossessed them and dwelt in their place.”

            Another mention of giants in the nephilim first mention in Genesis 6:4; “There were giants [nephilim] on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”

            The nephilim are mentioned againg in Numbers 13:32-33; NASB “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” 
 
            And of course the most famous giant, goliath in written about in 1 Samuel 17:4–7. “And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him.” Six cubits and a span would be about nine feet nine inches.

            Giants are mentioned in other places in the bible as well. So the question is…why would the bible speak of so many giants? By putting our faith and trust in scripture, God’s written word, the answer is easy. Because in those days, there were giants.

            We can stand alone on scripture and know that giants once existed on earth. But we have more. Legends testify to this truth as do human remains and, as we will see next week…so do fascinating artifacts.

            Until then, God bless and take care!
           Willow Dressel

PS Ron can you please resend that link?

This week in the night skies:  Saturday, February 2 “Your latitude makes a big difference in how the constellations appear. (Your longitude does not.) For instance, if you're as far north as 46° — roughly Portland, Minneapolis, Montreal, central France ° bright Capella passes straight through your zenith sometime around 8 or 9 p.m. If you're as far south as 21° N — roughly Guadalajara, Cuba, the mid-Sahara, Kolkata — Jupiter currently crosses straight overhead in the evening. Wherever you are, they now pass closest to your zenith exactly one hour apart, with Jupiter going first.”

References:

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v7/n1/ot-giants

^1,2 http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v7/n1/ot-giants

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance