There Be Giants – Part 2
In high school, on my basketball team, we had two sisters who were 6’2” and the other was 6’3”. At that time, these sisters were considered to be giants. I remember walking on the court as the visiting team and seeing the faces of our opponents drop when these sisters stepped on the court. It was nice to be on their team and not have to play against them in a real game because practice with them was quite enough!
As it relates to giants in the Bible, we probably think first about Goliath the giant in 1 Samuel 17 whom David killed with a slingshot and stone. This story has been recounted throughout history and used innumerable times to encourage underdogs when facing giants of all types.
While we might love the story of David killing Goliath, it’s interesting to consider that Goliath wasn’t the only giant in his family. Indeed, in 1 Chronicles 20:4-6 and 2 Samuel 21:15-22, we read about Goliath’s brother and relatives who were giants in their own ways – all from the city of Gath. In the 2 Samuel verses, we learn that there were four giants who were offspring or relatives of Goliath. One of these giants had six digits on each and foot, totaling for twenty-four toes and fingers. The names of the other giants mentioned in these verses are: Ishbi-benob, Saph and Lahmi (Goliath’s brother).
Just because David killed Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 doesn’t mean that there weren’t other giants who were enemies to Israel. Indeed, in 2 Samuel 21:15-16, we read, “Now when the Philistines were at war again with Israel, David went down and his servants with him; and as they fought against the Philistines, David became weary. 16 Then Ishbi-benob, who was among the descendants of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of bronze in weight, was girded with a new sword, and he intended to kill David.” Thankfully, one of David’s warriors intervened and killed Ishbi-benob and Israel wisely decided to stop the aging King David from going out to battle after this really scary exchange.
It's interesting to consider that David faced a giant in the early days of his life as well as another giant toward the end of his life – kind of like bookends of a sort. Furthermore, the giants that fought against Israel weren’t only large, but they had some noteworthy physical deformities that could press the intimidation factor even more.
As for our own lives, we each face giants in various ways. We may not face actual physical giants, but stuff that intimidates us, makes us afraid, causes us to freeze or run away, these kinds of things can be giants to us. And similar to David, just because we defeat a giant or have victory over something sizable that intimates us, this doesn’t mean that we won’t face a similar giant in the future.
Let’s also observe that the people who killed the giant relatives of Goliath were also relatives or close associates of David. In thinking about this, let’s encourage our friends and family members to kill giants, overcome the stuff that’s overpowering or intimating to them! It’s possible that giant killing could be infectious!