Deuteronomy 9:2

2 a people great and tall, the sons of the `Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard say, Who can stand before the sons of `Anak?

Deuteronomy 9:2 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 9:2

A people great and tall
Of a large bulky size, and of an high stature, so that the spies seemed to be as grasshoppers to them, ( Numbers 13:33 ) ,

the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest;
by report, having had an account of them by the spies, who described them as very large bodied men, and of a gigantic stature, the descendants of one Anak, a giant; and so the Targum of Jonathan,

``a people strong and high like the giants;''

from these Bene Anak, children of Anak, or Phene Anak, as the words might be pronounced, the initial letter of the first word being of the same sound, Bochart ^F26 thinks the country had its name of Phoenicia:

and of whom thou hast heard say, who can stand before the children, of
Anak?
or the children of the giants, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; which they had heard either from the spies who had suggested the same, ( Numbers 13:31 ) or as a common proverb in the mouths of most people in those days.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Canaan, l. 1. c. 1. col. 346.

Deuteronomy 9:2 In-Context

1 Hear, Yisra'el: you are to pass over the Yarden this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to the sky,

2 a people great and tall, the sons of the `Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard say, Who can stand before the sons of `Anak?

3 Know therefore this day, that the LORD your God is he who goes over before you as a devouring fire; he will destroy them, and he will bring them down before you: so shall you drive them out, and make them to perish quickly, as the LORD has spoken to you.

4 Don't speak in your heart, after that the LORD your God has thrust them out from before you, saying, For my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land; whereas for the wickedness of these nations the LORD does drive them out from before you.

5 Not for your righteousness, or for the uprightness of your heart, do you go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God does drive them out from before you, and that he may establish the word which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Avraham, to Yitzchak, and to Ya`akov.