Giants in the Bible: Offspring of the Watchers and Human Women
1. Origins of the Giants in Genesis 6
The earliest biblical account of giants appears in Genesis 6:1–4, where “the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were attractive, and they took as their wives any they chose.” From this forbidden union came the Nephilim, mighty men of old, men of renown. The Septuagint translates Nephilim as γίγαντες, a word that connects the biblical story to the larger ancient world’s myths of monstrous offspring.
The narrative is brief, yet monumental. It tells us:
The Watchers (fallen heavenly beings) descended and took human wives.
Their offspring were giants—hybrid beings of supernatural origin.
Their violence and corruption provoked God’s judgment through the Flood (Genesis 6:5–7).
This foundation shapes later traditions: giants were never viewed as ordinary tall men but as a race born of rebellion, embodying spiritual defiance against God’s created order.
2. The Giants in Canaan
When Israel prepared to enter the Promised Land, reports of giants reappeared. The spies declared, “We saw the Nephilim there... and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers” (Numbers 13:33). The Anakim, descendants of the giants, lived near Hebron (Deuteronomy 1:28; 9:2). The Rephaim, Emim, and Zamzummim were also remembered as giant clans (Deuteronomy 2:10–11, 20–21).
These groups are consistently tied to Canaanite strongholds. The conquest narratives emphasize that Israel’s struggle was not merely political or military but spiritual: Yahweh was defeating the remnants of a demonic seed line opposed to His covenant people. Joshua 11:21–22 tells us that Joshua cut off the Anakim from the hill country, though some remained in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod—the same region from which Goliath would later arise (1 Samuel 17:4).
3. The Watchers and the Book of Enoch
The story of the giants is expanded in 1 Enoch, an ancient Jewish text preserved among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Here, the Watchers are named, and their transgression is described in detail. They not only fathered giants but also taught humanity forbidden knowledge—sorcery, astrology, and weapons of war. The giants, massive in size, consumed everything and then turned against humanity, spreading bloodshed across the earth.
In 1 Enoch 7, the giants are described as devouring all the produce of men, then men themselves, then each other. Their destruction was so complete that their spirits lingered as evil forces after their death, a tradition echoed in later Jewish thought and even in the New Testament (cf. Matthew 12:43).
This understanding helps explain why the Flood was necessary: not only was mankind corrupt, but the very genetic and spiritual fabric of creation was tainted by these rebellious unions.
4. Giants in Later Biblical Texts
Beyond Genesis and Joshua, the giants reappear in David’s time. Goliath of Gath, nearly ten feet tall, mocked Israel until David struck him down with a sling (1 Samuel 17). Yet Goliath was not alone. Second Samuel 21:15–22 and 1 Chronicles 20:4–8 describe several giant warriors from Gath, descendants of Rapha, each formidable in size and weaponry.
This ongoing presence of giants long after the Flood suggests:
Either some survived (as Jewish tradition often held),
Or the Watchers repeated their rebellion in smaller measure,
Or the giant clans were preserved in specific regions as divine judgment awaited them.
Psalm 68:21–23 pictures God crushing the heads of His enemies, imagery that recalls the crushing of monstrous foes like the giants. The giants, therefore, are woven into the broader biblical theme of God’s triumph over chaos, rebellion, and spiritual opposition.
5. Giants in the Greek Tradition and the Septuagint
The Greek term γίγαντες carried mythological weight. In Hesiod’s Theogony, the Giants were born of Uranus’ blood when he was castrated, monstrous beings who later fought the Olympian gods. Though distinct, the resonance between biblical Nephilim and Greek Gigantes is striking. Both traditions portray a hybrid race born from heaven and earth, rebellious and violent, whose defeat marks divine victory.
The Septuagint translators employed γίγαντες for Nephilim, Rephaim, and Anakim, consciously linking Israel’s memory of giants with a well-known Greek category. The effect was to underline that these beings were not normal humans but belonged to a category of primeval chaos, dangerous and opposed to God’s purposes.
6. Giants, Judgment, and the Gospel
The presence of giants highlights the cosmic dimension of salvation history. The giants were not simply tall warriors—they were symbols of rebellion, the offspring of angelic corruption and human weakness. Their existence raised the question of whether God’s creation could be restored.
The Flood answered that question in judgment, yet the final answer comes in Christ. Where giants once sought to dominate and corrupt, Jesus proclaimed victory over the powers and principalities (Colossians 2:15). The same spiritual forces behind the giants are now disarmed by the cross.
In eschatological hope, Revelation 20 pictures the final defeat of Satan and his forces. Just as the giants were crushed in the Flood and later by Israel’s armies, so the ultimate giant of rebellion will be destroyed at the end of the age. God’s people, once like grasshoppers in the eyes of the Nephilim, will inherit the kingdom, for Christ is the true conqueror.
7. Summary and Theological Significance
Giants in the Bible are the offspring of the Watchers and human women (Genesis 6).
They appear in Canaan under names like Nephilim, Rephaim, and Anakim.
Extra-biblical texts like 1 Enoch describe their violence and corruption.
They embody cosmic rebellion, not merely human strength.
Their destruction anticipates the greater victory of God in Christ over all spiritual enemies.
Thus, the giants are more than ancient curiosities; they represent the deep conflict between heaven and earth, rebellion and obedience, corruption and redemption. The Gospel proclaims that where giants once reigned in terror, the Son of Man reigns in victory.
Bible Verses on Giants and Spiritual Victory
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.”
Numbers 13:33 — “And there we saw the Nephilim... and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers.”
Deuteronomy 2:11 — “Like the Anakim they are also counted as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim.”
Joshua 11:21–22 — “Joshua cut off the Anakim... none were left in the land of the people of Israel.”
1 Samuel 17:4 — “And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.”
2 Samuel 21:22 — “These four were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.”
Psalm 68:21 — “God will strike the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.”
Jude 6 — “And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority... he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness.”
2 Peter 2:4 — “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into Tartarus...”
Revelation 20:10 — “And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur... and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
