Thursday, January 29, 2015

Bodie Hodge takes a fresh look at the Nephilim

Who Were the Nephilim?

Genesis 6 and Numbers 13—a fresh look

by Bodie Hodge on July 9, 2008
Abstract
Genesis 6 and Numbers 13 (pre-Flood and post-Flood) mention the term “Nephilim” that has been the center of discussion for many years.
Keywords: Nephilim, sons of God, daughters of men, children, fallen angels, demons, Seth, Sethite view, fallen men, to fall, pre-Flood
Genesis 6:1–6
Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God (bene Elohim) saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.
Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God (bene Elohim) 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. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.1
Number 13:30–33 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.” So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
Genesis 6 and Numbers 13 (pre-Flood and post-Flood) list the term “Nephilim” that has been the center of discussion for many years. At this point, the identity of the Nephilim and the sons of God is still being debated in Christian circles.2 There is a popular unbiblical view that the Nephilim are space aliens. Of course, most creationists rightly reject this particular view for multiple reasons, but that is not for the discussion in this chapter.
Of the views with some biblical support, some believe that fallen angels bred with women and resulted in giants called Nephilim. Some believe the sons of God were the result of fallen angels who overtook ungodly men to breed with women.
There is a great deal of confusion over the word Nephilim. No one today really knows what it means.
Some believe they were the Sethites (descendants of Adam’s son Seth). There are some minor views as well, such as kings, rulers, or heads of leading family groups as being godly from Psalm 82. This view has many similarities to the Sethite view but eliminates many of Seth’s descendants and merely keeps with the leaders/kings (as well as some other leaders of other tribes) as godly. So, I will now leave this minor view out and discuss the Sethite view, which should encompass it for the most part. Another variation of the Sethite view is that these godly men had relations with ungodly women, and the offspring followed after other “gods” as opposed to God—and “fell away” in tremendous ways. This is called the “fallen men” view. There are other minor views as well as other minor non-biblical views but these are the primary ones I will discuss.
There is a great deal of confusion over the word Nephilim. No one today really knows what it means. It is related to the verb series “to fall” (naphal) in Hebrew, which is why some direct this to fallen angels or more appropriately, the offspring thereof. However, this also gives strong support to the view that men had fallen away from God. It was these two concepts that helped give rise to the various views mentioned above.
Many have associated the Nephilim with giants. Giant traits may not have been limited to Nephilim alone: Goliath, a giant, was not considered Nephilim. As mentioned, the term Nephilim is unclear in definition. It is related to the verb “to fall” and the King James Version translates it as giants from the influence of the Latin Vulgate’s (early Latin translation by Jerome) term gigantes as well as the context from Numbers 13. The context of Genesis 6 does not reveal they were giants. There may have been some influence on the Latin Vulgate by the Septuagint’s (Greek translation of the Old Testament about 200–300 years before Christ) use of Greek word gigentes.


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For full article, see: https://answersingenesis.org/bible-characters/who-were-the-nephilim/

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Nephilim: Angels Cannot Drown

 
Genesis 6:1 – The Nephilim

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The context of Genesis 6:1ff speaks of the “sons of God” who took wives of the “daughters of men.” Subsequently, the record reveals that in those days “the Nephilim were in the earth.”
From these phrases, it has been assumed by some Bible students that certain fallen angels (“sons of God”) mated with women of the earth (“daughters of men”), and that to these unions were born a sort of hybrid race called the Nephilim.
For this theory there is no evidence, and it runs counter to numerous biblical facts. Note:
  1. Angels are spirit beings (Hebrews 1:14). As such, they do not consist of flesh (Luke 24:39), hence, they are incapable of a physical relationship.
  2. Christ Himself plainly said that angels do not marry (Matthew 22:30; Mark 12:25; Luke 20:34-35).
  3. There is, in fact, nothing in Genesis 6:4 that indicates the Nephilim were offspring of the marriages suggested in this context.
  4. The word “Nephilim,” usually identified as “giants” (ASV fn), is a term of uncertain meaning. Likely it suggests the idea of strength and prowess. It is used in Numbers 13:33 of certain inhabitants of Canaan whom the Israelite spies encountered in their survey of the land. The context indicates that they were merely “men of great stature” (32); they were not the progeny of angels.
The most reasonable view of Genesis 6:1f is that the allusion refers to the fact that some men, from the godly lineage of Seth, called “sons of God” (an expression denoting those in covenant relationship with Jehovah — cf. Deuteronomy 14:1; 32:5), began to pursue fleshly interests, and so took wives of “the daughters of men,” i.e., those who were unbelievers. (Is there any principle that we can learn from this?)
The subsequent context seems to suggest that it was this carnal trend that ultimately brought the Flood, which prompts this interesting question. If the “sons of God” were angels, how did the Flood serve as a judgment upon them? Can angels drown?
So, underline “sons of God” in Genesis 6:1, and in your margin write: Not angels, who do not marry. See Matthew 22:30.



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Taken from: https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/702-genesis-6-1-the-nephilim