GIANTS in the Bible. — Gen. 6:4 recalls the néphilim, antediluvians, perhaps distinct from the “heroes” in the Sethite and Cainite genealogies. In Bar. 3:26–28; Eccli. 16:7; Sap. 14:6 (γίγαντες) their proud violence and earthly cunning are described. This is what the Hebrew néphilim expresses, from náphal, in the sense of “to fall upon someone,” to attack with impetuosity (cf. Aquila ἐπιπλητοῦτες, Symmachus βλαῦτο).
The Greek version (Septuagint) has γίγαντες, which precisely means “strong, mighty, violent” (Aeschylus, Agam., 692). Ancient cosmogonies placed at the dawn of humanity a race of giants, of extraordinary stature and strength, builders of cities, inventors of weapons, born of celestial beings united to mortals. Their memory lingered in popular imagination. Thus the spies, in their exaggerated and defeatist report, would speak of the néphilim seen in Canaan (Num. 13:33), by comparison with whom they were as locusts (cf. the irony of Deut. 9:2 regarding such a report).
Jewish tradition regards as a race of “giants”:
1) The Enacim (Num. 13:28, 33; Deut. 1:28; 2:10–11, 21; 9:2), who inhabited the mountains of Judah, Hebron, Dabir, Anab, defeated and destroyed by Joshua, later reduced to Gaza, Gath, Ashdod (Josh. 11:21–22). Perhaps Goliath was one of their descendants (1 Sam. 17:4; cf. 2 Sam. 21:15–22). The term ‘anáq = “long-necked man” (Moore) became the name of their lineage (Fernandez).
2) The Rephaim, who dwelt chiefly in Transjordan; the Emim of Moab, the Zuzim and Zomzommin of Ammon (Deut. 2:10–11, 20–21). They were warlike and fierce men, of stature taller than the Hebrews. In Deut. 3:11 the grandeur of the basalt sarcophagus (ca. 4.50 m × 2 m) of Og, king of Bashan, not his “iron bed” (Vulg.), says nothing of Og’s actual stature. Modern scholars largely attribute these biblical references to the “giants” dwelling in Canaan to popular imagination. Certainly the megalithic monuments—dolmens, cromlechs—bear witness to the existence of a race possessed of extraordinary strength; these were the tribes of the Neolithic age encountered by the Semitic invasions in Canaan, whose remnants the Hebrews defeated and destroyed.