Barbara Delong, who self-identifies as a spiritual empath and psychic, wrote an article titled Tribes of Giants in the Bible and Around the World.
She begins by noting, “One only needs to do a cursory study of the Bible to verify the definite existence of giants, throughout the biblical narrative.” That makes be a bit cautious since it get the sense that she means chasing an English word around a Hebrew Bible so we shall see if such is the case. Also, such statements beg the questions: What’s the usage of the vague, generic, subjective, multi-usage and modern English word “giants” in English Bibles? What’s her usage? Do those two usages agree? We shall see if those questions are answered, in one or another way.
Barbara Delong notes, “The earliest appearance of giants occurs just before the flood of Noah’s documentation. Considering the detail added by Enoch in his accounting of the pre-flood giants, we learn that the flood was caused to rid the Earth of these giant hybrids spawned by devious angels, who were driven by cross-species sexual lust. But, for some unknown reason some, if not many, of the giants survived that flood or a genetic mutation was present in the normal-sized survivors.”
We seem to get a taste of her usage in that by giants she here seemed to be referring to Nephilim. And yet, it may be that she was also using that word to mean something unspecific about subjectively unusual height since, after all, 1 Enoch (which is Bible contradicting folklore from centuries, if not millennia, after the Torah, see my book, In Consideration of the Book(s) of Enoch), has Nephilim as being MILES tall which is great folklore but poor reality.
As for, “giants survived that flood or a genetic mutation was present in the normal-sized survivors” well, we will have to see whence she got such un-biblical ideas.
Since she focused on, “in the Bible and Around the World” she then notes, “Christian-centered belief accepts that only Noah and his kin survived the flood, but the ancient record, and anthropological and historical facts, challenge this narrow view. There are hundreds of Noah’s and Noah-like flood legends in the histories and legends of most ancient peoples around the world.”
Her objection to the biblical view at which she took aim is, “how did African, Asian, Mesoamerican, and the other great cultures of the world exist, on a much grander scale than the Adamic-related culture of the Bible, both before, and after, the great flood they record?” and asserts, “Only more survivors could explain this.”
Yet, the biblical view is that, “African, Asian, Mesoamerican, and the other great cultures of the world” didn’t yet exist and only came into existence post-flood. They were established when Noah’s sons and then humanity as a whole (after the Tower of Babel dispersal) spread abroad, took with them what was commonly known and shared history when humanity lived in relative proximity, and eventually that history came to be called myth and legend.
I’m unsure how an unknown number of, “more survivors could explain this” any better.
She then employs a usage of giants to refer to something unspecific about subjectively unusual height so we might as well answer those questions now:
What’s the usage of the vague, generic, subjective, multi-usage and modern English word “giants” in English Bibles?
It merely renders (doesn’t even translate) “Nephilim” in 2 verses or “Repha/im” in 98% of all others and so never even hints at anything to do with any sort of height whatsoever.
What’s Barbara Delong’s usage?
Something about subjectively unusual height.
Do those two usages agree?
No.
By misusing that term, one can chase that English word around a Hebrew Bible, and beyond it to anything written in English, and merely asserts: giants, giants, giants, giants.
She went on to write, “The recognition of Bible related giants is high…the famous and oft-repeated encounter of David and the giant, Goliath. Some are aware of other accounts of giants, the king with a 16-foot bed. Deeply buried in the biblical record, several “tribes” or groups of giants are named. Many of these are mentioned in the verses we present on giants in the Bible, but it would take an exhaustive project to do make an entire presentation on these giant tribes.”
Goliath: she didn’t noted his height and the fact is that the Masoretic text has him at just shy of 10 ft. Yet, the earlier LXX and the earlier Dead Sea Scrolls and the earlier Flavius Josephus all have him at just shy of 7 ft. (compared to the average Israelite male who was 5.0-5.3 ft. in those days) so that’s the preponderance of the earliest data.
As for, “the king with a 16-foot bed” well, the bed was 14ft at most but we’ve no physical description of him, Og, and to assume something about his height based on his bed is a non-sequitur based on various mere assumptions: that was a ritual object, not something upon which he slept (see my book The King, Og of Bashan, is Dead: The Man, the Myth, the Legend—of a Nephilim Giant?).
We will come to whatever is meant by, “groups of giants…giant tribes.” She then reveals a fundamental flaw in her research—which I predicted as I read her article—as she wrote, “In this case anyone interested in these giant tribes can do an internet search using the words ‘giant’ or ‘giants’ in conjunction with any of names of giant tribes or groups” and chasing that English word around without, apparently, ever pondering to what it refers contextually, she came up with, “36 of Tribes of Giants mentioned in the Bible” which she lists as:
Amalekites, Amorites, Anakims, Ashdothites, Aviums, Avites,
Canaanites, Caphtorims, Ekronites, Emins, Emins, Eshkalonites,
Gazathites, Geshurites , Gibeonites, Giblites, Girgashites, Gittites,
Hittites, Hivites, Horims, Horites, Jebusites, Kadmonites, Kenites,
Kenizzites, Maachathites, Manassites, Nephilim *, Perizzites,
Philistines, Rephaims, Sidonians, Zamzummins, Zebusites, Zuzims
The asterisks by Nephilim leads to a statement wherein she asserts, “The word Nephilim does not appear in the Bible, nor any Hebrew pronunciation of any words translated in the Bible. But the word Nĕphiyl, pronounced Nepheel does in the first mention of Giants in Genesis 6:4, and in Numbers 13:33 when describing the Giants of the promised land, Cannan. These giants were apparently the original giants spawned by the Gregori, the giant angels who mated with human females.”
It appears that she’s unfamiliar with the linguistics since Nephilim is merely the male plural of Nĕphiyl—and it does appear as the male plural form in the Bible thrice: once in the reliable record of Gen 6:4 and twice in Num 13:33 (which is just an “evil report” by 10 unreliable guys whom God rebuked).
Recall that her usage of giants is something unknown about subjectively unusual height. But while she asserted, “the first mention of Giants in Genesis 6:4” that doesn’t contain any physical description of them and since Num 13:33 was, “describing the Giants” but is unreliable (see my post Chapter sample: On the Post Flood Nephilim Proposal) then, the dirty little secret is that since we’ve no reliable physical description of Nephilim then their height is a non-issue and that alone debunks 99% of un-biblical Nephilology—the modern branch of which is just un-biblical neo-theo sci-fi tall-tales.
As for, “spawned by the Gregori” well, that denotes that she’s appealing to the unreliable 1 Enoch.
Beyond that, she asserts, “21 individual Giants mentioned, by name, in the Bible” namely:
Adonizedec – King of Jerusalem, Agag – King of the Amalakites,Ahiman, Amalek, Arba, Beelesath, Gog and Magog, Gogmagog,Goliath, Hoham – King of Hebron, Horam – King of Gezer, Jabin – King of Hazor, Jobab – King of Madon, Lahmi, Nimrod,Og of Bashan, Ogias – Og’s father, Perizzites, Sheshai,Sihon – King of the Amorites, Sippai, Talmai
She then lists, “intriguing verse showing this biblical reality” which begins with Num 13:33 which is misguided and oddly, she actually elucidates why and how it’s unreliable but seems to miss the point.
She quoted and commented thusly:
♦ God decides that the tribes of Israel should settle in the land called Canaan and orders Moses to send men to explore it:
► “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel:” and “And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan…” (Numbers 13:1&17)
♦ The men return and a report that it is a beautiful and abundant land, but with great walled cities and a “strong” people that were the sons of Anak living there:
► “And they returned from searching of the land after forty days….And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. “(Numbers 13:25-28)
♦ There is a call to conquer the land but the men give a warning about the strength of the inhabitants:
► “And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.”(Numbers 13:30-32)
♦ The cause for this great strength of these people is revealed when we find out how big the “children of Anak” really are:
► “And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 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.”(Numbers 13:32-33)
Barbara Delong’s conclusion is, “tribe or group of giants living in great walled cities. This no legend found scrawled on some obscure buried tablet, but absolute biblical proof that the Nation of Israel confronted a giant race in the land of Canaan.”
She seems to have uncritically mashed together the original report that was accepted as is with the evil report.
Even the paraphrasing assist us in determining the distinctions with the original report being of, “a beautiful and abundant land” which the evil report flatly contradicts, “land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants.”
Indeed, the original report had the people as being, “strong” and the original dissuasion of being obedient to God in essence agreed that the problem was that the people were, “stronger.”
Now, she cut the narrative at v. 28 and then jumped to v. 30 so it wasn’t just, “the children of Anak” but the original report lists who was seen, “the descendants of Anak……Amalekites…Hittites…Jebusites…Amorites…And the Canaanites” but the evil report embellishes that by artificially inserting that Nephilim were also seen.
Also, the concern of the faithless was the prospect of confronting six strong people groups living in large and well-fortified cities.
And that, “all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature” and that, “the sons of Anak…come of the giants” are just parts of the incoherent tall-tale by unfaithful, disloyal, contradictory, embellishing unreliable guys whom God rebuked.
It’s then asserted that, “Descriptions of encounters with other giants and giant tribes or groups are found in the Bible as well” about which nothing more is said.
As for, “and Around the World” we only get a short list of, “giant bones are found” but we’ve actually not been told what, “giant bones” have to do with anything—not really, as we shall see.
She ends the article my noting, “giants were not solitary beings and only found in biblical lands, but probably all over the world in great numbers…”
Let’s review the impressive 59 general and specific references to giants:
Amalekites: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Amorites: Amos 2:9 says, “the Amorite…whose height was like the height of the cedars and who was as strong as the oaks; I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath.” He was clearly just saying they were big and strong and not implying conducting a one-to-one ratio based mathematical calculation. In fact, people who do measure cedars and claim Amorites were that tall never get around to a calculation correlating the strength of oaks—since they’re only interested in tall-tales. Plus, if they take it that incoherently literal then they have to conclude that Amorites had fruits and roots growing right out of their bodies.
Anakims: Deut 2 notes they were subjectively, “tall” on average with tall being just as vague, generic, subjective, and multi-usage as giants, it merely means they were taller than 5.0-5.3ft.
Ashdothites: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Aviums which she doesn’t seem to realize are the same as Avites: : we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Canaanites: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Caphtorims: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Ekronites: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Like Anakim, Emins, which she doesn’t seem to realize are the same as Emins (and Emins isn’t even a word) were a clan of the Rephaim tribe and were subjectively tall.
Eshkalonites: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Gazathites which are the same as Geshurites: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Gibeonites: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Giblites: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Girgashites: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Gittites: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Hittites: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Hivites: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Horims which are the same as Horites (see, some English versions have male plural words ending with the Hebrew male plural, “im” and some use the Enslishized version, “ites”) : we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Jebusites: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Kadmonites: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Kenites a.k.a. Kenizzites: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Maachathites: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Manassites: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Nephilim: no reliable physical description.
I think she just made up a few of these and as for Philistines well, that’s more of a regional term such that, for example, Goliath was a Gathite, Philistine, of the Rephaim of the Anakim since he live in the city named Gath which is in the Philistine region and was of the Rephaim tribe and the Anakim clan.
Rephaims: subjectively tall.
Sidonians: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Zamzummins a.k.a. Zuzims: she doesn’t seem to realize that those are just a.k.a. for Rephaim.
Zebusites: we’ve no biblical physical description of them so can’t count them amongst her usage of giants.
Adonizedec – King of Jerusalem: we’ve no biblical physical description of him so can’t count him amongst her usage of giants.
Agag – King of the Amalakites: we’ve no biblical physical description of him so can’t count him amongst her usage of giants.
Ahiman: we’ve no biblical physical description of him so can’t count him amongst her usage of giants.
Amalek: we’ve no biblical physical description of him so can’t count him amongst her usage of giants.
Arba: we’ve no biblical physical description of him so can’t count him amongst her usage of giants.
Beelesath: we’ve no biblical physical description of him so can’t count him amongst her usage of giants.
Gog and Magog, Gogmagog: those aren’t people so can’t count those amongst her usage of giants.
Goliath: just shy of 7ft.
Hoham – King of Hebron: we’ve no biblical physical description of him so can’t count him amongst her usage of giants.
Horam – King of Gezer: we’ve no biblical physical description of him so can’t count him amongst her usage of giants.
Jabin – King of Hazor: we’ve no biblical physical description of him so can’t count him amongst her usage of giants.
Jobab – King of Madon: we’ve no biblical physical description of him so can’t count him amongst her usage of giants.
Lahmi: we’ve no biblical physical description of him so can’t count him amongst her usage of giants.
Nimrod: we’ve no biblical physical description of him so can’t count him amongst her usage of giants.
Og of Bashan: we’ve no biblical physical description of him so can’t count him amongst her usage of giants.
Ogias – Og’s father: she’s either been making up some names of pulling them out of folklore from centuries, if not millennia, after the Torah such as she did with the unbiblical Ogias.
Perizzites: we’ve no biblical physical description of him so can’t count him amongst her usage of giants.
Sheshai: we’ve no biblical physical description of him so can’t count him amongst her usage of giants.
Sihon – King of the Amorites: we’ve no biblical physical description of him so can’t count him amongst her usage of giants.
Sippai: we’ve no biblical physical description of him so can’t count him amongst her usage of giants.
Talmai: we’ve no biblical physical description of him so can’t count him amongst her usage of giants.
So, where are all of the giants?
So, correlating, “giant bones” (of what?) to giants in the Bible is like comparing apples to virtually nothing and it’s much ado about hardly anything at all.
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