Nephilim (Reformed Calvinists Only)

Researcher Steve Quayle has written many books on the Nephilim. He has a website as well stevequayle.com that you may find a lot of information from. I have some of his books they are very informative.

some sort of transhuman or posthuman I would gather. how they came to be, i do not know. but they were easily able to sway regular folks into following them and doing what they say. i guess it would make sense if some 'enlightened' giant appeared, one would almost see them as divine. no doubt though their intent was control and corruption.

a fun question!

As from what I am able to discern, the one linguistic connection between "sons of God" and angels comes in Job 1:6; Job 2:1; Job 38:7, where we observe what presumably are angels presenting themselves before God.

There we also find Satan come in before the Lord. But note here that a quite natural reading of the passage separates Satan from these "sons of God;" he is said to come also. So, is it natural (on the basis of Job 38:7) to say that angels both unfallen and fallen are properly designated "sons of God?" Job 38:7 points to a time before rebellion in heaven (Revelation 12:7).

What is proposed, on the basis of the theory of angelic and human interspecial sexual relations, or even demonic possession theory, is that a name of glory, sons of God, is put upon the evilest of personalities whose aim is to destroy the work of God and overthrow his intent to save. As charitably as I am able to state, this is a very curious expectation from reading the text or having it read to the hearing.

It is far more natural a reading—given the immediate background of two separate genealogies: the first of an ungodly sort; the second of the godly—that those who were constituted adopted sons, even Israel's new self-awareness (see Isaiah 43:6; cf. 2 Corinthians 5:18), that they should identify the "sons of God" with the godly heritage of Seth (also adopted), over against those whose identity was purely of the earth (1 Corinthians 15:47) and of mankind in general condemned to sink forever back into the dust from which he was raised.

In short, the notion of angelic-human interbreeding is quite speculative. It certainly seems to contradict a very clear teaching of our Lord on marriage and the nature of angels, Matthew 22:30, forcing an attenuated sense upon one Scripture or another for harmonious interpretation. Whereas, the warning connection between the times past and present (to the Exodus)—intermarriage with idolatrous neighbors—and the connection to the immediate context require no gymnastics, nor contextual appeal to the book of Job.

In Genesis 6:2-4, there is no causative relation established in the text between the "sons of God" and the giants, Numbers 13:33 (Nephilim). All the text establishes is that both a) the relations between "sons" and "daughters," and b) the existence of giants (Nephilim), are concurrent.

There is no reason to make an identification between the Nephilim and the offspring of the sons of God. The sons of God are pointed out in the previous chapter of Genesis as the line of believers who sprung from Adam's likeness as one made in the likeness of God, and who called on the name of the Lord. Luke 3:38 interprets this as meaning that Adam was the son of God.

For that matter, the Nephilim were already in existence before the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men. "After that" (Genesis 6:4) refers to a time following the period when the Nephilim are in the earth. The word "became" (became mighty men) is in italics as an attempt to fill out the contextual tense in which the pronoun is used. The Hebrew can naturally be read as simply explaining what had been brought forth as a result of the union with the daughters of men— "they were mighty men which were of old, men of renown." There is no reason to take this as referring to the Nephilim.

The Nephilim, together with the fact that the sons of God went in to the daughters of men, together with the fact that the offspring of the sons of God became men of renown like Cain and Lamech, are all part of the picture of wickedness at the time. There is no reason to make an identification between the Nephilim and the offspring of the sons of God.

The sons of God are pointed out in the previous chapter of Genesis as the line of believers who sprung from Adam's likeness as one made in the likeness of God, and who called on the name of the Lord. Luke 3:38 interprets this as meaning that Adam was the son of God.

AMR mentioned that the Nephilim merely mark the time in the passage and are not directly connected to the Sons of God. It seems to be that the Nephilim issue is sometimes a distraction from what the passage is actually talking about.

I hope you do not mind some commentary on the passage.
Gen 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born unto them,
Notice that the comment above is not "sons and daughters" or "children" were born, but only "daughters" are mentioned. I think the sons are intentionally omitted and this omission is significant. The 2nd verse elaborates on the issue of these daughters.

Gen 6:2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all that they chose.
Here again the daughters are mentioned. In fact the daughters are stressed, they are fair. Now for the issue. The Sons of God takes daughters in the plural. In fact the plurality of the daughters is stressed in that the Sons of God took wives "of all that they chose."

Gen 6:3 And Jehovah said, My spirit shall not strive with man for ever, for that he also is flesh: yet shall his days be a hundred and twenty years.
The judgement of God is kindled at this behavior. I am aware that some take this judgement to be the result of men and angels uniting in marriage. Angels are not mentioned in the context, one must job to a different context and import a concept to define the Sons of God as angels. Some take it to be the Cainite line mixing with Sethites. While this is at least a more contextual because the lines are mentioned right before this, I still think there is a 3ird option that focuses upon the introduction of polygamy.

Gen 6:4 The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them: the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.
Here I want to cross reference this verse with Genesis 4:19-24
And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents and have cattle. And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and pipe. And Zillah, she also bare Tubal-cain, the forger of every cutting instrument of brass and iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. And Lamech said unto his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; Ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: For I have slain a man for wounding me, And a young man for bruising me: If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, Truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.
Some observations about Lamach... he is a violent man. He brags about killing a man who wounded him, and killed a young man for bruising him. Then he violently compares himself to Cain. Cain killed Abel, but Lamach killed 2 men. I think we have here the mighty Hercules, or some strong man who is called the sons of the gods. I believe in some of the Egyptian mythology, the Pharoah's were called the sons of the gods. The other thing I note about Lamach is the number of wives. He has two, Adah and Zillah. This is the first record of polygamy in the bible and it is in the line of Cain. So Lamach is a powerful, strong man, who commits polygamy. This is the kind of person that I think Genesis 6 calls the sons of God. They come in unto the plural daughters of men and take for themselves wives (not a wife).

In Genesis, one of the first commands not related to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the commands pertaining to marriage. Gen 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
Also, the judgement upon Cain for murder is an issue, otherwise there are few moral judgments and laws in the first Chapters.

The judgment of the flood in Genesis 6:3 would then be because God saw this murderous and polygamous culture of mankind. The sons of God are violent men who take plural wives. The Nephilim may have been some of the sons of God, but not necessarily so. They merely mark the time of these events.

I know this is a very minority position that is not well known. I have always liked it because of the links to the context. It seems very contextual to me.

I really don't like to talk about this, I don't like thinking about it, but you did raise the issue:

The wicked men of Sodom and Gomorrah wanted to rape angels and in Genesis, angels bore offspring by some perverse interaction with human women. One thing I'm sure of, these demonic angels found their way into some kind of a spiritual abyss. The sin of the time before the flood was marked by terrible violence, God was sorry he ever made man. I don't know how or even if angels somehow procreated with human women, but those offspring whether spiritual or physical, were an abomination and insanely violent. The angels who were consigned to this abyss will be released for a time during the tribulation and they torture all who are not marked by a seal. Whatever it is, it's the face of evil.

A simple question if I may.

Are some of these ones known to have six fingers and six toes?
M-Bob

Mountainmanbob said:

Are some of these ones known to have six fingers and six toes?
M-Bob

Click to expand...

I think that the nephilim he's talking about are antediluvian, meaning that they lived before the Flood. The six-toed family of giants inhabited Canaan during the time of David.

The Bible mentions that: “There was war at Gath again, where there was a man of great stature who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also had been born to the giant.” 2Samuel 21:20.