The Devil’s Giants: How Demonic Forces Created Titans of the Old Testament

Before the children of Israel took possession of the Promised Land, it was thickly populated with giants.

This blog is intended to show numerous biblical proofs where the presence of giants after the Flood is clearly referred to in the Old Testament. To begin, let’s look at Amos 2:9 and 10, where one group of Amorite giants is referenced. In these verses, the Bible says:

Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.

Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.

In this passage, God Himself identifies a race of Amorite giants as being present after the Flood and states their height was as tall as cedars. Cedars are hardy trees that grow upwards of 100 feet or more, and they can have a trunk diameter of 8 to 10 feet. God compared these Amorite giants to mighty cedars. But in spite of their enormity, they were ultimately wiped out by the children of Israel.

The presence of numerous tribes of giants is also confirmed in the book of Numbers, where we read that Moses sent the 12 spies to search out the land. After 40 days, 10 of the spies returned from the Promised Land and gave a negative, fearful report based on the giants they saw in the land. The Bible 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 (Numbers 13:32,33).

Notice that ten of the spies reported that the territory was “a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof.” This suggests that just as giants had insatiable appetites before the Flood, giants likewise had insatiable appetites after the Flood.

Ancient documents state that when the crops and meat produced by the labors of men were no longer satisfying to the giants, the giants turned on each other, and then they turned against people, cannibalistically eating their flesh and drinking their blood. These barbaric acts of the giants are documented by Eusebius and Clement of Alexandria, who are noted among Jewish and Church historians as being very accurate in what they wrote. Therefore, we may assume that what they wrote about the cannibalistic behavior of the giants is reliable.

The Anakim Were Renowned Race of Giants

Of all the races of giants mentioned after the Flood, a group called the Anakim is referred to most throughout the Old Testament. These giants were the descendants of Anak, the son of a man named Arba (see Joshua 15:13). Arba was a descendant of Canaan, the son of Ham, which made Arba the great-grandson of Noah. Joshua 14:15 (NKJV) says, “…Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim….” In fact, he was so powerful at one time, the city of Kirjath-Arba was named after him (it later became known as the renowned city of Hebron).

Anakim giants made such an impression on the Israelites that they became the yardstick or benchmark that other giants were measured against. The following verses are provided to show how well-known the Anakim were and how frequently they, and their physical sizes, are mentioned in Scripture. You will also notice that scattered among these passages are the names of other groups of giants that we will look at more closely in the pages to come. But notice the frequency with which the dreaded Anakim are mentioned in the book of Deuteronomy:

Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there (Deuteronomy 1:28).

The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites called them Emims (Deuteronomy 2:10,11).

That [the land of the Ammonites] also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims; a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the Lord destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead (Deuteronomy 2:20,21).

Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven, a people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak!

Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord hath said unto thee (Deuteronomy 9:1-3)

In these four passages, Moses addressed the nation of Israel and recalled three of the groups of giants they’d encountered since the Exodus from Egypt. Along with mentioning the Emim and Zamzummim, Moses cited the Anakim six times and essentially stated that even though they were great in size, strength, and number, God had enabled the children of Israel to decimate them.

We also find that Joshua, Moses’ successor, referred to the Anakims. After the Israelites had cut off the Anakim giants from the cities of Hebron, Debir, Anab, and all the mountains of Judah, the Bible says:

There was none of the Anakims left in the land of the children of Israel: only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, there remained (Joshua 11:22).

The Old Testament narrative goes on to tell of a moment when Joshua divided the conquered land and assigned it to the various tribes of Israel. In that moment, Caleb suddenly spoke up and said:

Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said (Joshua 14:12).

Indeed, the Anakim giants (or sons of Anak) were well-known by the children of Israel. As noted, when the 12 spies went in to spy out the Promised Land — one of which was Caleb — it was the descendants of Anak that they saw in numerous cities. As part of their negative, fearful report, 10 of the spies said:

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.

The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan (Numbers 13:28,29).

According to these two verses, the children of Anak — the Anakim giants — were made up of subset groups. And these groups were the Amalekites in the land of the south; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites that dwelled in the mountains; and the Canaanites that dwelled by the coast of Jordan.

Giants Actually Proliferated After the Flood

A careful study of the Old Testament reveals that there were numerous tribes of giants living throughout the Promised Land (also known as the land of Canaan). These tribes of giants included:

• Amalekites

• Amorites

• Avim

• Canaanites

• Emim

• Girgashites

• Hittites

• Hivites

• Horim

• Jebusites

• Kadmonites

• Kenites

• Kenizzites

• Perizzites

• Zamzummim

In Genesis 14:5 we find the Rephaim, Emim, and Zuzim (a variant of the name Zamzummim) giants were involved in a battle that took place during the time of Abraham between two groups of kings. This verse says:

And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim.

What is fascinating is that while Chedorlaomer and the other kings allied with him defeated the Rephaim, Zuzim, and Emim giants, they could not defeat Abraham. The moment Abraham heard that his nephew Lot and his family had been taken hostage, he armed the 318 trained servants born in his household and fought against and defeated Chedorlaomer and the kings fighting with him (see Genesis 14:14-16).

Genesis 15 informs us that after this mighty victory, the Lord appeared to Abra- ham in a vision and promised to give him all the land of Canaan, which included the land from the Nile River in Egypt to the great River Euphrates.

God specifically declared He would give Abraham the land of the notorious giants, which was the land of…

…the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites (Genesis 15:19-21).

Remember, God had destroyed the first infestation of giants in the world with the global Flood. But He promised to never destroy the earth again by water, and the second time giants appeared, God tasked His people with exterminating them.

The descendants of Esau — Jacob’s brother — were also successful at annihilating tribes of giants, which is what we read in Deuteronomy 2:9-12.

And the Lord said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession.

The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites called them Emims.

The Horims also dwelt in Seir beforetime; but the children of Esau succeeded them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which the Lord gave unto them.

This passage informs us of the Emim giants who were dwelling among the Moabites and an additional group of giants called Horims, living in the region of Seir, which was the large area where the descendants of Esau had settled. As mighty as these hybrid creatures were, Esau’s lineage successfully destroyed them and took possession of the land.

Later in this same chapter, the Lord reminded Moses of two additional groups of giants called the Zamzummim and the Avims and how they too were exterminated by the Ammonites and the Caphtorims.

And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession.

(That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims; a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the Lord destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead:

As he did to the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day:

And the Avims which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah, the Caphtorims, which came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead) (Deuteronomy 2:19-23).