 Are the Nephilim in the Bible? Are they giants? No, not those kind of giants. I mean giants that are formed from the union of angels and human beings. There is a fascination with Genesis 6 to try to figure out is this speaking about actual giants that were the result of human beings having sexual relationships with angels, the Nephilim. Well, I want to tell you what I think, why I feel this way. But I want to say this in the beginning. I am not married one way or the other. It's not a heel that I'm willing to die on. Although I do feel convinced that what I'm saying is true, at least I believe so. But there may be those who disagree. It's not a reason for us to have any issues or any real schisms. Because neither of these views, whichever way you take it, should be an issue that affects someone's soterological views. Now, that being the case, I want to start off in Genesis 6. There are some questions that we have to ask. And there are also some things, some questions, some even more questions that will probably go unanswered. Because unfortunately for us, if you want to get to the bottom of this, there just is not enough to come to a conclusive understanding whichever side of the argument you're on. So because we don't want to violate what Paul says to do, not to exceed what the text says, and we don't want to add or take away, let's just be comfortable with saying, in the end I believe this, but I'm not totally sure. So that being said, let's go to Genesis 6. Starting off in verse 1 says, Now it came about when the men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the Lord said, My spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he is also flesh. Nevertheless, his days shall be 120 years. The Nephilim were also, or I'm sorry, the Nephilim were on the in the earth in those days and also afterward. When the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them, those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Now a couple of questions immediately come up and we're going to address these and try to, you know, be as detailed as we can. But again, there's just not as many scriptures to conclude one way or the other as we would like to, but we'll do our best. So let's go back to it, chapter 6 verse 1, and it came about when men, so we're speaking about men, that's where I die, so we never talk about men, when men began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, daughters were born to these men. I think that's important. He says that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Now the question is going to be what is meant by the sons of God? And so when we look that up, there are times most often sons of God does refer or sons of God does refer to angels, but does it also refer to human beings? The answer to both is yes, and yes, it refers to angels as it also does refer to men. Now we're going to have to ignore the passages in Genesis 6 because that's what's debated. Is Genesis 6 speaking of angels or is it speaking of men? And so let's type in sons of God and let's go and look at the different accounts where the Bible brings up this term. We go to Joe 1.6 and says, now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan also came among them. Now is that referring to angels or could it refer to men? And I've heard it done both ways. Most folks, most guys will believe that it's speaking of angels, but there's also the possibility of this being men bringing their offering before the Lord. Is that possible? Well, the Scripture doesn't conclusively say one way or the other, just that Satan shows up. Remember, this is a time where Satan has been put out of heaven, and so that could follow. Here's the other thing that we need to ask ourselves as we're thinking about this term, sons of God. Where in the Scripture does God, would he ever refer to fallen angels or demons as sons of God? Because to say sons of God implies or refers to God himself being of God derived from or in with or of God. And so to say demons, these fallen angels would also be considered sons of God. That can be a little bit problematic. Going back to it, Joe 2.1 also says again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. So now, is this him them bringing gifts? Could be or them just showing up or just them being there or could be angels? I don't have a problem either way. But again, if these are angels, these seem to be good angels. These seem to be the angels who have not fallen. And so to call them sons of God, that makes sense. Whereas Satan would be distinct from sons of God. There's a reason why I'm bringing this up and I'll come to that point in just a little bit. Also, Joe 387, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Are these angels? Again, I believe these are angels. I'll go with that. I won't be in the minority and think that sons of God's early refers to men. But I can see where they're coming from. But in this case, I do believe that just like the first two examples, I think these are actual angels. Now, there are also examples in the New Testament where this term shows up. Blessed are the peacemakers for they should be called sons of God as well as in Luke, as well as in Romans. Those who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. Same thing in Romans 8, as well as Galatians 326. Someone might say, yes, but that's New Testament. Now remember, God doesn't make a distinction in terms of what he calls someone, whether it's in the Old Testament or the New Testament. Now, we might think so because the books have an actual division, but God does not. Now in the Old Testament, there's also a couple of other passages that we need to look at as well that also bring up this term, sons of God. In Psalm 291, it says, and ascribed to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, ascribed to the Lord of glory and strength. And so here we see the sons of the mighty. Well, this term, sons of the mighty, or the word, the word that's used here, the word mighty is elhim, which is the same word for God. So here we see the term, sons of God. And this is clearly speaking about men. Also, if we look in Psalm 89, 6, the same thing for who in the sky is comparable to the Lord, who among the sons of the mighty is like the Lord. Now the word again, the word for the, the Hebrew word for the word mighty here is the same word for God. So who among the sons of God is like the Lord? So there are cases, examples where the term son of God or sons of God relates to human beings and sons of God relates to angels. Well, I think the point is though that if you are a son of God or sons of God refers to those that are following after, it's always referred to those who are godly in their behavior or at least are ascribed to be and should be godly. And so that goes back to the point that I asked earlier. Where do we see in scripture fallen angels, demons ever being called sons of God? So that doesn't bode well if someone wants to think that Genesis 6 is referring or calling these fallen angels, these demons calling them sons of God. Now as we go back to it, let's go back to it again, he says that now it came about when men began to multiply on the face. And I said, we need to focus on or remember the fact that he's speaking about men, Adam. And he says they were born to them daughters who were born to them. So as men multiplied, daughters were born to these men. The question is what's happening just prior. And I think it's vitally important that we look at that. It's important to see what's happening before we get to chapter 6, what's happening in chapter 4, chapter 5. Remember, this is after the fall, and then we are dealing with this man named Cain, obviously Adam and Eve's child who kills his brother. So then now as we get back to chapter 6, we see that mankind is multiplying on the face of the earth. He says that the sons of God saw the daughters of men. We're beautiful now. Are these angels or falling angels who would kind of oddly be called sons of God? Or are these men who are falling after the godly lineage of Seth, who are seeing the ungodly lineage of Cain and saying that they are beautiful and then marrying them? Because remember, God always has a principle where he does not want his children, those who are following after him or who he wants to follow after them. He didn't want the godly line to go and marry the ungodly line. Remember, he didn't want the children of Israel to enumerate with any of the kentazites, the genusites, the hittites, canaanites, amalakites, any of those folks. And there's a reason why I brought up this term, kentanites, because that's going to also help to kind of maybe understand a particular point, but God has never wanted the ungodly, I'm sorry, the godly to marry the ungodly. So the question is, is that possibly what's happening here? It's possible. Regardless of whatever side you're on, you'd have to say at least that's a possibility in what's being spoken of here. He says, saw that they were beautiful and took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. The question is, took wives for themselves? We're going to deal with that part in just a little bit as well. Then the Lord said, My spirit shall not strive with man forever because he is also flesh. Nevertheless, his day shall be 120 years. Interestingly enough, it seems though God's main focus, his anger is, or his disappointment, is towards mankind, towards flesh, and not so much if these are actual angels, not so much with the angels, these fallen angels. That didn't really kind of seem like it's in keeping with God. Could be wrong. This is just me, you know, just noticing something, making an observation. But his issue is with the flesh, with mankind. He says, My spirit shall not strive with man, Adam. That's why I made the point earlier in verse one about Adam, about man, forever because he is also flesh. Why would you bring him? He is also flesh if this is an issue where demons, fallen angels are interacting, taking women who are weaker and who are less than angels, who are taking them and abusing them or taking them as wives. Why would there not be this description of God's anger towards them? That's also just at least an observation interesting. Verse four, the Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also afterward. That's another interesting point. They were there before, or at least in those days, and they were there afterwards. And so I don't want us to miss that point that they were there at that time, but also afterward. We're going to come back to that in just a little bit. He says they were on the earth in those days and also afterwards when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old men of renown. This question right here, this statement, mighty men who were of old men of renown. That's odd. That is odd. No, by the way, the word that's used here for men is for the word male, and this is plural. So that's another indication. This is why I lean towards this could not be. These are not angels because he's speaking about these were the children that were born of them. These were men. These were men of renown, mighty men. The word that's used here is gabbarim, which is the word for a valiant or mighty man of old. That doesn't seem like he's describing angels or fallen angels or the offspring just regular men because he says these are mighty men, men of renown, men of old. Could be, maybe he's speaking about the offspring and just calling them that. I don't see how that could fit though. And as we go forward, verse five, then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man, and the word here is Adam, man was great on the earth. Not the wickedness of these fallen angels, these demons, but the wickedness of man and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually about these men. And I think he's also impugning even those from the line of Seth. The Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart. And so he says that I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land. So the question is, is this a result him, him deciding to destroy land, I mean destroy the people on the earth, except for obviously Noah and his wife and his three sons and their wives. Is this a result of or also a byproduct of angels having sexual relationship with women, with human women? Now a couple of things that need to be brought up because it says that they were on the earth not just at that time, but they were also on the earth afterwards. How could that be? That just seems like a question that we need to explore and answer. How in the world are these giants, these Nephilim, how do they also live afterwards if the flood comes and all of them are destroyed? Well, let's go before we figure this out. Let's do some investigating. Let's go and look at the scripture. Let's look at numbers 1333. As a matter of fact, no, let's start in 32. This is after they get this report. It says, so they came out of the sons of Israel, a bad report of the land which they have spied out. Remember, they're going to the land to spy on the land they're going to go into. But there's someone or something or some big people that they see in the land. And the report says that the land which we have gone in, spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants and all the people whom we saw are in are men of great size. That's important. There also, we saw the Nephilim. So the Nephilim are still there when the children of Israel are going to go into this land. How are they still there? Notice what it says, the Nephilim, the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim and we became like grasshoppers in our own site and so we were in their site. So the Nephilim are still there. But wait a minute, I thought that the Lord destroyed all of mankind and then which would include the Nephilim during the flood. The only ones who could have, who lived was Noah and his wife, his three sons and his three daughters, and their three daughters, their three wives. So how then do we still have the Nephilim? Well maybe the Nephilim are not byproducts of angels and humans cohabitating or having relationships. Maybe it's just a byproduct of men and men having relationships, wicked men and supposedly or those who were intended to be godly men having these relationships. Maybe it's just human beings getting together and there were some giant human beings. Which probably shouldn't be too hard to believe because yes, it's hard to believe that there were large human beings of this sort at that time. But then again at that time we also had people that lived a lot longer than. Remember the lifespan of human beings starts dropping but it hadn't dropped totally and completely. But here though we're talking about at the time of them going into the land and we're seeing giants still. Now the question is, are there any more descriptions of these people from Anak? Well let's go and look and see. We're going to type in the word Anak and let's just see where the word Anak is. In numbers 1322, we see it there, when they'd gone up into the into the Negev which is the south, they came to Hebron where Ahimun, Shishai and Taomai the descendants of Anak were. Now Hebron was built seven years before Zolan and so we're going to see. So we see these Anakim, these people of Anak there as well. Let's drop down same thing in numbers 13, 28 and 33 also in Deuteronomy. People great and tall, the sons of Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said who can stand before the sons of Anak. These people are now they are they are known for again these are mighty men just like we see described in Genesis 6, Joshua 15 same thing and we see let's go to the middle of it according to the command of the Lord Joshua namely Kirath Arba being the father of Anak that is Hebron and Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak. These are those three names that we mentioned earlier in numbers. Joshua also 2111 same thing judges 120 then they gave Hebron Hebron to Caleb as Moses had promised and he drove out from there the three sons of Anak. So the Anak, Anakim they're still there. So we see these giants these large people still in the land after the flood and there is no mention of angels or fallen demons fallen angels or demons coming into or having sexual relationships with women. We see men and women human beings and then the offspring of them still being these giants obviously that everyone everyone wasn't a giant but we see a lot of them and they are known of they are valiant men mighty men just like what was spoken in Genesis 6. So now the question still needs to be answered. Where do they come from? How are they still there if they were destroyed in the flood? Well remember I made the statement that the sons of God would be those who would follow after God who are basically faithful obedient to God just like the angels to call the angels who are faithful and obedient to God we call them sons of God we call men on the earth who are faithful and obedient to God we call them sons of God but then we have the sons of men where does that term come from? Is there a should we look for the Bible in the Bible where the term sons of men shows up as well and maybe that will help us to get an indication as to what perspective because we focus oftentimes in Genesis 6 on the word sons of God versus the daughters of men daughters of men sons of men it would be the same thing so what does the Bible have to say about those sons of men? The first place we see this term sons of men again this is also parroting off of the daughters of men in Genesis 11.5 and notice none of these are speaking highly of these people sons of men the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built and this is important to understand who are these people that built this tower who are they descended from these are sons of men these are wicked people and that is important as we go down even to 2 Samuel 7 14 because I will correct them with the right of men and the strokes of the sons of men 1 Kings 8 39 he says um then here in your head in heaven you're dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways whose heart you know for you alone know the hearts of all the sons of men again not speaking highly of them he says uh you uh you know for you alone know the hearts of the son of men the second chronicle 6 30 speaking about Israel Psalm 4 2 oh sons of men how long will my honor become a reproach and on and on and on we see the term sons of men this derivative of men is to imply wickedness not godly but when we speak about sons of god it is to to imply obedience and faithful to god in other words godly now I asked a question as we saw at the very beginning just 11 5 who came who built who's in charge who's who are these people that he's speaking of in just 11 5 that are the sons of men well obviously these are ungodly people we hear names such as Nimrod and so forth we hear these names we hear the name Tubal Cain um these descendants ways that weren't they destroyed yes and no this is where we're going to do a little bit of fleshing out some of the Hebrew this word here you heard this name before in the English we'll say Cain but over on the right his name is Cain this is Cain this is how you say his name in Hebrew oh by the way and by the way if we as we keep looking at it Cain Cain Cain why am I bringing up Cain Cain was destroyed well it doesn't seem a little bit odd and we've covered this before in the Bible said it but it seems odd for us to even mention people like Cain people like Tubal Cain people like his descendants people who were metal workers or shepherds or or artists why would we mention those people if every last one of them and they were were going to be destroyed because anyone that would do the same thing thereafter didn't get it from them they would have to start this all over why are they being mentioned well it seems to be seems to be that there must have been something about them that still survives in some way shape from a fashion something about or something of Cain still survives how do I know so well let's go to numbers 24 21 and I want you to look at this this word that's why I used this this name of these people earlier numbers 24 21 and he looked at the kinnite and took up his discourse and said now I don't want to go any further I just want to look at this word kinnite the word for kinnite is the exact same word for Cain Cain the reason why that's important because that's how we that's how we get these names the kinnite the amalekites amalekites are derived from amalek same thing with the Moabites from Moab Amalites from Amal this is where this name kinnite comes from but wait a second Cain is not around how could there be oh by the way I just want to show it again go back to the word Cain so that you can see the word Cain is the same three words three letters that are used for Cain are also there for the kinnites put it back on the screen for the kinnite the same three words with the uh with the uh the yad at the end to indicate the ight part so we have Cain and Cain's descendants how in the world could that possibly be because all we have we do have Noah and his wife and we have Noah's three sons but the question is where did Noah's three sons get their wives from and oh by the way who are the people that are building the the tower of Babel who have inhabited this city these are descendants of Noah's son Ham who yes they're from Noah and his wife but Ham's wife is not so is it possible that Ham's wife is a descendant of Cain remember God was upset that the sons of God if this is a godly line of Seth which uh is where Noah would come from is which is where Ham would also come from began to see the daughters of men which would be Ham's wife who may have possibly been a descendant of Cain some way some shape from a fashion a kinnite legacy is still there some way shape from a fashion and so could this be what God is referring to in Genesis 6 because remember all throughout Genesis 4 5 6 the issue is marrying or being with people who you should not be the godly being with the ungodly and so it's just interesting of note now am i being super definitive about this no but it's just pretty interesting the fact that Cain and Cainine are the same names and you get this kinnite from Cain kinnites not kinnites but kinnites comes from Cain it's just interesting and so that might actually be what God is speaking of in Genesis 6 now before we deal with this more I don't want to leave Genesis just yet I want to bring up something that God brings up and you'll see why in a second but in Genesis 1 20 as a matter of fact all throughout Genesis 1 but as he's speaking about plants and vegetation he says that they're going to bring forth vegetation after its own kind and then same thing when it comes to animals in Genesis 1 20 then God said let the waters team was swarming swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of heavens God knows what he says though God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves which uh with which is the water swarms after their kind and every wingbird after their kind so everything that was created was created after its own kind therefore it could reproduce after its own kind what's the point of that that means a snail would reproduce another snail a giraffe would not reproduce an elephant but after its kind another giraffe same thing with human beings after its own kind now why would I bring this issue up also about something being after its own kind well there's a question that's brought before Jesus in the New Testament so let's go there to Matthew I'm sorry mark 12 24 uh and he says the the question is regards to a man who a woman I'm sorry whose husband died and she ends up marrying the other brothers and the question was in heavens whose wife will she be and she's answering verse 24 um is this not the reason you are mistaken that you do not understand the scriptures or the power of God for when they rise from the dead they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven so he seems to equate that angels are like or men are like the angels in heaven women men and women are like the angels in heaven neither marry or are given in marriage which means wait a second if we go back to Genesis 6 then do we also extrapolate that and apply that to the angels then they neither married nor are given in marriage and what does it say in Genesis 6 that the sons of God saw the the daughters of man and they were beautiful and took them as wives how was that possible that these angels would marry these daughters of men the and then have them as wives that doesn't seem in keeping is that I guess kind of in a funny way that they want to sit down they want to settle down with these with these human women I don't think that's the case but even more vividly Jesus makes this the same statement but as further clarified uh or more detail is given in Luke chapter 20 let's go to verse 34 Jesus said to them the sons of this age marry and are given in marriage but those who are considered worthy to attain to the age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage why for they cannot die anymore because they are equal to angels and are look what he calls them and are sons of God being sons of the resurrection so he calls these godly people who are in heaven he calls them sons of God speaking about human beings and he says they are equal to the angels they neither marry nor are given nor are given in marriage and so the question is how then can someone come back and say that these other angels they do marry they have the DNA the ability to procreate and one of the questions that has to be asked is if angels could do that then why can't they do that now and were they doing so even up to the time of David when we see him fighting these philistine giants who by the way are related to the anarchy who related to anarchy we see this also when they go into the land we see anarchy who's also the Nephilim and so what's going on then were they still did we still have angels procreating with human beings this is why it doesn't seem at least for me this is why I don't believe that he's speaking of angels having relations with human beings as a matter of fact other than this particular passage we don't see any angels having interest in human beings sexually now we do see humans having the same interests actually but the angels that were there in Sodom and Gomorrah they had no interest in the human beings so we just don't find it spoken of throughout the scriptures and that can be a problem now there is a passage that people do bring up that say you know what I think this is speaking of angels who did the wrong thing and God has now cursed and which is why we're not seeing these these angels having sex with human beings anymore look what it says in Jude 5 now I desire to remind you though that though you know all things once for all that the Lord after saving people out of the land of Egypt subsequently destroyed those who did not believe and angels who did not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper boat he has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day is this speaking of fallen angels well if this is chronologically speaking he's saying this is after coming out of the land of Egypt so that so this is after what we read in Genesis 6 let's keep reading just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them since they were in the same way as these indulge in gross immorality and went after strange flesh and this word strange flesh it's it's the word strange is used here is the word heteros which means other so they went after other flesh and exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire I can see where someone would think or say that these were angels who left their proper estate and then went to human beings I think more unlikely what actually happened was because we know that there are demonic influences I think there was some demonic influence here in Genesis 6 just like there always is just like we see in the garden in Genesis 3 I think these were men who did have some sort of demonic influence obviously and these sons of men I'm sorry these daughters of men and their fathers and their mothers and their whole civilization these were people who who live in a demonic sense in a demonic way and then the men or the sons of God human beings would also have these relationships so these this interaction between the two would occur and I think you would see this this ungodly offspring who do not serve the Lord but again there's far more questions that need to be answered to come to any sort of conclusive proof as to what they are but you're hearing the reason why I believe that they were not angels because again God would have to get God would have had to been the one to give them the DNA to produce angels are not like us they have totally different bodies they are not physical in nature like us they can take on different appearances and so forth but still they are not human beings because God says that we were created after our own kind and so the question gonna be well the question is gonna be something that we don't have a lot of the answers for and so for that reason I see that now I know there's a lot of people who are kind of in a hubbub about large beings being found or being seen and so forth no no actual conclusive proof no footage and so forth and people wondering are these actual nephilim running around for me the answer is no there are no nephilim running around I don't think that there are any angels who would do so I know there are a lot of folks who want to say that demons are still sleeping with human beings today but again to me that's just not in keeping with the scriptures I could be wrong but for me this is the reason why I believe so not love to hear you always reason I'm pretty sure I'm gonna hear a lot of reasons as to why I'm wrong which is fine but just remember whether I'm right whether I'm wrong whether you're right whether you're wrong or your neighbor is right or wrong this is not an issue that we're gonna fight over because none of this has any sort of salvific inferences towards us amen