A people great and tall,.... Of a large bulky size, and of an high stature, so that the spies seemed to be as grasshoppers to them, Nu 13:33,the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest; by report, having had an account of them by the spies, who described them as very large bodied men, and of a gigantic stature, the descendants of one Anak, a giant; and so the Targum of Jonathan,"a people strong and high like the giants;''from these Bene Anak, children of Anak, or Phene Anak, as the words might be pronounced, the initial letter of the first word being of the same sound, Bochart thinks the country had its name of Phoenicia:and of whom thou hast heard say, who can stand before the children, of Anak?
or the children of the giants, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; which they had heard either from the spies who had suggested the same, Nu 13:31 or as a common proverb in the mouths of most people in those days.
Canaan, l. 1. c. 1. col.