An´akim, or Bene-Anak and Bene-Anakim, a wandering nation of southern Canaan, descended from Anak, whose name it bore (Jos 11:21). It was composed of three tribes, descended from and named after the three sons of Anak—Ahiman, Sesai, and Talmai. When the Israelites invaded Canaan, the Anakim were in possession of Hebron, Debir, Anak, and other towns in the country of the south. Their formidable stature and appearance alarmed the Hebrew spies; but they were eventually overcome and expelled by Caleb, when the remnant of the race took refuge among the Philistines (Num 13:33; Deu 9:2; Jos 11:21; Jos 14:12; Jdg 1:20).
An’akim. (long-necked). A race of giants, descendants of Arba, Jos 15:13; Jos 21:11, dwelling in the southern part of Canaan, and particularly at Hebron, which from their progenitor received the name of "city of Arba." Anak was the name of the race rather than that of an individual. Jos 14:15.
The race appears to have been divided into three tribes or families, bearing the names Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai. Though the war-like appearance of the Anakim had struck the Israelites with terror in the time of Moses, Num 13:28; Deu 9:2, they were nevertheless dispossessed by Joshua, Jos 11:21-22, and their chief city, Hebron, became the possession of Caleb. Jos 15:14; Jdg 1:20. After this time, they vanish from history.
(long-necked, or strong-necked). Descended from Arba (Jos 15:13; Jos 21:11), dwelling in the S. of Canaan. Hebron was called from him Kirjath Arba, i.e. city of Arba. Anak is the name of the race rather than an individual; compare Jos 14:15. The three tribes bore the names of Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. They were in the spies’ time a terror to Israel (Num 13:28), but were destroyed by Joshua, except a remnant who escaped to the Philistine cities, Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod (Jos 11:21-22). Caleb, who brought tidings as a spy concerning them, was eventually their destroyer (Jos 15:14).
Hence we find a giant race among the Philistines, and in Gath, in David’s days (1 Samuel 17; 2Sa 21:15-22); an undesigned coincidence between the independent histories Joshua and 1 and 2 Samuel, confirming the truth of both. Their chief city Hebron became Caleb’s possession for his faith, shown in having no fear of their giant stature since the Lord was on Israel’s side (Jos 15:14; Jdg 1:20; compare Num 13:22; Num 13:28; Num 13:30-33; Num 14:24). They are represented on Egyptian monuments as tall and fair. The hieroglyphic Tanmahu represents Talmai, and one of his tribe is depicted on the tomb of Oimenapthah I.
(Heb., Anakim’,
Anakim (ăn’a-kĭm), long-necked, i.e., men of tall stature, Anak, the son of Arba, had three sons, who were giants, and were founders of a Canaanitish tribe, famous for their stature and fierceness. The seat of the tribe before the invasion by the Hebrews was in the vicinity of Hebron. They were nearly extirpated by the Hebrews so that only a few remained afterwards in the cities of the Philistines, Num 13:22; Deu 9:2; Jos 11:21-22; Jos 14:15; and Jer 47:5, which in the Septuagint reads: "O remnant of the Anakim" that is cut off.
By: Crawford Howell Toy, Kaufmann Kohler
—Biblical Data:
A pre-Canaanite tribe, dwelling (according to Josh. xi. 21, 22, and Judges i. 10, 20) in the hill country of Judah and in the Philistine plain (Hebron, Debir, Anab, Gaza, Gath, Ashdod). Three clans are mentioned: Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai (Judges, i. 10; Num. xiii. 22). These names seem, from their form, to be Aramaic; but what this fact signifies is not clear. The Anakim are said to have been conquered by Caleb (Josh. xv. 14; Judges, i. 20), who received their territory. In Deut. ii. 11, the Anakim are called a branch of the Rephaim, which is perhaps a generic term. The Hebrew of Num. xiii. 33classes them also with the Nefilim; but the clause is not in the Greek, and is probably a late gloss. In Judges, i. 10, the conquest is ascribed to Judah. How far the Anakim had been absorbed by Canaanites and Philistines is uncertain. On the genealogy in Josh. xiv. 12-15 and xv. 13, see Hebron and Kirjath Arba.
—In Rabbinical and Hellenistic Literature:
According to rabbinical tradition (Gen. R. xxvi.), the Anakim are of the same Titanic race as the Rephaim, Nefilim, Gibborim, Zamzummim, and Emim. The name (as though containing the element 'anak = neck) is explained in the Midrash (Gen. R. xxvi.) as indicating that they wore "neck-chains heaped upon neck-chains," or, as if from the verb "to press," "force," that they seized the solar disk and cried, "Send us rain," or that "they squeezed their heads into the sun" (Soṭah, 34b; see Rashi on Yoma, 10a). Of the three sons of Anak who filled the spies with awe and fear by their gigantic stature, Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai (Num. xii. 22-33), the first is represented in Num. R. xvi. and Tan., Shelaḥ, 7, ed. Buber, 11, as challenging passers-by, saying: "Whose brother will fight with me?" (a play upon "Ahiman" = brother of whom); the second stood there stolid as a block of marble (a play upon shesh = marble), and the third made deep furrows (a play upon telamim = furrows) in the soil with every step. (Compare Soṭah, 34b; Yoma, 10a, which has a somewhat different and possibly corrupt version; see Buber, notes to Tan. l.c.) And when the spies saw these men towering up to the sky and looking as if piercing the sun, they were afraid and said: "We are not able to go up against these people, for they are stronger than He [
]; that is, stronger than even the Lord Himself!" (Num. xiii. 31).
Of the size of the Anakim, a Midrash fragment—found by Schechter in a Pentateuch commentary of the thirteenth century, and published by him in "Semitic Studies in Memory of Alexander Kohut," p. 492—gives the following description:
"The daughter of Anak had gone into her father's garden and taken a pomegranate, which she ate, after having peeled off the skin and cast it aside. Then the twelve spies came and, seeing her father, were struck with fear and hid themselves under the pomegranate-skin, believing it to be a cave. The daughter of Anak in the meantime came back and, seeing the pomegranate-skin still lying there, was afraid lest her father might scold her for lack of neatness. She therefore took the pomegranate-skin, with the twelve spies hidden therein, and cast it out of the garden, noticing the weight added by the men no more than if the skin had been the shell of an egg." The legend bears a striking resemblance to the story of the giant's daughter reprinted in Grimm's "Kinder und Hausmärchen" (compare Chamisso's "Riesenfräulein").
—Critical View:
The origin of the Anakim is unknown, and they have left no trace in history. On possible (but uncertain) remains of them, compare Nowack, "Hebr. Arch." § 16. The name "Anak" (so the Greek), or "the Anak" (Hebrew), is an etymological puzzle. The meaning of "bene ha-Anak" is uncertain. It is interpreted by some as "the long-necked"; by others, as "the necklace-wearers." It is perhaps non-Semitic.
Josephus ("Ant." iii. 14) relates that the spies found at Hebron the posterity of the giants; and this tallies with Josh. xiv. 15, according to which Hebron was the city of Arba, "the greatest man among the Anakim" ("the father of Anak," Josh. xxi. 11; the Septuagint has the "brother" of Anak). See Moore, "Judges," pp. 24 et seq. and Driver, "Commentary on Deuteronomy," pp. 23, 40 (note); the letter refers also to Goliath as one of the sons of Rafa, the giant of Gath.