Did Giants, Descendants of Anak, Actually Exist?

Height can be relative. After all, at 5'10" I tower over most girls my age but shrink in comparison to most guys my age. We've probably heard that height varied throughout history (and Napoleon was probably not as short as some historians made him out to be). So what about the giants, descendants of Anak, in the Bible. Did the Bible simply exaggerate their size? Or did people who grew past the height of 10 feet roam the earth, such as Goliath?

Let's explore the descendants of Anak today, where they show up in the Bible, and whether the rumors were actually true about their size.

Who Were the Descendants of Anak?

To answer this question, we have to first take a look at their predecessors, the Nephilim, who existed before the Flood (Genesis 6). Let's take a look at what Scripture says about Nephilim.

Genesis 6:4: "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."

Taken from the KJV, the passage above gives us a clue that people, prior to the Flood, grew to an enormous size, especially when mating with fallen angels. At least, the passage seems to indicate this. We have to understand that the subject of the Nephilim is under extreme debate within the biblical scholar community. Not everyone believes that literal giants roamed the earth in the antediluvian period.

Numbers 13:33: "'And 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."

This message, delivered by the 12 spies who scoped out the Promised Land, seemed to indicate that descendants of these Nephilim existed after the Flood. Granted, they had exaggerated because they feared they couldn't win against those in the Promised Land. But with how we find Goliath described, later on, there seems to be some hereditary giantism happening in Scripture.

Were the Descendants of Anak Truly Giants?

In addition to the passages above, which seem to indicate the descendants of Anak hailed from the mighty men formed by the Nephilim, we can hazard a guess that it's very likely they were tall in some respect. Guesses of Goliath's height range from a near seven feet up to nine feet, nine inches.

Some extrabiblical sources also appear to confirm this theory that these descendants did boast a ginormous height.

The Jewish historian Josephus seemed to document something similar in his histories. According to him, "For many angels (11- This notion, that the fallen angels were, in some sense, the fathers of the old giants, was the constant opinion of antiquity.) of God accompanied with
women, and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers of all that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their own strength;
for the tradition is, that these men did what resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians call giants."

Jewish tradition seems to hold fast to the fact that giants did roam the earth and their sons, large men such as those in Jericho and Goliath, seemed to have imprints from their predecessors. At least in terms of might and strength.

Notice how he mentions the Greek myth of giants. I find it interesting how myth can often have some links to truth.

Now that we've uncovered the Anakim peoples, let's unwrap who Anak was, mentioned in the Old Testament.

Who Was Anak in the Bible?

Anak, son of Arba, is the father of the Anakim race. Simple enough. But what all do we know about him?

Unfortunately, not much. We only have references to his lineage in Joshua 15:13. We know Arba, Anak's father, heads up a city (Joshua 21:11). Apart from that, we can't dissect much about him from the biblical text.

But we can ascertain that his descendants had earned a reputation. So much so that even though the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea and witnessed miracles in the wilderness, they didn't think they could face the descendants of Anak, many generations removed from the original Anak. We have to keep in mind that the genetic code of people corrupts over time. The mighty men of the antediluvian period wouldn't have made it the timeline of Jericho.

This means that the descendants of Anak were weak imprints of Anak himself. And yet, the Israelites were still frightened. This should give us an indication of the formidability of Anak and his original sons who roamed the earth.

In either case, the Israelites should've trusted God. God brought the former Nephilim to their knees, how could he not do so with the descendants of Anak in Jericho?

What Can We Learn from These Descendants?

First, we ought to learn that any giants, whether literal or figurative, cannot match the power of God. The Nephilim crumbled under his power during the Flood. The descendants of Anak literally fell along with the walls of Jericho. Goliath received a stone to the forehead that knocked him unconscious. No matter what giant stands in our path, we know that God can overcome anything too big for us.

Secondly, we ought to realize that so much of myth tends to have a grain of truth. Every philosophy, every world religion, in some way points to God. There's a reason why Paul used a statue of an unknown god to point the Athenian peoples to the true God.

In the same way, Greek myths perpetuated the idea of giants. Granted, it was probably a metaphor for their idea of uncivilized people outside of the Hellenized world (take a look at the story of Polynices in The Odyssey for an idea of just how Greeks viewed those who didn't share their beliefs). But still, the historian Josephus thought it fit to draw a comparison between the two. 

Finally, the Anakim had a tendency to get cocky.

We see this with Nimrod, likely a giant (descendant of the Nephilim), likely headed up the project for the Tower of Babel. Furious that God had sent a Flood to destroy the earth, he built a tower to reach the heavens, in defiance of God's power. God, of course, interrupts the project—hence the birth of several languages through the earth. But all to say, Nimrod let his power and his heritage get the better of him.

We witness it again with the giant peoples of Jericho. They taunt the Israelites as they Israelites march around the city for days on end. With such a fortified city and people, they seriously doubted God could step in and cause their walls to crumble. They doubted incorrectly.

Finally, with Goliath. We see how he jeers and swears at David when the teenage or young adult man steps onto the scene to fight him. He doesn't think he's a worthy opponent and insults him. Little does he know that minutes later, he'll see the end of his days.

We can learn a lot from the descendants of Anak. Not only do they teach us about God's enormous power against them but also that appearances of challenges and foes can often be deceiving when we have the hand of an all-powerful God on our side.

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Hope Bolinger is an acquisitions editor at End Game Press, book editor for hire, and the author of almost 30 books. More than 1500 of her works have been featured in various publications. Check out her books at hopebolinger.com for clean books in most genres, great for adults and kids. Check out her editing profile at Reedsy.com to find out about hiring her for your next book project.