נפל, Greek, γίγας, _a monster_, _a terrible man_, a chief who
beats and bears down other men. Scripture speaks of giants before the
flood: “Nephilim, mighty men who were of old, men of renown,” Gen. vi,
4. Aquila translates nephilim, ἐπιπίπτοντες, _men who attack_, who fall
with impetuosity on their enemies, which renders very well the force of
the term. Symmachus translates it βιαίοι, _violent men_, cruel, whose
only rule of action is violence. Scripture sometimes calls giants
Rephaim: Chedorlaomer beat the Rephaim at Ashteroth-Karnaim. The Emim,
ancient inhabitants of Moab, were of a gigantic stature, that is,
Rephaim. The Rephaim and the Perizzites are connected as old inhabitants
of Canaan. The Rephaim in some parts of Scripture signify spirits in the
invisible world, in a state of misery. Job says that the ancient Rephaim
groan under the waters; and Solomon, that the ways of a loose woman lead
to the Rephaim; that he who deviates from the ways of wisdom, shall
dwell in the assembly of Rephaim, that is, in hell, Prov. ii, 18; iv,
18; xxi, 16, &c; Gen. xiv, 5; Deut. ii, 11, 20; iii, 11, 13; Joshua xii,
4; xiii, 12; Job xxvi, 5. The Anakim, or the sons of Anak, were the most
famous giants of Palestine. They dwelt at Hebron and thereabouts. The
Israelites sent to view the promised land reported, that, in comparison,
they themselves were but grasshoppers, Num. xiii, 33.
2. As to the existence of giants, several writers, both ancient and
modern, have thought that the giants of Scripture were men famous for
violence and crime, rather than for strength or stature. But it cannot
be denied, that there have been races of men of a stature much above
that common at present; although their size has often been absurdly
magnified. The ancients considered persons whose stature exceeded seven
feet as gigantic. Living giants have certainly been seen who were
somewhat taller; but the existence of those who greatly surpassed it, or
were double the height, has been inferred only from remains discovered
in the earth, but not from the ocular testimony of credible witnesses.
Were we to admit what has been reported on the subject, there would be
no bounds to the dimensions of giants; the earth would seem unsuitable
for them to tread upon. History, however, acquaints us that, in the
reign of Claudius, a giant named Galbara, ten feet high was brought to
Rome from the coast of Africa. An instance is cited by Goropius, an
author with whom we are otherwise unacquainted, of a female of equal
stature. A certain Greek sophist, Proæresius, is said to have been nine
feet in height. Julius Capitolinus affirms that Maximinian, the Roman
emperor was eight feet and a half; there was a Swede, one of the life
guards of Frederick the Great, of that size. M. Le Cat speaks of a giant
exhibited at Rouen, measuring eight feet and some inches; and we believe
some have been seen in this country, within the last thirty years, whose
stature was not inferior. In Plott’s “History of Staffordshire,” there
is an instance of a man of seven feet and a half high, and another, in
Thoresby’s account of Leeds, of seven feet five inches high. Examples
may be found elsewhere of several individuals seven feet in height,
below which, after the opinion of the ancients, we may cease to consider
men gigantic. Entire families sometimes, though rarely, occur of six
feet four, or six feet six inches high. From all this we may conclude,
that there may have possibly been seen some solitary instances of men
who were ten feet in height; that those of eight feet are extremely
uncommon, and that even six feet and a half far exceeds the height of
men in Europe. We may reasonably understand that the gigantic nations of
Canaan were above the average size of other people, with instances among
them of several families of gigantic stature. This is all that is
necessary to suppose, in order to explain the account of Moses; but the
notion that men have gradually degenerated in size has no foundation.
There is no evidence whatever, that the modern tribes of mankind have
thus degenerated. The catacombs of ancient Egypt and Palestine; the
cenotaph, if it be truly such, in the great pyramid; the tomb of
Alexander the Great, are all calculated for bodies of ordinary
dimensions. The truth is still more satisfactorily established from the
mummies which are yet withdrawn from their receptacles in Egypt, and the
caverns of the Canary Islands. In the most ancient sepulchres of
Britain, those apparently anterior to the introduction of Christianity,
no remains are discovered which indicate the larger stature of the
inhabitants than our own. In every part of the world domestic implements
and personal ornaments, many centuries old, are obtained from tombs,
from bogs and mosses, or those cities overwhelmed by volcanic eruptions,
which would be ill adapted to a gigantic race of ancestors.
beats and bears down other men. Scripture speaks of giants before the
flood: “Nephilim, mighty men who were of old, men of renown,” Gen. vi,
4. Aquila translates nephilim, ἐπιπίπτοντες, _men who attack_, who fall
with impetuosity on their enemies, which renders very well the force of
the term. Symmachus translates it βιαίοι, _violent men_, cruel, whose
only rule of action is violence. Scripture sometimes calls giants
Rephaim: Chedorlaomer beat the Rephaim at Ashteroth-Karnaim. The Emim,
ancient inhabitants of Moab, were of a gigantic stature, that is,
Rephaim. The Rephaim and the Perizzites are connected as old inhabitants
of Canaan. The Rephaim in some parts of Scripture signify spirits in the
invisible world, in a state of misery. Job says that the ancient Rephaim
groan under the waters; and Solomon, that the ways of a loose woman lead
to the Rephaim; that he who deviates from the ways of wisdom, shall
dwell in the assembly of Rephaim, that is, in hell, Prov. ii, 18; iv,
18; xxi, 16, &c; Gen. xiv, 5; Deut. ii, 11, 20; iii, 11, 13; Joshua xii,
4; xiii, 12; Job xxvi, 5. The Anakim, or the sons of Anak, were the most
famous giants of Palestine. They dwelt at Hebron and thereabouts. The
Israelites sent to view the promised land reported, that, in comparison,
they themselves were but grasshoppers, Num. xiii, 33.
2. As to the existence of giants, several writers, both ancient and
modern, have thought that the giants of Scripture were men famous for
violence and crime, rather than for strength or stature. But it cannot
be denied, that there have been races of men of a stature much above
that common at present; although their size has often been absurdly
magnified. The ancients considered persons whose stature exceeded seven
feet as gigantic. Living giants have certainly been seen who were
somewhat taller; but the existence of those who greatly surpassed it, or
were double the height, has been inferred only from remains discovered
in the earth, but not from the ocular testimony of credible witnesses.
Were we to admit what has been reported on the subject, there would be
no bounds to the dimensions of giants; the earth would seem unsuitable
for them to tread upon. History, however, acquaints us that, in the
reign of Claudius, a giant named Galbara, ten feet high was brought to
Rome from the coast of Africa. An instance is cited by Goropius, an
author with whom we are otherwise unacquainted, of a female of equal
stature. A certain Greek sophist, Proæresius, is said to have been nine
feet in height. Julius Capitolinus affirms that Maximinian, the Roman
emperor was eight feet and a half; there was a Swede, one of the life
guards of Frederick the Great, of that size. M. Le Cat speaks of a giant
exhibited at Rouen, measuring eight feet and some inches; and we believe
some have been seen in this country, within the last thirty years, whose
stature was not inferior. In Plott’s “History of Staffordshire,” there
is an instance of a man of seven feet and a half high, and another, in
Thoresby’s account of Leeds, of seven feet five inches high. Examples
may be found elsewhere of several individuals seven feet in height,
below which, after the opinion of the ancients, we may cease to consider
men gigantic. Entire families sometimes, though rarely, occur of six
feet four, or six feet six inches high. From all this we may conclude,
that there may have possibly been seen some solitary instances of men
who were ten feet in height; that those of eight feet are extremely
uncommon, and that even six feet and a half far exceeds the height of
men in Europe. We may reasonably understand that the gigantic nations of
Canaan were above the average size of other people, with instances among
them of several families of gigantic stature. This is all that is
necessary to suppose, in order to explain the account of Moses; but the
notion that men have gradually degenerated in size has no foundation.
There is no evidence whatever, that the modern tribes of mankind have
thus degenerated. The catacombs of ancient Egypt and Palestine; the
cenotaph, if it be truly such, in the great pyramid; the tomb of
Alexander the Great, are all calculated for bodies of ordinary
dimensions. The truth is still more satisfactorily established from the
mummies which are yet withdrawn from their receptacles in Egypt, and the
caverns of the Canary Islands. In the most ancient sepulchres of
Britain, those apparently anterior to the introduction of Christianity,
no remains are discovered which indicate the larger stature of the
inhabitants than our own. In every part of the world domestic implements
and personal ornaments, many centuries old, are obtained from tombs,
from bogs and mosses, or those cities overwhelmed by volcanic eruptions,
which would be ill adapted to a gigantic race of ancestors.