Matt Harner vs. the young Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Deuteronomy 9-10; Psalm 69:19-36; Proverbs 12:2-3

 

Who intimidates you? Who would intimidate you? Osama bin Laden? Hitler? Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime? Perhaps you’re really tough, and only a face-to-face encounter with Satan would freak you out. If so, you’re a better man (or to be more generic: person) than I.

 

As the Israelites approached Canaan from the wilderness, they could have been intimidated. Hear, O Israel. You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls up to the sky. The people are strong and tall--Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: "Who can stand up against the Anakites?" (Deut. 9:1-2).

 

Who were the Anakites? How strong and tall were they?

 

In the Scriptures, there is a nation called the Rephaites. They first show up in Genesis 14:5 (where they are actually defeated). They are one of the nations whose land God promises to Abram in Genesis 15:18-21). Before even crossing the Jordan, the Israelites defeated Og king of Bashan and gave his land to the half tribe of Manasseh (Deut. 3:13). Og was one of the last of the actual Rephaites (Josh. 12:4; 13:12), and his bed was over thirteen feet long and six feet wide (Deut. 3:11). His bed could have been that big without him being all that huge a man. But this seems unlikely based on what we know of other Rephaites.

 

Although Og was one of the last of the actual Rephaites, later Israelites confronted a number of Rephaite descendants. Abishai had to rescue David from Ishbi-Benob, a man whose bronze spearhead weighed about 300 shekels (2 Sam. 21:16-17), or 6.6 pounds. To put that in perspective, the standard weight of the javelin thrown by our best athletes as prescribed by the rules of the International Amateur Athletics Federation is 1.76 pounds for men’s competition. But this man’s spearhead alone—apart from the shaft—weighed 6.6 pounds. And he wasn’t just using his weapon in an athletic competition. He was lugging it around during full-out battle. It would be like lugging around a sturdy stick with a 15-inch laptop tied to the end of it.

 

The Israelites considered defeating these Rephaites significant enough that they recorded Sibbecai’s defeat of Saph (Sippai), whose only significant description is that he was a descendant of Rapha, a Rephaite (2 Sam. 21:18; 1 Chr. 20:4). They point out that Elhanan defeated Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, another man whose hefty spear is noteworthy (2 Sam. 21:19; 1 Chr. 20:5). Although they did not record his name, another of Rapha’s descendants they defeated is pictured simply as “huge,” with six digits on each hand and foot (2 Sam. 21:20-21; 1 Chr. 20:6-7). These guys all showed up in battles with the Philistines and were all from Gath (2 Sam. 21:15, 18-20, 22), which makes it almost certain that when David faced Goliath, he was facing one of these guys, and Goliath was over 9 feet tall (1 Sam. 17:4, 23). The Rephaites, and their descendants, were enormous and powerful. But what does this have to do with Anakites?

 

Anakites are also Rephaites (Deut. 2:11). So the Israelites were essentially facing a whole nation of Goliaths when they entered Canaan, along with other more normal nations. They had a right to be intimidated. When Moses told the Israelites that they were about to dispossess nations “greater and stronger” than themselves, they didn’t have to be convinced. When Moses reminded them that people commonly said, “Who can stand up against the Anakites?” the Israelites he spoke to were the children of the Israelites who had died in the desert because they were too scared to face the Anakites.

 

Which is why I love Moses’ answer to the question. Who can stand up against the Anakites? But be assured today that the LORD your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the LORD has promised you. – Deut. 9:3. The LORD can stand up against them. Not the Israelites. The LORD. And because God will go ahead of the Israelites, they will drive out the Anakites and annihilate them.

 

You can almost hear this promise echoing through David’s head as he boldly approaches Goliath: You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands. – 1 Sam. 17:45-47

 

So who intimidates you? Are you on the Lord’s side? Then you’re safe.

 

Father, thank You for this vivid reminder that on a personal level like David and on a national level like Israel, no matter how many giants we face You are still God. Nothing in all creation can defeat Your people in the end. Not giants. Not demons and Satan. Not even death itself. Your children will live because You are God. Help me to face life fearlessly… with You.