Who are the Anakim?
The Anakim were descendants from their ancestor named Anak, whose home area was the town of Hebron. The town of Hebron was also known as Kiriath-arba, Arba being the father of Anak, described as the greatest man among the Anakim, “According to the commandment of the LORD to Joshua, he gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh a portion among the people of Judah, Kiriath-arba, that is Hebron (Arba was the father of Anak).” (Josh 14:12,15, 15:13-14, 21:11).
The height of the Anakim was legendary, and used as a standard with which to emphasise the size of other peoples, “The Emin - a large and numerous people, as tall as the Anakim - had formerly inhabited it (Moab). Like the Anakim, they are usually reckoned as Rephaim, though the Moabites call them Emim” (Deut 2:11). The land of the Ammonites is described as the land of Rephaim. “Rephaim formerly inhabited it, thought the Ammonites call them the Zamzummim, a strong and numerous people, as tall as the Anakim” (Deut 3:20-21).
The height of these people understandably created fear among the Israelites. Moses recalled this when the people grumbled after the return of the twelve spies, “Our kindred have made our hearts melt by reporting, ‘ The people are stronger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified up to heaven! We actually saw there the offspring of the Anakim!’” (Deut 1:28).
Moses warns the Israelites that they are about to enter the land of a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, reminding them of a saying, “Who can stand against the sons of Anak?” (Deut 9:2).
The Nephilim
The word ‘nephilim’ in Hebrew means ‘giants’ (Strongs 5303). This word is only used twice in the OT. The first is in the difficult passage in Gen 6, about the sons of God and the daughters of men, “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days - and also afterward - when the sons of God went in to the daughters of men, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown” (Gen 6:4). An explanation in the Book of Numbers later states that the Anakites come from the Nephilim (Num 13:33).
The war of the kings
In the war of the kings, the Rephaim in Asheroth-karnaim were one of the groups subdued by Chedorlaomer and the four kings from the east (Gen 14:5). Their land was promised to Abraham (Gen 15:20).
The twelve spies
The twelve spies reported seeing three descendants of Anak (or Nephilim). They felt as grasshoppers before them, “There we saw the Nephilim (The Anakites come from the Nephilim); and to ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them” (Num 13:33).
King Og of Bashan
King Og of Bashan in the transjordan was the last remaining of the remnant of the Rephaim (Josh 13:12). He slept in a bedstead of iron, nine cubits (4 m, 13 feet) long and four cubits (1.8 m, 6 feet) wide, which could be seen in Rabbah of the Ammonites (Deut 3:11). He ruled at Ashtaroth and at Edrei and ruled over Mount Hermon and Salecah and all Bashan to the boundary of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and over half of Gilead to the boundary of King Sihon of Heshbon, and was defeated by Moses and the Israelites (Josh 12:4, 13:12). The land of Bashan was also known as the land of the Rephaim.
Joshua
Joshua wiped the Anakim out of the hill country, utterly destroying them. However some escaped to the cities of the Philistines (Josh 11:21-22). Caleb was given the land of Judah, including Hebron, and drove out the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai (Josh 15:14, Judges 1:20).
David
The valley of Rephaim formed the boundary between Judah and Benjamin (Josh 15:8, 18:16), where later David fought the Philistines (2 Sam 5:18,22). The cave of Adullam, where David and his thirty men hid, was near the camp of the Philistines in the valley of Rephaim (2 Sam 23:13, 1 Chr 11:15). One of the Philistines, Ishbi-benob, was one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed 300 shekels (about 3.5 kg) of bronze (2 Sam 21:16,18). Another was Goliath the Gittite whose spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam (2 Sam 21:19, 1 Chr 20:5). Another man of great size from Gath had six fingers on each hand and foot was descended from the giants (2 Sam 21:20, 1 Chr 20:6).
Philistines
The Rephaim appears to have lost their separate existence among the Philistines. Perhaps Goliath also was a descendent of the Anakim, now living with the Philistines. His height was six cubits (2.7 m or 9 feet) (1 Sam 17:4). In the Septuagint (LXX) version Jeremiah's prophecy against the Philistines he addresses them as the remnant of the Anakim (Jer 47:5 = 29:5 in LXX).