For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the giants. Indeed his bedstead was an iron bedstead. (Is it not in Rabbah of the people of Ammon?) Nine cubits is its length and four cubits its width, according to the standard cubit. (Deuteronomy 3:11)

The Remnant Of The Giants

God gave Moses the story of early earth through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Moses unlocked the secrets of creation, told the story of the global flood that killed all humanity save eight souls, and the population of the earth following the debacle at the tower of Babel. All of this led up to the genealogy of Abram, who would become the father of the physical and spiritual Israel. As God unfolded the story of the early earth to Moses, the man of God must have marveled at the incredible scenes of man’s beginnings. Even though Moses was nearly 120 years old when writing the final story of early earth, he recorded men who lived for 500, 600, and 900 years.

Telling the story of Noah, Moses writes about the giants on the earth in those days and also afterward. He describes them as the mighty men of old, men of renown. Not only does Moses write about the giants of early earth, but he also writes about the giants he has seen in his lifetime. When the spies returned from forty days in Canaan, they tell of the men of great stature, the giants who towered above them. They were like grasshoppers in the sight of these giants. Moses tells of the descendants of Anak, who came from the giants. Joshua and Caleb confirmed the existence of these mighty men.

God did not allow Israel to harass Moab or contend with them in battle because the Lord had promised that land to the descendants of Lot. Moses noted in the text that the Emim had dwelt there in times past, a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. These men were regarded as giants. All the region of Argob, with all Bashan, was called the land of the giants. These were men of great stature and great men of war. Joshua recounted the kings conquered by Moses, including Og, king of Bashan and his territory. Og was of the remnant of the giants and had a bedstead of iron that was thirteen feet long and six feet wide. When Moses wrote about the bed, he noted the bed could still be seen in Rabbah of the people of Ammon.

During the days of King David, when the Philistines were at war with David, Ishbi-Benob, who was one of the sons of the giant, tried to kill David when he had rested from the fight. His bronze spearhead weighed more than seven pounds, and he was armed with a new sword. He had cornered David and was about to kill him, but Abishai, son of Zeruiah, came to David’s rescue and killed the Philistine. The soldiers of David killed Saph, who was one of the sons of the giant. An Israelite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear was as thick as a weaver’s beam. Another giant of great stature had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. These four Philistines were born to the giant in Gath.

The giants of the Bible were men who were extraordinary in their size and stature. Towering above most men, they brought fear into the hearts of those who opposed them. Goliath was a man over nine feet tall and was the champion of the Philistines. He wore a bronze helmet. His bronze coat of mail weighed 125 pounds. He also wore bronze leg armor, and he carried a bronze javelin on his shoulder. The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver’s beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed 15 pounds. He was trained in war. David saw Goliath not as a man so big he must fear him, but a man so big he could not miss. All the giants passed into the history books like the dragons that filled the earth for a time.

The word “dinosaur” was not coined until 1842 when anatomist Richard Owen called the massive animals discovered buried in the ground the name that has identified them through the centuries. Before that time, these massive creatures were known as dragons. The Chinese made these animals a fabric of their culture. It is clear there were very large animals in the early world that no longer exist. God created the “dinosaurs” on the fifth and sixth day. Man and dinosaurs walked together. Like the dinosaurs, the giants of the Bible lived in a time that is no longer. All of these giants were descendants of Adam and then through Noah’s three sons. There was nothing spectacular about their birth other than that they grew much larger than most men. The Philistines thought they could rely upon their gods and their champion giant to defeat the house of Israel. David, with a rock and a sling, showed the Philistines that Almighty God is greater than all men – including giants.