Were the Canaanites giants?

[NotEnoughFaith2BeAtheist]

Just curious, I'm in Numbers in my reading of the Bible Genesis to Revelation now, and I was just wondering. Were the Canaanites giants or something?

But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."
(Numbers 13:31-33)

 

[HypnoToad]

Just curious, I'm in Numbers in my reading of the Bible Genesis to Revelation now, and I was just wondering. Were the Canaanites giants or something?

But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."
(Numbers 13:31-33)

I wouldn't say all of them were, probably not even most of them. Without actually looking up the specifics in Scripture, doesn't your reference only refer to the Anakites as giants, not all Canaanites?

 

[NotEnoughFaith2BeAtheist]

Well I'm not sure, just the All the people we saw there are of great size. Part made me think of them all, maybe it wasn't referring to all the Canaanites though

 

[Apollo Rhetor]

Yes, there were giants. Genesis 6 tells us that the Nephilim were the offspring of the Sons of God with the daughters of men.

I have heard that there is less genetic diversity within the human race than any other animal type. That one subculture of apes has more diversity amongst itself than the human race.

It seems logical to me to assume that giants could exist. We have large horses and small horses, large and small whales, and all other creatures. Humans, due to our tendencies for genocide, wiped out certain races such as the Caananites, thus creating a more homogenous race.

 

[HypnoToad]

Humans, due to our tendencies for genocide, wiped out certain races such as the Caananites

You know, for a split second there, that looked like "Canadians".

 

[AndrewinIdaho]

You also must remember if you or I were to go back to ancient Israel we would be considered Giants most people back then did not grow above 5 feet.

 

[GraceInHim]

what I find wierd is Cain had a mark on his forehead and in Revelation the mark of the beast is on the forehead..

I also thought the Philistines had giants like Goliath?

 

[Desert_pea]

Well if you look at all the different races you will notice that some have much larger and stronger-looking frames than others. Do you know what I mean?

 

[FreezBee]

You know, for a split second there, that looked like "Canadians".

There is a story among Jews, that because Moses was a slow and stuttering talker, he happened to say Canaan, but he meant Canada.

As for the OP: remember that the scouts might have been exaggerating - they needed some excuse to disguise that they were simply afraid!


- FreezBee

 

[Espada]

Yes, there were giants. Genesis 6 tells us that the Nephilim were the offspring of the Sons of God with the daughters of men.

I have heard that there is less genetic diversity within the human race than any other animal type. That one subculture of apes has more diversity amongst itself than the human race.

It seems logical to me to assume that giants could exist. We have large horses and small horses, large and small whales, and all other creatures. Humans, due to our tendencies for genocide, wiped out certain races such as the Caananites, thus creating a more homogenous race.

Actually Genesis 6 does not mention Giants at all, this was a translational error, they were nephilim, half angel (Sons of God) and half human (daughters of man).

 

[FreezBee]

Actually Genesis 6 does not mention Giants at all, this was a translational error, they were nephilim, half angel (Sons of God) and half human (daughters of man).

Except that there are a few variant theories on that topic:

http://www.christianforums.com/t2489759-genesis-61-4who-were-the-sons-of-god.html


- FreezBee

 

[Espada]

Except that there are a few variant theories on that topic:

http://www.christianforums.com/t2489759-genesis-61-4who-were-the-sons-of-god.html


- FreezBee

In the Hebrew "Sons of God" always refers to a direct creation of God i.e. angels, in the Septuagint, the Greek word used was angelos (angels).

The daughters of man is actually the "Daughters of Adam", if this is the daughters of Cain why not just use "Daughters of Cain".

The word in the Septuagint for Nephilim was Gigantis (you see where the Giant error came from), actually it just means earth born (from Gigas).

 

[Apollo Rhetor]

Actually Genesis 6 does not mention Giants at all, this was a translational error, they were nephilim, half angel (Sons of God) and half human (daughters of man).

Well, you'll notice that I didn't actually say giants in Genesis 6, I said Nephilim. And, according at least to my Hebrew lexicon, the word nephilim in Hebrew means "giant", and translated in the LXX as you mentioned to gigantos.

But we know from later verses, such as the one in the original post, that the Nephilim were giants. And we can be fairly sure, from Job 2:1 that the Sons of God indeed refers to angels, and not just to a holy line of Seth.

But such matters are less important. What is important is that yes, there could have been giants in those days (8-12feet tall off memory), and that they would not have to be around today.