Giants

Standing in the Transjordan, Moses describes how the previous inhabitants had been the frightening, gigantic Rephaim (lit. “healers”). Elsewhere in the Bible, rephaim are powerless shades, living in the underworld, Sheol. Greek epic also preserves a memory of Meropes as a population of giants living on the island of Cos, and the term meropes also refers to “healers” who serve as priests of the god Asklepius. In both cases, these memories derive from the West Semitic Rapi’ūma, deified royal ancestors invoked in Ugaritic rituals to bless king and land.

Greek, Roman, Christian, and Jewish authors described discovering enormous bones buried just beneath the earth’s surface and interpreted them through their own lenses: Greeks and Romans saw mythic heroes and monsters; Jewish writers identified them as biblical giants, especially Og, king of Bashan. These discoveries reinforced the enduring belief that ancient humans were far larger than those of today.

The answer lies in his bed.

Samson’s conception story may be read subversively as the result of a union between a divine being and a mortal woman, making Samson a demi-god with superhuman characteristics. At the same time, the text keeps open the more mundane possibility that his father is Manoah and his powers are simply a gift from God.

The conflation of two cities over time

How the conflation of Kiryat-arba and Hebron created a new mythic character, Arba, father of the giants.

To avoid saying that Israel conquered the territory of their Moabite cousins, and that Reuben and Gad may once have been Moabite tribes, the Torah claims that when the Israelites arrived, the land was occupied by Amorites and ruled by King Sihon.