Deuteronomy 9:2

2 a people great and tall, the children of the Anakim, whom thou knowest and of whom thou hast heard say, `Who can stand before the children 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, O Israel: Thou art to pass over the Jordan this day to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fortified up to heaven,

2 a people great and tall, the children of the Anakim, whom thou knowest and of whom thou hast heard say, `Who can stand before the children of Anak!'

3 Understand therefore this day that the LORD thy God is He who goeth over before thee as a consuming fire. He shall destroy them, and He shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee.

4 Speak not thou in thine heart, after the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, `For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land'; but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.

5 Not for thy righteousness or for the uprightness of thine heart dost thou go to possess their land, but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that He may perform the word which the LORD swore unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.