Dictionary
A modern dictionary of Catholic terms, both common and obscure. Find accurate definitions of words and phrases.
GIANTS
huge persons mentioned in the Bible. When Moses sent spies into Canaan to discover whether it was a suitable place for the Promised Land, the spies were frightened by "the enormous size" of the natives. "We felt like grasshoppers and so we seemed to them" (Numbers 13:32-33). These people were called Nephilim. Another group of so-called giants were the Rephaim, who lived in Moabite territory (Deuteronomy 2:10). Goliath was unquestionably the best-known gigantic figure in Scripture, because of his famous encounter with David, but he was a Philistine, not a member of a tribe of giants (I Samuel 17).
All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.
