Is there any evidence for the giants mentioned in the Bible?
Giants are mentioned in the Bible in several places (e.g., Genesis 6:4 ; Joshua 12:4 ). Og, king of Bashan ( Deuteronomy 3:11 ); the intimidating people in Canaan reported by Moses’ spies ( Numbers 13:30–33 ); Goliath ( 2 Samuel 21:19 ); and the Anakites ( Deuteronomy 9:1–2 ) are all examples of giants in Scripture. The Bible’s references to giants have led some people to seek further evidence of giants, sometimes lending credence to sensationalistic theories and unfounded claims. Various giant myths exist the world over. Nearly every culture has ancient tales of giant (usually human-like) creatures that terrorize villages and require heroic effort to subdue. Could these stories be vague remembrances of actual history? If so, most are colossally exaggerated. The “giants” of the Bible were not the giants of myth—forty-foot colossi who sat on houses and picked their teeth with elm trees. The giants of the Bible were tall— Goliath was maybe nine or ten feet in height—but ...