101 Myths of the Bible Chapter 96 SAMPLE CHAPTER: 96. David killed Goliath. (NOTE: The following material is a draft of a chapter from 101 Myths of the Bible and may vary slightly from the published version.) The Myth: And the Philistine [i.e., Goliath] came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him. And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field. Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lords, and he will give you into our hands. And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.

Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled. (1 Sam. 17:41-51.) The Reality: The real killer of Goliath was Elhanan, who belonged to The Thirty, King Davids elite fighting cadre. The story of how young David armed with only a slingshot and stones defeated a well-armored giant Philistine warrior named Goliath has become one of the most famous tales in all the bible. The slain enemys name has become a synonym for huge and the phrase David and Goliath has become a literary cliché for a confrontation between opponents of unequal strength. Unfortunately, David didnt kill Goliath, and he wasnt a youth when Goliath died. According to the King James translation of 2 Sam.

21:19, And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weavers beam. Although this translation says Elhanan slew the brother of Goliath, the words the brother of do not appear in the Hebrew text. The actual wording of the passage says that Elhanan slew Goliath, not his brother. The addition of these words in the English translation came about for two reasons. One, the translators didnt want to contradict the earlier story attributing the act to David, especially since David is so dramatically linked to Christ in Christian tradition. (Christs credentials as Messiah, according to biblical prophesies, depend upon his descent from David.) Two, the author of 1 Chr.

20:5, written centuries after the verse in 2 Sam 21:17 and faced with the same contradiction, wrote, Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff was like a weavers beam. The English translators, relying on 1 Chr. 20:5, inserted the words the brother of into 2 Sam. 21:19. Several clues indicate that later redactors gave David credit for what had originally been attributed to Elhanan. In the version crediting David, after Goliath is slain, Saul says, Whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell. And the king said, Inquire thou whose son the stripling is. (1 Sam. 17:55.) If David were the killer, Saul would have known who he was because David was already a favorite in the royal court. And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armourbearer.

And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me; for he hath found favour in my sight. (1 Sam. 16:21-22.) If David found favor in Sauls sight, how could Saul not know whom he had just sent out to fight with Goliath? After David killed Goliath, the text says that he brought the head to Jerusalem, but during Sauls reign Jerusalem was in the hands of the Jebusites. It didnt come into Israelite hands, according to the bible, until after David became king. This suggests that in the original story David was already king when Goliath died. Coincidentally, in the version crediting Elhanan with killing Goliath, David is already king, and Elhanan is a member of David elite fighting group known as The Thirty. The Elhanan version also retains some of the original mythical flavor of the contest. It is one of a sequence of four short stories about individual members of The Thirty killing four different giants.

Interestingly, in the introductory verse to these four stories about Elhanan and the others, we are told that David waxed faint, had grown tired. Although Elhanans father is called Jaareoregim in the verses about Elhanans victory over Goliath, the listing of the members of Davids Thirty calls the father Dodo. Since the other three giant killers also belong to The Thirty, this is the clearly same Elhanan. The connection between Elhanan and Dodo may have been the inspiration for crediting David with Elhanans triumph. In Hebrew, the name Dodo is spelled DWDW and David is spelled DWD. The two names are virtually identical and stem from the same root, meaning beloved. Dodo and David are also both called Bethlehemites, adding another reason why there may have been confusion over the killers identity. Another indication that the pro-David version of the story borrowed from the Elhanan source comes from the contextual appearance of Goliaths name. Throughout the David story, the name Goliath only appears twice.

The several other references to this warrior simply describe him as the Philistine or the Philistine of Gath. The manner in which Goliaths name appears suggests that it was a later insert into the story. For example, in 1 Sam. 17:23, the text reads, And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and David heard them. Since the bible had already given Goliaths name earlier in the story and had already described his great prowess, the phrase Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name the addition of the words by name sounds artificial. Originally, the slaying of Goliath was one of a collection of tales in which many heroes slew giants. Elhanan was one of these valiant warriors as were other members of The Thirty, many of whom were credited with such victories. The Thirty itself may have been a mythical group much like Arthurs Knights of the Round Table.

As David became the greatest hero of the Judaean court and Judaeans were eager to believe their founding king capable of great deeds, his substitution for one of the other giant killers took no great suspension of credibility. GIANTS OF THE BIBLE GIANTS OF THE BIBLE GIANTS ji'-ants The word appears in the King James Version as the translation of the Hebrew words nephilim ( Gen 6:4; Num 13:33 Deut 2:11,20; 3:11,13; Jos 12:4 , etc.); rapha' ( 2Sam 21:16, 18, 20, 22 ); in one instance of gibbor, literally, "mighty one" ( Job 16:14 ). In the first two cases the Revised Version (British and American) changes "giants" into the Hebrew words "Nephilim," nephilim, and "Rephaim," repha'im, respectively.

The "Nephilim of Gen 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; Num 13:33 . The same is true of the "Rephaim," as shown by the instance of Og ( Deut 3:11; Jos 12:4 ). There is no doubt about the meaning of the word in the ease of the giants mentioned in 2Sam 21 . When did Giants live? Anthropologists have found evidence of humanoid giants existing into the far distant past, over 1 million years ago (see Gigantopithecus). Since then it is possible that numerous civilizations, troupes and tribes of human and human-like giants lived and perished across planet earth.

Those mentioned in the Bible, Nephilim, Emim and Anakim, may have been a tiny element of a once expansive human giant civilization, especially before the Great Flood of the Bible, and other sources. Giants (1.) Heb. nephilim , meaning "violent" or "causing to fall" ( Gen 6:4 ). These were the violent tyrants of those days, those who fell upon others. The word may also be derived from a root signifying "wonder," and hence "monsters" or "prodigies." In Num 13:33 this name is given to a Canaanitish tribe, a race of large stature, "the sons of Anak." The Revised Version, in these passages, simply transliterates the original, and reads "Nephilim." (2.) Heb. rephaim , a race of giants ( Deu 3:11 ) who lived on the east of Jordan, from whom was descended. They were probably the original inhabitants of the land before the immigration of the Canaanites.

They were conquered by Chedorlaomer ( Gen 14:5 ), and their territories were promised as a possession to Abraham ( Gen 15:20 ). The Anakim, Zuzim, and Emim were branches of this stock. In Job 26:5 (R.V., "they that are deceased;" marg., "the shades," the "Rephaim") and Isa 14:9 this Hebrew word is rendered (A.V.) "dead." It means here "the shades," the departed spirits in Sheol. In Sam2 21:16 , Sam2 21:18 , Sam2 21:20 , 33, "the giant" is (A.V.) the rendering of the singular form ha raphah, which may possibly be the name of the father of the four giants referred to here, or of the founder of the Rephaim.

The Vulgate here reads "Arapha," whence Milton (in Samson Agonistes) has borrowed the name "Harapha." (See also Ch1 20:5 , Ch1 20:6 , Ch1 20:8 ; Deu 2:11 , Deu 2:20 ; Deu 3:13 ; Jos 15:8 , etc., where the word is similarly rendered "giant.") It is rendered "dead" in (A.V.) Psa 88:10 ; Pro 2:18 ; Pro 9:18 ; Pro 21:16 : in all these places the Revised Version marg. has "the shades." (See also Isa 26:14 .) (3.) Heb.

'Anakim ( Deu 2:10 , Deu 2:11 , Deu 2:21 ; Jos 11:21 , Jos 11:22 ; Jos 14:12 , Jos 14:15 ; called "sons of Anak," Num 13:33 ; "children of Anak," Num 13:22 ; Jos 15:14 ), a nomad race of giants descended from Arba ( Jos 14:15 ), the father of Anak, that dwelt in the south of Palestine near Hebron ( Gen 23:2 ; Jos 15:13 ). They were a Cushite tribe of the same race as the Philistines and the Egyptian shepherd kings. David on several occasions encountered them ( Sam2 21:15 ). From this race sprung Goliath ( Sa1 17:4 ). (4.) Heb. 'emin , a warlike tribe of the ancient Canaanites.

They were "great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims" ( Gen 14:5 ; Deu 2:10 , Deu 2:11 ). (5.) Heb. Zamzummim (q.v.), Deu 2:20 so called by the Amorites. (6.) 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 Sam. 23:8-39; Kg1 1:8 ; 1 Chr. 11:9-47; Ch1 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 captains 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" ( Sam2 23:8 ).

The sons born of the marriages mentioned in Gen 6:4 are also called by this Hebrew name. Rephaim, or Giants: f ï¿½ m) ( KEY ) , in the Bible. 1 Pre-Israelite race of giants. They were also referred to simply as ï¿½giants.ï¿½ Rephaim - from the root rapha = spirits, shades Gen. 14:5 Anakim - race of giants Num. 13:33 descendents of Nephilim Emim - the proud deserters, terrors, race of giants Gen. 14:5 Zuzim- the evil ones, roaming things Gen. 14:5 Zamzummims - the evil plotters, Deut. 2:20 Zophim - watchers, angels who descended Num. 23 Sepherim - the many. Nephilim - According to Micah 3 , God used the Nephilim Giants to punish Israel. They are hidden but will soon return during the "Tribulation" to lead the nations against Israel. This will be the taller ones.

The "Gold Museum" of Peru has displays of Giant skulls and mummies who were evidently Royalty, according to the clothing and artifacts they had with them. Glenn Kimball reports: GLENNï¿½S EXPERIENCE WITH THE GIANTS Glenn photographed the mummies of two of these giant men in Lima Peru in 1969. These giants are still in the gold museum in Lima Peru today and can be seen by anyone who visits. They were mummified because their golden robes are prominently on display. Their crowns could fit around Glennï¿½s waist. Their golden gloves have fingers ten inches long. Their mummies can be measured with a tape and they were both around nine and a half feet tall. There were other personal items fit for a giant king, that wouldnï¿½t have been useful to a man of normal size. The actual bodies are there incased in glass for all to see. The news media has never photographed anyone nine and a half feet tall. These were not mutations. A mutation is something that happens once in a ï¿½blue moonï¿½. There were two giants in Peru side by side from successive generations.

What makes the story even stranger is that the average height of the Peruvians, both now and historically, is well under six feet high. This isnï¿½t the only time Giants were mentioned by prominent people who visited South America. Don Cieza de Leon and Agustin de Zarate published texts on South American Giants in 1553 AD and 1555 respectively. These books came just after the arrival of the conquistadores and were published within twenty years of Pizarro. They said that the native traditions told the incoming Spanish that the giants came to the Americas on raft-like boats. Some of these men were so tall that from the knee down they were as big as a man. Their eyes were the size of plates. Some were clad in skins and others were mostly naked. They said that there were no women on these boats, which was strange indeed. These giants dug deep wells for water that still exist today through solid rock. Cieza de Leon said that when Don Antonio de Mendoza went to Cuzco Peru in 1560 that he found tombs with extremely large bones, similar to the ones that were already found in Mexico City at the time of Montezuma.

Padre Acosta found similar large bones in 1560 in Manta Peru where they later found similar bones in 1928 when constructing the railroad to Ecuador. They were hidden behind stalagmites in caves. When Diego de Ordaz climbed to the high volcano of Popocatepetl, near Mexico City, according to Las Casas, he found a giant thigh bone that he sent to the Vatican. When Cortez invaded Mexico his men found living giants in this region and reported them. In their written testimonies they tore a few ribs from the dead bodies of these giants and brought them back to Spain with them. In the summer of 1931 Monsignor F. Lunadi organized an expedition into the jungles of San Agustin. He found traces of a very ancient South American empire known to the old British buccaneers of the seventeenth century. These men were giants who had knowledge of electricity which they used in various forms. This race of ancient white giant men with beards was called the Viracochas. Pedro Cieza de Leon said that they came long before the Incas began to reign.

The Indians also called these white men Titicaca, like Lake Titicaca today located high in the mountains between Bolivia and Peru. Glenn Lived in Juliaca Peru on the sores of Lake Titicaca, very close to the ancient city of Tiauanacu where there are huge statues to the giants with six fingers and toes to this day. On the door to the sun, the main entrance to their temple, is carved the image of Viracoca, the creator of not only their civilization, but the white bearded God who created the whole world. This temple has many similarities to the Masonic temples of our day. At the ruins of Pachacamac where US and British archeologists and the Carnegie Institution are working today, the giants are mentioned. It is said that they built large beautiful temples with iron tools around 500 BC. The tradition has it that these giant men had no women in their group and were later consumed in fire from heaven. It is interesting that the stories of these giants quasi-parallels the story of the Watchers married the Daughters of Eve. The daughters of Eve bore the watchers giant children, but nothing is mentioned that these giants themselves had children.

The stories of the Giants often ends in a single generation, though the Giants lived a very long time. These giants were granted a state of quasi-unprotected immortality by deity. They could be killed, but did live long periods of time if they werenï¿½t deliberately killed and for the most part couldnï¿½t bare children. According to Hesiod these ï¿½Watchersï¿½, one of the parents of the giants, were men from the four former epochs of human existence prior to the coming of Adam and Eve. Adam wasnï¿½t the first man on the earth. He was the patriarch of the final epoch of time. How else could their have already been men of old and men of renown when Adam and Eve had their first children? That is exactly what it says in Genesis chapter six. The four previous epochs of time rose in culture and science, but were exterminated because they violated the laws of the earth and deity. We are headed for a similar cataclysm in our day because of our rejection of deity. A human remnant of the four epochs survived because of their valiant nature and those people, numbering in the thousands, were called the ï¿½Watchersï¿½.

Hesiod suggests that this remnant numbered in the thousands. These immortals who survived the cataclysms of the four previous epochs of time were also called angels because they were allowed to pass from the realm of Deity to mortality seamlessly. They were allowed to pass between the heavens and the earth because they were given the assignment by deity to watch over mortals. This is another reason they lived so long and paradoxically the reason they were commanded not to have children. Their job wasnï¿½t to interfere with men unless directly commanded. These Watchers werenï¿½t classic disembodied spirits, as is the case with classic angels. Most of the evidence and history of the Watchers is included in the audio class ï¿½Daniel and the Watchersï¿½. In essence the Watchers were noble-immortal men who have yet to die; a status granted them by deity because of their righteousness. Two hundred some odd of these watchers, because they were still in the flesh, found the daughters of Eve attractive and violated their agreements with deity not to intervene in the lives of men. That is why they are often called ï¿½Fallen Angelsï¿½.

They bore children to mortal women which was against their agreement with God. They were angels because of the status deity gave them and fallen because they violated the agreement. However, not all the watchers violated the agreement with deity and remain men of old and men of renown who come and go at the behest of deity. These are the ones who still appear today during a moment in crisis, effect rescues and give important messages and then are gone. Most of us have either had a first hand encounter with one of them at a moment in crisis, or have heard of the stories from our friends. Daniel met some of them. Moses is said to have translated the book of Jubilees as dictated by one of them. Even Mohammed is said to have been dictated the Quran by one of them. Millions of people have reported a stranger appearing at the moment of crisis and then vanishing without a trace. Others have reported these Watchers coming to them during moments of crisis and giving them critical pieces of advice about subjects they could not have otherwise known. After they left their message they were nowhere to be found. Truly these beings watch over the affairs of men and perform rescues of many kinds, as if they were sent from deity.

The important thing about the giants is that they are children of a small segment of the Watchers and the daughters of Eve. Since one of the parents of the Giants was immortal, these giants often lived a very long time. The North American Indians believed that the first race of human beings were giants. In the autobiography of William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, Cody writes that while camping on the South Platte, a Pawnee Indian came into the camp with what the army surgeon pronounced to be a giant thigh bone of a human being. When Cody asked about where such a bone might have come from, the Indian replied that long ago a race of giants had lived in the area. This race of men had been three times larger than normal men and able to out-run a buffalo and even carry it in one hand. Cody wrote: ï¿½These giants denied the existence of a Great Spirit, so he caused a great rain storm to come, and the water kept rising higher and higher so that it drove these proud, and conceited giants from the low ground to the hills, and thence to the mountains, but at last even the mountain tops were submerged and then those mammoth men were all drowned.

After the flood had subsided, the Great Spirit came to the conclusion that he had made man too large and powerful, and that he would therefore, correct the mistake by creating a race of men of smaller size and less strength. This is the reason, say the Indians, that modern men are small and not like the giants of old, and they claim that this story is a matter of Indian history, which has been handed down among them from time immemorial.ï¿½ The bones that were in the possession of Buffalo Bill were given to the museum, that promptly hid them. They continue to be lost to us today, though many saw them at the time. Brazilian Giants William Turner, the naturalist and dean of Wells (d. 1568), mentions that on the coast of Brazil, near the river Polata, he saw a tribe of very gigantic naked savages, one of whom he estimated to be twelve feet tall. While in Brazil, Knyvet several times saw an Indian who, though still a youth, towered to a height of thirteen spans. Since thirteen spans equals nine feet, nine inches, this would have made the giant about the same size as Goliath.

Chile's Giants Reaveneau de Lussan reported contact with natives of Chile that were of enormous bulk and stature. Frezier also relates that natives of the coast of Chile told him that some of the Indians living inland stood nine feet high. Captain George Shelvock, on his voyage in 1719 to the Island of Chiloe off the coast of Chile, saw Indians which stood nine to ten feet high. Cocopa Giants Soon after Maldonado discovered the Seri giants, Captain Melchior Diaz came across another tribe of huge Indians while searching farther up the coast for the ships carrying supplies for Coronado's 1540 expedition. Pedro de Castaneda reported that, ï¿½After going about 150 leagues, they came to a province of exceedingly tall and strong men-like giants.ï¿½ Evidently, these were the Cocopa, a Yuman tribe who also inhabited the lower Rio Colorado, which the Indians called Rio del Tison.

MAGELLAN Antonio Francesco Pigafetta, chronicler of Magellan's circumnavigation of the world: ï¿½We had been two whole months in this harbor without sighting anyone when one day (quite without warning) we saw on the shore a huge giant, who was naked, and who danced, leaped and sang, all the while throwing sand and dust on his head. Our Captain ordered one of the crew to walk towards him, telling this man also to dance, leap and sing as a sign of friendship. This he did, and led the giant to a place by the shore where the Captain was waiting. And when the giant saw us, he marveled and was afraid, and pointed to the sky, believing we came from heaven. He was so tall that even the largest of us came only to midway between his waist and his shoulder; 621 yet with all he was well proportioned. He had a large face, painted round with red; his eyes were ringed with yellow and in the middle of his cheeks were painted two hearts.

He had hardly any hair on his head, what little he had being painted white....ï¿½ Rupert Gould said in his book Enigmas in 1945, included another quote about Magellanï¿½s voyage and added, This man was so tall that our heads scarcely came up to his waist, and his voice was like that of a bull. Many of the other natives in this region were also very tall; this would lead to the naming of those in the region the "Patagonian Giants", Patagonian meaning "people of the long feet." P. Joseph Tarrubia wrote in his Gianthologia, published in Madrid in 1761, that some utensils found in South America were of such enormous size that they could only have been used by giants. He also noted that several Spanish settlers told of having seen monstrous men, ranging from nine to ten feet in height, when they sometimes strayed from their wild retreats verging toward the Straits of Magellan.

Tarrubia further related that: ï¿½ï¿½the South Americans had a body of soldiers, consisting of about four hundred men, the shortest of whom was not shorter than nine feet and the tallest about eleven feet.ï¿½ Twenty years before Magellan came, Amerigo Vespucci and some fellow sailors sighted several giants off the coast of Venezuela. Amerigo, for whom approximately one-third of the world was later named, recounted this experience: ï¿½Thus sailing along, we came upon an island [Curasao] which was situated fifteen leagues from the mainland. At our arrival, since we saw no people and the island looked favorable to us, we decided to explore it, and eleven of us landed. We discovered a trail and set ourselves to walk on it two leagues and a half inland; we met with a village of twelve houses in which we did not find anyone except seven women. They were of such great stature that there was not one of them who was not taller than every one of us by a span and a half [about 19 inches]. When they saw us they were very much afraid of us.

The chief one of them, who was certainly a discreet woman, by signs hauled us up to a house and made them give us refreshments. When we saw such noble women, we determined to carry off two of them, who were young women fifteen years of age, and make a present of them to the king. They were creatures whose stature was certainly above that of average men. While we were thus plotting, thirty-six men arrived, who entered the house where we were drinking, and they were of such lofty stature that each of them was taller when upon his knees than I was when standing erect. They were of the stature of giants in their great size and in the proportion of their bodies, which corresponded with their height. When the men entered, some of our fellows were so frightened that at the moment they thought they were done for. The warriors had bows and arrows and tremendous oar blades, finished off like swords. When they saw our small stature, they began to converse with us to learn who we were and whence we came. We gave them soft words for the sake of amity and replied to them in sign language that we were men of peace and that we were out to see the world.

In fact, we judged it wise to part from them without controversy, and so we went by the same trail by which we had come. They stuck with us all the way to the sea and until we embarked. GIANTS ALL OVER THE PLACE AND RIGHT UNDER OUR NOSE Critics have long suggested that the stories from South America are just too incredible to be true. They have openly asked why there arenï¿½t stories of giants in the North America. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Again we are people who run from subjects that donï¿½t neatly conform to what we believe. The stories of the giants are located in every state in the union and are beyond the scope of a single class. However, to illustrate this point we choose Ohio. The History of Marion County, Ohio (1883) A picture of a skull from 1996, taken by J.C. Chatters of Kennewick Man, Washington State is that of a giant. Giants were also found when removing the gravel bluffs for the construction and repairs of roads. The History of Brown County, Ohio (1883) Mastodonic remains are occasionally unearthed and from time to time; discoveries of the remains of Indian settlements.

Among the ruins are gigantic skeletons with high cheek bones, powerful jaws and massive frames peculiar to the Red man. Now and Long Ago: A History of the Marion County Ohio Area Satterfield, a justice of the peace, said that three giant skeletons were found at the mouth of the Paw Paw Creek. Jim Dean and others found the bones while digging a bridge foundation. She said it was Dr. Kidwell, of Fairmont, who examined them and said they were very old, perhaps thousands of years old. She said that when the skeletons were exposed to the weather for a few days, their bones turned black and began to crumble. All these skeletons, she said, were measured and found to be about eight feet long. MORE HISTORICAL INFORMATION AT: There Were Giants in the Earth in Those Days And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

There 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: 1-4 (KJV) The phrase 'and also afterwards' is a later addition in an attempt to harmonize the Genesis account with the book of Numbers and Samuel, for reasons which will become obvious. These giants appear to be an ancient Hebrew equivalent to the Greek myth of Hercules or Cyclops. Shortly thereafter everyone on earth, including all the giants, called Nephilim, perish in the flood, with the exception of Noah and his family. "And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, birds, cattle, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm upon the earth, and every man; everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth.

Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark." (Genesis Chapter 7 verse 21) Since Noah was of a stock of smaller people, most of his descendants were of his stature. However, some of the genes to produce giants survived through the wife of Ham, one of Noah's sons. Therefore, a number of the sons of Canaan (one of Ham's sons) were giants ( Numbers 13:1-2 , 32-33). In Deuteronomy 2:19-21 , Moses records that God destroyed the giants who dwelt in Ammon so that the children of Lot could possess the land. Those giantsï¿½who apparently descended from Canaan through a man named Anakï¿½eventually became extinct. King Og of Bashan was the last of them to inhabit Palestine east of Jordan ( Deuteronomy 3:11 ).

Subdued by Chedorlaomer ( Joshua 17:15 ) (Said to Joseph) 15 "If you are so numerous," Joshua answered, "and if the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go up into the forest and clear land for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaites." Jos.18:16 "The valley of the son of Hinnom, and which is in the valley of the giants." 16 The boundary went down to the foot of the hill facing the Valley of Ben Hinnom, north of the Valley of Rephaim. It continued down the Hinnom Valley along the southern slope of the Jebusite city and so to En Rogel. It will be as when a reaper gathers the standing grain and harvests the grain with his arm- as when a man gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim. David & Goliath: 1 Sam.17:4 "Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span....." 4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp.

He was over nine feet [ 1 ] tall. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels [ 2 ] ; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. [ 3 ] His shield bearer went ahead of him. The last of, destroyed by David and his warriors ( 1 Samuel 17:4,49,50; 2 Samuel 21:15-22 ) 48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. 50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

"And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span [i.e. about 9 feet / 3 meters]. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels [i.e. about 125 pounds / 57 kilograms] of bronze. And he had greaves of bronze upon his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. And the shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels [i.e. about 15 pounds / 7 kilograms] of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him." (1 Samuel 17:4-7 RSV) (see David And Goliath ) The biblical giant Goliath of Gath (or "the Gittite"), whom the teenage David killed with a sling stone (I Samuel 17).

Goliath's brother and sons were also men of great stature, and the Bible explicitly mentions that David and his men killed them all ( II Samuel 21:15-22 ; I Chronicles 20:4-8 ). Both before and after the Flood, God was directly involved in the destruction of those giant men. The reason for their destruction is not stated directly, but like Goliath, those men seemed always to be in opposition to God and to His people Israel. David obtained victories over the Philistines in 18 Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim; 19 so David inquired of the LORD , "Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?" The LORD answered him, "Go, for I will surely hand the Philistines over to you." 20 So David went to Baal Perazim, and there he defeated them. He said, "As waters break out, the LORD has broken out against my enemies before me." So that place was called Baal Perazim.

[ 4 ] 21 The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his men carried them off. 22 Once more the Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim; 23 so David inquired of the LORD , and he answered, "Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the balsam trees. 24 As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move quickly, because that will mean the LORD has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army." 25 So David did as the LORD commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon [ 5 ] to Gezer. Nephilim Although their origin has been interpreted various ways, the Nephilim existed very early in human history. Independent Egyptian records of about 2000 BC also record their existence. "The Nephilim were 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.

These were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown." (Genesis 6:4 RSV) "ï¿½And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim); and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.' Then all the congregation raised a loud cry; and the people wept that night." (Numbers Chapter 13 verse 33) SEE: NEPHILIM Rephaim The Rephaim occupied the land prior to the Canaanites, but were eventually defeated. The Anakim, Zuzim, and Emim people were related. "The Emim formerly lived there, a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim." (Deuteronomy 2:10 RSV) Dt.2:10-11 "The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; Which also were accounted giants." Dt.2:20-21 "That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time....

A people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed them." "For only Og the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits [i.e. about 13 feet / 4 meters] was its length, and four cubits its breadth, according to the common cubit." (Deuteronomy 3:11 RSV) 1 Chr.11:23 "And he slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits high." Chronicles 11 22 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, who performed great exploits. He struck down two of Moab's best men. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. 23 And he struck down an Egyptian who was seven and a half feet [ 1 ] tall. Although the Egyptian had a spear like a weaver's rod in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club.

He snatched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear.

Question: In the Bible, Goliath was a member of what group?
Answer: Philistines