Deuteronomy 9:2

Listen to Deuteronomy 9:2
2 The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anakim. You know about them, and you have heard it said, “Who can stand up to 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.


FOOTNOTES:

F26 Canaan, l. 1. c. 1. col. 346.
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Deuteronomy 9:2 In-Context

1 Hear, O Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified to the heavens.
2 The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anakim. You know about them, and you have heard it said, “Who can stand up to the sons of Anak?”
3 But understand that today the LORD your God goes across ahead of you as a consuming fire; He will destroy them and subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them swiftly, as the LORD has promised you.
4 When the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say in your heart, “Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land.” Rather, the LORD is driving out these nations before you because of their wickedness.
5 It is not because of your righteousness or uprightness of heart that you are going in to possess their land, but it is because of their wickedness that the LORD your God is driving out these nations before you, to keep the promise He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
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