The Rise and Fall of the Nephilim (33 page)

Genesis 6:4 leaves us hanging on a haunting, almost chilling three words:
“…and also afterward.”
We have already established that several passages in the books of Moses tell us that the Nephilim survived the flood. But this seems to stand in stark contradiction to the verse in Genesis where we are told:

“21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, birds, cattle, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm upon the earth, and every man; everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark.”

(Genesis 7:21)

Is this an oversight or a contrdiction in the passage, or was it an intentional ruse to throw us off the path of the Nephilim? It is clear that what Moses wrote was an account of the Hebrew version of the Flood, but as we discovered earlier, the account of the Nephilim themselves, as recorded in the first few verses of Genesis
Chapter 6
have earmarks of having been edited, or added completely at a later date. Was this the work of Joshua, Moses’ successor? Or was it the addition of later scribes?

Or does it simply mean that the Nephilim were not considered as anything but the offspring of spirit beings, therefore not included in the list of things destroyed in Genesis 7:21?

Then there is a question that is often associated with this entire topic: Could this hybrid race of Nephilim giants, produced from the union of the princes of heaven—the lesser gods of the Divine Council—and
earthly women, still be roaming the earth today? Because according to Genesis 6:4, they survived the Flood, regardless of who wrote the passage. If it is a detail that Moses did not write or was somehow unaware of, someone edited the text and added in the appropriate phrases telling us that the Nephilim were still on the earth
after
the Flood that was supposed to have destroyed them.

As discussed in
Chapter 8
, the Old Testament mentions several occurrences of “giants” and “Nephilim” appearing, specifically the giant-races of Canaan: the Rephaim, the Emim, the Horim, the Zamsummim, and the Anakim.

“10 The Emites used to live there—a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. 11 Like the Anakites, they too were considered Rephaites, but the Moabites called them Emites. 12 Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land the LORD gave them as their possession.”

(Deuteronomy 2:10-12)

The Kingdom of Og, the King of Bashan, was the “land of the giants.”

“12 That is, the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who had reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei and had survived as one of the last of the Rephaites. Moses had defeated them and taken over their land.”

(Joshua 13:12)

Anak, and his seven sons of the Anakim were also giants, along with the famed Goliath and his four brothers:

“4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of
bronze weighing five thousand shekels; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.”

(1 Samuel 17:4-7)

“15 Once again there was a battle between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his men to fight against the Philistines, and he became exhausted. 16 And Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, whose bronze spearhead weighed three hundred shekels and who was armed with a new sword, said he would kill David. 17 But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue; he struck the Philistine down and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, saying, “Never again will you go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel will not be extinguished.” 18 In the course of time, there was another battle with the Philistines, at Gob. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants of Rapha. 19 In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod. 20 In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha. 21 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David’s brother, killed him. 22 These four were descendants of Rapha in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his men.”

(2 Samuel 17:16-22)

The account of David and Goliath pits the youngest shepherd son of Jesse against the giant from Gath who fought for the Philistines. Goliath came down from the ridge where the Philistines were encamped, every day for 40 days, taunting the armies of Israel, challenging them to single-handed combat.

David and Goliath, Gustave Doré, 1866
.
Photo licensed under Wikipedia Creative Commons.

King Saul had promised that whomever could defeat the giant in hand-to-hand, single combat would become Israel’s champion. That man would also become the captain of the king’s body guard, get the king’s daughter’s hand in marriage, and have his family become “tax free” in Israel all their days. Not a single soldier answered the call, but they remained encamped, waiting for something to break.

“1 Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and were gathered together at Sochoh, which belongs to Judah; they encamped between Sochoh and Azekah, in Ephes Dammim. 2 And Saul and the men of Israel were
gathered together, and they encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array against the Philistines. 3 The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. 4 And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. 7 Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him. 8 Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, ‘Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.’ 10 And the Philistine said, ‘I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.’”

(1 Samuel 17:1-10)

You can still visit the Valley of Elah today, where the flat, low valley is bordered on two sides by low ridges, and where the armies of Israel encamped on one side and the armies of the Philistines on the other.

Saul was the logical choice to fight Goliath on two counts: He was the king, and the Bible tells us that he stood “head and shoulder” over all the rest of the men of Israel. Saul was a tall man, but nowhere near the height of the giant of Gath. When David came to the camp to deliver food to his brothers, who were soldiers in the Israelite army, he heard the tauntings of Goliath, who by that time had started ascending the Israelite side of the valley to shout out his challenge. David, as the story goes, answered the call. King Saul attempted to dress the shepherd boy in his own armor—some commentators think as a ruse to let
the rest of the army think it was Saul himself going into battle against the giant—but the armor was too big for David. David went into the valley and faced off against Goliath, who mocked him in disdain.

“41 So the Philistine came, and began drawing near to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him. 42 And when the Philistine looked David over, he disdained him; for he was only a youth, ruddy and good-looking. 43 So the Philistine said to David, ‘Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 And the Philistine said to David, ‘Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!’”

(2 Samuel 17:41-44)

And, of course, David replied:

“45 You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47 Then everyone gathered here shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”

(2 Samuel 17:45-47)

And the rest of story we all know: David picked a smooth stone from the valley floor, put it in his sling, and buried it into Goliath’s forehead, killing him instantly. And before you go adhering to the theories that Goliath was just a man with gigantism, keep in mind that he was called a man who had been a “warrior from the days of his youth” (1 Samuel 17:33). When someone is inflicted with gigantism, the older they get,
the more brittle their bones become, and the more unstable their musculature and ability to function, or even walk, normally. Goliath was a warrior; he was not a man inflicted with a physical ailment that gave him great size and debilitated him.

Goliath was the offspring remnant of the Nephilim, and he had four other brothers.

But what of the acts of the Watchers? Are they still happening today? Is mankind still being visited by the members of the Divine Council and those who left that domain thousands of years ago? And what of the Nephilim themselves?

“2 Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it.”

(Hebrews 13:2)

There is a pervasive question regarding the Nephilim as to whether or not they are still among us today. The answer would simply be
yes
, but obviously not in the same form as they interacted with humanity thousands of years ago. And though there may be a bloodline remnant of the Nephilim evident throughout history, it would be a safe bet to say that it no longer has anything to do with the original Watchers. Their influence died thousands of years ago. Unless there are more Watchers in the heavens who did not fall to the earth that day so long ago, there is little probably that their influence will ever be seen again.

But the same cannot be said for their offspring.

It is unknown whether the entire Divine Council of gods came to earth, touching down on the slopes of Mount Hermon. Nor is there any way to calculate the number of beings who may have descended and intermingled with humanity over the millenia. What we know for a certainty is that nearly every ancient culture experienced this brand of extra-terrestrial interruption on some level, bequeathing offspring that took the form of what we now deem as mythological or legendary beings—or, better, the heroes of old and men of renown. From
the Tuatha de Danaan’s Elven deities, the statuesque, bright shining giants of the Celtic peoples, to the Sasquatch of the Native Americans, there have been genetic footprints left in nearly every ancient culture throughout all of recorded history.

As we have already seen, there were remnants of the Nephilim found in various passages of the Old Testament. As early as the time of Abraham, the Nephilim are mentioned as having dwelled in the region around the Dead Sea, scattered among several tribes. The footnotes of the Jerusalem Bible suggest that Moses, in the Genesis 6 passage, intended his words on the Nephilim to be an “anecdote of a superhuman race.” According to the Jerusalem Bible’s commentary, Moses does not go into great detail, nor does he make any bones about representing the Nephilim as the offspring of superhuman beings, as it was already a known entity in his day. He merely references them in order to establish, in his account of Noah’s Flood, the severity of the “wickedness” that was present on the earth prior to the meting out of God’s judgment by flood.