What the Heck is an Anakim? And Why Were the People so Afraid of Them?
Today’s Verse
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”(1 John 4:18 ESV).
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob received the covenant promise of God. He would bring them into their own land, and they would be under God Most High’s protection as His special people. God promised the Patriarchs that someday their ancestors would come back to the land of Canaan to possess it as their own, forever.
The ancient Hebrews
In the book of Exodus, we saw how God took the Hebrews on a wilderness journey where they encountered many trials - times of testing, teaching, and miracles. God gave the people ten overarching Laws in Genesis 20 - the Ten Commandments - in order for the people to understand how to live with a Holy God, and as a holy people (sacred, holy, Holy One, saint, set apart). We are all saints of God.
“For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.”(Leviticus 11:44a ESV).
God then broke down those laws into more detailed rules for the community. More than 613 rules for living are found in the book of Leviticus, the third of the five books of the Jewish Torah (the Torah - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
God wanted His chosen people to live differently. In Deuteronomy 32 - a division took place (centuries before Israel was even named), just before God called Abraham, and right after the dispersion at the Tower of Babel.
The 70 nations became the pagan nations after Babel, and they each worshipped their own “gods,” the ones assigned to the nations (because of their rebellion) by God Most High.
In the farewell song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32, he recalled to the people this ancient event when God divided the nations, and declared He would make a nation for himself: “The Lord’s portion is His people.” This nation would become known as Israel.
“Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations;
ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
But the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob [Israel] his allotted heritage. “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.” (Deuteronomy 32:7-8 ESV).
As the people got ready to enter their promised land, the 12 spies brought back conflicting news. The land was indeed full of amazing beauty and food, but they also saw the Anakim. This made them so afraid that they rebelled against God, and refused to take possession of the land during that generation.
Who are the Anakim and why are they so scary?
“Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”’(Deuteronomy 1:28 ESV).
For some reason, our Bibles have obfuscated the significance of the Anakim. Historical records have scant evidence of their existence, but they did exist as shown by textual testimony and archeological evidence.
The Anakim were “very tall.”
“Like the Anakim they are also counted as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim.”(Deuteronomy 2:11 ESV).
When Israel spied the land, there were Anakim giants living there. No wonder they were afraid. These “people” were known by many names, including Nephilim.
“And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”(Deuteronomy 2:11 ESV).
Only Joshua and Caleb had enough faith in God Most High that He would destroy these giants. When the next generation entered into the land, all the wars that took place were to rid the world of the giants and the evil created by the 70 gods of the rebellion.
Genesis 6:4 ~ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
Numbers 13:33 ~ And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
Deuteronomy 1:28 ~ Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”’
Deuteronomy 3:11 ~ (For only Og the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, according to the common cubit.)
2 Samuel 21:18 ~ After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants.
Deuteronomy 2:21 ~ A people great and many, and tall as the Anakim; but the Lord destroyed them before the Ammonites, and they dispossessed them and settled in their place.
I get it now
Often we can’t understand the human component of scripture until we learn about the context at the time. The land was full of what?? Giants! That would naturally scare the beegeebies out of all of us. And the Hebrews had only been with God a few years when they first spied out the land.
They had seen many miracles, and they should have known that God was going to take care of them; He promised He would, and His power was no match for these puny giants. But they trusted in their own strength - or lack of it- instead. And they knew - in human strength - they would be killed. Which is exactly what happened when they tried to go into the land without from God’s blessing.
It all comes down to faith
We can easily judge the cowardly acts of the Hebrews - looking at it safely from our vantage point. We can also feel sympathy for their lack of faith. They just didn’t fully believe yet that God would take care of them. Their lack of faith had more to do with their own fickleness towards God than any lack of evidence, or care on God’s part.
In our own lives, I think it’s good to consider how big our God really is. Can He take care of all our needs as He claims?
“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”(Philippians 4:19 ESV).
Today as we face our own brand of giants, these examples of our ancient brothers and sisters serves as a reminder of how God wants to protect and provide. He wants to give us what we need. We are His people as much as the ancient Hebrews. We are His beloved children. How blessed we are when we have faith in the God who can tear down every obstacle, and destroy every evil influence in our lives.He created everything! He can certainly handle our needs.
As a person with a relationship with God Most High, we are a Holy and sacred people. God’s eye is on us. His hand covers us. His will is going forth to make our paths straight. As long as we remain faithful to Him, we can rest in His love and care for us, for He is always faithful.
The giants may scare us, but we have a God that is way more powerful and scary than any puny created thing. This is the God Abraham served. This is our God Most High.
Tomorrow we will explore more about these giants…
Verses to Explore
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace…”Ephesians 1:7 ESV).
Today’s Prayer
Father, we all face things in our lives that are out of our control or capability. We lay all of this at your feet and ask for guidance and courage. We ask that you show us the direction we are to go. And we pray that you slam shut all wrong paths. Don’t even let us peek into them. Just close them off so that we aren’t tempted to go in the wrong direction. Give us divine wisdom always. Help us to have the faith and receive the rest you have promised. We know we will face troubles, but you have overcome them all on our behalf. We are your children and today we look to you for a fatherly hand of blessing and grace. Thank you for more than we can even name. You have given us everything we need for life and holiness. Amen. All honor and glory are yours.❤️
