There are many reports of giants in the Old Testament. The first mention of giants was in Genesis chapter six. The giants are called Nephilim, Rephaim and other names. When Moses sent the twelve “spies” into Canaan, ten of them came back with stories of the giants (Numbers 13:33) that populated that land. Because of their fear and lack of faith in the Lord, the Children of Israel refused to enter the Promised Land and were condemned to wander in the Wilderness for thirty-eight years. The total elapsed time from leaving Egypt to crossing the Jordan River was exactly forty years.

It is always surprising that the Israelites were afraid of the giants because they had seen firsthand how the Lord was with the Children of Israel. And later the Israelites defeated Og, king of Bashan, in battle. (Numbers 21:33-35) Og was a giant. His bed (or sarcophagus) is described as being thirteen feet long and six feet wide. (Deuteronomy 3:11) This is the size of two modern king-sized beds placed end-to-end. Og was the last giant king whose kingdom was overcome. Goliath, whose height was a mere nine feet plus, appeared several hundred years later.

In 1967, our Sovereign Lord showed the current Israelites how He could help them in battle. Tiny Israel overcame Egypt, Jordan, Syria and other Arab nations in the Six-Day War. As I have noted before, it was during this war that Israel first came into possession of the Temple Mount. At that time, Jerusalem was in Jordan. The land the Israelis captured is what is known as the West Bank. But because of their fear and lack of faith in the Lord, Israel turned the Temple Mount back to the Muslim authorities. They were afraid of the giants.

In Ezekiel chapter thirty-eight there is a prophecy about a great army that will attack Israel. It is the army of Gog and Magog. Ezekiel foretells their utter destruction. In the Revelation 20:8, Gog and Magog gather to battle the “camp of God’s people, the city He loves.” This army will gather around Jerusalem and will be utterly destroyed by fire from Heaven.

Dr. Gary Stearman has pointed out that the name of Og begins with the Hebrew letter ayin. He notes that certain words that begin with this letter are pronounced with a hard G sound, as in “go” or “get”. Strong’s Concordance confirms the “guttural” nature of the pronunciation of the ayin. It is then possible that Og could be pronounced Gog.

Og was the last giant king to be defeated in the Old Testament. Gog will be the last king defeated in the New Testament. Perhaps Og is a foreshadow of Gog. The 1,967th verse of the Bible is Deuteronomy 31:4, which says, “And the Lord will do to them what He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, whom He destroyed along with their land.” The Lord showed Israel that He could deal with giants in 1967. The question is; Will the Israelites be condemned to forty-years of punishment for their lack of faith in 1967, as were their forefathers in the Wilderness?