Chang The Chinese Giant c1870Ever wondered if the Bible could be right about a nine foot [3 m] tall warrior? Do we have any evidence outside God’s testimony to such tall people?

Let’s look at some of the things we can check out to compare!

Most of the information we have about giants come from stories passed down as legends around the world.  I’m not going to post a bunch of links because you have to be careful what you read.  As we all know from David and Goliath, giants weren’t exactly God-fearing. In fact, most of the stories people told about them are like Jack of the Beanstalk or Odysseus’ experience.

I found a page with dozens and dozens of accounts of giants or their remains around the world.  Wikipedia has a list of at least 100 names people have given to giants around the world.

The Bible itself lists 7 different groups of Post-Flood giants.  There were the Philistines (with Goliath & co: II Samuel 21:15-22), Amorites (Amos 2:9–10; Numbers 13:29,32), Emim (Deuteronomy 2:10–11), Zamzummim (Deuteronomy 2:20–21),Rephaim [giants] (Deuteronomy 3:11), Anakim [sons of Anak] (Numbers 13:33), and an Egyptian near-giant in 1 Chronicles 11:23.

David and Goliath, a colour lithograph by Osma...All of these groups of people mentioned in the Bible were especially wicked.  As you can see from the accounts of the Emim and Zamzummim, it wasn’t just the Israelites who wanted them dead.  Giants never made comfortable neighbors, although they seemed to make good champions or kings until God caught up with them!

Answers in Genesis has a long article talking about all this. It also has some interesting information on Egyptian records of giants.

There is one more group that the Bible mentions: the Nephilim.  Numbers 13:32–33 says, “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.”  The Hebrew word translated “giants” is the word Nephilim.

This is important to early Genesis study because of an odd account in Genesis 6.  We are told almost nothing about how people lived before the Flood, but the Nephilim are one of the things God wanted us to know about.  Here’s the story:

There were giants [Nephilim] 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.  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. Gensis 6:4-6

Many people, including me, have wondered what these “sons of God” who had giant, evil children were.  There is a theory that they are actually demons who married human women and bore children.  Jude verse 6 is used to back this idea up.  Cool (and horrible) as this sounds, there are some major problems with this view that make it impossible.

  • Dr. Lisle pointed out recently that Jesus said it is impossible for spirit beings to have phisical relations and therefore children.  Matthew 22:30 suggests this.  It is at least true for good angels
  • If this theory were true, there would have never been any more giants after the Flood destroyed them all and the demons who had done it were chained in darkness.
  • “Sons of God” does not have to refer to spirit beings (although it does in the Old Testament, like in Job 1:6).  Six times the New Testament refers to Christians as Sons of God.

That there were giants again after the Flood by itself makes the demon theory impossible.  This leaves us with some kind of human line being the “sons of God.”  I’ve heard ideas that this is talking about the children of Seth, who were still following God, marrying women from the line of Cain, who had  rejected God’s authority.  I don’t know, but it seems likely that something like that is meant.

God is greater than the largest enemy we will ever face.  The Bible’s stories of Caleb, David, and his mighty men defeating giants is recorded to encourage us to trust God and not follow in the despair of the 10 spies of evil report!

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Romans 15:4

I got a lot of my info by starting from this article: Answers in Genesis, Giants in the Old Testament 

You might also enjoy these articles I found:

The Aldworth Giants Rated G

THE QUEST FOR TOM HICKATHRIFT about trying to find the truth behind a giant legend. Rated G

THE CAVE OF THE RED HAIRED GIANTS Rated PG

Human Giants by Gary Nelson. Rated PG (opens with immodest Indian warrior facing away from us)


Cheri Fields

I'm a homeschooling blogger and book writer. The gift God has given me for His kingdom is to understand complex stuff (mostly) and share it with others using everyday words. It is a joy to share God's wonders with all kinds of people and especially the next generation!

21 Comments

highfive blessings · at

maybe the sons of god(demons) came and possessed men and then got married and had children.

    Cheri Fields · at

    Hi! That could be a possibility. Of course, if you assume Jude was talking about that practice, why were there still nephilim in Moses’ day?

SLIMJIM · at

Fascinating!

    Cheri Fields · at

    Sure is. I just read Deuteronomy 3 and remembered all the giants Canaan had been infested with again. Goliath was just the tip of the iceberg!

SNHWFHNDZ · at

Remember That which was conceived in Mary was of the Holy Spirit! So the assumption that demons were the cause of giants can be a possibility.

    Cheri Fields · at

    I appreciate your comment, it’s interesting to think about all of this, but…
    For your premise to be logical, demons would have to be in the same creative category as God Himself. Sure, the Holy Spirit has no body like a demon, but the comparison breaks down after that. Satan and his servants have no creative power. They can break things as God permits them, but never make something new, let alone something bigger and more powerful than God had designed.

      SNHWFHNDZ · at

      The secret things belong unto Jehovah our God; but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29

weizeannewright · at

I have thought for years that Genesis 6:4-6 referred to demons and humans having offspring but It was a thought I kept mostly to myself because I was trying to be very civilized!!
I am delighted to see this post with people discussing it cleverly and right out loud for all to see!!!!!

    Cheri-CreationScience4Kids · at

    God gives us so much scope for the imagination! He must enjoy watching us wrestle with His word, because He sure left us a lot to puzzle through. 😀

Gary Shogren · at

By the way, I have on my blog a short article about the “giant skeleton” hoax that is making the rounds.

    creationscience4kids · at

    Good for you! The last thing we need is to be as gullible as the other side. 🙂

Gary Shogren · at

And why don’t we see giants everytime a descendant of Seth has children by a woman who is not Sethite? If that were the case, every mixed marriage between a Jewish man and a gentile woman should produce giants, correct?

    creationscience4kids · at

    Of course not! As I’ve mentioned, I was in your camp until quite recently, so I don’t know how to make a good case for why Genesis 6 reads the way it does. All I know is, the case for demon fathers doesn’t hold enough water for me to swallow it any more.

Gary Shogren · at

Jesus did not say that angels couldn’t have relations with human women; he said they do not marry – it’s a big difference.

The Jewish literature from the 1st century in general took the view that Gen 6 refers to apostate angels. That doesn’t prove that that was what Jude had in mind, but it’s a good piece of evidence in favor of that interpretation.

    creationscience4kids · at

    Then how did the post Flood giants come about?

      Gary Shogren · at

      In the absence of a better explanation of the “sons of God” – the interpretation that they are Sethites strikes me as anachronistic – the simplest explanation is that the giants were the offspring of apostate angels and human women.

        creationscience4kids · at

        I really wanted to believe that way too, it’s so fantastic, but until there is a satisfactory answer to how the Anakim, et al. after the Flood came about, it doesn’t add up with the rest of history.

          Gary Shogren · at

          I’m not sure I see what the problem is with the view I mention. Gen 6 has the tone that this is a uniquely abominable action on the part of the “sons of God”, and then follows up by saying that their offspring were giants. That is, this horrific crime leads to monstruous results.

          If we believe the truth of the Bible, should it be a hangup if it doesn’t add up with the rest of history, which I understand you to say that there are no historical parallels to angels mating with women?

          creationscience4kids · at

          I’m referring to the mention of the 10 spies saying that the sons of Anak were also Nephilim in Numbers 13:33. If it weren’t for that second mention, we wouldn’t have any idea what the word “Nephil” meant besides “fallen”.

          If the Jude verse were referring to preFlood cohabitation of demons and humans, then it could have never happened again after the Flood since those spirits were chained in darkness.
          Taking the opening of Genesis chapter 6, the complete corruption of the antediluvian world was directly tied to the Nephilim, so if the same thing had happened again it would have rapidly recorrupted the world.

          Gary Shogren · at

          I see what you’re saying, nevertheless, whatever view one takes will run into the same problem – the antediluvian Nephilim were destroyed in the flood, and here are giants who are “sons of the Nephilim” in Numbers 13. In other words, no viewpoint can rest on the assumption that the Nephilim of Numbers are genetic ancestors of the ones in Gen 6.

          Why, on your accounting, would the mating of Sethites and Cainites in Gen 6 result in giantism? I don’t see any causal relation there.

          creationscience4kids · at

          Thanks for being open! Again, for years I believed that the Nephilim were half demons and enjoyed the shivers of the thought.

          What if Seth’s line already held the capacity for being huge?

          Another thought that I’ve considered posting on is the cause of giant people today, i.e. mutations and loss of pituitary control. It is within the realm of possibility for demons to mess with pituitary gland causing gigantism.

          One thing that I had meant to include in my post is that we know demons are always looking for a host “body”. The account of legion and the herd of swine combined with Jesus’ tale of the man who left his soul “house” empty tell us that demons desire a physical body to possess because they have none of their own. If they have no DNA, they are certainly not capable of creating physical offspring.

          Fun stuff, God will explain it all some day!

Comments are closed.