Genesis 6:4, “There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” And herein lies the mystery of the Nephilim (or rephaim) – the fallen ones, the mighty ones, the giants. Several questions immediately arise: who were these “sons of God”; why are these “giants” mentioned at all; did they really exist; and is there any evidence of them today?
From the Old Testament there are a number of references to these ‘giants’. Numbers 13:33, “There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” Deuteronomy 2:11,20-21a, “They were also regarded as giants, like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim. – (That was also regarded as a land of giants; giants formerly dwelt there. But the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim.” Deuteronomy 3:11,13, “For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the giants. Indeed his bedstead was an iron bedstead. (Is it not in Rabbah of the people of Ammon?) Nine cubits is its length and four cubits its width, according to the standard cubit. – The rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to half the tribe of Manasseh. (All the region of Argob, with all Bashan, was called the land of the giants.” Joshua 17:15-16, “So Joshua answered them, If you are a great people, then go up to the forest country and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and the giants, since the mountains of Ephraim are too confined for you. But the children of Joseph said, The mountain country is not enough for us; and all the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both those who are of Beth Shean and its towns and those who are of the Valley of Jezreel.” 1 Samuel 17 (David vs Goliath); 2 Samuel 21:15-16, 18-20, “When the Philistines were at war again with Israel, David and his servants with him went down and fought against the Philistines; and David grew faint. Then Ishbi-Benob, who was one of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose bronze spear was three hundred shekels, who was bearing a new sword, thought he could kill David. – Now it happened afterward that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbechai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the sons of the giant. Again there was war at Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. Yet again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also was born to the giant.” See also 1 Chronicles 20:4-8.
Many other cultures abound in ‘myths’ about gods cavorting with human women and producing what is often called demi-gods, who were ‘supermen’ or especially empowered. Tales such as the Greek story of the conception and life of Herakles. Others were reported to have given mankind special gifts, and this implies that they may have had technological savvy in advance of humanity’s natural creativity, as evidenced from the mention of their iron produce in the bronze age. Yet who were these ‘sons of God’ as mentioned in Genesis 6, and are they the same as the ‘sons of God’ promised in the New Testament? The answer is found in the book of Job (1:6, 2:1, 38:7), where we see Satan and other angels in heaven before God. Therefore, we can deduce that these Old Testament ‘sons of God’ were in fact angels, and that when Satan and his followers were cast down to Earth, it was they who ‘saw the daughters of men’ desirable. Whereas, the ‘sons of God’ in the New Testament are those that are the true sons, made in the image and likeness of God, that is, you!
So what is the problem with these ‘angel/human’ crossbreeds? Bearing in mind that man was made in God’s image and likeness, and that we were given dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26,28), and are to judge the angels (1 Corinthians 6:3) – especially those that were in the rebellion against God – then we can see that Satan and his cohorts want to ‘kill, steal and destroy’ God’s chosen ones, as first witnessed in Eden. In Genesis 3:15 we see, “And I will put enmity between you (Satan) and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” That is, there is a war between the offspring of Satan’s cohorts and God’s true children. Other than the possible lustful pleasure these beings engaged in with human women, Satan’s plan would seem to have been to takeover the Earth for himself, destroy God’s plan for humanity to rule, and so pollute the human DNA that the Son of God (Jesus) could never exist, and thus could never redeem us. These crossbreeds are not of God’s DNA, are not of God’s family, and can not inherit the kingdom.
The story in Genesis chapter 6 continues with the report that there was great wickedness on the earth. The deduction is that these wicked ones were these crossbreeds, for when we come to consider Noah, we find that his genealogy was ‘righteous’ (Genesis 6:9), that is he was of God’s pure DNA. God then destroyed the corrupted species with the great flood, but saved His ‘clean’ offspring to start again.
But if God destroyed all of the Nephilim with the flood, how come they existed during the time of Moses, and later when David slew Goliath? Simply, the cohorts of Satan (demons) resumed their lustful practices. Does this mean that these crossbreeds still exist? Probably, though they may not necessarily be as apparent. In the New Testament we see Jesus speak about those truly ‘planted’ in God’s Garden, and those which are weeds. The wheat look-alike weeds will be dealt harshly at the ‘harvest’ (See Mark 13:24-30).
If then these crossbreeds are around today, what could their agenda be? They will still be out to ‘kill, steal, and destroy’, and will probably be using similar tactics as before. Could they still be trying to pollute God’s offspring? It is interesting to note that genetically modified plants and animals apparently are not as beneficial as often reported. Will the modern nephilim, like their ancestors, use technological advances to try modifying human DNA? God destroyed the polluted world previously with a flood. He has promised that He will again destroy the world, though next time with fire, especially those that have caused so much trouble – the demons and their offspring.
