Numbers 13

Today's chapter covers a classic story - the spies being sent in to scout out the Promised Land. Unfortunately, the majority of them were cowards and reported that the land would be too hard to take; so far we've only heard that Caleb spoke out in favor of going in and claiming the land God was giving to them. If I'm not mistaken we will see that Joshua, one of the other spies, will also side with Caleb (and God); but that is for a future chapter.

One of the reasons given by the rest of the spies for not invading was that descendants of the Nephilim were there - presumably giants, from the description they gave. That, in tandem with another reference in Genesis, has always interested me; furthermore, they are called here the "sons of Anak". I think later books will tie this name in again with Goliath, which fits with the idea that they were giants (as he was). If they were accurate in their description of these as real Nephilim, then it indicates that that race existed both before and after the flood - again fitting with the lines in Genesis 6.