12/06/2025
I swear I’m developing a PhD curriculum on God’s Word..
I searched why there were surviving remnants of the Anikites or Anikim in the Bible:
God himself destroyed any hidden survivors of the Hittite, Girgash*te, Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite peoples after the Israelites defeated them and dispossessed them from the land of their inheritance. But for some reason, some of the giant Anikites escaped destruction.
Surviving remnants of the Anakim existed primarily because the Israelite conquest under Joshua, while largely successful, did not completely eradicate them from all regions of Canaan. They found refuge in specific, unconquered Philistine cities, which also foreshadowed future conflicts.
Reasons for their Survival
Geographic Refuge: The Anakim were driven from the central hill country (including Hebron, Debir, and Anab) but persisted in the coastal cities of the Philistine plain. The cities where they survived were:
Gaza
Gath
Ashdod
Incomplete Conquest: The presence of these remnants is biblically described as a consequence of an incomplete obedience to God's command to clear the land of its inhabitants.
Foreshadowing Future Conflicts: Their survival in these areas ensured their continued presence in the region, leading to later encounters with the Israelites. Notable figures like Goliath, whom David defeated, are often speculated by Bible scholars to have been descendants of these surviving Anakim remnants in Gath.
Assimilation: Scholarly analysis suggests that these remaining populations eventually assimilated into Philistine society, preserving some of their lineage and legacy.
The narrative in the Book of Joshua specifically states that "No Anakim were left in the land of the Israelites; only in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod did any survive" (Joshua 11:22). This highlights that while their strongholds were broken, isolated populations endured outside the immediate Israelite territories.