Giants in the Book of Moses

The following is an excerpt from my book Giants: Men of Renown, published by Adventures Unlimited Press in which I discuss the giants in the Book of Moses:

The Pearl of Great Price is part of the canon the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church founder, Joseph Smith, compiled the Pearl of Great Price which takes its name from the “Parable of the Pearl” as told by Jesus in Matthew 13:45–46:

45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: 46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. (King James Version)

For the purposes of this book, I will look at the Book of Moses which is a part in the Pearl of Great Price. Other contents include the controversial Book of Abraham, Joseph Smith’s translation of the book of Matthew, the Joseph Smith History, and the church’s Articles of Faith. According to the introductory notes in the Pearl of Great Price, the Book of Moses is: 

“An extract from the book of Genesis of Joseph Smith’s translation of the Bible, which he began in June 1830.”

Like the works examined earlier in this chapter, the Book of Moses gives the reader a glimpse into life prior to the biblical flood. According to the Book of Moses, God chose Enoch to preach repentance to a wicked people who had forsaken his commandments. Enoch, at the behest of the creator, also foretold of a savior who would come—Jesus Christ—and preached baptism in water in the name of Jesus. 

According to the Book of Moses, Enoch became a great leader; he was like Moses who would be born many generations later. Enoch was a powerful figure in the antediluvian world; the enemies of the children of God were fearful and even the giants in the land proved to be no match:

14 There also came a up a land out of the depth of the sea, and so great was the fear of the enemies of the people of God, that they fled and stood afar off and went upon the land which came up out of the depth of the sea. 15 And the giants of the land, also, stood afar off; and there went forth a curse upon all people that fought against God;16 And from that time forth there were wars and bloodshed among them; but the Lord came and a dwelt with his people, and they dwelt in righteousness.

Moses 7:14–16

Enoch continued preaching righteousness and faith in Christ, and he established a holy city named Zion where God’s people dwelled. Eventually, the city, along with Enoch, was “taken up” into heaven. With the prophet and the inhabitants of Zion gone, wickedness spread like a cancer throughout the earth. The prophet Enoch foresaw the cataclysm that would envelop the planet; and so, he pleaded with God that his descendant Noah—and Noah’s seed—would be spared. 

After God took Enoch, his son Methuselah preached righteousness and repentance in his stead. The baton would later be passed to Noah, who, like his forefathers, extolled the people to turn from sin and obey the commandments of their creator. The wicked people did not receive Noah’s message well; the giants were especially offended. Moses 8:18 says: “And in those days there were giants on the earth, and they sought Noah to take away his life; but the Lord was with Noah, and the power of the Lord was upon him.”

Of course, we know that the giants did not kill Noah, nor did the Deluge that cleansed the land. God spared Noah and his seed, and he wiped out the giants. Life began anew after the flood, but the giants did not stay down for long. The Bible tells us that Noah’s distant descendants would have to deal with giants before taking possession of the Promised Land.

What is so interesting about the Book of Moses, specifically the sixth and seventh chapters, is that Smith’s translation is eerily similar to the Book of Giants fragments found in the Qumran caves in 1948. Though an English translation of the Ethiopian Church’s Book of Enoch became available in 1821, the details in Smith’s account—such as the character Mahijah, similar to Mahway in the Book of Giants—made it unlikely that Smith’s source was the Book of Enoch. Some believe Enochian esoteric knowledge survived the centuries through secret societies and that Smith came into contact with these teachings and drew from them in his translation. Of course, adherents to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints faith believe Smith’s writings are inspired and that Smith was a prophet of God. Regardless of one’s view of Smith or the Book of Moses, the insight that it provides into the antediluvian world—especially when joined with the Book of Enoch and the Book of Giants—is astounding.

My book Giants: Men of Renown covers a multitude of religious texts, ancient myths, legends of historic encounters and more in search of the truth behind the tales of giants. Pick up your copy today!

My Most Popular Posts

Giant Bones in West Virginia

Image
When the Bible famously declared that “there were giants on the earth in those days,” in Genesis 6:4, the writer wasn’t kidding—especially when it comes to West Virginia. In the early days of our nation, people routinely unearthed giant bones in the Mountain State. Giant Bones Countless newspapers and county histories in the 1800s told the story of giant bones. Stories such as these were commonplace: “It is said that a jawbone was plowed up near Moorefield which would pass over the outside of a common man's lower jaw; that it contained eight jaw teeth on either side, and that they sat transversely in their sockets. A bone of that size would have belonged to a man eight or nine feet high… Another jawbone of enormous size is recorded as having been discovered near Martinsburg.” Hu Maxwell and H. L. Swisher,  History of Hampshire County West Virginia from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present  (Morgantown, WV: A. Brown Boughner, 1897) “While digging a grave on Trace Fork, Lincoln
Read more

The Giants from the West

Image
The ethnologist James Mooney (1861–1921) wrote of ancient giants in his 1902 book, Myths of the Cherokee . The section titled "The Giants from the West" is an intriguing account. I have reprinted it below: THE GIANTS FROM THE WEST James Wafford, of the western Cherokee, who was born in Georgia in 1806, says that his grandmother, who must have been born about the middle of the last century, told him that she had heard from the old people that long before her time a party of giants had come once to visit the Cherokee. They were nearly twice as tall as common men, and had their eyes set slanting in their heads, so that the Cherokee called them Tsunil' kalu', "The Slant-eyed people," because they looked like the giant hunter Tsul'kalu' (see the story). They said that these giants lived very far away in the direction in which the sun goes down. The Cherokee received them as friends, and they stayed some time, and then returned to their home in the we
Read more

The Giants of Ancient Tennessee

Image
John Haywood (1753-1826) was a historian known as the "father of Tennessee history." These days, he might be best known for documenting giant skeletons found in Tennessee, as well as popularizing the "Tennessee Pygmies." In Haywood's 1823 work, The Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee , he documented several unique discoveries. These include giant skeletons found in Tennessee, particularly in and around White County. Haywood devoted a section to the giant skeletons found in Tennessee in his book. The entire section (Chapter VIII, section 1) is printed below: First, then—Of their Size. This is ascertained by the length and dimensions of the skeletons which are found in East and West Tennessee. These will prove demonstratively, that the ancient inhabitants of this country, either the primitive or secondary settlers, were of gigantic stature , compared with the present races of Indians.  On the farm of Mr. John Miller, of White county, are a numbe
Read more

Pensacola Sea Monster Attacks Teenage Boys

Image
On March 26, 1962, the Ocala Star-Banner ran an article about a Pensacola sea monster that attacked five teenage boys. The piece was titled “4 Teenage Skindivers Still Missing After Raft is Abandoned.” The text of the story is as follows: Four teenaged skindivers remained missing today after abandoning their tide-swept rubber raft in the Gulf of Mexico Saturday. A fifth youth swam two miles to shore about dark Saturday. The four were Bradford Rice, 14, Warren Felley, 16, Eric Ruyle, 16, and Larry Stuart Bill, 17. The fifth youth was Brian McCleary, 16 found sleeping on a beach near Fort McRae early Sunday. McCleary said he and the other four were skindiving in the gulf when the tide began carrying them to sea. Swells broke over their raft. He said they tried to move to a buoy but missed. Then, he said, they abandoned the raft to swim ashore. The raft washed ashore on Gulf Beach. Face masks, shoes, and fins were inside. McCleary said he, Bill and Ruyle developed cra
Read more

The Wa-gas

Image
In her book To the American Indian, Lucy Thompson (1856–1932), a member of the Yurok tribe whose Yurok name was Che-na-wah Weitch-ah-wah, recorded many of the tales of her people. One of the most interesting stories in the book is that of the Wa-gas. According to Thompson, the Wa-gas were an ancient race of white people that lived in North America many thousands of years ago. However, these folks were much different than Europeans who colonized the Americas in recent times. The following excerpt comes from Thompson’s book in a section titled “ Traditions of the Ancient White People” :
Read more

A Large Turtle

Image
Large turtle tales are among my favorite types of cryptid encounters . Perhaps that is why I spent over a week on the outskirts of Roswell, New Mexico in 2022. I had hoped to catch a glimpse of the fabled large turtles the "size of a Volkswagen." (I did not.) Maybe the best turtle tale is the story of Oscar, the Beast of Busco. This enormous turtle, with a shell as big as "the top of a car" caused a ruckus in an Indiana town in 1949. In 1883, the Scientific American published a blurb about a large turtle—large is an understatement!—spotted at sea. I reprinted the entire text below: A Large Turtle "Captain Augustus G. Hall and the crew of the schooner Annie L. Hall vouch for the following: On March 30, while on the Grand Bank, in latitude 40° 10’, longitude 33°, they discovered an immense live trunk turtle, which was at first thought to be a Reptiles and Amphibians 535 vessel bottom up. The schooner passed within twenty-five feet of the monster, and those on bo
Read more

The "Mystery Noises" in Moodus

Image
When I arrived in Moodus, Connecticut in early-May 2022, I was surprised when a friend texted me an article from the New England Historical Society. The piece was titled “The Mysterious Moodus Noises of Connecticut,” and recounted the history of strange, unexplained noises that occur around the village of Moodus. The Moodus Noises I read the article at once. I couldn't believe that I had stumbled upon a place renowned for strange activity. According to the article: The Wangunk Indians had told the colonists of the fearful noises that they tried to appease. In fact, the Indians called the land around Mt. Tom “Machemoodus,” meaning place of bad noises. The settlers shortened the name to Moodus, now a village in East Haddam. Once Puritans moved to the area in the early-1700s, they heard the noises, too. And they, too, attributed the sounds to a supernatural source. The superstitious Puritans believed God was angry with them for their sins. Meanwhile, the local Indians believed the
Read more

Paw Paw Tunnel

Image
The Paw Paw Tunnel in Oldtown, Maryland goes back to the days of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, better known as the C&O Canal. The C&O Canal operated from 1831 until 1924 along the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., to Cumberland, Maryland. The canal was primarily used to transport coal from the Allegheny Mountains. Building the 184-mile canal was a huge undertaking at the time; the lands to the west were remote and mountainous. A section of the canal, in Allegany County, Maryland, just across the river from present-day Paw Paw, West Virginia had to be bored through a mountain in order to bypass the Paw Paw bends, a 6-mile section of the Potomac with several horseshoe bends. Work on the tunnel began in 1836 and was completed in 1850. However, the tunnel was initially estimated to be complete in 1838. The work was slow-going and hazardous; using only hand tools and dynamite, works were only able to tunnel about 12 feet per day. Cave-ins were commonplace, as were injuries and
Read more

Teddy Roosevelt's Bigfoot Story

Image
Many in the cryptozoology community credit Theodore Roosevelt with recording an early Bigfoot encounter in his 1893 book The Wilderness Hunter .  Teddy Roosevelt's Bigfoot story began with him saying that frontiersmen, as a rule, were not superstitious. They lived hard and austere lives and had “little imagination in things spiritual and supernatural.” That said, Roosevelt did hear a “goblin story” that impressed him. I have reprinted Teddy Roosevelt's Bigfoot story, taken from his book, below:
Read more