In a recent interview with Shawn Ryan, Christian apologist, Wes Huff, delved into one of the Bible’s most mysterious beings, the Nephilim.

In the process he gives some wise advice on how we should treat them.

We first read of the Nephilim in Genesis 6:

 ⁴ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. (Genesis 6:4 ESV)

In this verse, their appearance is connected to the marriages between the sons of God and the daughters of men. This union produced children who were called ‘mighty men’ and ‘men of renown.’

According to Strong’s, the Greek word for Nephilim means ‘properly, a feller, that is, a bully or tyrant: – giant.’ In other words, it essentially means giant.

They are mentioned one other time in Numbers 13:33, during Israel’s failed effort to enter the Promised Land under Moses.¹

The key to understanding what happened in Genesis 6 is determining who the ‘sons of God’ were?

Many believe that the sons of God were angels. The same phrase is used throughout scripture, including the book of Job, to describe angels (Job 1:6). I suspect this is the correct interpretation.²

These marriages produced hybrids, half human and half angelic beings. Infused with angelic DNA, their offspring were powerful and became the leaders in the ancient realm. In some sense they were supra-humans or demi-gods.

Their influence was extremely negative. The next verse in Genesis 6, states that the world was full of wickedness and people were thinking of ‘only evil continually’ (Genesis 6:5).

This led God to judge the world with the flood.

In the Biblical account, we read that the Lord preserved Noah and his family. We are even given the reasons why Noah was chosen.

Not only was Noah righteous, but the Bible says that he was “perfect in his generations” (verse 9).

Does this suggest that Noah’s lineage was pure, meaning it had not been contaminated by angelic DNA?

If so, the Flood was essentially a reset of creation, restoring humanity back to its original genetic state set at the creation of Adam and Eve.

The view that the Nephilim were the offspring of angelic/human marriages was held by most ancient rabbis. This opinion is clearly portrayed in the book of 1 Enoch.³

The book claims to be written by Enoch, an ancient patriarch who is described in Genesis as a man who ‘walked with God’ (Genesis 5:24). The verse also states that Enoch was taken to heaven without dying (see Hebrews 11:5).

While Enoch was a real person, there is near universal agreement that he was not the author of 1 Enoch.

Most also agree that 1 Enoch is not scripture. It is not found in the Jewish Old Testament or in the protestant and Catholic Bibles. But oddly it is included in the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible.

While Enoch is not scripture, it does serve as a commentary on how ancient Jews looked upon the Genesis 6 story.

In 1 Enoch chapter 3, the sons of God, who are clearly called angels, married the daughters of men. These angels knew that what they were doing was sin.

The Nephilim, who were the offspring of this unholy union, had a negative impact on early society. According 1 Enoch, these dark angels trained humanity in all sorts of dark arts, the occult and technology.

In 1 Enoch 3, humans were taught about:

• Charms, enchantments and working with herbs (verse 8).
• Metallurgy and how to make weapons (verse 11), and
• More in the area of the occult and as well they were taught astrology (verse 13).

After the world was judged with the flood, we are told in 1 Enoch that God imprisoned these angels who married humans. There is no mention of the sons of God being arrested in the Genesis account,

Wes adds that the ancient Jews also believed that when their Nephilim offspring died in the flood, their spirits were not like human spirits. They were hybrid as well.

“When they die, their spirits don’t have anywhere to go,” Wes said explaining the Jewish belief. “So now they are trapped and wandering the earth. They are aimless and constantly trying to get back into a physical form.”

“So they possess people,” Wes continued. “Because they are not really meant to do that, because they are these supernatural beings, it never really works out. They end up making people do all sorts of crazy things. They are cursed because they are unholy.”

As we move closer to the End Times, there seems to be an increasing interest in the Nephilim. More articles and videos are being produced about them. Some are even suggesting that these mysterious creatures are back.

But, I like the advice that Wes gives on how we should deal with this controversial topic.

First, we can’t treat 1 Enoch as scripture.

Secondly, since the Nephilim are only mentioned twice in the Bible, Wes say:

“The thing that scripture whispers about I don’t want to yell too loudly.”

In other words, we should not elevate or emphasize these beings any more than the Bible does,

Footnotes:

1. While the word Nephilim is found in Numbers 13:33, some commentators suggest the word is being used here as it was intended, as giants and is not connected to the Nephilim referred to in Genesis 6. ↩︎
2. There are some who suggest that the sons of God were the human descendants of the line of Seth, and the daughters of men were from the line of Cain. But if both groups were just human, why would such an intermarriage produce super children? ↩︎
3. In addition to 1 Enoch, we have much later additions 2 Enoch and 3 Enoch. These were clearly added by later writers. ↩︎