W. of the Jordan, the Av\'im were near Gaza at a very early period (Dt 2^). The repha m. are mentioned along with the Kenite, the Hittite, tiie Perizzlte, the Amorite, etc. (Gn 15-°), as in the land, apparently, in Abraham's time. The Anakim are not mentione<l by name in connexion with this early period, but we are told that ' Sarah died in the city of Arba, which is Hebron, in the land of Canaan ' (Gn 23-) ; and tli.at ' Jacob came to Isa.ac, his father, to Mamre, tlie city of tlie Arba, which is Hebron ' (Gn .35-'). Evidently, the writer of these .statements held that the city was called by the name of Arba in the lime of Jacob and of Abraham. It follows that he held that the Anakim were already there, for Arba ' was the great man among the Anakim ' (Jos 14"). And from Nu 13-'- it is dillicult to avoid the con- clusion that it was the Anakim who built Hebron ' seven years before Zoan of Egypt.'
2. History of the Giant Peoples. — If what h.as been said is true, we are to think of them as widely spread in Pal., on both sides of the Jordan, as early as the time of Abraham. They are expressly said to have jjreceded the Caiihtorite Philistines, cbe Ammonites, the Moabites, the Edomites, the Israelites ; it is not said whether they preceded the Can. peoples. Some affirm them
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to have been the aborifjines of Palestine. This is not in itself improbable, and it is perhaps con- firmed by what we know of their characteristics. In particular, the name Horite is supposed to denote a cave-dweller, and if we regard the Hor- ites as rcphaim, this is an argument of some weif;ht.
Not all scholars accept the opinion stated above, that the Anakim and other rephaim were AV. of the Jordan in Abraham's time. There is a theory that these were immigrants from the rephaim E. of the Jordan, after the invasion by the four kings ; but this lacks confirmation. It is said, further, that the Anakim cannot early have liad their seats W. of the Jordan, because the country was then in the possession of other peoples. But, as we shall presently see, the rephaim lived among other peoples during most of tlieir known liistorj'.
As another objection, one might plausibly say that Arba was the father of Anak, and the three chiefs whom Caleb conquered were sons of Anak, and therefore the Anakite possession dated back only to the generation before the Exodus. But this inference is based entirely on the inexactnesses of translations. Arba is not said to liave been the father of Anak, but ' the fathei of the Anak ' (Jos 15"), 'the father of the Anok' (Jos 21"). The article here makes a difference. Arba is not said to be tlie father of some person named Anak or Anok, but the father of the Anak stock. This is another way of saying that lie was ' the great man among the Anakim ' (Jos 14"). Again, Sheshai and Ahiman and Talinai are not said to have been the children of a person called Anak, but 'the children of tlie Anak' (Nu 1,3--, Jos l.^)'<), and 'the three sons of the Anak'(Jg 1-"). In otlier words, Arba was thought of as the greatest man commemorated in the traditions of the Anakim, and in that sense the father of the Anakim ; and the three chiefs were the greatest living leaders of the Anakim. There is notliing here to disprove the antiquity of the Anakim. See further Moore, Jiidrjes, p. 24.
The rephaim seem to have had strong local attachments. Once in a locality, they remained there, unless they were wholly extirpated. After many centuries ftloses, and Joshua, and .lair, and Caleb found Og in the old seats of tlie Rephaim, and the tribesmen of Arba at the city of Arba, and the Horite still living in Seir, though incor- porated among the Edomites. Yet more marked seems to have been the persistence of the Avviiii in the Pliil. country (Dt 2^). The Caphtorira had destroyed tliem, but tliey were still there in the time of Joshua (Jos 13^), and survived his con- quests. Presumably, tliey are to be identified with the Anakim who were left in Gaza, in Gatli, and in Aslidod, the name Anakim being here used generically (Jos 11"). Presumably, Goliath and the other giants of David's time came of this stock.
3. The Giants in theih Hiclations to other Peoples. — The diction of OT, when it speaks of the giant peoples, has a marked peculiarity which is not preserved in the EV ; the gentilic name is always used in the plur., not in the sing, as in the case of other peoples. For example, we have ' the Gazite and the Ashdodite, tlie .Vslikelonite, the Gittite, and tlie Ekronite, and the Avvites' (Jos 13') ; ' the Hiltite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaites (better, rephaim), and the Amorite' (Gn 15-"). Curiously, the names Caphtoriin and Peli.shtim follow the same u.sage with those of the giant peoples, 'the Philistine never occurring in the singular to denote the people, but only to denote some individual. If the Horites were ciants, their name is exceptional, ' the Horite ' being the designation commonly used.