From the, “Knowledge Base” section of the, Why the Book Wins site comes the article, How Big Were the Giants in the Bible?
Due to the article’s title referencing “Giants,” the key questions are:
What’s the usage of the vague, generic, subjective, multi-usage and modern English word “giants” in English Bibles?
What’s the article’s author’s usage of the vague, generic, subjective, multi-usage and modern English word “giants”?
Do those usages agree?
Well, we get an idea of the author’s usage within the very first paragraph, “giants in the Bible…portrayed as towering figures…physical attributes…their size” thus, since the usage is about subjectively unusual height it has utterly nothing to do with the English Bible’s usage which is that it’s merely rendering, not even translating, Nephilim, in two verses, or Rephaim, in 98% of all others.
Another question is to what sorts of height we’re considering since subjectively unusual height is just that: subjective—subjective to what and how far above the subjective average are key questions.
We’re told of, “Goliath or the account of the Nephilim in Genesis 6:4. These references suggest that giants were present in ancient times, but the specifics of their size are not explicitly stated.”
Actually, to quote pop-Nephilologist Gary Wayne, “we don’t know how big Nephilim were…we don’t know how tall that they were.”
Of course, he still goes on and on and on (and on and on [and on and on]) about how Nephilim were “giants,” by which he’s referring to subjectively unusual height, since he sells tall-tales for a living.
The preponderance of the earliest data, the LXX, Dead Sea Scrolls, and Flavius Josephus, have Goliath at four cubits and a span, just shy of 7 ft.—subjective to the average Israelite male who was 5.0-5.3 ft. in those days.
We’ve no reliable physical description of Nephilim.
Thus, we get an idea of the author’s usage of “Giants” again: just over one foot taller than the upper subjectively average height and the unknown—and noted that neither Goliath’s or the Nephilim’s heights were even noted, it was merely asserted that they were “Giants.”
“Goliath’s Height” is referenced and we’re told, “the exact height of Goliath is not mentioned, the Bible describes his armor as weighing around 125 pounds (56 kilograms). This suggests that Goliath was an imposing figure, possibly exceeding 6 feet 6 inches (198 centimeters) in height.”
This is tragically misinformed as Goliath’s is one of the only two specific heights we’re told in the Bible and we know about the discrepancy on that issue.
We’re also told of, “Og, King of Bashan” and how the Bible, “portrays Og as having a bed made of iron that measured approximately 13.5 feet (4.1 meters) long and 6 feet (1.8 meters) wide. While the length of his bed does not directly correlate to his height, it does indicate that Og was significantly larger than an average person.”
Indeed, we’re not told his height. Yet, that’s a conclusion based on various assumptions: I direct the interested reader to my book The King, Og of Bashan, is Dead: The Man, the Myth, the Legend—of a Nephilim Giant?
When it comes to Nephilim, which Goliath and Og weren’t (they were both of the Rephaim) we’re told, “These Nephilim are often associated with giants” which biblically contextually reads as, “These Nephilim are often associated with Nephilim” and that “the exact size of the Nephilim is not stated, their presence suggests that they were extraordinary beings, surpassing the average human stature” which is an unfounded assertion.
We’re told about, “the context and perspective of ancient writers when interpreting the size of giants in the Bible. Ancient civilizations often employed hyperbolic language to emphasize a person’s strength or stature. Thus, the descriptions of giants may have been slightly exaggerated to convey their dominance and power” and yet, we were told of Nephilim, Og, and Goliath only the latter of which we have any reference to height at all—besides, of course, the “evil report” by unreliable guys whom God rebuked who just made up a tall-tale about Nephilim.
The article asks and answers, “How did giants come into existence?” and replies, “According to the Bible, giants were the offspring of the union between the sons of God and the daughters of men.” This is why the key questions are key since what the author did is to chase the English word “giants” around a Hebrew Bible and now ends up merely asserting that Rephaim, for example, resulted from, “the union between the sons of God and the daughters of men” for which there’s zero indication.
Likewise, the question, “Were there any giants after the flood?” is answered thusly, “The Bible does not mention the presence of giants after the Great Flood. It is commonly believed that the flood wiped out these extraordinary beings.” The author doesn’t seem to realize that Goliath and Og lived post-flood and were appealed to as “giants.” Yet, that merely makes for even more confused assertions in the article.
In short, the article note, “the Bible provides limited details about the size of giants” which, I suppose, means only two specific heights—but granting that the key questions must first be answered.
Now, the same site posted an article titled Where Did Giants in the Bible Come From? Which notes, “The term ‘giants’ mentioned in the Bible often refers to the Nephilim” which is quite accurate if by “often” what is meant is in only two verse—98% of the time it’s rendering “Rephaim.”
Moreover, “The Sons of Anak: Another group of giants…They are described as a race of giants” they are only “described as a race of giants” in that they were a clan of the Rephaim tribe but as for their size, all we’re told is that they were subjectively “tall” (Deut 2).
Yet, additionally, “In Numbers 13:33, the Israelite spies describe the Anakim as formidable and great in stature, causing fear among the Israelites.” This is too generic to be accurate since it wasn’t, “the Israelite,” twelves, “spies” but only the unreliable ones who were said to present an “evil report” and were rebuked by God—of yeah, and you don’t get them referring to Anakim at all in the LXX version of that verse. You also don’t get them described, “as formidable” in any version of that verse. As for, “great in stature” that was actually tall-taled about Nephilim.
Next up are the, “The Rephaim…a race of giants” yet, again, that either reads as, “The Rephaim…a race of Rephaim” or “The Rephaim…a race of” subjectively tall personages (Deut 2).
Furthermore, “The Amorites…In Amos 2:9-10, they are described as tall as cedar trees and strong as oaks, implying their giant-like stature.” Note the qualifying term “implying” when that was really an inference. Sure, Amos tells us that they were big and strong: what of it? Well, people who suffer from Gigorexia Nervosa (my term for people who are obsessed with seeing giants and just make them up where they’re nowhere to be seen) literally research the parochial size of cedars and demand that Amos was implying the conducting of a ration based mathematical correspondence—but no, they don’t do likewise with the strength of oaks since they’re not really interested in the text, they just want to hype the tall-tales.
Now, due to not dealing with the key issues up-front (or ever) when the article asks, “Did all giants perish in biblical times?” it could refer to Nephilim or to Rephaim or specifically to Anakim or to anyone who is subjectively unusually tall, etc.
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