PART II

THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF GIANTS

Legendary Greek Story

With a sword in one hand and a saber in the other, Hercules stood his ground atop Mount Olympus and fought back the charging giants. With his sword, he sliced the heads off the savage barbarians and threw down their bodies in the great valleys of Greece. Their bleeding headless bodies filled the valleys and were covered over by the mountains in their place.

CHAPTER 8

GENESIS OF GIANTS

Grandpa Jack came out the front door, passed the two of us sitting on the porch, and walked straight to the cabin without saying a single word. He took the keys out of his pocket and went inside. Darby and I looked at each other with wonder.
            Grandma appeared inside the screened front door and told us, “You two best be on your best behavior. What you're about to become a part of is well worth it.” I looked back at her, but Grandma Mimi wasn't at the door.  She was back in the kitchen washing up the dinner dishes.

            The cabin door slammed shut and I turned back to see Grandpa Jack locking the cabin door again with a book under his arm. He walked back up to the porch and sat with Darby on his right and me on his left.

“First, there are going to be some ground rules,” he said. “In history there is order. There must be. It’s how we organize our theories and timelines. So, with this, we will work in order. No skipping ahead to the good stuff so to speak. Understood?”

We both agreed. Before that, Grandpa Jack had not said more than one or two sentences to us. He hadn’t even smiled at us. We were not about to argue with him about the ground rules. It was obvious that he was not taking any of this lightly. I knew Darby’s logical sense of the world made her skeptical, but she was still curious.

“Think about what you know of giants. Who comes to mind? Jack and the Bean Stock, Hercules, Goliath? These stories have roots in legends and lore from ancient times.  But were these just ancient stories or do giants play a part in the history of mankind? The answer to this question depends on your perspective. If you believe the sanitized history books and lessons, we are all familiar with, these creatures have no place in history. For me, the truth lies beneath the stories of lore, and below the earth itself. The ground, dirt, and rock have truth embedded in it. The earth and man’s historical records tell a different story about these beings.

Indeed, giants walked the earth from the beginning and have continued to walk the earth through man’s entire history. I have seen with my own eyes the proof I need to believe. There is a long history of giants living with man on this same earth that we live on today. Through an extraordinary journey, I have found my assurance that my quest was not in vain.

With order, there is a beginning, a middle, and an end. That is how it is with history. We will start at the beginning. Then we’ll cover the middle or Middle Ages. Then, if there is enough time, we detail more recent history. With history, there is never a true end. It is always ongoing. Today we are making the history of tomorrow. We study history because the better understand the past, the better we will understand what is happening today.”

On Grandpa’s lap was just one leather-bound book. On its cover was written “The History of Giants”. As he opened the cover and the binding cracked, we leaned in with anticipation for what was written on that first page. Hours had passed since I last saw the journals on the giants. And now we were about to hear it all from the beginning. The pages inside were yellow and handwritten, just like the other journals we discovered.

As he turned to the first page, Grandpa began, “The history of giants is not too far away from our own history. The evidence is there, but to connect the evidence takes faith. My faith that the evidence existed was my rock. In science, we make a hypothesis based on evidence that already exists and then research to prove whether our hypothesis is wrong or right.

For centuries, it was believed that the giant squid of the sea were creatures of fiction and non-existent. Their inclusion in novels like Moby Dick and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea only perpetuated their identity in fiction. Finally, in the 1870s, they were discovered to be real, living, breathing creatures. Not just figments of fiction but an actual scientific species. In telling you about the history of the giants, we will begin by looking at one of the oldest books on record - the bible. Parts of the bible date as far back as the 1200s.”

Grandpa turned the page, and it was written:

“The Genesis of the Giants”

In the beginning, the first man and woman were Adam and Eve. They bore two sons, Cain and Abel. History teaches that the descendants of Cain or the “Daughters of Cain” married the sons of Seth, who was the son of Noah from the great floods. Stories from the Middle Ages confirm that the union between the daughters of Cain and the sons of Seth produced the first giants after the floods.

Grandpa Jack continued the story.

“The bible refers to this in the book of Genesis in chapter 6.  “For man is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days – and also after that - when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the mighty men of old, men of renown.”

The book of Genesis is an introductory story of mankind and the earth. Right from the very beginning, we see giants like man exist.  So, who is anyone to contend that their history is not true? And this is not the only reference to giants in the bible. In the book of Numbers, the Hebrew spies discover that their promised land was filled with giants:

"...And there we saw the giants, we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."

The Bible describes clashes between the Hebrews, God’s chosen people, and races of giants in Moab and Egypt. There were fierce battles between the races of men and the races of giants that included bloody battle after bloody battle vividly illustrated in the bible.”

Darby interrupted, “Grandpa, what proof exists that these are true accounts of history and not just stories?”

Grandpa Jack smiled, answering, “There are numerous accounts in non-scriptural writing about the actual existence of people and places mentioned in the bible. Actual historical references support events in the bible are fact.  There is verified archaeological proof of places and people mentioned in the texts. This planet is dotted with physical proof that correlates with the stories and history as told.

With that said the key to truth lies beyond any physical proof. To believe in the unseen, you must give up a little bit of yourself. You must go beyond that point in your head that is telling you to stop. Once you can give yourself over to faith, you can see and do even greater things. Things you never thought you would see or do. You finally realize all you had to do is have faith and you see the truth.”

Darby would tell me after this introduction that she felt like he was talking in riddles. However, his riddles challenged her to think deeper about what she believed. She was skeptical but she liked the way this challenged her own beliefs. However, she wasn’t convinced any of it was true.  

I hoped my sister wouldn’t continue to interrupt. The summer sun, that day, had already begun to go down and I knew our time with the story would eventually be cut short when it was time for the two of us to go to bed.

Grandpa Jack picked up where he left off.

“The historical text of the bible tells us that this race of giants had inter-mixed with the race of man. These giants were not necessarily described as wicked at all. While they remain the opposition to the Hebrews in the promised land, they are described in Genesis as “heroes of old, men of renown.” Many scholars believe this scripture alone points to the fact that ancient giants had a favorable history long lost to us over time, perhaps washed away in the great flood. What is known is that these giants were linked to the heavens as the “sons of God” in the text of Genesis. In the book of Job and the book of Psalms in the bible, this phrase, “sons of God” as heavenly creatures.

History has taught us that fear of the unknown becomes evil. This is why the giants became known as the evil, underworld-type beasts that we know from many fairy tales and fantasy stories. The truth is, like mankind, no one thing is either evil or good. There is good and bad in everything. Some giants have been known throughout history as heroes.

In the legendary story of Sodom and Gomorrah, God promises Abram that he will be the father of many nations. Included in the list of people is the race of the Rephaim. The Rephaim people were a race of Abraham’s promised people. They were described as giants and were often described as warrior heroes.

Biblical references to giants can be found in at least 10 books from the bible. Of course, the most famous giant account in the bible is that of David and Goliath. In that story, the Hebrews are battling the great Philistine army. The two determined armies were at a standstill. The Hebrews were up against the powerful Philistines and all their ironworks, chariots, and weaponry. The Hebrews were frozen with fear over the Philistine army’s greatest warrior Goliath. Goliath was known for his appetite for murder. In the bible, he is described as a giant with a massive sword and spear. Goliath curses at them, “Is there no one brave enough to come and meet me in combat?”

A young David of Bethlehem was the only one brave enough to face the giant warrior. He stood and said, “I, David, accept your challenge.” David being a small boy was no match for an experienced, armored, and giant-sized soldier. But he didn’t care. He stood up and raced to the front of the Hebrew army, confident that he could defeat the giant. The giant Goliath stood in front of the boy, his bloodstained sword in his hand, and laughed at his only opposition from the weak Hebrew army.

In his deep and booming voice, Goliath called out, “Are you mocking me? Is this all you have to offer as an opponent to my great size? I have murdered hundreds of men greater in size than this tiny boy.” Goliath was enraged. David was not deterred. With only a sling and stone, he was able to slay the giant with a single shot to the forehead. Goliath dropped to the ground. He lay there bleeding to death. Then with the giant’s own bloodstained sword, David cut through the neck of the giant until his head came clean off. The rest, as they say, is history. David went on to become the King of Israel.”

I knew the story of David and Goliath. Yet, I had never actually accounted for the fact that Goliath was a real giant. It had never dawned on me that the story was not just a story but also a historical account. I had to admit that cutting off his head was a pretty cool detail to the story. I hoped there would be more of these kinds of details in the story.

Darby asked, “How do you know this story is true?”

“Well,” Grandpa Jack continued, “First of all, Goliath was a real person with four brothers. And, David, who became the king of Israel, was also a real person. Then in the biblical account, we have specific references in the story to specific numeric values when it describes the size and weight of Goliath and his armor. In all, this armor weighed 125 pounds. The attention paid in the text to the description of how high Goliath stood and how much each of his parts of armor weighed is a great account of what had been true. Surely, with Goliath dead, the Hebrews could have easily measured him and weighed his garments. The detailed account was written and included in the biblical text had been handed down for generations. There is no argument that such detail would be noted as fantasy.

The Old Testament and its accounts are believed to be true by Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike. It is these three faiths that believe the bible is a historic record of the lives of Abraham, Moses, David and countless other saints. If we are to believe that these individuals existed and the bible is their proof, then we must accept the bible when it describes in vivid detail the accounts of giants. There should be no question about that.”

Our eyes glazed over hanging on to our grandfather’s every word. Grandpa Jack saw the wheels in our heads spinning and churning away, trying to digest what he was telling us.

“I think we better stop here for today,” he said. “This is a lot of information to take in,”

“I have questions,” Darby insisted.

“Well, good,” Grandpa said with a smile. “History is made to be questioned. And this book was written with this as a good stopping place to ask some of these questions. So go on – what questions do you have?”

I immediately started in, without even allowing Darby time to think of what she might ask. “Grandpa, you skipped over some of the best parts. You left out all the details about the bloody, fierce battles. Tell us more about that. I want to hear more about the battles, those bloody parts with swords, and the cutting off enemies’ heads.”

He answered, “Darius, this is no ordinary story, or just any story for that matter.”

“It’s not?” I questioned.

“No,” Grandpa answered. “It is a history. And I'm not a writer of elaborate tales of the details of bloody battles. I am a student of history, facts, and culture. The genesis of the giants is to help you better understand the basis for what is to follow. Without the laying of the groundwork, the rest of the journal and history after that have no real weight. This genesis was the basis for my studies over many years. It is an important first step in setting the stage for what is to come next. And, judging by the looks on both of your faces, maybe I did accomplish just that.”

I asked the question, “Were there really giants back then?”

To which he answered, “What do you think? That's all that matters in the end. That you believe enough to power your faith forward to find the answers you seek.”

It was a sticky point. One he used to render any other questions nearly pointless. He closed the book, and we just stared down at the cover of the book. I wondered what was next. What questions would Grandpa Jack provide answers to as we continue?