Who Are the Nephilim?
The mysterious beings of Genesis 6
Alexandre Cabanel, CC0,, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
The Nephilim, the product of the sons of god mingling with the daughters of Adam, the great biblical giants, “the fallen ones,” the Rephaim, “the dead ones”—these descriptions are all applied to one group of characters found within the Hebrew Bible. Who are the Nephilim? From where do the “heroes of old, the men of renown” come?
Genesis 6:1–4 tells the readers that the Nephilim, which means “fallen ones” when translated into English, were the product of copulation between the divine beings (lit. sons of god) and human women (lit. daughters of Adam). The Nephilim are known as great warriors and biblical giants (see Ezekiel 32:27 and Numbers 13:33).
It was once claimed that the mating of the sons of god and the daughters of Adam that resulted in the Nephilim caused the flood, and this caused the Nephilim to have a negative reputation. This was believed because the next verse (Genesis 6:5) is the introduction to the flood narrative and because their name means “fallen ones.” It is unlikely that this interpretation is correct because Genesis 6:4 presents nothing but praise for the Nephilim and no criticism is present. In addition, the name “fallen ones” is likely a reference to their divine paternity transforming—falling—into the human condition, albeit an almost superhuman condition.
FREE ebook: Exploring Genesis: The Bible’s Ancient Traditions in Context Mesopotamian creation myths, Joseph’s relationship with Egyptian temple practices and 3 tales of Ur, the birthplace of Abraham.
Genesis 6, Ezekiel 32, and Numbers 13 are the only passages that mention the Nephilim by that term. So where do the names Rephaim and “the dead ones” originate? The first thing to recognize is that these are not two separate titles, but rather a name, Rephaim, and a meaning, “dead ones.” The Bible refers to two groups as the Rephaim. The first are dead people who have achieved an almost divine status, similar to the concept of Saints. The second is a term that is applied to races of biblical giants. It is this second usage that is often conflated with the Nephilim.
The Rephaim appear in Deuteronomy 2:11; 3:11; 2 Samuel 21:19 and Joshua 11:22 and almost always take the form of one member of the Rephaim (Anaqim, Og, Goliath) being in opposition with Israel or its representative. In this sense, the Rephaim live up to their name, as their purpose in each narrative is to die. The juxtaposition of the mighty biblical giants defeated by the underdog, God’s chosen, is foreshadowed in the very name attributed to these characters.
Ellen White, Ph.D. (Hebrew Bible, University of St. Michael’s College), formerly the senior editor at the Biblical Archaeology Society, has taught at five universities across the U.S. and Canada and spent research leaves in Germany and Romania. She has also been actively involved in digs at various sites in Israel.
This Bible History Daily article was originally published on November 19, 2014.
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Could be the IGIGI mentioned in the sumerian and babilonian tablets?
Congratulations for your work.
The Nephilum were destroyed during the flood, Their spirit was taken to Sheol to wait for the Resurection . Read carefully the text of the passage Only 8 people survived the flood no one else. the devil had other angels that became the evil spirits
I think that Nephilim is just another tribe near the tribe of Adam, and sons-of-god is a third tribe
Teófilo, You might want to look more closely at the article before insinuating that the author is a bozo. The term “sons of god” may not refer to the offspring of El Elyon “God most high.” In fact, you might agree with the author that these beings should not be taken as such. In the last paragraph, when ‘god’ indicates the God of the Bible, it is capitalized. So, your frustration and insult seem to be misplaced.
I am unable to understand what you said. How is it possible to achieve almost divine status while being an enemy of Israel?
“The first thing to recognize is that these are not two separate titles”
If they are not two separate titles. used to describe two separate groups of people, then they describe the same people, enemies of Israel who achieved almost divine status.
Cannot make sense of it.
Nephilim is anti-natural mixture! They were anti-diluvian giants people anti-god, and were everything buy divine! Abusive and cruel anti-diluvian ones!
These were the angels who are now imprissoned. They were impisoned for having sex with human women. The children were the giants. This was an attempt–by Satan–to taint the bloodline and prevent the Messiah being born as true humanity. His orevious attempt (Cain and Abel) had failed. The bloodline had been preserved with Seth. Noah enagelized (grace) before they were wiped out–completely. The angels–who were involved in the lot–were imprissoned.
The Nephilim are nothing more than the biblical writers incorporation and explanation of the half human/half Greek gods they were exposed to at the time these parts of the Bible were written. Like most other stories in the OT, this one is simply retelling a tale from a different culture, annexing it as Jewish. Plain and simple.
I believe these were fallen angels, demons, which had acquired human bodies. They were destroyed by the flood yes.
The Nephilim were destroyed with everyone else during the flood but since there were people from the line of the Nephilim (Goliath, there were also some in Canaan when the 12 spies went to spy out the land for Moses) there must have been more demon and human cohabitation. The flood was a result of the continual human depravity not from a direct result of the Nephilim. In Jude it talks about demons being kept in a special place locked up by chains in darkness. Since the context of that passage makes references to Genesis it is safe to say those were probably the demons that went beyond their bounds and did something so atrocious that they were locked up early (before the final judgment)