Michelangelo’s David & Goliath
When the spies visited Hebron, they found a city “walled up to heaven.” (Deut 1:28) They found out why—the city was inhabited by the Anakim.
It’s complicated to explain the Anakim, and there are several theories still very much in play, but here is what I have learned as best as I understand it. (It’s helpful to know the –im ending is Hebrew for plural.)
First came the Nephilim, meaning ‘fallen ones’, (Hebrew plural for Nephal).
The Nephilim were a crossbreed between the Sons of God and the daughters of men, as mentioned in Genesis 6:1-2 and Genesis 6:4. They were essentially half fallen angel, half human.
The Nephilim were destroyed in the flood, but some of their descendants survived, presumably more human than fallen angel. One of these was Arba.
Arba was “the greatest of the Anakim,” (Joshua 14:15). Anak was one of his sons, and the Anakim are a race of giants descended from Anak. They lived in the south of the land of Canaan, near Hebron (Josh. 15:13).
Their appearance filled the spies with terror. Pictures in tombs as far away as Egypt and descriptions from Josephus describe them as tall, blonde, without much beard and pale-complexioned.
According to Genesis 14:5-6 these giants also inhabited the region afterwards known as Edom and Moab. Deuteronomy 3:11 tells us Og, king of Bashan, was the last of the Rephaim (related to the Anakim). Og required a bed over thirteen feet long. The Philistine giants whom David encountered (2 Sam. 21:15-22) were descendants of the Anakim. Goliath himself was nine-foot-nine (1 Samuel 17:4).