Deuteronomy 9:2
Ver. 2. A people great and tall,.... Of a large bulky size, and of an high stature, so that the spies seemed to be as grasshoppers to them, Nu 13:33,
the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest; by report, having had an account of them by the spies, who described them as very large bodied men, and of a gigantic stature, the descendants of one Anak, a giant; and so the Targum of Jonathan,
"a people strong and high like the giants;''
from these Bene Anak, children of Anak, or Phene Anak, as the words might be pronounced, the initial letter of the first word being of the same sound, Bochart {z} thinks the country had its name of Phoenicia:
and of whom thou hast heard say, who can stand before the children, of Anak? or the children of the giants, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; which they had heard either from the spies who had suggested the same, Nu 13:31 or as a common proverb in the mouths of most people in those days.
{z} Canaan, l. 1. c. 1. col. 346.