On Giants and their origins

There was some discussion about the term "giants" in the following verse:

Genesis 6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

I've been taught to look at the King James Version as the Authorized Bible in that the scholarship and resources used to translate it from the Septuagint were the most superior. Each of the translators were "giants" in their field!  Therein lies the problem. Modern usage of the word "giant" includes those who're outstanding in some or many aspects of life.

Firstly,  it pays to look at the history of the word: how it was derived and its common usage. That's called emtomology and from the "Online Emtomology Dictionary" we see:

 

Giant is a noun whose usage came circa 1300, from Old French geant, earlier jaiant (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *gagantem (nominative gagas), from Latin gigas "giant," from Greek gigas (genitive gigantos), one of a race of savage beings, sons of Gaia and Uranus, eventually destroyed by the gods, probably from a pre-Greek language. Replaced Old English ent, eoten, also gigant. The Greek word was used in Septuagint to refer to men of great size and strength, hence the expanded use in modern languages. Of very tall persons from 1550s; of persons who have any quality in extraordinary degree, from 1530s.

 

The emtomolgy says that "giant" is used to describe great size and strength. Since Supermen and Spiderman, normal size men are scarce in history, it would appear that "great strength" and "great size" are complementary and surely proportional!

 

If the origianal Hebrew language used a form of the word "giant" then we can accept this emtomology.  The Hebrew word, Strongs Number H5307 indicates that in the original Hebrew language the word is nĕphiyl pronounced (nef·ēl'). The usage in the Bible is "giants, the Nephilim". Hence, the word translated in English as "giant" as used in  Genesis 6:4 is "men of great size and strength".

 

Seventeen more times in the Old Testament are human "giants" referred to:

 

 

 

1. Numbers 13:33 "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."
2. Deuteronomy 2:11 "Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites called them Emims".
3. Deuteronomy 2:20 "(That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;"
4. Deuteronomy 3:11 "For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.
5. Deuteronomy 3:13 "And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants."
6. Joshua 12:4 "And the coast of Og king of Bashan, which was of the remnant of the giants, that dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei..."
7. Joshua 13:12 "All the kingdom of Og in Bashan, which reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei, who remained of the remnant of the giants: for these did Moses smite, and cast them out...."
8. Joshua 15:8 "And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom unto the south side of the Jebusite; the same is Jerusalem: and the border went up to the top of the mountain that lieth before the valley of Hinnom westward, which is at the end of the valley of the giants northward:"
9. Joshua 17:15 "And Joshua answered them, If thou be a great people, then get thee up to the wood country, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, if mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee."
10. Joshua 18:16 "And the border came down to the end of the mountain that lieth before the valley of the son of Hinnom, and which is in the valley of the giants on the north, and descended to the valley of Hinnom, to the side of Jebusi on the south, and descended to Enroge..." 
11. 2 Samuel 21:16 "And Ishbibenob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David" 
12. 2 Samuel 21:18 "And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giant."
13. 2 Samuel 21:20 "And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant."
14. 2 Samuel 21:22 "These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants." 
15. 1 Chronicles 20:4 "And it came to pass after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines; at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Sippai, that was of the children of the giant: and they were subdued."
16. 1 Chronicles 20:6 "And yet again there was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand, and six on each foot and he also was the son of the giant."
17. 1 Chronicles 20:8  "These were born unto the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants."
18. 1 Samuel 17:4  "And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span."

Synopsis:
1. Anaks sons were giants and they were so large that the Hebrews "appeared as grasshoppers".
2. The giant sons of Anak were called also "Emims" in the Moabite language.
3. There was a "land of giants" who dwelt there since times of old. Ammonites call them Zamzummims.
4.  King Og was a remnant of giants. His bed was described as fitting a man with size "nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.".  In our system that is 169.8" or 14'-2". The width of his bed was 4 cubits or 6'-4". This was a giant bed for a giant man! Og's bed was of iron to hold his weight!
5. God gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh "the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants". This is another reference to King Og's land; a giant person.
6. Joshua referred to "Og king of Bashan, which was of the remnant of the giants".
7. Moses killed off most of the giants as can be seen from the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
8.  The valley of Hinnom is referred to as the "valley of the giants".
9. The wood country Joshua referred to as "the land of the Perizzites and of the giants".
10. Joshua referred to " the valley of the son of Hinnon as  "the valley of the giants".
11.  Ishbibenob,the one of the sons of the giants, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass. In our weights that is a 7.5 pound spear! The weight of normal spears are 2-3 pounds.
12. Sibbechai killed Saph, which was of the sons of the giant.
13. There was a man in Gath who was "a man of great stature" (Goliath). He was born a giant!
14. This giant had four sons "four were born to the giant in Gath (Goliath)".
15. Sippai, that was of the children of the giant.
16. Chronicles repeats 13. There was a man in Gath (Goliath) who was "a man of great stature". He was born a giant!
17. David killed those whowere born unto the giant in Gath (Goliath).
18. Goliath was 6 cubits and a span (9.45 feet) plus (0.75 feet) equals 10'-2", a man who was a physical giant.

It is certain that the giants referred to in Genesis 6:4 were there before and after the sons of God came unto the daughters of men. Furthermore the Book of Enoch in the Apocrypha of the Bible says "The Book of Enoch 7:2  describes "giants" as the offspring of "Fallen angels" and mortal women. Enoch is a pseudepigrapha book, is history, but not accepted as divinely inspired. However, it must be considered just as we consider history written by modern writers.

In summary it would appear that giants resulted because of an intermarriage between angels and mortals and that those giants were in fact those men of humongous stature and strength, fitting the use of the word "giant" from the Bible. Since all mankind was destroyed in the flood save Noah and his sons and daughters-in-laws (8 people) it would appear that the giants were destroyed in the flood! However, they existed after the flood. That would mean that one of the wives of either Shem, Japheth or Ham were giants, or carried the "giant" gene.

With modern genetic techniques and the discovery of DNA we know that physical characteristics recurr in families long after that characteristic appeared to have died out. As an example I'll use an Indian friend of mine. He is dark black. His sister is as white as I am! They have the same parents. A recessive gene arose to restore that once dominant physical characteristic.  The Bible is not wrong. DNA and genetics are by God's design!

Over time giants died out. It's obvious that Moses killed many, but due to their size the land just would may not been able to support them. Their diet or lack of food would over time cause the largest ones to die off and hence their gene pool. However, giants existed past the time of David and there exists today tribes of giants in Africa. (Not 14 feet tall, but many 7-1/2 ft).

If one looks at the world in the time of Adam it was a perfect environment to support growth and health. Men lived longer and had children into old age. Men were virile for hundreds of years. With virility growth may have continued. Even King Saul was a giant by today's standards!

Dinasaurs existed. We know that and can't deny it. Most have died out, but some continue on a smaller scale: elephants, giraffes, whales, etc. We know that the environment in Adam's time supported those animal giants. Likewise, there is no reason to believe that men giants didn't exist as well! Their origination from sons of God (angels) also accounts for from whence did others come to marry into Seth's family. His family married angels which we know look like humans! They too were created by God in his own image (just like Jesus was designed from the start)!

We need to be careful when people with modern ideas insert new meanings into old writings. It's called "modernist revision". We may find angels intermarrying men and thirteen-feet tall impossible, but with God all things are possible!