Genesis 6:4 states "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days --and also afterwards-- when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown." The Nephilim were a race of giants that were produced by the sexual union of the sons of God (presumably fallen angels) and the daughters of men. Translated from the Hebrew texts, "Nephilim" means "fallen ones." They were renowned for their strength, prowess, and a great capacity for sinfulness.
The origination of the Nephilim begins with a story of the fallen angels. Shemhazai, an angel of high rank, led a sect of angels in a descent to earth to instruct humans in righteousness. The tutelage went on for a few centuries, but soon the angels pined for the human females. After lusting, the fallen angels instructed the women in magic and conjuring, mated with them, and produced hybrid offspring: the Nephilim.
The Nephilim were gigantic in
stature. Their strength was
prodigious and their appetites
immense. Upon devouring all of
humankind's resources, they began to
consume humans themselves. The
Nephilim attacked and oppressed
humans and were the cause of massive
destruction on the earth. Two texts of central import to
the story of the Nephilim, the Bible
and the Dead Sea Scrolls, mention
several names for the Nephilim. The
diverse kinds of these giants are
cited in several passages. They are
variously referred to as Emim, or
"Terrors" (Gen. 14:5; Deut. 2:10),
Rephaim, or "Weakeners" or "Dead
Ones" (2 Sam. 23:13; 1 Chron.
11:15), Gibborim, or "Giant Heroes"
(Job 16:4), Zamzummim, or
"Achievers" (Deut. 2:10), Anakim, or
"Long-necked" (Deut. 2:10; Josh.
11:22, 14:15), and Awwim or
"Devastators" and "Serpents." Other
giants are mentioned in these texts
as well, such as Goliath (2 Sam.
21:19), a giant with twelve fingers
and twelve toes who is mentioned as
one of the Rephaim (2 Sam. 21:20),
and a tall Egyptian (1 Chron.
11:23). The passage of Numbers
13:26-33 recounts the Nephilim of
Canaan that Joshua and the other
Hebrew spies saw. Furthermore,
according to Judaic lore, a certain
one of the Nephilim, Arba, built a
city, Kiriath Arba, which was named
for its builder and is now known as
Hebron.
The wickedness of the Nephilim
carried with it a heavy toll.
Genesis 6:5 alludes to the
corruption that the Nephilim had
caused amongst humans and
themselves: "The Lord saw how great
man's wickedness on the earth had
become..." Their evil rebellion had
incurred both the wrath and grief of
God. God instructed the angel
Gabriel to ignite a civil war among
the Nephilim. He also chose Enoch, a
righteous man, to inform the fallen
angels of the judgment pronounced on
them and their children. God did not
allow the fallen angels any peace,
for they could not lift their eyes
to heaven and were later to be
chained. The end of the Nephilim
came about in the war incited by
Gabriel,
in which the giants eventually
annihilated each other. (Nephilim,
Judd H. Burton)
They were not only shedding the
blood of the innocent but
ritualistically drinking it as well.
An attempt to directly defy God.
They were also sacrificing children.
They were having sex with the
animals and manipulating the genes
of all the species. If you cross a
crocodile with a giraffe what do you
get? Or a komodo dragon with an
elephant? The intent was the
perversion of creation. This
provides an excellent explanation
for the dinosaurs.
Noah and his family were giants not
only in intellect and size, but in
the years that they lived. But when
we study the ages that men lived
after the flood a shortened life
span is soon obvious. ( much of the
information in this article comes
from the library of
Lambert
Dolphin )
