Giant

From: Concise Bible Dictionary: G By: George A. Morrish

• 1 min. read • grade level: 8

1. gibbor, “mighty, strong,” as the word is often elsewhere translated (Job 16:14¹⁴He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant. (Job 16:14)).

2. rapha, “a fearful one.” In the plural and with the article it is treated as a proper name, the REPHAIM, or sons of Raphah, a race of giants who lived beyond the Jordan, from whom Og the giant king of Bashan descended. The sons of Raphah were afterward found among the Philistines. At times the term Rephaim applies to any people in Canaan who were of great stature (Deut. 2:11,20¹¹Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims. (Deuteronomy 2:11)
²⁰(That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims; (Deuteronomy 2:20); Deut. 3:11,13¹¹For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man. (Deuteronomy 3:11)
¹³And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants. (Deuteronomy 3:13); Josh. 12:4⁴And the coast of Og king of Bashan, which was of the remnant of the giants, that dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, (Joshua 12:4); Josh. 13:12¹²All the kingdom of Og in Bashan, which reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei, who remained of the remnant of the giants: for these did Moses smite, and cast them out. (Joshua 13:12); Josh. 15:8⁸And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom unto the south side of the Jebusite; the same is Jerusalem: and the border went up to the top of the mountain that lieth before the valley of Hinnom westward, which is at the end of the valley of the giants northward: (Joshua 15:8); Josh. 17:15¹⁵And Joshua answered them, If thou be a great people, then get thee up to the wood country, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, if mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee. (Joshua 17:15); Josh. 18:16¹⁶And the border came down to the end of the mountain that lieth before the valley of the son of Hinnom, and which is in the valley of the giants on the north, and descended to the valley of Hinnom, to the side of Jebusi on the south, and descended to En-rogel, (Joshua 18:16); 1 Chron. 20:4,6,8⁴And it came to pass after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines; at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Sippai, that was of the children of the giant: and they were subdued. (1 Chronicles 20:4)
⁶And yet again there was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand, and six on each foot: and he also was the son of the giant. (1 Chronicles 20:6)
⁸These were born unto the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants. (1 Chronicles 20:8)). The word Rephaim is untranslated in Genesis 14:5⁵And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim, (Genesis 14:5) and Genesis 15:20²⁰And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, (Genesis 15:20).

3. raphah, same as rapha (2 Sam. 21:16-22¹⁶And Ishbi-benob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David. ¹⁷But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succored him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel. ¹⁸And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giant. ¹⁹And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. ²⁰And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant. ²¹And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea the brother of David slew him. ²²These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants. (2 Samuel 21:16‑22)).

4. nephilim. The signification of this word is uncertain: some trace it to a root “to fall,” but then it is not clear whether it signifies “fallen ones,” or “those who fall upon.” They were men of great stature, which made the Israelites consider themselves as grasshoppers in comparison. They are not said (as has been supposed) to be the offspring of the sons of God and the daughters of men: those born of them are described as “mighty men (gibborim) which were of old, men of renown.” The nephilim are merely said to be “in the earth in those days,” and they were also seen by the spies about a thousand years afterward: this is all that is revealed respecting them. The various ancient versions confirm the translation of “giants” (Gen. 6:4⁴There 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. (Genesis 6:4); Num. 13:33³³And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. (Numbers 13:33)).

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