Who were the Nephalim?
Posted: Friday, October 08, 2004
by Rabbi Stanley
Mosaic Ministries
Gen. 6:1-4 Concerning the Nephilim: this is a time when it's important to know Hebrew and I'd suggest any and everyone to try and learn it if at all possible (same goes for Greek). When reading this passage in Hebrew it makes perfect sense. The word “nephil" means "giant". The masculine plural form is “nephilim". All masculine plurals in Hebrew end in “im" (pronounced "eem").
What happens with Genesis 6 is some will see the term "sons of G-d"
and interpret that as meaning spirit beings. This is in no way true.
The sons of G-d simply mean righteous men. We see Jesus use this same term in a very well known passage but those propagating a "super human race" haven't connected the dots. You may remember this passage in Mt 5:9: Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called what??? The sons of God!!! If the sons of G-d are some super human race who has faded out, then what does this mean?
That they have come back? LOL No, it means righteous men. So, what happened here in Genesis 6?
Well, back in the ancient days of Noah when there were still groups or tribes of large people who were around 12 feet tall, there were some righteous men who fell and began marrying these women even though they were not girls who followed G-d and they had families with these women and they themselves turned their back on G-d. That's it. Nothing more then that.
We know that spirits cannot have sex with people! The Bible says in Matt 22:30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. So angles do not marry or reproduce, there's no need for them to. There are no "baby angels"! Demons are fallen angels (angel means, "messenger" in Greek) so they too don't have reproductive organs. So the idea that demons were having sex with women is simply ridicules.
The Bible is full of wonders, so we don't need to look for anything more fantastic then it already is. There's no super-human race unless of course you add some of the members of the NBA.
If anyone is interested in who the Philistines were, I will soon be posting this and more information on my site. It's quite a study.
I will be posting pictures from some of the digs I've been on in Israel and some of the Philistine artefacts I've found there and in other places such as in Europe etc.
Shalom, Rabbi Stanley http://mosaicministries.homestead.com
This Article has been viewed 18,348 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
More commentsRabbi I dont remember you email I am misita from colombia . shalom.Hi Misi,
I sent you an email at your old address. Please let me know if you got it.
R. Stanley
if "sons of Elohim"means righteous men,then how do you explain Job 1v6 where the sons of Elohim came before Yahua and Satan was among them?
Shalom,I teach Hebrew all over the world, I was raised in Israel. In Hebrew, much of what we read, write, or say, has to be taken in context. The Passage in Job that you are referencing took place before people existed. So of course that isn't talking about humans. The Nephalim however, were people and in this article I explain why.Shalom,Rabbi StanleyIf satan went about the earth and took note of job then how could this be before people existed?
Hi Rabbi,
I was about to post a redundant message but felt it would be better to have some info to back me up. I too am of the following that there were fallen angles who left their heavenly domain before the creation of Adam (Jude 1:6). Enoch calls them watchers and just because the book was not canonized, how can you call it a fairy tale? Were you there?
What of all the new science that shows men over 20 feet tall and documented cases from Native American tribes stating these men we so strong they could run down a buffalo. Sure it might sound strange to you but doesn't creating a man from the dust and a serpent tempting his rib made wife?
Are you a Messianic Jew? Are you anticipating the return of Yesuah spoken of throughout the Hebrew prophets?
The fallen ones are real and they tainted the seed of man in the beginning. This is why God spared Noah because he was "pure" and "spotless" in his generations. Satan wants a seed made from man just like G-d sent Yeshua via a woman.
Anywho, I could stay here for days discussing this and I can tell by your replies to others that you will just laugh at this as well. Here is a link to some very interesting information regarding this subject. w w w . khouse . org/articles/1997/22/
If the link is scrambled or removed, you can Google "and they mingled with the seed of man".
I truly come in peace and have a desire to see all men everywhere come to Yeshua.
Shalom,
Jeremy
If you'd like to have a meaningful conversation, please go to our website "Mosaic Ministries". I wont be censored there.Rabbi Stanley
Soooo, hypothetically speaking, If an angel disguises himself as a human and were to, "flirt" or "court" a young lady, would it be a sin for the human or the angel? What about emotional attatchment towards a spirit? (Can a spirit and human be in a platonic relationship?)
Hi Rabbi Stanley, I just read your article on The Nephilim. I do not think that The Torah ever meant to convey them as Giant Men..or tall people. It is symbolic of the Vast Ideas and Concepts that man had to struggle with after "Eating from the Tress Of Knoiwledge of Good and Evil They were GIANT in the sense that they still loom large in the world today, in tings as simple as...well..studying the Torah and religious scriptures, for one thing. The language employed in The Torah speaks in a highly symbolic progression and never really is a History Book, in the sense that most understand History to have played out. It is more of a History of the Ongoing Battle of the Body, The SOul,, and The Mind. THey are out of synch and rarely do they meet evenly within a single man. By keeping a comment like,
"The Nephilim were in the Earth in those days...when the sons of God.....etc. daughters of men..." traditionally the same as it has always been, it adds to the mystique of it and prompts one to want to study it more to find a deeper meaning. WHen they occaisionally change it to " THere were GIANTS on the Earth in those days..." it adds to the confusion, because then people begin to look for Real Life Giants, demigods, Superkings..and whatnot. And that is wandering a dusty road going nowhere fast.
Man is always concerned with the Fallen Civilizations of their long forgotten ancestors..The Atlantis..WHich is really just The Perpetual NOW, and man pondering philosophically on the downfalls their current culture may be heading toward. The true GIANTS in this case would be the very things that drive man on by way of Body, Mind , and Spirit.
When morality is on the decline, their values change, and their concept of what GOD really "IS" is compromised among the majority. Jesus...Abraham...Moses..Mohammed..Buddah..etc. These can be considered Nephilim, as well. Because there is a point when they are Concieved by man ( the Daughters of man would indicate The THOUGHTS and the Multitudes). At first, it is nurtured and raised, and the people revere their Messiah...or God..Prime Mover of that particular era. And it becomes a mainstay in culture for hundreds or more years. Everything is Built around the church, so to speak. On the decline, things begin to change in the mythology and people begin to notice new angles to percieve the Scriptures from ( like now, lots of folks say JUDAS was the true Hero of the Gospels and that CAIN got a bad rap Jesus is the Islamic Prophet and was always meant to be.....etc...). But on the ascent, it would have been considered Heresy to consider these things. But the fact is, it will always be this way. Man's curiosity is represented by Eve eating the Forbidden Fruit. Man was a GIANT right off the bat, because it is a Large Concept in the sense it says that Elohim Made Man in His image. But after eating the fruit... he suddenly felt Small and hid from God...who was still Giant. Did Adam shrink? No, but when one realizes new revelations that are larger than life, he feels small in the universe until he can get more of a grasp on the new wonders that keep decending upon him. People need a struggle constantly in nature to keep evolving forward. SO when someone like Jacob Frank or Shabbathai Zavi and people who ask "Isn't Judas a Hero, from a technical standpoint.."? do the things they do, they are essentially correct in their actions. Because they sense static and they seek to rock the boat ( extreme concepts and approaches command the attention of even the slowest cows in the pasture). Here is where, in a sense, those Holy FIgures I mentioned are the Nephilim. Because they seem to fall from grace, as they are stripped away of their earlier offices and dignities, and placed on a different pedastal. The Elders react with horror. Youth embraces it as it gets them interested for a change.
ANd it just SEEMS like their value and respect has been violated. In fact, They are , in fact, The Return of the Messiah, as they get the attention of a whole new generation and help to regenerate life in mankinds reachings toward the future.
FOr every Christ ...there is Antichrist..which is simply the Realization that Man seems to be programmed to take things for granted, and only see what he wants to see. But (The God (s)) evolve, too. And all of the bad times that come around in their due course are Shadows, or negative Pull of nature, and the very same God that seems so distant when the $%&*@$%& hits the fan. They are the $%&*@$%& that hits the fan because people tend to see things in limited scope. It's US, the Christians..> The Jews..> It is THEM...The Muslims..> The Hindus...etc... But that division is shared at all angles involved...so war is always inevitable and it plays right into people's faith. SO God caused a "Flood"...
NO ..the flood is the actual chaos created by the oceans of humanity as they turn against eachother. Wars erupt and clouds of doom hover in the air. Each warring faction is praying to their God to help them in battle. And HE does. THe thing is..They are all praying to the same God. And that is how God punishes wickedness here on Earth. The strongest faith prevails, just as Laws of the Jungle are as they are. A country on the decline has the weakest faith because they are either spoiled or oppressed. Of the two, the Oppressed is the only one who has the will to win.
That is the Ark..Noah...the raven, the Dove.. And Noah's 3 sons.
Waw...this was a lot longer thn I meant it to be. Sorry, you just got me thinking about the Nephilim, and I always thought it was pretty odd that so many highly intelligent individuals on this planet actually picture GIANTS..Giant People or Beings..and they excavate sites in search of them..Like kids on the beach loooking for some treasure chest.
Yet, they claim that Zeus and Apollo..Osiris...etc... Are MYTHS. But Noah's story is a solid Reality that can be proven in the psysical sense. No...Only the Practical Sense. The fact that the (Editors) keep the word Nephilim in the Bible shows that man still has the urge to eat from that Tree Of Knowledge.... And they still stumble a bit when they go there. But ultimately we will all find out that there was No FALL..no Flood that destroyed mankind.,.,..etc.. These were natural things that HAD to happen in order to secure that the nature of Man evolves as he stumbles over obstacles and learns that God is very attached to reason... and he learns from his falls and grows from them.
Again...it is THE WORD ..The Holy Scripture.. not a World History Atlas. Our ideas give it life and it gives us life, in return... Sevenfold. Sincerely, JIim Myers. .
YES..WE CHRISTIANS REALLY NEED THE HELP OF JEWS IN THE LAST DAYS OF DECEIT! TY.TERRY ELLS
My biblical novel The Bloodred Tree (Resource Publications Dec 2010, Wipf & Stock) , although a fiction, deals with these Gen. 6 possibilities in detail. the Preface particularly looks at the scholarly research on thistopic. Anyone wanting to look deeper can get a copy through Wipf & Stock directly, on Amazon in 5 weeks, or Ingram in a week.
It is a fascinating topic and discussion.
John Stringer
New Zealand, Dec 20, 2010.
Well, I thought the word for giant was "rapha" (7497 Str.'s concordance) as Deut. 3:11 makes it plain. Actually, this word is translated 16 times as giant or giants in the KJV. Another word translated as giant is gibbor (1368) which means strong or powerful.
The word ????? (5303 in plural nephilim ?????? is translated as giants in two verses, Gen. 6:4 and Num. 13:33 and it comes from the verb Naphal ????? (5307), which means to fall. Thus nephilim it would mean the fallen ones, referring perhaps to some of the descendents of Set, called sons of God, who fell or didn't walk with God. The hebrew text says literally, "The fallen ones were in the earth in those days" ?????? ??? ???? ????? ???
The term "Nephilim" occurs just twice in the Hebrew Bible, both in the Torah. The first is Genesis 6:1-4, immediately before the story of Noah's ark:
1. When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them,
2. The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.
3. Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years."
4. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
The second is Numbers 13:32-33, where the Hebrew spies report that they have seen fearsome giants in Canaan:
32. And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.
33. We saw the Nephilim there. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."
More comments
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.