What Giants Do You Fight?

The land of Canaan spawned Philistine giants.

When spies from Israel were first sent into the land, they returned after forty days with tales of giants. “The land . . . is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 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” (Numbers 13:32, 33). David had met Goliath on the field of battle and slain him.

During a subsequent battle with the Philistines, Sibbechai the Hushathite killed Saph, also the son of a giant (2 Samuel 21:18). Facing them must have been intimidating.

Their towering height gave them an advantage, and the longer reach of their arms also favored them during hand-to-hand combat.

They were also stronger than the average warrior.

These were truly intimidating warriors, wielding massive weaponry. Now another battle took place between the Israelites and the Philistines.

This one likely occurred near Gezer, “a strongly fortified bastion overlooking the Philistine plain about 7 mi. (11.2 km.) northeast of Ekron, near the Valley of Aijalon.” The account given in 2 Samuel 21 states the battle took place near Gob, but that town had probably already been eclipsed by the larger nearby town of Gezer when the same battle was recorded in 1 Chronicles 20:4. In this battle, Lahmi, the brother of Goliath, was slain by Elhanan of Bethlehem, the son of Jaare-oregim (v. 5). Another giant from Gath was also present in this battle.

He possessed six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—a total of twenty-four digits. David’s nephew Jonathan (v. 7; 1 Samuel 16:9), son of Shimeah, killed this warrior (2 Samuel 21:21). In four separate battles, four giants from Gath fell before David or his kinsmen. While we may not fight physical giants, we are nevertheless in a giant struggle against evil.

“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).