Who were the Nephilim?
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Many people state the Nephilim or giants are the offspring of the Sons of God or Angels that mated with humans. As you may have seen in my writing “The sons of God are NOT Angels” I argued against the doctrine that angels mated with humans putting forward my argument why it is actually incorrect and so removing the ability to interpret the Nephilim/giants as the offspring of this interbreeding. However, the bible clearly mentions them, so if they were not a race of hybrids, part angel part human, who and what exactly were they?
The first thing we need to do is work out which is the correct word to use. Nephilim or Giants.
The word Nephilim appears just 3 times in the Hebrew texts. Once in Genesis 6:4 and twice in
Numbers 13:33
Lets start with Genesis 6:4 in one of the Modern versions, the NIV:
Genesis 6:4 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. NIV
The NIV uses the word Nephilim
If we look at that same verse in the KJV
Genesis 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. KJV
The KJV says that there were giants in the earth.
The problem with the NIVs usage of the word Nephilim is that it actually gives the wrong impression. Many people look at the word Nephilim and think that it is an English word that actually means the offspring of the Angels and humans. It is often stated when someone is trying to argue the point that there was an angel human half breed and that they were the Nephilim, as if the Nephilim would be their English name , but this just isn’t the case. The NIV has not actually translated the Hebrew word at all. It simply offers a transliteration which leads to this confusion. The word Nephilim which incorrectly conjures up images of this offspring, in fact, doesn’t actually exist in English. Nephilim is the transliteration of the Hebrew word. הַנְּפִלִ֞ים han-nə-p̄i-lîm Strongs 5303 it means “giants,” The name of two peoples, one before the flood and one after the flood
han-nə-p̄i-lîm comes from the root word נָפַל naphal which means to fall
cast down, self, lots, out, cease, die, divide by lot, let fail,
It is this definition from the root word and the lack of translation by the NIV and in fact many other modern translations, that people then use to say that the Nephilim were the offspring of the fallen angels.
It should at least be mentioned that if the angels did interbreed with humans then it wouldn’t be the offspring that had fallen but the angels who mated with those humans that did. The offspring would just be the result of that union.
We see that strongs states the actual Hebrew word han-nə-p̄i-lîm is the name of 2 peoples, one before and one after the flood. There is no mention of this being offspring of any sort in the definition let alone the offspring of the Angels and humans.
Strongs exhaustive concordence has another definition for Nephilim
giant
Or nphil {nef-eel’}; from naphal; properly, a feller, i.e. A bully or tyrant — giant.
Lets have a look at the definition of the English word Giant
av1611.com
1. A man of extraordinary bulk and stature.
Giants of mighty bone, and bold emprise.
2. A person of extraordinary strength or powers, bodily or intellectual. The judge is a giant in his profession.
Lets look at todays definition of the word
Dictionary.com
(in folklore) a being with human form but superhuman size, strength,etc.
2.
a person or thing of unusually great size, power, importance, etc.;major figure; legend:
a giant in her field; an intellectual giant.
Giant simply means to be extremely big in size or strength. Not a hybrid creature from angel human reproduction.
This, however, does not mean that they were 450ft tall as the book of Enoch would state.
Enoch 7:12 Whose stature was each three hundred cubits. These devoured all [which] the labor of men [produced]; until it became impossible to feed them;
A cubit was approx 18” 300 x 18 shared between 12 = 450ft
The ark that Noah built was 300 cubits in length
Genesis 6:15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
This would make these giants the same height as the ark was long.
What needs to be demonstrated is the height of the giants as per the biblical texts and prove that they were not anything of the sort.
Giant or giants appears 21 times in 19 verses in the KJV. 3 Times it is translated from Nephilim as already seen and the other 18 uses all come from the Hebrew הָרְפָאִים֒ hā-rə-p̄ā-’îm strongs 7497 giant, Rapha, Rephaims proper name, of a people old race of giants inhab. of an area E. of the Jordan
Lets start with probably the most well known giant in the Bible. Goliath
גָּלְיָ֥ת gā-lə-yāṯ 1555 a Philistine giant
But how tall was Goliath? Was he anywhere near 450ft tall?
1 Samuel 17:4 And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
So 6 cubits plus a span, a span is half a cubit. So working that out he was not far off 10 ft tall. 6 x 18″ + 9″ = 117″. A very tall man, a giant most definitely, but a long way off from what the book of Enoch would have people believing.
Interestingly, in the Septuagint Goliath’s height is recorded differently and actually makes him shorter than in the Masoretic text.
The reading of the Septuagint is four cubits and a span, which is approximately 6′-7″- 6’9″ tall.
1 Samuel 17:4 And there went forth a mighty man out of the army of the Philistines, Goliath, by name, out of Geth, his height was four cubits and a span. Brentons Septuagint
1 Samuel 17:4 καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἀνὴρ δυνατὸς ἐκ τῆς παρατάξεως τῶν ἀλλοφύλων, Γολιὰθ ὄνομα αὐτῷ, ἐκ Γέθ· ὕψος αὐτοῦ τεσσάρων πήχεων καὶ σπιθαμῆς.
Septuagint Greek
This would be a very tall man but wouldn’t be considered a “giant” today. There are humans standing well over 7ft and even over 8ft tall on rare occasions in todays world.
Vaticanus and Alexandrinus both read four cubits
Furthermore, four cubits and a span is also a reading found amongst the dead sea scrolls in manuscript 4QSama Dated to around 50 BC
Josephus the Jewish historian also recorded the height of Goliath as four cubits and a span.
“Now, there came down a man out of the camp of the Philistines, whose name was Goliath, of the city of Gath, a man of vast bulk, for he was of four cubits and a span in tallness,”
Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews book 6 chapter 9 (171)
These reading actually have Goliath standing 3 ft less than that in the Masoretic text. While I am not going to go into details here as to which reading is correct, it is clear that regardless of which reading you take Goliath was tall but certainly nowhere near the height that “giants” were depicted to be in non biblical texts.
Goliath was a Philistine and a Rephiam giant. This information is found in 1 Samuel 17
1 Samuel 17:8 And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.
1 Samuel 17:23 And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and David heard them.
Who were the Philistines?
The Philistines were descendants of Ham, Noahs son.
Genesis 10:6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
Genesis 10:13 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, 14And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.
Philistim is the Hebrew פְלִשְׁתִּי Pelishti which means inhabitants of Philistia
The NIV translates this as from whom the Philistines came
Genesis 10:13 Pathrusites, Kasluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites. NIV
Rabbi Rashi states in his commentary on the verse:
AND PATHRUSIM AND CASLUHIM OUT OF WHOM CAME PHILISTIM — They (the Philistines) were descended from both of them for the Pathrusim and the Casluhim used to live together in promiscuous intercourse, and the Philistines were their offspring
Rabbi Rashi on Genesis 10:13
And Targum Jonathan has the following rendering:
and the Pathrosim, and the Nasiotaee, and the Pantapolotee, from whom went forth the Philistaee and the Kaphodikaee.
Tagum Jonathon on Genesis 13(14)
So, these giants had human lineage that can be traced back to Ham. Nowhere is there any mention of interbreeding between humans and Angels. The Bible records the lineage of the Philistines that has comes through human fathers.
The Septuagint calls Nimrod a giant
Genesis 10:8 And Chus begot Nebrod: he began to be a giant upon the earth. Brentons Septuagint
Genesis 10:8 Χοὺς δὲ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Νεβρώδ· οὗτος ἤρξατο εἶναι γίγας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.
But we know that Nimrod had a human father, Cush, as the same verse clearly states.
A verse in Amos is often used as support for the teaching that the giants were exceedingly tall. It says that the Amorites were the height of cedar trees.
Amos 2:9 Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
So were the Amorites actually as tall as cedar trees? (Cedar trees can often be over 120ft tall and even as much as 180ft….which would actually still be dwarfed by a 450ft giant.
Lets have a look at another famous giant from the Bible, Og
Og was a king of the Amorites.
Deuteronomy 31:4 And the LORD shall do unto them as he did to Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorites, and unto the land of them, whom he destroyed
So, Og was a giant and an Amorite. But was Og literally as tall as a cedar tree?
Deuteronomy 3:11 For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits wasthe length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.
Notice that Og is said to be the remnant of the giants.
The word giant in this verse is hā-rə-p̄ā-’îm , Og was a rephaim giant.
The Bible doesn’t actually give us Og’s actual height, but we do get the information regarding the length of his bed, 9 cubits, which is 13.5 ft long. Now, this is not complete proof that Og was shorter than 13.5ft, but it is far more logical to assume that he wasn’t taller than this and it would be very illogical to say he would be anywhere near 450 ft or the height of a cedar tree with such a bed. It is likely that Og was between 10 and 13ft tall. HUGE in comparison to humans today, but still not even close to a literal Cedar tree.
When we correctly analyse the verse, it is evident that this does not mean the Amorites were actually, physically, the size of Cedar trees. We simply have exaggerated language being used, in the same way that it is in reference to their strength, which is also compared to a tree , an oak tree.
This is simply the language of a hyperbolic metaphor.
The Assyrians were also compared to the Cedar tree
Ezekiel 31:3 Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.
.
Lets see who the Amorites were
Amorite comes from the root word אֱמֹרִי emori 567 perhaps “mountain dwellers,” a Canaanite tribe
The Amorites were descendants of Canaan.
Genesis 10:15 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, 16And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,17 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, 18And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
Og’s lineage as an Amorite can be traced back to Canaan. Og, like Goliath, had a human bloodline through a human man. Canaan, was a son of Ham.
Genesis 10:6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
So Og and Goliath who were both Raphaim giants both had human lineage which is traceable back to Ham.
Now, Og and Goliath were both Rephaim giants, so it could be argued that this is not the same as the Nephilim giants and that it is the Nephilim giants that were the ones who were really tall as they were the original giants in the verse in Genesis 6:4.
In order to show this assertion false we need to go and have another look at Numbers 13:33 and see if there is any more details that we can extract from the verse.
I shall show the verse in both the KJV and NIV
Numbers 13:33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. KJV
Numbers 13:33 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.”
NIV
As already stated, we do have the usage of the Hebrew word han-nə-p̄î-lîm twice in this verse.
The verse also states that the Israelites were comparing themselves to the Giants/nephilim and saying they were like grasshoppers to them. This is often used to show that the nephilim giants were indeed as tall as the book of Enoch would assert.
However, when we correctly analyse the verse and fully understand what is actually being stated we will see that it’s not meaning that they were as small as grasshoppers physically compared to the nephilim giants at all. Size is not what is being referenced.
The comparison to grasshoppers actually refers to strength, not physical size, or even as some would claim, numerically.
This is easily demonstrated.
Lets start with numerically and show that this is not the meaning of the verse. We have biblical examples of the comparison to Grasshoppers numerically being used elsewhere in the bible
Judges 6:5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it. (number)
And again in
Judges 7:12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude. (number)
Grasshopper in these verses is clearly being used to refer to numerically large as we have the wording “as Grasshoppers for multitude”.
Another example of its use to mean multitude can be found in Jeramiah.
Jeramiah 46:23 They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.
The Hebrew word used in these incidents is אַרְבֶּה֙ ’ar-beh 697 it means locust (from its rapid increase) or grasshopper. It is clearly the numerical value that is in reference in all 3 of these verses.
But that isn’t what is being referenced in the Numbers verse.
The word translated as grasshopper in the verse in numbers 13:33 is כַּֽחֲגָבִ֔ים ka-ḥă-ḡā-ḇîm, which is from the root word khaw-gawb חָגָב chagab, strongs 2284 and means locust or grasshopper. It is, however, a different word than that used in the 3 verses we have just seen.
It is the same word as used in Isaiah 40:22 where humans are also called grasshoppers when compared to God.
Isaiah 40:22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: (strength)
It is the power, the might of God that is being compared in the verse. The inhabitants are simply grasshoppers in comparison to the one that stretches out the heavens. If we expand the context of Isaiah we shall see this more clearly.
Isaiah 40:23 That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
24Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
25To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
26Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
This is not the Bible saying that God is like a tall giant, or that humans were more plentiful than him, but rather it is the Bible using exaggerated comparison language to compare the might of God to that of humans.
And it is the same in Numbers 13:33, the Israelites were saying that the peoples of the land were mightier in strength than them.
We can further demonstrate this in Deuteronomy, where the Israelites were told that the land that was to become their land was inhabited by 7 nations greater and mightier than them.
Deuteronomy 7:1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
They were certainly more numerous as this verse tells us. Greater is the Hebrew – רַבִּ֥ים rab-bîm 7227 abundance
But it was the might that was clearly being contrasted.
Mighty wa awtsoomim וַעֲצוּמִ֖ים wa-‘ă-ṣū-mîm -6099 numberous mighty, strong
(Deuteronomy 7:17 If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them? ) Not in video
Another very important piece of information to note from Numbers 13:33 is that the scouts had actually delivered a FALSE report. They claimed that they had seen the Nephilim.
Numbers 13:33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
We need to put this verse back into a little context. This happened before the Israelites had come into the promised land, while it was still occupied by the other nations already referenced.
The Israelites sent scouts out to survey the inhabitants and the land:
Numbers 13: 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. 3 And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel
The spies are given instructions by Moses as to what to do when they got to the land:
Numbers 13: 17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: 18 And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; 19 And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; 20 And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.
We are then told that they explored the land:
Numbers 13:21 So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.22 And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt) 23 And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. 24 The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence.
Caleb had stated for the Israelites to go and posses the land
Numbers 13: 30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
And it is at this point the the pies, the men who had gone to search the land, gave the false report about what they had seen:
Numbers 13:31But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 32And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
Evil is the Hebrew דִּבָּה dibbah meaning bad, slandering, evil, defamation.
And then we get verse 33 where they report about the nephilim.
These spies, who had brought about the bad report were punished by God for doing so.
Numbers 14: 36 And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, 37 Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD. 38 But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.
All that is left to do now is prove that the nephilim were not 450ft tall but were in fact were the same height as the Rephaim Giants which we have already seen were anywhere between nearly 10 ft and 13ft. All the giants were roughly the same size.
In order to do this we need to go back to Numbers 13:33 again. We will see that we get even more information. The verse says that the nephilim were the sons of Anak:
Numbers 13:33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Who was anak?
עֲנָ֖ק ‘ă-nāq Strongs word 6061 a Canaanite
So, Anak was a Canaanite which means he was a descendent of Canaan, Noahs grandson, so he had a bloodline back to Canaan who was a son of Ham. Yet again we have human lineage back to Ham. Now it could be argued that this was through his mother and that his father was a fallen angel. However, this is easily shown incorrect as the Bible actually tells us who Anak’s father was.
Joshua 14:15 And the name of Hebron before was Kirjatharba; which Arba was a great man among the Anakims. And the land had rest from war.
Joshua 21:11 And they gave them the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with the suburbs thereof round about it
Arba was the father of Anak.
Joshua 15:13 And unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a part among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the LORD to Joshua, even the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron.
The children of Anak, as we already saw, were Nephilim, Anak had an earthly human father, Arba. He was not the product of an angel mating with his mother.
Lets go a bit deeper. This gets a bit complicated but the Bible literally explains itself. Nothing in the Bible is redundant. Everything is there for a purpose.
In Genesis 14 we find a reference to the Zuzims and Emims.
Genesis 14:5 And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim,
This verse says that Chedorlaomer smote the rephiams in Ashteroth Karnaim. The rephaims as we already know are giants but the verse also says that he smote the Zuzims and Emims
This is the only use of the word Zuzims in the entire Bible, so we cant know much about them.
So lets find out who the Emims were.
Deuteronomy 2:9 And the LORD said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession. 10The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; 11Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims.
So, the Emims were giants and as tall as the Anakims. The Anakims are the Nephilim referenced in numbers 13:33
This is very important to note, the Emims are as tall as the Anakims who are nephilim giants.
The word giants in Deuteronomy 2:11 in reference to the Emims is rə-p̄ā-’îm Rephaim
The Emims were raphiam giants but we are told that the Moabites called them Emims
emims Plural of ‘eymah; terrors; Emim, an early Canaanitish tribe
So the Emims who were raphaim giants were as tall as the Nephilim giants.
If we continue on in Deuteronomy we find another tribe mentioned, the Zamzummims who again we are told re as tall as the Anakims (Nephilim giants):
Deuteronomy 2:19 And whenthou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession. 20(That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims; 21A people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead:
When we look at strongs meaning of זַמְזֻמִּֽים׃ zam-zum-mîm 2157 another name for the Rephaim
So the Zamzummims were also rephaim giants, but they were called Zamzummims by the Ammonites. The Zamzummims and the Emims were both rephaim giants but each were called different names by different peoples. What is important to notice is that they are both referenced as being as tall as the Anakims. The Anakims, as we know, were Nephilim giants. So the Rephaim giants were as tall as the Nephilim giants and we know that both Og and Goliath were rephaim giants and they were not anywhere near 450ft tall. Og and Goliath were of similar size to the Nephilim, or maybe better put the Nephilim giants were of similar size to Og and Goliath (9′.6″ – maybe around 13′)
There is no scripture to base the belief that the Nephilim were as tall as the book of Enoch says or that they are the offspring of angel human breeding. Check out my writing that shows the book of Enoch is not scripture
The book of Enoch is not scripture
When we look into the information given by the bible we find that the Nephilim had human heritage and that although being very tall they were not anywhere near the kind of height that so many people believe they were. The giants in the bible were not the height of those in the book of Enoch. The Bible itself does not support this. If you have to go beyond the bible to get your doctrine then your doctrine is not biblical.
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