In Numbers 13:33, how could there have been giants that made them feel like the size of grasshoppers? Or is this just a figure of speech or are they just exaggerating?<\/p>\n\t
“There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight<\/em>” (Numbers 13:33).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There is a figure of speech that is called hyperbole where an idea is exaggerated to the extreme to emphasize a point. This is a case of hyperbole. Imagine being 5’6″ and seeing a city of people around the height of Goliath who was 9’6″ tall (I Samuel 17:4). You’d be feeling like an insect someone might step on accidentally. In other words, the hyperbole is not so much a comparison of actual size as an expression of the helplessness they felt seeing these people.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: In Numbers 13:33, how could there have been giants that made them feel like the size of grasshoppers? Or is this just a figure of speech or are they just exaggerating? Answer: “There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[211,76],"class_list":["post-29454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-figurative-language","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28870,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-there-be-nephilims-after-the-flood-if-the-flood-wiped-out-all-but-noahs-family\/","url_meta":{"origin":29454,"position":0},"title":"How can there be Nephilims after the flood if the flood wiped out all but Noah’s family?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, In Genesis 6:4 we are introduced to the Nephilims for the first time and it says that \"The Nephilim were on the earth in those days - and also afterward.\"\u00a0 Then we had Noah's flood.\u00a0 After that, the Nephilims were mentioned again in Numbers 13:33, where they were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89207,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/not-who-but-what\/","url_meta":{"origin":29454,"position":1},"title":"Not Who But What","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Albert Gardner \"It is not who is right-but what is right, that counts.\" The crowd does not make a thing right or wrong. If something is wrong, it remains wrong even if everybody does it. If it is right, it is still right even if nobody does it. Moses\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94907,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-problem-with-giants\/","url_meta":{"origin":29454,"position":2},"title":"The Problem with Giants","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chadwick Brewer \"And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs\" (Numbers 13:23). It had been approximately a year\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91421,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-question-of-god-repenting-or-changing-his-mind\/","url_meta":{"origin":29454,"position":3},"title":"The Question of God Repenting or Changing His Mind","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton A skeptic thought he found a flaw in the Bible and the God of the Bible. He believes the following is a contradiction in the Bible: Does God change his mind? \"For I am the Lord; I change not\" (Malachi 3:6). \"God is not a man,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30078,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-dare-you-claim-that-the-book-of-enoch-is-uninspired\/","url_meta":{"origin":29454,"position":4},"title":"How dare you claim that the book of Enoch is uninspired!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Minister, How dare you claim my beloved\u00a0book of Enoch an uninspired work of men! People like you are just afraid to accept that angels descended upon earth and fornicated with earthly women and procreated giants. Yes, Jesus said that angels do not marry- they do not marry in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30969,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-jesus-said-he-didnt-know-the-day-or-hour-of-his-return-was-he-speaking-in-hyperbole\/","url_meta":{"origin":29454,"position":5},"title":"When Jesus said he didn’t know the day or hour of his return, was he speaking in hyperbole?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Mark 13:32, it says that \"But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.\" During our Bible study, somebody said that Jesus really does not know the day of His return. 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