"...prove all things; hold fast to that which is good..." 1TH 5:21
Old Testament Giants And How They Originated
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Many nations of giants are recorded in Scripture as existing in Old Testament times, both before and after Noah's flood. In fact, it was the giants of Noah's day that precipitated the flood (GP Gen 6:4). In those days refers to Old Testament times leading up to Noah's flood. And also after that to the times succeeding the flood. We will come back to the origins of the giants and the cause of the flood shortly, but first we will look at some of the nations in Scripture in which giants were predominant, as well as a couple of the giants themselves (CP Gen 12:1, 6-7; 13:7).
In Abraham's day giants occupied Canaan - present-day Palestine - the Promised Land which God gave to Abraham and his descendants - the present-day Jews- for a possession forever. But before the land could be possessed, the giants had to be conquered and killed (CP Gen 13:14-18; 15:18-21 with 14:5-7; Nu 13:17-33). The Canaanites, Perizzites, Zazummims, or Zuzims as they were also called, Emims, Horites, Amelakites, Admonites, Kennites, Kennizites, Kadmonites, Hivites, Hittites, Gergashites and Jebusites, as well as Anakims, the sons of Anak which the twelve spies encountered when they went in to explore the land in Moses' day, were all nations of giants inhabiting the Promised Land. The spies saw themselves as grasshoppers compared to the size of the giants (CP De 1:1-8, 19-38; 2:10-12, 19-24; 9:1-4; Josh 12:4; 13:12-13; 15:8; 17:15-18; 18:16). There are many other nations of giants also named in Scripture, and we will look at a couple more shortly, but now, let us look a bit more closely at the two most notable giants of Scripture.
First, we will look at the most notable - Goliath. Depending upon the real measure of a cubit in the Old Testament, Goliath was between eleven and thirteen feet tall. King David, although only a youth at the time, killed him with one stone from his sling shot and then cut off his head (CP 1Sam 17:4-58). Now, let us look at Og, the Amorite King of Bashan who was conquered and killed by the Israelites under Moses, as commanded by God before they crossed over the River Jordan to possess the Promised Land (CP Nu 21:33-35; De 1:1-8; 3:1-13; 31:1-8). Og was a giant in the true sense of the word; even bigger than Goliath. Again, depending upon the real measure of the cubit of a man in Old Testament times, he was between twelve and fifteen feet tall. He was the last remaining member of his nation of giants in Canaan (CP De 3:11). Og ruled over sixty cities, every inhabitant of which - men, women and children - were killed by the Israelites under Moses, as commanded by God. We will better understand why God commanded these nations to be completely exterminated when we see how the giants came into being in the first place.
It is interesting to note here though before moving on that Goliath's brother was one of the last of the giants in scripture to be killed by David and his men. The very last one to die had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot (CP 2Sam 21:15-22; 1Chr 20:1-8). Thus the nations of giants in the Old Testament were exterminated. After this there is no further mention of them in scripture other than the declaration in the book of Isaiah that they are all dead and buried, never to be resurrected (CP Isa 26:13-14). Dead and deceased in V14 refers to the giants. Dead humans will be resurrected, but not dead giants, which leads us now to how the giants originated in the first place (CP Isa 26:19 with Gen 6:1-8).
The giants were the abnormal offspring of illicit sexual relationships between fallen angels - sons of God - and mortal women descendants of Adam and Eve - daughters of men (CP Gen 6:2, 4). The giants were totally corrupt beings - half human, half fallen angel, which as stated earlier precipitated the flood that utterly destroyed every thing and every one on earth at that time except Noah and his wife and three sons and their wives - a total of eight souls (CP Gen 7:1, 21-23; 8:14-18; 9:1, 7-9, 12-19). Noah and his family were the only ones saved in the flood because they were the only righteous, bodily pure human beings on earth capable of propagating the human race after the flood. Everyone else was an unrighteous, corrupt being (CP Gen 6:9-18). The Hebrew word for perfect in V9 is Tamiym, which is also used in the Old Testament of the animals selected for sacrificial purposes - they were to be pure stock, without spot or blemish (CP CP Ex 12:5; 29:1; Lev 1:3; 3:1, 6; 4:3, 23, 32; 5:15, 18; 6:6; 9:2-3; Nu 19:2; 28:3, 11; 29:8, 17, 26; Eze 43:22-25; 45:18-28). Tamiym in this context does not mean moral perfection, but bodily perfection. Such was Noah - an absolutely pure human being ".... Perfect in his generations....".
That the Sons of God in Gen 6:2 and 4 are fallen angels is confirmed by both Peter and Jude in the New Testament (CP 1Pe 3:18-20 with 2Pe 2:4-5). Peter refers to them as the spirits in prison in 1Pe 3:19, and the angels that sinned in 2Pe 2:4, while Jude describes them as "the angels that kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation .... giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (CP Jude 6-7). Angels cohabiting with mortal women utterly violated God's created order of being and was such a shocking abomination before Him as to necessitate the worldwide judgment of the flood. (See also author's comments on Mt 12:38-40, Eph 4:9, He 9:27, 1Pe 3:18-20(a) and (b), and 2Pe 2:4-6 in his book A Question and Answer Study of the New Testament, and his study Who are the Spirits in Prison? in his book Advanced Studies in the Christian Faith (Volume 1)).
In bringing this study to a close here it should be noted in closing that the extermination of the giants and the Israelites' possession of the Promised Land under Joshua in the Old Testament, underlines the New Testament teaching for Christians that the battle is the Lord's, not theirs. They only have to exercise their faith and act on his word, and they can speak anything conforming to his word, which is every promise of God in Scripture, into being (see author's comments on 2Cor 1:19-20 and all related cross-reference Scriptures and studies referred to herein in his book A Question and Answer Study of the New Testament.
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