Nephilim

Nephilim

I think the first thing we need to look at when discussing Nephilim is the definition of the word used in the verse. (Genesis 6:4) Using Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible the word Nephilim translates, nephiyl, nef-eel'; or nephil, nef-eel'; from H5307; prop., a feller, i.e. a bully or tyrant:--giant. nephal, (Chald.), nef-al'; corresp. to H5307:--fall (down), have occasion 5308. The real meaning is not necessarily a Giant but a bully.  If we use Nelsons Dictionary we have this added interpretation. NEPHILIM, a word of uncertain meaning (Genesis 6:4; Numbers 13:33), (NIV, NEB, NASB, RSV translations), translated as giants by the KJV and NKJV. Some scholars believe . . . were descended from famous rulers, outstanding leaders, and mighty warriors who lived before the Flood. These men, so the theory goes, gathered great harems and were guilty of the sin of polygamy. (from Nelson's Bible Dictionary, (c) 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)

Another view of the Nephilim is that they were particularly violent, strong, and infamous people who predated the marriages of Genesis 6:2. This viewpoint often explains the unions as intermarriage of the godly line of Seth described in with the ungodly line of Cain.

I think the mis-interpretation begins with Genesis 3:14-15 “The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel." God said he would put enmity between the seed of woman and the seed of Satan. The problem is that Satan is a fallen Angel and Angels do not have the ability to pro-create as we seen in Matthew 22:28-30 “In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her." But Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God.”For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven”

I believe that man became so depraved in heart that he became exceedingly wicked in all his ways. This was true in the days of Noah and is also true in our day. Therefore I believe that the depravity of men enabled evil spirits to indwell them much like Legion in the Gospel of Mark 5:6-9 “Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; and shouting with a loud voice, he *said, "What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!" For He had been saying to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!" And He was asking him, "What is your name?" And he *said to Him, "My name is Legion; for we are many." So I will stay with my position that there was no supernatural seed transferred to the children of the intermarriages. But I do not deny that the fallen angels may have been involved in the intermarriages of Seth’s seed and Cain’s seed. Going back to my statement that man had become so depraved and wicked at that time it would have been easy for demons to have indwelled them. This would have accounted for the increased wickedness of these people and their offspring. My argument against their being the seed of angels transferred to their children is that angels cannot pro-create and therefore as spiritual beings have no seed to share. But evil spirits can indwell people.

I think prior to the flood these wicked men came from the bloodline of Cain who was cursed by God for his killing of Abel. So cursed was Cain that God placed a mark on him that would warn others not to destroy him. (Why I do not know.) Genesis 4:14-15 “"Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me." So the LORD said to him, "Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD appointed a sign for Cain, so that no one finding him would slay him.”

Adam and Eve gave birth to a third son named Seth who once again began the bloodline of Jesus. Enoch and Noah we descendants of Seth and they are the ones I believe the sons of God came from. I believe the followers of Jesus Christ are the “Sons of God. Romans 8:16-17 “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” So I believe the Sons of God referred to in Genesis 6 are those of the line of Seth who followed God in their faith. The Followers of Jesus are the adopted Son of God through Jesus Christ.

Cain’s bloodline was cursed and his seed was on the wicked path in rebellion against god. The house of Cain settled in the land of Nod east of Eden.

Genesis 6:1-4 “Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”

I think that the Sons of God, Seth’s bloodline came down and intermarried with the daughters of Cain. In verse 4 it says, “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days,” and I believe these were from the line of Cain because they had chose to rebel against God. Also it is implied that their existence was before the intermarriages. Because of this reason all of man had become corrupt and God only found favor with Noah and his family.

After the flood Noah planted a vineyard and became drunk of the wine. In his drunkenness he passed out and his sons took notice of his naked condition. Shem and Japheth walked backwards into the tent of Noah and covered him. It is speculated that Noah’s grandson Canaan went in afterward and did some sexual immorality to Noah and for that Noah cursed him. Canaan then fled and settled in the land named after him which was Canaan. Genesis 9:23-26 “But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father's nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. So he said, "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers." He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.”

In the days of Joshua spies were sent into the Promised Land, which was Canaan, and reported seeing Nephilim. Again these were mighty wicked men given to all kinds of evil. Numbers 13:33 “There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

This then leaves question one, “The idea that these giants could have come from normal human unions seems unlikely at best. I agree that the angels could not procreate in and of themselves, but I believe that they inhabited the bodies of humans, most likely from Canaan’s bloodline, and in that way passed their corrupt seed on to the women.”

There are giants today but not the size we are talking about here. I think to find the answer is to look at the effect of the atmospheric pressure in the day before the flood. A key to this is the canopy of water in the stratosphere. In Genesis 1:6-8 we read, “Then God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.” the word expanse, or as in other versions of the bible Firmament, today means sky. So we need to look at exactly what God was saying with the word expanse. In Genesis 1:20 it become more clear. “Then God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” What God was saying is that the expanse was the area between to two waters. The water in the stratosphere, the sky where the birds flew, and the water below the sky which is the sea, is how it was in the origin of creation.

Prior to the flood the earth was watered by springs and mist. Genesis 2:6 “But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.” In Hebrews 11:7 we also read, “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” Rain could be the correct understanding of “things not yet seen,” or it could be referring to the Flood in general. The general belief is that it never rained prior to the flood.

This water canopy would have provided protection against cosmic radiation from outer space and blocking of dangerous X-rays and ultraviolet radiation. The atmosphere today blocks much of the dangerous radiation from the sun. Still a fair amount gets through, as overexposure to the sun can cause skin cancer. Before the flood the blocking of dangerous X-rays and gamma rays would probably have been much greater. This probably accounts for the much longer life spans of the patriarchs recorded in the Bible.

The Canopy of water would have also caused a greenhouse effect causing much warmer temperatures. This may explain why Mammoths preserved in the permafrost in Siberia have tropical vegetation in their stomachs.

Genesis 2:5-6 also indicates that prior to Adam, at least, but the plants were water by springs coming up from the ground. Neither does the bible mention rain prior to the flood. The greenhouse effect would also lessen the need for the water cycle. Also if Noah was the first to see a rainbow that further strengthens the canopy theory.

Genesis 7:11-12 describes how it rained for forty days and nights. It would be impossible for that much rain to fall today because there is not that much moisture present in the atmosphere today meaning there had to be a larger amount of water in the atmosphere in the days of Noah.  “In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.”

There are several ancient cultures that have legends of a canopy type phenomenon. An example would be the Babylonian creation accounts, Enuma Elish, which mentions fog, clouds, or mist covering the earth.

Other evidences of the canopy and its greenhouse effect are fossils of palm trees in Alaska, crocodiles in New Jersey, and petrified wood in the desert all suggest a warmer climate in historic times. Genesis mentions seasons in the creation accounts. The seasonal temperatures of summer and winter, heat and cold, are not mentioned in scripture until after the flood. 

Increased atmospheric Pressure would have been caused by a canopy causing heavier air. Heavier air would have allowed prehistoric flying reptiles like the Pteranodon. A Pteranodon male was twenty and half feet from wing tip to wing tip. In today’s thinner atmosphere it is not likely that a reptile of this size could fly.

Amber is commonly used in jewelry for ladies. Amber is actually fossilized tree sap, and frequently contains either insects, or bubbles of air. Amber specimens have been tested and have produced oxygen levels containing 32% which is much higher than the 21% found in the atmosphere today.

Before the flood there were certain benefits for planet earth with a canopy of water in the stratosphere creating a higher content of oxygen and a lack of dangerous radiation. The conditions described in the Garden of Eden and throughout the early chapters of Genesis were probably reflected all over the planet.

Early fossils have shown the abundance of vegetation, animals, birds, and fish because of the warmer and more constant temperature, the higher levels if Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide. The Fossils also show that humans, animals, birds, insects, and fish were much larger.

There is a general teaching that early man was primitive. This is certainly incorrect.  Adam and Eve were created in the image of God, and actually would have been superior to us in every way.  Think about it: These two individuals held all of the genes that have been passed down through all generations until you and me. Because of the protective effect of the water canopy, there was protection from damaging ultraviolet rays and gamma rays, with probably much lower incidence of consequent diseases such as cancer and fetal malformations. Because of the higher oxygen levels, the high blood oxygen levels would have contributed to extreme longevity, resistance to bacterial and viral diseases, and greater metabolic efficiency, with consequent greatly enhanced athletic ability. The average age of man before Noah's Flood was 912 years. Today it is 70- 80

The Bible describes giants, before and after Noah's Flood. In Samuel 17:4 “Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.” That is approximately nine feet tall. In Deuteronomy 3:11 the bed of Og was fourteen feet long and six feet wide. “For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bedstead was an iron bedstead; it is in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. Its length was nine cubits and its width four cubits by ordinary cubit.”

This would account for the ones who were called Nephilim in the days of Noah and before the flood. The giants of after the flood are quite a normal thing as well as there are some giants even today. Even basketball players in my time have become taller and more muscular. For me the key here is not so much in the physical aspects but in the spiritual. As man continues to fall deeper and deeper into his depravity the stage is rapidly being set for the end times. When I was younger I wondered how so many people would follow a man such as Hitler. But my understanding is becoming clearer. The world is coming to a complete rebellion of God’s truth because man has become so wicked that even he himself cannot face it. The heart of man is so full of deceit that he asks as Pilate did on the day of the crucifixion, “What is truth?” (John 18:38) You and I my friend have a good work to do, equipping our flock that God has entrusted to us and telling the good news to every ear that will hear

They could not have been Nephilim from prior to the flood but were men who had become so depraved of mind much like the seed of Cain and now the seed of Canaan.

My conclusion is that the Nephilim are men that are so depraved and wicked, so far from the love of God that they are most likely under the control of Satan himself. God once destroyed all on the earth because of them in the Flood. God has destroyed cities because of them. (Sodom and Gomorrah) And in the end time He will destroy the earth with fire because of them and cast them all into the lake of fire.