Slayer of Giants

Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.
Genesis 19:36-38 (NKJV)

Lot’s daughters get him blackout drunk and then sleep with him to get pregnant.

The generations born from this are the Moabites and the Ammonites.

For some reason, they are connected thematically to giants.

In Deuteronomy, Moses tells Israel not to war against the sons of Moab and Ammon, and that the land remains the possession of the sons of Lot.

With both sons, there is a note about the Rephaim. Giants.

The Moabites call them Emim. The Ammonites call them Zamzummin.

Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not attack Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot as a possession.’ (The Emim lived there previously, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim. Like the Anakim, they too are regarded as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim.)
Deuteronomy 2:9-11 (NASB)

When you come opposite the sons of Ammon, do not attack them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot as a possession.’ (It is also regarded as the land of the Rephaim, because the Rephaim previously lived in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim; but the Lord destroyed them before [a]them. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place)
Deuteronomy 2:19-21 (NASB)

The possession of the sons of Lot is the land where giants lived before God drove them out.

Perhaps this is a statement about God removing a powerful curse – a great shame that followed the family due to their origin, because of Lot and his daughters.

God is a slayer of giants.

Later, we’ll read that a certain Moabite woman named Ruth marries Boaz, father of Obed, father of Jesse, father of David.

And a certain Ammonite woman named Naamah marries Solomon, father of Rehoboam, first king of Judah when the monarchy was split.

Both sons of Lot are in the Divine Lineage.

Comments on Commentary

Some rabbis have suggested that the Genesis 5:3 statement that Seth was in “Adam’s likeness: hints at Genesis 6’s world of weird angel/hybrid creatures.

Adam himself is TECHNICALLY not “just a human,” being born of dirt and spirit.

ויולד בדמותו כצלמו, “he begot a son in his likeness in his image;” the emphasis on this is to show us that anything he begot during the previous 129 years were only creatures that did not reflect his likeness or image, i.e. disembodied spirits, mostly מזיקים, injurious, destructive spirits. (Compare 3,20)
Chizkuni on Genesis 5:3

BUT.

Other rabbis in the Midrash have said that being “in Adam’s likeness” meant that he was… born circumcised.

He was righteous (Gen. 6:9). This suggests that he was one of the seven men born circumcised. Adam and his son Seth were born circumcised, as it is written: He begot a son in his own likeness after his image, and he called him Seth (Gen. 5:3).
Midrash Tanchuma on Genesis 5:3

Which is, by the way, NOT ANY WEIRDER THAN ANGEL/HUMAN MONSTER BABIES.

So, always take commentary with a grain of salt. Even mine.

Peter and Jude quote Enoch

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;
2 Peter 2:4 (NIV)

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones
Jude 1:14 (NIV)

The books of 2 Peter and Jude have passages that seems to quote from the Book of Enoch, which is not in our Bibles. While this book is not Scripture, the point is that Jude, Pete, and their contemporaries were familiar with the text.

The book of Enoch says angels had sex with human women. Giants were born in those days, and in the days afterwards.

An Echo of Giants

And in the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,
Genesis 14:5 (NASB)

The battle between kings in Genesis 14 brings us to a scene involving the Raphaim.

Do you know this word? We encounter it again a few times in scripture later.

giants, Rephaim
old tribe of giants
H7497: רְפָאִים (rᵊp̄ā’îm)

It is giants.

In fact, this whole chapter feels a bit like an echo of Genesis 6-9…