Deuteronomy 9:2

2 a people great and many and tall, the sons of Enac, whom thou knowest, and concerning whom thou hast heard , Who can stand before the children of Enac?

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, O Israel: Thou goest this day across Jordan to inherit nations greater and stronger than yourselves, cities great and walled up to heaven;

2 a people great and many and tall, the sons of Enac, whom thou knowest, and concerning whom thou hast heard , Who can stand before the children of Enac?

3 And thou shalt know to-day, that the Lord thy God he shall go before thy face: he is a consuming fire; he shall destroy them, and he shall turn them back before thee, and shall destroy them quickly, as the Lord said to thee.

4 Speak not in thine heart, when the Lord thy God has destroyed these nations before thy face, saying, For my righteousness the Lord brought me in to inherit this good land.

5 Not for thy righteousness, nor for the holiness of thy heart, dost thou go in to inherit their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord will destroy them from before thee, and that he may establish the covenant, which the Lord sware to our fathers, to Abraam, and to Isaac, and to Jacob.