HaRav Shmuel Eliahu is Chief Rabbi of Tzfat
The giants of Hevron can be said to be the Jews living in the City of our Forefathers today. Also, the pioneers Jewish settlers who returned to Hevron a little less than sixty years ago can also be called giants of Hevron.
We learn about another type of giant in the Torah. In the time of Avraham the owners of the city were giants. Why didn’t Avraham seek their agreement when he sought to acquire a burial place for Sarah? After all, the verse emphasizes that Hebron is Kiryat Arba. “And why is it called Kiryat Arba? After its owner, who was one of four: Anak and his three sons” (Bereishit Rabbah, Chayei Sarah, 58:2). “He was the greatest man among the Anakim, whose name was ‘Arba,’ and he built it; therefore it was named after him. And this is what is meant by, ‘And the name of Hebron formerly was Kiryat Arba – he was the great man among the Anakim’” (Joshua 14:15; Ramban, Numbers 13:22).
The giants were a force that could not be ignored. They were not only giants themselves – their produce was blessed with abundance as well. Their physical beauty was famous, so much so they were called “the sons of God.” Their strength was legendary: “These were the mighty men of old, men of renown.” These giants merited long life. “For just as they were towering in height, so were their days longer than all other people” (Rashi). They were also called Eimim because of the terror they cast upon those around them (Genesis 6:4, Rashi).
Where were the giants at the time of the sale?
We read how the children of Heth crown Abraham and say to him: “You are a prince of God among us.” They agree that Ephron will sell him the most precious and important site in the City of Giants, making the transaction without a representative of the giants present to approve such a sale. This is truly astonishing that such powerful figures were absent, nor did they seek to extract any benefit from such an expensive deal.
The giants’ time has passed.
To understand this puzzle, we must recall the great secret that most of the people did not remember. Only, in a later era, did Joshua, Caleb, and King David know. The giants no longer had power in Avraham’s day. Their time in the world had passed and their strength was gone. All that remained was the fear people remembered from ancient days, and that was what they relied on. Whoever knew the truth fought them and defeated them. Whoever didn’t know, feared and trembled before them.
Caleb and Joshua knew that these giants no longer had any power, and they said to the people of Israel: “Do not fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their shadow has departed from them” (Numbers 14:9; see Ramban there). Their “shadow” – their protection – was gone. They were like a fan that continues spinning only from leftover momentum, though already unplugged. Even a child could stop it.
Ramban explains the fearfulness of the giants of Hebron: “For despite all their strength and height, their hearts were more subdued than those of other nations, and they did not go out to war at all; rather they hid in the mountains and fortified cities, as it is said: ‘Joshua came at that time and cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anav, and from all the hill country of Judah and all the hill country of Israel; Joshua destroyed them with their cities.’ Meaning, in their cities (Joshua 11:21). And likewise, ‘Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron, and they struck Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai’” (Judges 1:10). All this was because Joshua knew that the giants had no real ability or power.
Caleb son of Jephunneh, who knew the spies closely, asks Joshua to grant him permission to fight the giants and conquer them at the age of 85. “And now, behold, I am today eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as on the day Moses sent me – my strength then and my strength now are the same, for war and for going out and coming in” (Joshua 14:10-11). At his advanced age, Caleb defeats the three sons of the giant of Hebron: “Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak: Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of the giant.”
Kedorlaomer knew of the giants’ weakness.
Kedorlaomer and his allies also knew this secret. When they came to fight the five cities of Sodom, they struck down the giants east of the Jordan along the way: “In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings with him came and struck the Rephaim in Ashterot-Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Eimim in Shaveh-Kiryatayim, and the Horites in their hill country of Seir as far as El-Paran, which is by the wilderness” (Genesis 14).
The giants were not the goal of his war – Sodom and Gomorrah were his target sheltering the rebels he needed to subdue. But when he saw the giants along the way, he “picked them off,” destroyed them, and continued onward to conquer the five cities of the plain. If they had truly been as mighty as they appeared, Kedorlaomer would have sought a bypass route. He apparently knew what David and Caleb knew – their strength had departed, and therefore he did not fear them.
Avraham knew better than anyone that the giants’ strength had faded. Not fearing them, he established his residence in Hebron. He did not fear burying Sarah there. The giants also knew that Avraham understood their lack of power, and therefore they hid in their homes when Avraham purchased the cave – just as they hid in the days of Joshua when Caleb came to fight them. Therefore our Sages bestowed upon Avraham the title: “He is the great man among the Anakim” (Jerusalem Talmud, Shabbat 16; Bereishit Rabbah 14).
The strength of the Ishmaelites has ended.
In our own times, the power of the Ishmaelites has also come to an end, and we have no need to fear them. As the Zohar states (II:32a): “And the children of Ishmael are destined to rule over the Holy Land when it is empty, for many years, as was decreed for them – an empty rule without completion; and they will delay the children of Israel from returning to their place until the merit of the children of Ishmael is completed.”
The children of Ishmael are destined to rule the Holy Land when it is empty, and they will hinder Israel from returning, until the merit of their circumcision, which is an incomplete covenant, expires.
In our times their era has terminated, just as the era of the giants ended. And this is important to remember for there have already been several occasions when Israel feared going out to fight them, and in the end Israel defeated them with a small force.
We also see how the Arabs are being struck with great blows from Heaven: in Iran, the head of all the troublemakers, there is no water in the taps, electricity is available only a few hours a day, and fuel is severely rationed. Their economy and birthrate are collapsing. Their currency is not worth the paper it is printed on. Their merit has ended and their strength has vanished. Soon they shall crumble and the real giants of Israel, with G-d’s help, will extend the conquest of Judah to all of our Biblical borders.
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