So Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba); and they struck Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai. (Judges 1:10 NASB)
Now the LORD was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had iron chariots.
Then they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had promised; and he drove out from there the three sons of Anak. (Judges 1:19-20 NASB)
Because the Septuagint translates some Hebrew words as “gigas” or “giant”, the mythic memory of the battle of the Greek gods against the giants vaguely becomes a background for some of the conflict in Canaan. But even so, isn’t it interesting that both traditions preserve this memory of large powerful people?
There are several clues for us that this world is not as our scientists would have us believe. In some ways I wonder if science fiction may be closer to the truth. The Scriptures, including the Christian Scriptures, paint a scene of heaven where there is conflict. There is a war among the “Sons of God”, and sides have been chosen. We are fairly oblivious in our western philosophical arrogance, and it’s in the “third world” that this war clearer. The miracles and spiritual powers are much more obvious to people without our “scientific” sophistication. These people are also much more aware of the war.
The problem we face is our prejudices and fears. We consider every other culture to be ignorant of how the world really works. Yet, we fear the nagging fact that there seems to be so much we can’t measure but which still seems to have an effect on our world. Isn’t it ironic that we assume the fears and prejudices of ancient cultures spawned their myths? And yet, science has spawned its own myths.
What if the world depicted by Scripture isn’t all that different from reality, and we have it skewed by our fears and prejudices? What if there are giants in the land, or were. There were lions in Canaan, but we know they were hunted to extinction. There were bears too, and we know those were destroyed. What if, before that, there were giants?
It’s possible we, modern western science-minded people, don’t actually know as much as we think we do. Perhaps the enlightenment wasn’t as enlightening as we thought. Maybe modernist and post-modernists didn’t improve our perception of the universe. Perhaps all we’ve done is hobbled our ability to stand against the spiritual forces of darkness in the heavenly realms.
Just kidding. Probably not. What a load of hooey. Go back to your day, enjoy your breakfast. There’s no bogeyman, no monsters, and no reason to believe in ghosts. So what if you can’t explain stuff, right? It’s just a matter of time until we figure it out…
I’ll just be over here praying. Which for me means I’ll be entering into the spiritual realm of my King, and communicating past an army fighting Him, out for my destruction. Don’t mind me. Just put more apple butter on your English muffin, and refresh your coffee mug.
Carry on. Nothing to see here…
Knothole Theology 