Genesis 6:4 - 4 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.
The Lord spoke to Moses and told him to send one son from
each of the tribes of Israel to go as spies into the land of Canaan. After 40
days of exploring the new land, the spies returned to give a report to Moses
and Aaron. The spies reported the good news that land was flowing with milk and
honey. They also reported some bad news -there were giants in the land! They
saw the Nephilim and they feared them.
Who were the Nephilim and why did God’s people fear them?
The Nephilim are one of those intriguing mysteries of the
Bible. The existence of the Nephilim is first revealed in Genesis 6:4. The
Nephilim are introduced prior to Noah and the great flood. The implications are
that the Nephilim and their offspring were evil and the earth needed to be
cleansed of them.
Despite the flood wiping out everything on earth, the
Nephilim supernaturally reappear and become an obstacle for the Israelites.
Causing them to disobey God for not taking possession of the land.
There Were Giants in the Land
Theologians have been debating since the first century of
the early church as to what the Nephilim were. Some consider the Nephilim to be
nothing more than a race of mighty men. The late, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, in his classic
radio series, Thru the Bible, held the opinion that the Nephilim were merely
men.
These were not monstrosities; they were men. The record makes
it clear that the giants were in the earth before this took place, and it
simply means they were offspring of outstanding individuals.
Another age old argument is that the Nephilim literally are
a race of giants. Encounters with giants occur throughout the Old Testament. The
most notable giant being the Philistine Goliath could very well have been a
descendant of the Nephilim.
Other giants appeared in the Old Testament, the Rephaites
(Rephaim), the Anakites (the sons of Anak are a part of the Nephilim, Numbers
13:33), and the Zamzumites. In the book of Genesis, chapter 14, the War of the
Kings, King Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him defeated the Rephaim,
the Zuzim and the Emim. Deuteronomy 2:10 describes the Emim as people as great,
as numerous, as tall and as powerful as the Anakim (the offspring of the
Nephalim). These race of giants were all genetically related.
Deuteronomy 2:11 - 11 Like
the Anakim, they are also regarded as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim.
The significance of this battle with the kings, in the book
of Genesis, reveals that the Nephilim were roaming the earth at the time of
Abraham. Reading the scripture as the infallible word of God we have an enigma
on our hands. In Deuteronomy, we have King Og, the last of the remnant of the
Rephaim, who had a burial bed 13 1/2 feet long (9 cubits x 1.5 ft/cubit = 13.5
feet).
Deuteronomy 3:11-11 (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.)
The question arises, where did these giants come from?
The Sons of God and the Daughters of Men
There is significant evidence in the Bible that there were a
race of giants in the land. The giants existed with Abraham and were wiped out
of human history probably around the time of King David. The giants weren’t
genetic anomalies there were races of them. Genesis 6:4 doesn’t shed any light
on the matter at all. The scripture explains the Nephilim came into existence
when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men,
and they bore children to them. Who
were the sons of God?
Theologians have two differing beliefs regarding who the sons
of God are. The first account is that the sons of God are actually the
descendants of Seth and the daughters of men are the descendants of Cain. The
weight of the argument is that this intermarrying is in violation of the Law.
Deuteronomy
7:1-4 - 1“When the Lord your God brings you into the land where
you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the
Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the
Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and
stronger than you, 2 and when the
Lord your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall
utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to
them. 3 Furthermore, you
shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their
sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. 4 For [they will turn your sons away from
following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled
against you and He will quickly destroy you.
The basis of this argument doesn’t
readily explain as to why the descendants were physical giants.
The second theological belief is
that the sons of God refers to fallen angels. The foundation of this belief is in
the context that “the sons of God “ are used in the scripture. The Hebrew translation is Ben Elohim, which literally is,
the sons of God. Theologians who are of
the point of view that the sons of God are angels, provide the argument using
the context the sons of God are mentioned in the book of Job, Job 1:6, 2:1, and 38:7. Again, the Hebrew
contextual translation here is ben elohim, the sons of God.
Job 1:6 - 6 Now
there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
In this context, the sons of God are
referring to angels in heaven, before the throne of God.
Job 2:1 - 1 Again there was a
day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before
the Lord.
And
in Job 38:7, the contextual reference is
angels.
Job 38:7 - 7 When the morning stars sang together
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
In each of these scripture verses in the book of Job, ben
elohim, is referring to angels. The scripture alludes to the sons of God as
being angels. Now we’ll examine what the
early church believed.
Accepted Belief in the Antiquities
Who or what did the early church believe the sons of God to
be? Some clues surface in early writings and in New Testament scripture that
the accepted belief was that the sons of God were in fact angels. The Jewish
historian Flavius Josephus writes in his works, about Genesis 6:4,
NOW this posterity of Seth
continued to esteem God as the Lord of the universe, and to have an entire
regard to virtue, for seven generations; but in process of time they were
perverted, and forsook the practices of their forefathers; and did neither pay
those honors to God which were appointed them, nor had they any concern to do
justice towards men. But for what degree of zeal they had formerly shown for
virtue, they now showed by their actions a double degree of wickedness, whereby
they made God to be their enemy. For many angels of God accompanied with women,
and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers of all that was good, on
account of the confidence they had in their own strength; for the tradition is,
that these men did what resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians call
giants. But Noah was very uneasy at what they did; and being displeased at
their conduct, persuaded them to change their dispositions and their acts for
the better: but seeing they did not yield to him, but were slaves to their
wicked pleasures, he was afraid they would kill him, together with his wife and
children, and those they had married; so he departed out of that land.
William Whiston, who provided this translation in,
The
Works of Josephus, in 1736, made the comment, “
Tertullian is quoting an ancient book, 1 Enoch, which was
not included in the 66 books of the Canonical Bible.
In the New Testament, books 2 Peter and Jude, also make
reference to the angels who left their habitation and took earthly wives. These
writings also illuminate the notion that the early church believed the sons of
God were fallen angels in the book of Genesis.
2 Peter 2:4-5 - 4 For if God did not spare angels when they
sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness,
reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but
preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought
a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
The author of Jude writes,
Jude 1:6-7 - 6 And angels who did not keep their own
domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under
darkness for the judgment of the great day, 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities
around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality
and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the
punishment of eternal fire.
Tertullian knew that the epistle of Jude was specifically
quoting the book 1 Enoch. Bruce Metzger cites in his works on,
The Canon of
the New Testament: It’s Origin, Development and Significance, that the
epistle of Jude appealed to Tertullian because of its testimonial to the
authority of Enoch.
As you can see, the book of 1 Enoch was well
known in the first and second century churches and was in the synagogues at the
time of the ministry of Jesus Christ.
Both in 2 Peter and the book Jude, the authors are referring
to angels already in chains in eternal darkness, awaiting their judgment. We
know Satan and his demons are roaming the earth causing chaos until their time
of judgment when Jesus Christ returns. So who are these angels in chains? It
seems to have been common knowledge in the synagogues and early church who
these angels were. Many theologians believe the two authors are quoting another
book, then common to the synagogues and churches, the book of 1 Enoch. The book
of Enoch raises more questions then answers and was obviously not included in
the 66 canonical books of the Bible. To
muddy the waters here, it is no mystery that the Peter and the author of Jude
are referencing the book of 1 Enoch. This book is presumed to be authored by
the same Enoch who appears in Genesis 5.
Genesis 5:18:21-24
- 21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became
the father of Methuselah. 22 Then Enoch
walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah,
and he had other sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three
hundred and sixty-five years. 24 Enoch walked
with God; and he was not, for God took him.
In the book of 1 Enoch, in chapter 6,we see a similar passage to the
scripture in Genesis 6:4.
1 Enoch
Book 1 Ch. 6- 1 And it came to
pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto
them beautiful and comely daughters.
2 And the angels, the
children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another:
'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men
3
and beget us children.
Keep in mind here the book of 1 Enoch is not the smoking gun that proves
these were angels. It only provides some evidence that the common belief in
Jewish antiquity is that the sons of God were angels and that we have some
evidence the angels may have attempted pro creation with earthly women. We
leave the book of 1 Enoch as nothing more than that. I believe the book of 1
Enoch raises more questions than answers, which is why it was probably left out
of the canonical books of the Bible. But we must also keep in mind it was in
the synagogues and quoted in our New Testament in the book of Jude.
Can Angels Procreate with Man?
That is the question of which we’ll never receive a true
answer to until we go to our glory and sit through the new arrival 101
presentation in Heaven. From an earthly stand point and from the frontlines of
battle in our ministry – I do believe this is possible. Our ministry has been
involved in ministering to satanic ritual abuse survivors and people dealing
with incubus-succubus (raping demon) manifestations. It is through these
ministry experiences that I know demons are a part of rape, oppressive
spiritual rape and ritual rape. In these cases, demons manifest and rape
individuals. A female looking demon, a succubus, can collect genetic material
from a man. Demons can manipulate DNA, look at horrific illnesses and cancer.
Angels under Satan possess supernatural God given wisdom beyond the scope of
our brightest men. What we Christians don’t consider is not if this can be
done, but how horrific it is when it is done. In ritual abuse, some women are
used as nothing more than breeders. The raping by demons is violent and is
commonly done on children during these rituals.
Demons and the Nephilim
There are several common beliefs out there as to the origin
of demonic spirits. I strongly subscribe to the belief that the demons are in
fact fallen angels who rebelled with Lucifer. However, there are theologians
who believe that demons are the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim that died
in the great flood. Those who subscribe to this belief cite the book of 1
Enoch.
1 Enoch Book 1 Ch 15
- 8 And now, the
giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil
spirits upon
9 the earth, and on the earth shall be their
dwelling. Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies; because they are born
from men and from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin;
10
they shall be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits shall they be called. [As
for the spirits of heaven, in heaven shall be their dwelling, but as for the
spirits of the earth which were born upon the earth, on the earth shall be
their dwelling.]
11 And the spirits of the giants afflict,
oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and
cause trouble: they take no food, but nevertheless
12 hunger
and thirst, and cause offences. And these spirits shall rise up against the
children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them.
The late Dr. Tom Hawkins, of Restoration in Christ
Ministries, where he and his wife Diane, have made incredible contributions to
the ministry of Satanic ritual abuse survivors and ministering to dissociative
identity disorder, did a significant amount of research on the topic of the
Nephilim spirits being demons. In Dr. Hawkins work on Cosmic Hierarchy, he writes,
We began examining the whole
concept of two realms of spiritual beings. One was the usual demonic realm,
which seems to include the lower level spiritual beings. Another was the higher
level fallen angels, called celestial beings in Jude 1:8-10 (NIV). Over time we
have begun to understand that celestial beings are a subcategory of the overall
designation “cosmic beings”. While, admittedly, we don’t know the origin of
demons, I now believe they are not “fallen angels”, but more likely the
offspring of the Nephilim.
The theological argument that follows here, and Dr. Hawkins
addresses it subtly, is, who are the principalities, powers, and rulers with
Satan? We now have two distinct spiritual beings. Terry Law, comments on this
in his book, The Truth About Angels,
The only explanation that fits all
the facts seems to be that some fallen angels transgressed by not only by
taking on human bodies –as we know fallen angels sometimes do- but by operating
in all the functions of those bodies, including sex. This transgression was
much worse than even rebelling against God that they were chained in darkness
before the flood or at the time of the flood.
Like other magnificent mysteries of the Bible we’ll have to
wait for our Glory 101 New Arrivals class in Heaven to get all the answers we
now seek. I am sure the early church were having the same Theological
arguments. God is sovereign and doesn’t
owe us an answer. Just remember, it is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to
search out a matter is the glory of kings!
McGee, J. Vernon. Thru
The Bible Commentary Series: The Law - Genesis Chapters 1-15. Nashville: Thomas
Nelson Publishers, 1991. Pg. 120
©2014 Michael J. Norton
