Noah's flood and Giants [closed]

Question

What is the biblical bases for giants living through Noah's flood?

Before flood:

Genesis 6:4 KJV

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

After flood:

1 Chronicles 20:8 KJV

These were born unto the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

Numbers 13:33 KJV

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.

Joshua 15:8 KJV

And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom unto the south side of the Jebusite; the same is Jerusalem: and the border went up to the top of the mountain that lieth before the valley of Hinnom westward, which is at the end of the valley of the giants northward:

Answer 1

This is a good question. I would assert that just because there were giants both before and after the flood does not necessitate that giants survived the flood. In fact, the Bible indicates that there was a drastic reduction in lifespan after the flood. It is possible that other things were different as well, including average height. So, a giant before the flood would have been noticeably taller than the average height before the flood, and a giant after the flood would have been noticeably taller than the average height after the flood. However, what may have been considered a giant after the flood may have been average before the flood.

This is speculation, to be sure, but it should at least be considered a possibility, and there is at least some evidence that makes this feasible. The largest human skeleton ever found is known as The Giant of Castelnau, who was apparently 11'6". Goliath is estimated to have been around 9'6". So, Goliath would have been small compared to this guy and would have been relegated to playing point guard on the team.

Noah himself could have been very tall, having grown up in the pre-flood environment, which may have been a much healthier place to live. He may have even been a giant himself, albeit from a race different than the Nephilim.

In any case, it is certainly feasible that there was a race of giants that merely arose after the flood and did not survive the flood. The genetic makeup for large humans was present prior to the flood. Perhaps Noah and his family contained these genes as well, but perhaps they were recessive.

So, there are a few possible explanations for this that do not necessitate giants surviving the flood.

Answer 2

Nephilim and Rephaim

The problem suggested by the selected texts may be resolved for biblical literalists by noting the English word ‘giants’ is used to translate two different Hebrew words:

1. נָפִיל (Nephilim, H5303) appears in just two passages. Gen.6:1-4 describes the Nephilim “in those days, and after” as being offspring of the ‘sons of God’ (angels?) and human women; they were the “mighty men” of old, “men of renown.” Num.13:25-33 records that the Hebrew spies reported to Moses that Canaan was too strong to be attacked; when Caleb urged them forward, the spies added the “evil report” that the land was filled with large men and Nephilim, apparently a false report as they were not mentioned again.

2. רְפָאִים (Rephaim, H7497) occurs 25 times, often referring to an apparently legendary tribe in Canaan and the Transjordan known for their great size. Stories were told of Moses and David killing individual Rephaites in battle, including King Og of Bashan whose gigantic iron bed (ironstone sarcophagus?) could apparently still be seen. The word also appears in place-names thought associated with the tribe, and it also referred to 'shades' of deceased great persons thought to have healing power (in Modern Hebrew the word means ‘ghosts’ or ‘spirits’).

Within the biblical story, then, one may hold that Noah and his family alone (no giants) survived the flood given: 1.) the Hebrew spies who reported seeing Nephilim in Canaan appear to have been lying, and 2.) the giants later slain by Hebrew heroes were not Nephilim but Rephaim. The giant Nephilim of Noah’s day seem to have disappeared in the flood.

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BONUS MATERIAL: Extra-biblical Hebrew traditions tell more stories about Nephilim. King Og (described in Deut.3:11 as the last of the Rephaim) was said to have lived since the time of Noah and survived the flood in a special compartment in the Ark, or alternatively, sitting on top of it! Apocryphal texts hold that Sodom was once peopled by Nephilim, the result of sexual relations between angels and Sodom’s women (not the men of the biblical story), prompting God to destroy the city. It is unknown whether tales of Nephilim and Rephaim preserve separate or a single mythic tradition, or perhaps a real cultural memory of a person with gigantism.

Also, suggestions (elsewhere on this page) that Noah was himself a giant contradict the mythic type. Similar to other cultures, in the Bible giants were either the sinful product of a violation of the 'orders of creation' or Israel's archetypal out-sized enemies, neither being Hebrew hero material. The suggestion that Noah unknowingly carried a genetic mutation for a giant 'race' misunderstands the medical condition and attempts to explain scientifically clearly mythic figures.

Answer 3

Basically there is one simple explaination, which is not expressed plainly biblically, but that makes sense logically.

If you had giants before the flood, and you had giants after the flood, and nobody survived the flood but Noah and his family, this means that probably Noah and his family where giants too, like everybody else in their time.

Now, this sounds unlikely, but it is the only answer that makes sense genetically talking, considering true all the previous presuppositions (giants before the flood, giants after the flood and Noah and his family the only ones still alive after the flood). Noah had to have giant genetic information in order for his offspring to have it too.

Under this idea, it could be (it is hypotetical, of course) that human beings grew shorter in time, as happened to other species, while all those who still kept the genetic traits died in time without leaving a substancial offspring that reached our days.

Consider for instance, small horses (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniature_horse, about 80cm tall) compared to normal size horses (in avg 220cm tall), to see how this could actually be possible for human beings as well.

Answer 4

The fact that the Nephilim of Genesis 6 and the large men of Gath, Anak, and Himmon all translate into English as 'Giants' is merely coincidence.

The nature of the Nephilim is highly disputed. Indeed, many translations call them 'sons of God,' or mention an angelic like race.

In the later instances, the term 'giant' is clearly human in origin, and merely reflects that the individuals were large.

There is no other connection, and thus no need to posit any sort of continuation off the ark but through the flood in order for it to "fit."