The Biblical Giant Race Called the Anak
The race of giants called Anakim, so named from their stature or their strength, were the descendants of Arba, and dwelt at Hebron, according to Joshua xv. 13, and xxi. 11; and they were variously described as the sons of Anak, the descendants of Anak, and the sons of Anakim. The name of Anak is considered to be that of a race and not that of an individual. They were divided into three tribes, bearing the names of Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai respectively. Their stature appears to have much alarmed the spies sent by Moses into Canaan; who upon their return related that all the people whom they saw in the land were " men of a great stature. 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." (Numbers xiii. 32, 33.) The names of those giants became proverbial with the Israelites, as we learn from Deuteronomy ix. 2: "A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, who can stand before the children of Anak?" They were, however, utterly dispersed by Joshua; and only a small remnant found refuge in Gaza, Grath, and Ashdod. Their chief city became the possession of Caleb, and after this time they appear to have died out of Biblical narrative.
