The Anakim: Descendants of the Nephilim

The Anakim of the Bible are viewed as the Descendants of the Nephilim. A faction of the Elohim (angels) whose name is generally interpreted to mean some derivation of “fallen” or “to fall”. Even in the Bible their identity and significance is shrouded.

Their appearance was terrifying to the ancient Israelites, their stature formidable. The Anakim were the descendants of Anak, and lived in Canaan, near Hebron. [1] The Anakim were also said to have lived in the lands that became known as Edom and Moab in the times of Abraham. (Gen 14:5–6)

The Anakim are described as an historical people in the Bible. A literal tribe whom the ancient Hebrew people interacted with directly, as the story goes. The Twelve Spies — including Joshua — were sent into Canaan to gather intel. Ten of the twelve reported the Anakim, horrified.

Joshua later expelled them from Canaan.

Hebrew Tradition Describes Them As Historical

According to Hebrew Tradition, the Anakim are a people, an historical tribe, whose history is entwined with that of the Jews. Their presence is noted in the land of Canaan, near Hebron, and in the regions that became Edom and Moab.

Perhaps this tribe was not called the Anakim specifically, the name being translated into Hebrew (as the Romans did to the Celts), but had a different name in a foreign tongue. Even after Joshua forced them from the land, some of the Anakim are said to have taken refuge in the Philistine cities of Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. (Joshua 11:22)

It is interesting that a tribe of people is specifically recognized as being the descendants of the Nephilim by another people. This is curious, in the same way that the ancient Greeks recognizing a clan of the same clan as Hercules was from by name, giving a strong indication of historicity to Hercules, a legendary man who was eventually deified in tradition, but also as a son of Zeus.

The descendants of the Nephilim, the Anakim, also suggest an historical basis for the Nephilim in some form.

An Ancient Tribe, A Lost Civilization

It all depends on how you interpret the Anakim, Nephilim, and Elohim (Angels). You can understand the description of Angels in a more literal sense, as religions do. As spiritual beings, messengers of a Supreme Being called God, YHWY, Allah, or any of a host of names found in ancient religions.

From a more scientific sense, let us say, you can attempt to understand this description of beings from heaven as literal Space People, of one form or another.

I prefer a more conservative description (at least a more general one) as an ancient culture. A people who existed in prehistory, who are remembered, but whose level of development is undetermined. An ancient culture that appears to be referenced throughout the Ancient Religions of the World. (See The Advanced Civilization Recorded In Ancient Religion.)

Whatever the truth turns out to be, I believe that there is a distinct possibility of a pearl of historical truth in these ancient recollections as a whole. The traditions of the Hebrew Bible record on recollection, calling them the Elohim and Nephilim,

Connections In Ancient Religions

In Sumerian Religion (as well as Akkadian Religion) of the ancient Fertile Crescent, the Elohim are closely mirrored by the Anuna in many ways. Aside from the Anuna being defined as gods, and the Elohim being described as a host of supernatural, divine, angelic beings, there is not a great deal of difference between the Anuna and Elohim.

Moreover, we have a resonance in the Ancient Religions with the Babylonian Anunnaki and Igigi, Norse Aesir, Vanir, and Jotunn, Vedic Asuras and Devas, Zoroastrian Ashura and Daeva, and Celtic Tuatha De Danaan.

All of these recollections in myth and legend constitute a shared memory, a shared Ancestral Tradition, which describe what we will call a Lost Civilization.

The Anakim, the Descendants of the Nephilim, present a potentially historical link to the Lost Civilization. If the Nephilim had named descendants recorded in the histories of the Jews, perhaps the Nephilim too have an historical form. They are a people remembered in what was (and is still) widely considered to be an historical work. At least a fundamentally historical work, according to modern Biblical scholars (and the literal word of God by others).

As such, the Biblical record notes locations for the Anakim which could be accurate, at some time, if we could know the time with precision. In turn, this might give us a link to the location of the lands of the Nephilim — perhaps even the tribe of Elohim if you consider the Lost Civilization to be a people of some sort who left a mark on the land — with information on the homelands of their progeny.