WHO WERE THE ANAKIMS?

They were a race of giants of extraordinary size who inhabited the mountainous regions of Judah (the region of Negeb). The Negeb of ancient times embraced an area extending from the district of Beer-sheba in the North to Kadesh-barnea in the South. (Gen. 21; Num. 13; 32).
In the Northern section, occasional springs, wells and pools are found, and the tamarisk is one of the few trees that thrives there. (Gen 21). To the SouthWest of Beer-sheba lie two small areas and one relatively large area of sand dunes. Much of the Negeb is a plateau between 457 and 610 meters (2,000 feet) above sea level, with peaks up to 1,067 meters (3,500 feet) in elevation.
The prophet Isaiah described this region as a land of hard conditions, a haunt of lions, leopards and snakes. Isaiah 30.
Three prominent men of the gigantic race, Ahimah, Sheshai, and Talmai, resided at Hebron. (Num.13).
It was there that the 12 Hebrew spies first saw the giants, and 10 of the spies subsequently gave a frightening report of the experience alleging that these giants were descendants of the pre-Flood Nephilim and that, by comparison with them, the Hebrews were like "grasshoppers." (Deut. 1).
The Israelites sent by Moses entered the Promised Land from the Negeb.
Their great stature of the giants caused them to be used as a standard of comparison in describing even the giant-like men of the EMIM and the REPHAIM.
Their strength produced the proverbial saying: "Who can make a firm stand before the sons of Anak?" Deut. 2; Deut. 9.
ANAK (A'nak) [long-necked], is described as the progenitor of a tribe of giants who inhabited the earth long before the Flood. The tribe itself is mentioned at Numbers 13 and 28 with the name in Hebrew.
In Joshua 15, a descriptive name is applied to ARBA as the original "long-necked giant," and thereafter to his progeny.
ARBA (Ar'ba) [Four or Fourfold], is called the "father" or "great man" of the ANAKIM  and appears to have been the founder of KIRIATH-ARBA (city of Arba or fourfold city), later called Hebron. Joshua 14; Joshua 15; Joshua 21.
The cisterns, terrace walls and ruins of many towns that have been found in the Negeb region indicate that the area anciently supported a considerable population. Here the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob found pasturage for their large flocks. (Gen. 13; Gen. 20; Gen. 24; Gen.46). And in Abraham's time the Elamite king Chedorlaomer, with his three allies, defeated the inhabitants of the Negeb. (GEN. 14).