RELIGIOUS GIANTS — NOT PHYSICAL GIANTS
The reason Israel spent forty years in the wilderness is that they did not trust that they would be strong enough to overcome the giants who lived there. The story is a parable of a season (forty years) in which God’s people struggle against the wilderness of  religion on their way to the promised land.

Giants are symbolic representations of very strong and powerful, past and present, Jewish and Christian religious leaders who are all False Prophets who have led people into the sin of religion. Giants are also represented as Pastors, Priests, Rabbis, Apostles, Bishops, Elders, Deacons, Overseers, Popes, Missionaries and Evangelists, as Kings, Queens and Princes and as Serpent, Devil, Satan, Adversary, Demons, Evil Spirits and Anti-Christs.

In the story of Israel’s unwillingness to confront the giants in the promised land, Israel did not trust that the power of God’s word spoken through them was greater than the power of the words (i.e., swords) of the religious leaders. This, of course, made God very angry. Thus, lacking trust and power, they could not defeat these giant enemies.

Other stories of giants portray seasons in which strong religious leaders and their followers invade Israel with the goal of deceiving them to become religious instead of listening to God’s voice. Israel was able to resist and overcome the giants as long as they listened to God’s spoken voice. When Israel was in a season in which it did not listen to God’s voice, however, it was defeated and taken into slavery.

Perhaps the most famous giant is Goliath. Israel was in an ongoing war with Goliath because it could not overcome his religious kingdom. This warfare was resolved only when David, who was anointed by God, killed Goliath with a stone which symbolically represents truth. He could do this because he had been anointed with God’s word (symbolically represented as a stone) which gave him power to overcome religion. David achieved victory over Goliath (i.e., religion) because he trusted that God would speak truth through him.

The full symbolism of the story is that David toppled oppressive religion in the form of Goliath with truth in the form of a stone. And then he finished Goliath off by chopping off his head with his own sword which symbolizes the words Goliath used to cause fear in the hearts of Israel. In other words, David used Goliath’s lying religious words to defeat Goliath.

Lack of trust in his spoken word is considered by God to be sin because belief in the greater power of the words of giants (i.e., religious leaders) elevates the power of the spoken words of false prophets (i.e., Trees of Knowledge of Good and Evil) above the power of God’s spoken word. This agrees with the basic definition of sin.