Life is getting strange with the onslaught of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The issue of the Nephilim is “enormous” and “gigantic” in the American church right now. Can giants be edited through AI and faked and published on youtube and other platforms? Some youtube teachers and prophets claim that they actually do appear, apart from AI.
Who really were the Nephilim, biblically speaking? A satanic hybrid or just extra-tall human warriors? Do they appear today? Should we obsess over them? This post also has a modern angle and is pastoral.
I use the NIV and ESV in this post. For many more translations go to this website: biblegateway.com. All bold font has been added.
Let’s begin.
1. The Evidence from the Immediate Context in Genesis 6
The internal evidence–the verses themselves in Genesis 6, the immediate context–imply that the Nephilim were humans.
Here is the full passage:
When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. (Gen. 6:1-6, NIV, emphasis added)
Experts in the Hebrew language teach us in their commentaries and Study Bibles that there is no necessary connection in Hebrew between vv. 1-3 and v. 4. That is, the Nephilim are not necessarily the offspring of the breeding between the sons of God and the daughters of men. Instead, the Nephilim were alive when the sons of God and daughters of men were doing their thing.
I like the Biblical Theology Study Bible’s comment:
6:4 Nephilim. The Hebrew word means “fallen ones.” They also appear much later (Num. 13:33). They are not an ethnic group but a social group of warriors, usually past “heroes” of legendary power. Here they illustrate the extent of the violence of the world.
That summary is balanced. The Nephilim were not offspring of the sons of God and the daughters of men. They were human beings, not satanic / human hybrids.
The Nephilim were warriors, men of renown, just as Goliath was in 1 Samuel 17, as we will see below.
Who were the sons of God, then? I cover this topic here:
Who Were the ‘Sons of God’ in Genesis?
2. Human DNA and the Fallen Angels
Now back to Gen. 6:1-3 because Bible readers, both the average ones and some of the scholars, claim that the Nephilim were the offspring of the sons of God and the daughters of men.
Do spirit beings (angels or fallen angels) have human DNA, so that they can produce the right sperm with human women’s ova, to create satanic / human hybrids?
In Genesis 6:2, the “sons of God” saw that the “daughters of humans” were beautiful and married them. Because of the sharp contrast in the phrasing and the appearance of the phrase—sons of God v. daughters of humans—many Bible teachers say that these were fallen angels (or some sort of spirit beings). Some of these interpreters even speculate that the fallen angels were given male body parts by which to procreate. One fiery TV preacher claimed that their fallen, angelic bodies were “somehow” transformed or reconstituted, so they could breed.
The “fallen angels” interpreters cover this difficulty usually by saying “somehow” fallen angels could have this ability, but they stop short of explaining the “somehow.”
Would God transform them miraculously so they could breed, to explain the somehow? Why would he provide a path to sin and degradation? Convoluted.
But these verses in the next section hinders this interpretation.
3. Genetics in Genesis
Genesis 1:20-25 says that creatures breed according to and with their own kind:
And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. (Gen. 1:20-25, NIV)
And then this verse covers humans breeding with their own kind:
28 God blessed them [mankind and womankind] and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number (Gen. 1:28, NIV)
The people of the ancient Near East may not have known anything about modern genetics, but they knew enough to see that cows bred with cows and horses with horses. So I don’t believe that angels, who are spirit beings (Heb. 1:7), could have human DNA and produce sperm that could fertilize a woman’s ovum, even after falling.
4. Angels and the Sons of God in the New Testament
The New Testament, the fuller revelation, which clarifies the Old Testament, confirms this genetic block. Matthew 22:30 says that humans in heaven will not marry or be given in marriage, but will be like the angels, with the natural implication that angels don’t marry or are given in marriage, either.
It is true that these angels whom Jesus mentioned were faithfully performing their roles in heaven, but it is convoluted and forced reasoning to say that after being thrown out of heaven or sneaking out of heaven, the bodies of fallen angels were transformed or reconstituted, so they could breed and produce human DNA with their sperm. And there is no word on fallen angels marrying human women and raising families and their doing the daily grind of agricultural labor or forcing slaves to do this, and such like.
The sons of God are (redeemed) human beings in Paul’s theology:
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. […] 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. (Rom. 8:14, 18, ESV)
The sons of God were not fallen angels who could be transformed to have human DNA.
New Testament Must Always Filter Old Testament
5. No Giants in Genesis
All throughout Genesis, the nomadic patriarchs and their offspring crisscrossed Canaan (later called Israel) and beyond, even going down into Egypt and as far north as Paddan-Aram (where Rebekah’s and Laban’s family lived) and southeast to Moab (Lot’s descendants) and Edom (Esau’s descendants). The patriarchs met all sorts of people. Genesis does not mention one giant after the Flood. Not one. The silence is telling.
Further, the Table of Nations does not mention giants. but it does describe Nimrod, whose parentage is human and who accomplished all sorts of mighty things, which God may not have been pleased with, since the man built cities which later attacked Israel (Gen. 10). He is the sort of man who could gather a harem. He may not have been one of the Nephilim (or maybe he was), but he was a man of renown and a hunter and warrior.
Finally, ancient Greek and Near Eastern myths do not convince me that gods really kidnapped women and had sex with them (e.g. Zeus and Europa). Studying ancient culture is a benefit and can clarify some things, but let’s not over-apply it.
6. The Anakites, descendants of the Nephilim, in Canaan
The descendants of Nephilim were extra-tall humans who were warriors. Let’s look at passages about them
This passage comparing the Israelites to grasshoppers can easily be interpreted–and should be interpreted–as metaphorical (“seemed like grasshoppers”):
33 “We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (Num. 13:33).
However, this passage says the extra-tall people were defeated and confined to a restricted area:
21 At that time Joshua went and destroyed the Anakites from the hill country: from Hebron, Debir and Anab, from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua totally destroyed them and their towns. 22 No Anakites were left in Israelite territory; only in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod did any survive. (Joshua 11:21-22)
An Anakite named Arba was a man (adam), not a hybrid demon and man:
15 (Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba after Arba, who was the greatest man among the Anakites.) (Josh. 14:15, emphasis added)
For me, this settles the debate. the Nephilim, who were related to the Anakites, were mere humans.
Next, in 1 Samuel 17, David defeated extra-tall Goliath of Gath who was a warrior. How tall was he really? Textual variants say he may have been only about 6’7″ (2m) to 7’9′ feet tall (2.4m). This is much more reasonable than 9′ feet tall (2.74m). Human beings cannot function athletically with so much height and weight. A powerful soldier like Goliath over 9′ tall? Doubtful. (See the tallest man at 8’11’ [2.47m], here).
See netbible.org and look for 1 Samuel 17 and note no. seven for the variations in manuscripts.
This passage does not mention the Anakites, but there is one more extra-tall (human) warrior who is named:
20 In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha. 21 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David’s brother, killed him. (2 Sam. 21:20-21)
It looks like he was a genetic anomaly. There is no word on his being a hybrid demon and human.
And so the Anakites were not descended from satanic hybrids, combining the “male” fallen angels and female humans. They were extra-tall human warriors. Genetic anamolies.
7. Jude and 2 Peter Say No to Fallen Angels (or Hybrid Nephilim) Sneaking Around Today.
Let’s assume, just for the sake of argument, that the Nephilim and their descendants, the Anakites, were satanic hybrids, the children of “male” fallen angels with the right body parts and humanish DNA, and female humans. Can they sneak around today as some sort of demonic creatures?
No.
First, 2 Peter 2:4 refers to criminal angels that were put in chains and thrown into some sort of gloomy dark hell:
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment” …. (2 Peter 2:4, ESV)
Second, Jude 6 repeats what Peter wrote:
And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. (Jude 6, ESV)
In both verses, God confined these sinning angels, who had broken their assigned jurisdictions, in eternal chains and in gloomy darkness. It is hard to see how they could have time to breed with human women and raise a family back in the world of Genesis and then could break free from their eternal chains and sneak out of their gloomy, dark prison and prowl around today.
8. Conclusion
The best conclusion says that the Nephilim and their descendants were not a hybrid between “male” fallen angels with the right body parts and humanish DNA and female humans.
Now let’s come to the modern times and the reports about the Nephilim appearing today, as if they are fallen angels who had “somehow” bred with humans and are now sneaking around today. The distraction about the Nephilim wandering around the earth today is satanic, and Satan uses deceitful people. It is true that Satan will work signs and wonders through a deceitful man, as seen here.
God’s Signs and Wonders versus Satan’s Signs and Wonders
The goal is to deceive people (see Matt. 24:23-24; 2 Thess. 2:8-10; .Rev. 13:12-14; 16:14; 19:20).
Please don’t get distracted about the Nephilim. They were extra-tall human warriors and men of renown, who are not coming back and appearing in our day. Yes, understand that Satan and his demons and their cooperating humans can work signs and wonders, to deceive people. But don’t obsess over the Nephilim, or you too may be deceived.
The teaching about the Nephilim has now gotten out of hand in the American church, which tends to get caught up in hysteria, just like the world does. The alleged sightings of the Nephilim today are nothing but a “gigantic” distraction designed to get us off course, away from the main theme of the entire Bible, which is about God’s rescue mission for all of humanity through a chosen family, culminating in the Messiah and now everyone who is in him.
The hysteria about the Nephilim and their lineage, the Anakites, is a distraction designed to get us away from the Messiah whose lineage can be traced from Adam to Noah and to Abraham and then through Abraham’s great-grandson Judah and his descendants, in Genesis and in verses throughout the Bible, particularly in the genealogies in Matthew 1 and Luke 3.
Deceitful people work mischief to deceive Christians.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. (Eph. 4:14, emphasis added)
The context of the above verse is about the people of God growing in maturity, which is the best way to counter deceivers, whether satanic or human. Then true and mature people of Cod won’t be caught up in the latest hysterical wave.
Focus on Jesus and grow up in him and stay in a balanced and Bible-based, Spirit-filled kingdom community, so you will not be tossed back and forth by every wind of doctrine or the latest, scary trends.
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