Giant Clans in the Old Testament

Several Old Testament passages refer to “giants” and “races of giants.”

The Nephilim

The first mention of giant clans in the Old Testament appears in Genesis 6:1–4. This passage seems to describe how, prior to the flood, the “sons of God” cohabited with the “daughters of men.” The results of this union were the Nephilim.

Given Genesis 6:4’s use of “sons of God,” a phrase used elsewhere for divine beings, this passage appears to describe the union of divine and human beings and their offspring: the nephilim (giants). This was the predominant view of ancient Judaism and the earliest Christians. It is also presupposed in the New Testament (2 Pet 2:4, Jude 6).

While the sons of God, and their offspring, may have simply been mortals, the term Nephilim also occurs in reference to unusual height elsewhere in the Old Testament (e.g., Num 13:33). In the book of Numbers, 10 of the 12 spies sent out by Moses to survey the promised land came back with disappointing news that the people there are of great height and that the Nephilim—who are also called the sons of Anak—made them feel like mere grasshoppers (Num 13:32–33).

The Anakim, Emim, and Zamzummim (Zuzim)

Near the end of the wilderness wanderings, God instructed Moses to approach the promised land from the east side of the Jordan river (the Transjordan). The giants whom the spies had feared 40 years earlier lived in the Transjordan, but God had providentially eliminated them. If they trusted Him, God would provide for Israel again.

And so we passed by our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, past the road of the Arabah, from Elath and Ezion Geber, and we turned and traveled along the route of the desert of Moab. And Yahweh said to me, ‘You shall not attack Moab, and you shall not engage in war with them, for I will not give you any of his land as a possession; I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.’ (The Emim previously lived in it, a people large, numerous, and tall, like the Anakites. They were reckoned also as Rephaim as the Anakites were; but the Moabites called them Emim. The Horites previously lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from among themselves, as Israel did with respect to the land of their possession that Yahweh gave to them.) … Yahweh spoke to me, saying, ‘You are about to cross over the boundary of Moab today at Ar. When you approach the border of the Ammonites, you shall not harass them, and you shall not get involved in battle with them, for I have not given the land of the Ammonites to you as a possession; because I have given it to the descendants of Lot as a possession. (It is also considered the land of Rephaim; Rephaim lived in it previously, and the Ammonites called them Zamzummim, a people great and numerous and as tall as the Anakites; Yahweh destroyed them from before them, and they dispossessed them and settled in place of them (Deut 2:8–12; 17–21).

This passage indicates that the Emim and the Zamzummim, inhabitants among the Moabites and Ammonites, had populated the Transjordan in the days of Esau, well before the Israelites became slaves in Egypt. The passage describes the Emim as tall as the Anakim (Deut 2:10), counted as Rephaim (Deut 2:11). The term “Rephaim” is also used of the Zamzummim, who were likewise as tall as the Anakim (Deut 2:21).

The Rephaim

The reference to the Rephaim in Deuteronomy 2 is broadly associated with giantism throughout the Old Testament. Deuteronomy introduces other giants: Sihon, king of Heshbon (Deut 2:26–30), and Og, king of Bashan (Deut 3:1), both of whom ruled the Amorites (Deut 3:2, 8). Deuteronomy 3:11, which describes the size of Og’s bed, links him to the Anakim by way of the Rephaim. In addition, Amos 2:9–10 describes the defeat of “the Amorite,” whose “height was like the height of cedars.”

The kingdoms of Sihon and Og were in the region of Bashan and Mount Hermon (Ashtaroth and Edrei; see Deut 1:4; 3:1, 10; Josh 12:1–4; 13:12). This location had a demonic or otherworldly association in the ancient Near East among the Ugarit peoples. A number of ancient Jewish, extabiblical books identify Mount Hermon as the place where the “sons of God” descended to cohabit with human women as described in Genesis 6:1–4. The association of these Rephaim with the Nephilim was therefore well known.

The Rephaim—and the other giant clans of Deuteronomy 2—were also part of the Old Testament in earlier periods: When Abraham went out to battle to save Lot, his opponents had dispatched with several of the clans associated with giantism (see Gen 14:5).

The Philistines

Goliath the Philistine is the most famous giant mentioned in the Bible. Goliath was from Gath (1 Sam 17:23). Joshua 11:21–22 informs us that Gath was one of the places where the Anakim survived after the time of Joshua and Moses. First Chronicles 20:4–6 also may link Goliath to the Rephaim, as the mention of “Rapha” may refer to the Rephaim (1 Chr 20:6).

Giantism in Perspective

Skeletal remains recovered from the biblical period show that the average male height was slightly less than five feet and five inches, with women being slightly shorter. Great height was unusual. The average height in modern times is much taller because of better nutrition, longer life spans, and medical advances. While the traditional Hebrew text of the David and Goliath story has Goliath at six cubits and one span (six foot and six inches tall; 1 Sam 17:4), the Hebrew text followed by the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament) has Goliath at four cubits and one span (six feet and six inches tall). Since the Dead Sea Scrolls’ text of 1 Samuel also reads “four,” Goliath was likely six feet and six inches tall. But Goliath and his fellow giants would have still been enormous compared to the average height of a man in the biblical period.

Michael S. Heiser

Further Reading

Genesis 6 and the Sons of God

The Term “Nephilim”

Bashan and the Gates of Hell

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