Nephilim (Giants) in the Bible: Fallen angels or big brutes?

This is an article from my other website that addresses the issue of the identity of the Nephilim or giants of Genesis 6:4 -

http://signsoftheend.net/Pages/Article1-Nephilim.html

The bible uses several Hebrew words that have been translated as ‘Giant’ in the KJV of the English bible. The very first occurrence is in Gen. 6:4 ‘There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

A great deal of misinformation is floating around on the Internet and in print regarding the nature of these giants. Hundreds if not thousands of websites claim that the Nephilim (one Hebrew word for giant) were a product of intercourse between fallen angels and earth women and therefore some sort of mutant hybrids. Whether these angels had fallen before they mated with women or they fell as a result of this mating is not clear. Since they were supposedly a result of a union between two species (angels and women) they had to be hybrids or at least that is the assumption. This interpretation, first of all assumes that the bible claims that the sons of God referred to in Gen. 6:2 and 6:4 were angels whereas the bible makes no such claim. Secondly the assumption is made that the Nephilim were a product of the union between these ‘angelic’ sons of God and earthly women; this too is an incorrect assumption. Here’s what the bible actually says about both the giants (Nephilim) and the sons of God in Gen. 6:4.

• Regarding the giants (Nephilim) all Gen 6:4 has to say: ‘There were giants in the earth in those days. That’s it! There is nothing else that the bible has to say about them in Gen. 6:4. It makes no claim here or anywhere else that the Nephilim or giants were in any way shape or form hybrids or came about as a result of intercourse between ‘sons of God’ and daughters of men.

• It clearly states that the sons of God and daughters of men mated sometime after the giants (Nephilim) were already in the earth. And also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men… So how could the giants or Nephilim be the product of a union between the sons of God and the daughters of men when the giants were already here even before this union ever took place? Duh!

• Were the giants (Nephilim) really hybrids or were they just flesh and blood creatures much like man but bigger in size? Mythological hybrids such as centaurs and satyrs were clearly a cross between two species. Whether the Nephilim were hybrids or not is an entirely debatable topic. First of all the bible makes no such claim that they were half angel and half man, on the contrary the bible teaches that angels cannot reproduce, that they are not sexual creatures (Matthew 22:30). Secondly wherever there is mention of giants in myths and legends they are always portrayed as big human type of creatures not half pig and half man or any other such monstrosity. The sleight of hand used by proponents of the hybrid theory is to use the Hebrew word Nephilim rather than the English word Giant correctly translated as such in the KJV. It is much easier to create far-fetched theories using exotic words such as Nephilim rather than plain old giant.

• The bible uses a variety of words such as Nephilim, Anakim, Emim, Zamzummim, and Rapha or Rephaim that have been translated GIANT in the KJV. However the words Emim, Zamzummim, Anakim and a couple of other words refer to the same type of creature – these are the same word in different languages. The tribes that dwelt in the land of Canaan in the days of Moses such the Edomites, the Moabites, the Ammonites etc. used different words in their own language to describe the same creatures that were giants. In the Hebrew language there are primarily three words translated as giant in the KJV– Nephilim, Anakim and Rephaim.

• In the historical portion of the Old Testament, the books from Genesis to Job, the word giant refers always to creatures of rather large size but very much shaped like man, that is they were biped intelligent flesh and blood creatures whose height may have ranged from 9–30 feet. The three different Hebrew words used for giant may refer to the difference in the size of the giants: the Nephilim were probably the biggest and tallest at 20 plus feet, the Anakim were shorter around 12-18 feet and the smallest giants were the Rephaim were around 9-12 feet tall. Goliath the Philistine whom David slew was a Rephaim and estimated to be around 10 feet tall.

• The Nephilim would be comparable to and may actually have been the trolls of myth and legend. They were almost certainly cannibals and mortal enemies of man not their mating partners. Their size may truly have been gigantic as tall as 30 feet. This matter of their size has not been deduced from the bible but rather from the study of myths and legends of almost all cultures worldwide. Their origin is a bit of a mystery but a hypothesis can be presented that may answer the question as to where they came from. They may well have been genetic mutants but it is almost certain that this mutated state is how they arrived on Earth in the days before the flood. Their mutation (not hybridization) did not occur in the pre-flood days on Earth but in an age that preceded Adam possibly on another planet or planets.

• They arrived here shortly after Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Eden and preceded the arrival of the sons of God. They may well have been the first ‘other worldly’ creatures that mankind came in contact with after the serpent in the Garden of Eden. The myths and legends of almost all cultures suggest that at some time in the distant past visitors that were viewed as gods came from the heavens. These ‘gods’ were not only human in form but also in the form of beasts and hybrids. So why could these ‘giants’ not have come from somewhere out there? The Nephilim in my opinion were GIANTS not demons that came from some other planet possibly from within our solar system. They created some of the most enigmatic of ancient megaliths such as the massive dressed stones used in the ancient pre-Canaanite temple of Baalbek in modern day Lebanon. Such massive stones that cannot be moved even with modern equipment were certainly not the creation of the Canaanites that arrived there later.

• The Anakim of which Og, king of Bashan is the most famous member seem to be smaller in size although still very large compared to the average size of modern man. They also seem to have had a more sophisticated culture than the Nephilim. They lived in cities and had kings and rulers over them. However like the Nephilim trolls they too seem to have had a very violent nature. They seem to have appeared shortly after the flood and established the first civilizations in the Middle East contemporaneously with or established shortly after the tower of Babel. They occupied the land to the west of Shinar (modern day Iraq) while Nimrod and company were busy trying to build the tower and ancient city of Babel (Babylon.) The size of the Anakim can be guessed at fairly accurately because the bible does give us measurements that suggest that Og was roughly 12 feet tall and slept on a bed that was 6’wide by 14’ long. Although the bible does not state clearly what sort of abominations these Anakims were committing it is apparent that because of God’s judgment they were being driven out of the land even in the times of Abraham (Gen. 14:5). Long before Moses and the children of Israel destroyed Og the king of Bashan and his kingdom; many Anakim kings had already lost their kingdoms to Edom and Moab and other descendants of Abraham and Lot. (Deut. Chapter 2)

• Interestingly enough there is really no record of how and when these ‘giants’ whether the Nephilim or the Anakim arrived in the Middle East. However in South America almost every culture has a legend of ‘giants’ arriving by sea to their shores. Furthermore it was about the time of Abraham around 2000 BC that this first wave of giants seems to have landed in Central and South America and perhaps North America. Did these Anakim giants start leaving their original abode to points west because of their continued destruction at the hands of the descendants of Noah? As the children of Noah began to multiply and spread westwards from Shinar they started doing battle with these Anakim and started displacing them. That would be a valid reason to pack up and move – after all survival is a natural instinct and if their very survival was threatened why would they stick around? Is this how they ended up in South America and build megalithic structures such as those at Machu Pichu, Tihuanaco and numerous other locations across Central and South America?

• The Rephaim were the smallest of the giants and lasted until the days of King David and some of his
descendants before becoming extinct. These giants were extant in the old world till at least 1000 BC and may have continued even longer in the Americas perhaps even till the time of Christ. Goliath was the most famous of the Rephaim and in size he was around 9 or 10 feet tall and must have weighed over 500 pounds. There is an identical Hebrew word Rephaim that means DEAD, SPIRIT or SHADE. The KJV correctly translates the word as Giant or Dead in context. For example in Isaiah 14:9 the KJV correctly translates the word Rephaim as DEAD not Giant because this is the correct translation in context. The Hebrew word Rapha (7496 in Strong’ concordance) which is the root word for Rephaim means DEAD. The same word Rapha (7497) also means Giant. Though the word is the same, the meanings are entirely different and not interchangeable. For example the English word LET has more than one meaning: Let means to ALLOW but it also means to RENT, HIRE or LEASE. The two meanings are not interchangeable and the meaning must be understood in context. The reason I bring this up is that many ‘scholars’ intentionally mislead us in trying to prove that the Rapha were spirits or angels or hybrids. This is just not the case; the Rapha or Rephaim that David slew was very much flesh and blood as were all the GIANTS in the bible.

In conclusion if we stick to the English word GIANT when reading the Bible rather than use Hebrew words the meaning is not so confusing. The Hebrew word for King is Melekh; we don’t go around saying the Melekh of Babylon was Nebuchadnezzar, we correctly use the English word King to keep the meaning plain. Unless the word has been transliterated into our language there is no need to use the words from the original language; the meaning is much clearer when we use the correctly translated word such as king to describe a king in the English language rather than Melekh or Roi or another word from a different language. Those who insist on using the word Nephilim instead of the correctly translated English word Giant do so to prove a pre-conceived notion. Their far out theories on hybridization or angel-human mating etc. can simply not be proven by using the simple word Giant so they give their theories a garb of scholarliness by using the Hebrew word Nephilim – vow! Now it sounds so intellectual! However it is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. If they are so insistent on using the original Hebrew words they should just give up the English language and start using Hebrew for all their communications.

My studies of the Bible and mythologies and legends of various cultures lead me to conclude there existed on Earth in time past some rather large human like creatures with some very nasty habits including chowing down on mankind from time to time. There are different words in different languages to describe these creatures and one of the more famous Hebrew words is Nephilim. No matter what the word used to describe them they were simply large flesh and blood creatures, ugly brutes perhaps but not spirits or shades or hybrids or demons or devils. Wherever the context implies devil or demon the KJV uses the word devil or evil spirit so why would it use the word Nephilim in only two places in the Bible to describe devils or demons? My theory on their origin is that they came from another planet or planets possibly to seek greener pastures having destroyed their own worlds through warfare or other means. They were not a peaceable race that much is for sure; mythologies of all cultures describe cosmic warfare and it could well have involved the giants. I am almost certain that they did not originate on Earth and that they were mutants of some
sort. Somewhere along the line the genes of their ancestors were tinkered with to create these monsters but they were not hybrids: they were not a combination of two or more species. It is also my opinion that they are now extinct – that we will not see them walking on the Earth ever again. Those who use the word Nephilim to predict their return are referring to the spirits of devils not flesh and blood creatures. These spirits whose presence will certainly be felt even in the physical realm have always been devils and never were the Nephilim to begin with. These same folks also claim that the sons of God were fallen angels, which is another unbiblical theory with no basis in fact. I have touched on the identity of the sons of God in some of my previous posts and in some interviews that prove beyond doubt that they were not fallen angels. More on the subject later.