Recently my pastor asked me to cobble together a blog post on the Nephilim. My church had started a series going through the book of Genesis, and there is simply NOT enough time on a Sunday morning to address all the potential questions that Genesis raises. Recently, my friend, Kris Van Houten and I talked about a few of the questions surrounding creation an the apologetics class, (you can hear us discuss them in the audio from Session Two). However, issues about creation are not the only difficulties found in the first 15 chapters of Genesis.
The fact of the matter is that sometimes we come across difficult texts, it will happen to all of us at some point. Even the Apostle Peter acknowledges that the bible can sometimes be tricky, while commenting on Paul’s letters, he says “as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand…(2 Peter 3:16 ESV)” So if some parts of the bible fill your head with more questions than answers, take a deep breath, give yourself a bit of a break, and show yourself a little grace. Now notice I said “take a bit of a break”, not “give up” entirely .
So, with all of this in mind, let’s take a little look at a tough set of verses in…
Genesis 6:1-4 ESV
When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
A text that is difficult to apply to your life is one thing, a text that is just weird, is another! This text is just weird.
WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?
Preceding these verses we see that humanity is growing and sprawling. Genesis 5 shows us this using highlights from the families of Adam and Eve, and their offspring. Specifically Adam’s son Seth. Then, before that, in Chapter 4 of Genesis, we see the story of Cain and Abel, followed by the beginning of Cain’s offspring, who was another son of Adam. One thing that may be important to see here, is that God’s covenant to reconcile the world always happens through families. This isn’t the last time we will see God’s covenant family divided by sin. There are lots of examples of this, but the most obvious would be Isaac and Ishmael.
So from there we have two separate sets of people groups, from the same sinful parents. We don’t know exactly how long has passed, or how many generations have gone buy. You can add up the numbers from the list of families and get a rough idea, but some suggest that the the genealogies listed are not complete, but just highlights of certain people. What is clear though, is that it has been long enough for tribes and cities to form, and that enough distinction in the bloodlines has happened that we are able to tell the different kinds of people apart. That is the basic set up. Then, after these strange 4 verses, we see God’s patience run out with all of humanity’s wickedness.
Genesis 6:5 ESV
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
I will talk about what the “Sons of God”, “daughters of man” and “nephilim” could possibly be, but more important is the point of the text, and if you don’t like reading and other nerdy stuff, I will give you the point up front, and if you want some “extra credit”, you can keep reading after “The Big Idea !!!!!”
THE BIG IDEA !!!!!
Notice that Genesis condemns all of humanity, both Seth and Cain’s descendants. Both the good son (Seth), and the bad son (Cain), are guilty of sin. These four odd verses in Genesis 6, are then primarily used to demonstrate the span of evil that has entered all of God’s perfect creation through sin.
As I mentioned before, we see humanity growing, clustering together in groups and even cities, even to the point that these groups start to become distinct from one another. These verses demonstrate, that no matter who or what they are, all people, and all created beings have been damaged by sin. Essentially, everything that is created is affected by “The Fall”. Whether material or immaterial, tangible or intangible, sin has messed it up. (Kris and I talk about this a little in one of the apologetic sessions, so go check them out!) The only thing that would be left unaffected by sin, would be something that is eternal, and not created. The only thing that fits that “not created/eternal category is God. So the conclusion we should definitely see and hold to from these verses, is that everything that is not God, is at this point in redemption history, completely corrupted by sin, and apparently God plans to do something about it! The rest of the details, no one can say for sure.
EXTRA CREDIT
For those of you nerdy types who want a little more detail, kudos for you! Keep in mind however, that what follows is what we would call an “open-handed” issue. That means, that no matter what you believe on this point, it is NOT a point that would either affirm or deny someone’s salvation. You can believe any of these views any still be a very orthodox and true Christian. What IS for certain is what I have already addressed under the “BIG IDEA” heading.
There are many, including theories about aliens, views on who the players are in the beginning of Genesis 6. (Sons of God, Daughters of Man, Nephilim) However, only two are on a popular level, or commonly used, so these are the only two I’ll address.
(View One)
1. THE ANGELS DID IT!
This may be the earliest view I could find, but the second view isn’t much later in date to this one.
Essentially, this view claims that the “Sons of God” found here are fallen angels, the Nephilim are thus the offspring of these fallen angels with human women. This would explain their “renown” and super human like abilities. God was not pleased with this new Giant creature (nephilim translates most closely to Giant ), and getting rid of them was his primary motivator for the “Great Deluge”, or as we call it, “The Flood.” God’s intent was to wipe out this abomination and those who created it as a sign of His Justice, and also His mercy.
There are some extra biblical sources that shed some light on this theory. Extra biblical means a source outside of the bible. Historically, the Jews do not, nor do Christians, view these books as “inspired” like scripture. They would consider them valuable religious writings. For example, today we may recommend a book by John Piper, and say this book is valuable for teaching, but it is not on the same level as scripture. This means that these extra biblical writings are cool, helpful, interesting, but are not infallible like the bible. They, like all other religious writings, must submit to scripture.
Phew! That being said, there is a very neat bit from one of those extra books called the Book of Enoch (Noah’s grandpappy).
“And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. 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 and beget us children.’ And Semjaza, who was their leader, said unto them: ‘I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.’ And they all answered him and said: ‘Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.’ Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it…”
Remember, this IS NOT authoritative at all! It’s just interesting.
THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO “WHA?”
1. You want me to believe that angels had sex with women?
A) No, I want you to believe that Jesus Christ was God in flesh, lived a perfect life, was murder as a traitor, buried in a tomb, rose three days later. Thus dying for all the real traitors, you and me, and offering us new life and forgiveness if we would place our hope and trust in him.
What you believe about Jesus is infinitely more important than what you think about the Nephilim.
B) But now that i mention it… looking at what we believe about Jesus makes the idea of this first view of the Nephilim seem a little less far fetched, doesn’t it? If God can die and rise, why can’t angels mix it up with people?
C) Imagine heaven. Do we live and dwell there with angels? It would appear that we one day will live in the new creation with Jesus, as well as all sorts of heavenly creatures. So it is possible to assume that maybe, at the beginning, before sin messed everything up, that angels and humanity had some sort of relationship. Not necessarily a sexual one, but as my wife, Mary, points out, I married an angel, and we have six kids, so take that as you will.
D) John MacArthur makes two points of clarification that make this view a little more believable.
D-1) That the Nephilim are NOT a race of people, but a type of people. That is, that these relationships produced a particular type of person who was strong, brutish, prone to war types.Think Attila the Hun, or Goliath. He suggest that the Nephilim were not some new creation in some weird crossbreed scenario, but a particular kind of wicked people. I’m not saying that’s true, but that’s his take.
D-2) Secondly, that the Demons (fallen angels) were not physically having sex with women, but that they possessed men, who then had sex with women. Then the offspring from this “demonic” union would be even more evil. I don’t know about you, but this is a little more believable for me. Again, this is John MacArthur’s take.
Keep in mind that demons don’t often act in extraordinary ways like in the movies, often they are very ordinary. So for example, if I were counseling a young man who was sleeping with his girlfriend, impregnated her, had no intentions to marry her, or to raise his family according to righteousness, and was most likely going to continue this pattern with other women. I would describe his actions as demonic, just ordinary. After all, it’s obvious that he isn’t playing for Jesus team, and if you’re not on team Jesus, you are on team Satan.
Again, IF this is the case, it might be possible that these demons possessed the already wicked men, these men then, would in turn, produce an offspring that would multiply that wickedness on the earth.
(View Two)
2. WE DID IT! (HUMANS)
So remember at the very beginning of the blog when we looked at Genesis 4 and 5 as set up for Genesis 6? Me neither, I’ll wait why you go read it again….
In that setup, we see two distinct bloodlines that come from Adam. The Line of Cain, who we could call unrighteousness, and the line from Seth, who we could call the line of the covenant. This second view asserts that the “Sons of God” were men from Seth’s line, and the “Daughters of Man”, were from Cain’s line. They coupled together, and from that we get this sort of bastard offspring, the Nephilim. (Pardon the use of “bastard”, please notice that I use it with the correct intention, not as a curse word.)
OKAY SAM, THIS ONE MAKES MORE SENSE, I GUESS, BUT STILL, “WHA?”
I know, while on the surface it’s a little easier to go with, at least there are no Angels in this one, but it still has a lot of questions. Of those questions, I’ll try to answer the few that immediately pop in my head.
1.How do you explain their supernatural strength?
A) In one word, Samson. Samson had supernatural strength from God, and it’s not to far fetched to assume that maybe Seth’s line, the righteous offspring, had some supernatural abilities that could’ve been passed down to their offspring.
2. What makes Seth and his kids so special?
A) In themselves? Nothing. By God’s grace? A lot. One of the overarching motifs in scripture is God keeps his covenant when we don’t keep ours. You can literally trace that covenant through the bible. Adam to Noah, Noah to Abraham, Abraham to Moses, Moses to David, David to Christ, Christ to fullfilled! This covenant is passed through families, which is what God was wanting all of us to be in the first place. So it’s through Seth’s line that the covenant is passed from Adam to Noah, not because he was particularly good, but because God chose him.
Fast forward to the New Testament, Christ’s lineage is traced all the way back to Adam by way of Seth’s line. This demonstrates that God has kept his promise to us since Adam fell. That my friends is pretty awesome. Like seriously…AWESOME!
3. Why is God all butt hurt that they took wives from Cain’s line?
A) God has always strived to keep us (his people) set apart from the world. Through out scripture, we see God, and Christ, warn us about mingling, especially romantically, and even more so, in marriage, with unbelievers. He knows that the influence that a husband and wife have over each other is powerful, and that according to his purpose, the influence should be for mutual godliness. This purpose is broken when one is an unbeliever, the influence for godliness is ruined. That’s why at The Village, if you asked us to marry you, and your significant other was an unbeliever, we would not perform the ceremony. In fact, I rebuked a young man in a community group for even considering a romantic relationship with an unbeliever. What is demonstrated when we ignore this command, is that we think we know how our relationships work best instead of God. Now do you really think you know better than God? Me neither, let’s move on.
4.) So should we cut ourselves off from all contact with unbelievers?
A) Whoa! Slow down there. Obviously Seth and Cain’s line lived in close enough proximity to where they could see each other, and were aware of each other. So no, total withdraw is unnecessary, and we never see God command it. What is necessary is wisdom, and that Christ direct all of your relationships, even if it’s with an unbeliever.
SO EITHER WAY, WHAT HAPPENED TO THE NEPHILIM?
It would appear that God destroyed them in the flood, some suggest that this may of been God’s primary goal.
DO WE HEAR ABOUT THEM ANYWHERE ELSE IN SCRIPTURE?
Sure, kind of. Remember, the word translates most closely to “Giant”. So we see the word reappear, but it does not necessarily refer to the same Nephilim that existed before the flood. All Nephilim are giants, but not all giants are Nephilim.
One particular instant is recorded in Numbers. Joshua leads the Israelite people to the promise land. He sends in some spies to check things out. They return saying the city is full of “Nephilim” and report that they can’t take the city.
I think the most likely scenario is that the people were NOT the same Nephilim, but that they were so impressive and imposing enough to scare the spies, so to emphasize their point, they used the word “nephilim” to stress how hopeless they thought the battle would be. This is similar to today. We may look at a particular athlete and say “that guy is a beast!” We don’t literally mean he is a “beast.” Jesus uses a similar way when describing “hell” to a group of people. He describes the actual garbage dump that was outside of town. All the waste from the city was brought there, as well as dead bodies, and set on fire. Now of course Jesus did not mean that the garbage dump outside the city WAS hell, but rather that hell WAS as bad as that dump.
There are some other places in scripture that may or may not be talking about the same Nephilim that we see here in Genesis 6, but I have to leave some of the work to you. So go trace down those leads, tell me what you find, and I’ll be happy to discuss it with you.
Okay family, I think I covered most of the basics. Ask a question and I’ll try to lead you down the right path. I’ll post some links below that might be helpful. Remember that the big deal with these four odd verses is not so much the specifics, but the point of the verses….
WHAT WE SHOULD TAKE AWAY FROM THIS STUFF.
1. That sin had literally messed up everything.
2. That humanity was hell bent on continuing in their fallenness.
3. That in spite of all of this, God preserves and keeps his covenant with us.
R.C. SPROUL (WE DID IT)
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/nephilim/
JOHN MACARTHUR (ANGELS DID IT)
http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/90-254/demonic-invasion
DOUG WILSON ON NEPHILIM (A VIDEO, YAY! NO MORE READING)
Ask Doug: who were the nephalim?: http://youtu.be/RLiOqUR5Ma0
ANSWERS IN GENESIS (ESSENTIALLY SAYS WHAT I JUST SAID BUT WITH A COUPLEMORE VIEWS AND THOUGHTS EXPRESSED, AND I’M SURE MY BEARD IS BETTER)
https://answersingenesis.org/bible-characters/battle-over-the-nephilim/
WWW.CARM.ORG (CARM IS GREAT FOR QUICK WIKIPEDIA TYPE INFO ON THESETYPES OF TOPICS)
https://carm.org/what-are-nephilim
Theist the Bearded 