Chapter 23. The Anakim and Patriarch-less Nations
The accounting of the seventy eponymic nations entrenched in the table of nations(Gen 10; 1 Chron 1) did not include Nephilim or Rephaim nations; nor did the table of nationsname Rephaim patriarchs for hybrid human nations. Knowing this begins to explain the nine patriarch-less Canaanite clans documented as such in the table of nations.
Accordingly, Rephaim patriarchs like Rapha were not listed in the table of nations, but without explanationappear in Scripture. Goliath, for example was included among five giants of Gath: Ishbibenob, Saph/Sippai, Lahmi, and an unnamed six-fingered and six-toed giant of great stature. All five giants were sons of one giant in Gath, while underscoring giant in these passages were translated from from rapha’ meaning tall, giant, and the same as rapha’, meaningto heal as in an invigorating giant. The text in the KJV is not clear as to whether one should read rapha’ as generic for a giant or that this rapha was a patronymically classified from one of his ancestors beginning with the first Rapha patriarch of the Rephaim, or both. Scholars split on whether Rapha was the name of Goliath’s father, whether Rapha was the Rephaim patriarch, or whether rapha’ was generic for giant(s).
Nevertheless, the Ishbibenob narrative indicates Rapha, at a minimum, was a giant name passed down patronymically through the generations. In many English translations Ishbibenob, Saph, Lahmi, and the six-digited giant were stated to be “one of the descendants of the Rapha” or “among the descendants of the giant.” The KJV translated these passages as “one of the children/descendants the giant(s),” “of the sons of the giant,” or “born to the giant.” Strong’s Dictionary accounts Ishbibenob as: a son of Rapha, and one of the Philistine giants in the time of David. Thus, one can view Ishbibenob, Goliath, and the other three giants as descendants of the patriarch Rapha of the Rephaim, the son of a giant patronymically named Rapha, or both.
