Question:
How tall were the sons of the Anakims?
Answer:
Deuteronomy 1:28 says, “Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, THE PEOPLE IS GREATER AND TALLER THAN WE; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen THE SONS OF THE ANAKIMS there.” This verse states that the Anakims were TALLER than the children of Israel.
Deuteronomy 2:10,11 says, “The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and TALL, AS THE ANAKIMS; Which also were ACCOUNTED GIANTS, AS THE ANAKIMS; but the Moabites call them Emims.” These verses state, once again, that the Anakims were TALL, and that people considered them to be GIANTS.
Deuteronomy 2:20, 21 says, “That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims; A people GREAT, and MANY, and TALL, AS THE ANAKIMS; but the LORD destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead.” This tells us what we have already learned; plus, that there were quite a number of them.
Joshua 11:21, 22 tells us that that number was eventually cut down. “And at that time came JOSHUA, and CUT OFF THE ANAKIMS FROM THE MOUNTAINS , from HEBRON, from DEBIR, from ANAB, and from ALL THE MOUNTAINS OF JUDAH, and from ALL THE MOUNTAINS OF ISRAEL: Joshua destroyed them utterly with their cities. There was NONE OF THE ANAKIMS LEFT in the land of the children of Israel: ONLY IN GAZA, IN GATH, AND IN ASHDOD, there remained.”
When the name GATH is mentioned, that gives us another lead as to the height of these people. I Samuel 17:3-7 says, “And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them. And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named GOLIATH, OF GATH, WHOSE HEIGHT WAS SIX CUBITS AND A SPAN. And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.” Goliath was six cubits and a span tall. We read that a CUBIT is about 18 inches, and a SPAN is about 9 inches. With those measurements, Goliath would have been around 9 feet 9 inches tall.