The first encounter of Israel with the inhabitants of the land involves the Anakim. The report of the spies contains the sweeping comment that everyone they saw in the land was unusually tall. There are good textual reasons for not taking this statement as a literally true assessment in terms of its comprehensive nature. We’ve already noted that the biblical writers at times use sweeping generalizations that are not intended to be precise. For instance, Genesis 15:16 and Joshua 7:7 referred to the occupants of the land as “Amorites” when it is abundantly clear that there were other ethnic
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