No wonder they were grasshoppers in their sight: The Very Large
By Elizabeth Prata
Numbers 13:33 says, There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.
The Nephilim were a race of antediluvian giants. GotQuestions says,
The Anakim/Anakites were a formidable race of giant, warlike people (Deuteronomy 2:10, 21; 9:2) who occupied the lands of southern Israel near Hebron before the arrival of the Israelites (Joshua 15:13). The Anakim’s ancestry has been traced back to Anak, the son of Arba (Joshua 15:13; 21:11), who at that time was regarded as the “greatest man among the Anakim” (Joshua 14:15).
The name “Anakim” most likely means “long-necked,” i.e., “tall.” The Hebrews thought them to be descendants of the Nephilim, a powerful race who dominated the pre-Flood world (Genesis 6:4; Numbers 13:33). When the twelve Israelite spies returned from exploring the Promised Land, they gave a frightening report of “people great and tall” whom they identified as the sons of Anak (Deuteronomy 9:2). The Israelites, seized with fear and believing themselves to be mere “grasshoppers . . . in their sight” (Numbers 13:33), rebelled against God (Deuteronomy 1:26-28) and refused to enter the land God had promised them.
Other vestiges of large peoples are sprinkled in the Old Testament. Taking the a Hebrew measurement of a cubit being about 17.5 inches and converting it,
Goliath: (1 Samuel 17) was 9’9″.
The Egyptian was 5 cubits, or 7’2″. (1 Chronicles 11:23- He had also struck down an Egyptian, an impressive man, five cubits tall. Now in the Egyptian’s hand was a spear like a weaver’s beam, but he went down to him with a club and snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.)
Og King of Bashan (Deuteronomy 3:11- “For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bedstead was an iron bedstead; it is in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. Its length was nine cubits, and its width four cubits by ordinary cubit”). King Og’s bed was 13″, so we can assume the King was around 11 or 12 feet tall.
To put it into visual perspective, let’s take a look at what the world calls “The Tallest Man Who Ever Lived”: Robert Wadlow. (American, 1918-1940). Wadlow’s height was 8 ft 11.1 in. And Goliath and King Og of Bashan were taller than this!
No wonder the spies were scared and seemed like grasshoppers in the giants’ sight! They seemed invincible.
But if God is with you, all things are possible. The seemingly impregnable walls of Jericho fell down flat. The huge Assyrian army 185,000 strong were all killed overnight by the angel of the Lord. The King of Aram’s army was not along but was surrounded by God’s military forces. The mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
It is a shame that the world consults the Guinness book instead of THE Book for verification of the tallest people who ever lived. There is no more sure word than God’s word.
Speaking of very large things, did you know the reproduction of the Ark in Kentucky at the Ark Encounter is the largest free standing timber structure in the world? If you consult Google with that question, the Ark in Kentucky won’t come up. But it is the biggest: The Ark Encounter, the world’s largest timber-frame structure, is seven stories tall and 1.5 football fields in length – 510’ long, 85’ wide, and 54’ high (based upon the Egyptian cubit of 20.4”).
The New Jerusalem recorded in Revelation is a huge city. It is said in the Bible to be ‘12,000 stadia’, which equals 1,400 miles in length, width, and height (Revelation 21:15-16). Scripture says that the dimensions are given in “human measurement” (Revelation 21:17). A city that big if plopped in the middle of the United States, would cover from Canada to Mexico and from the Appalachian Mountains to the California border. So, most of America. Most of Australia, too, if you overlaid the dimensions on that continent.
Trust the Bible. Even something we read seems outlandish and hard to believe, the dimensions given for the people, animals, structures in the Bible are true and good.
Today we looked at the very large. Tomorrow: let’s look at the very small. 🙂
