Nephilim

Noun

The fallen ones - means fallen in battle, those who gain glory and fame in battle.

Sons of Anak

Source: handouts

The Nephilim are giant warriors from ancient times. This is why the first translation of the Hebrew Bible into ancient Greek (produced around 300-100 B.C.) translated the Hebrew word “Nephilim” with the Greek word γιγαντες / gigantes / giant!

The word “Nephilim” is not a translation but a transliteration of the Hebrew word. It is a noun derived from the Hebrew root naphal meaning “to fall.” It mostly likely means “fallen ones,” referring to warriors “fallen” in battle. The verbal form of this root is found describing fallen warriors (gibborim, also used in Gen. 6:4) elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible.

These giant warriors have a prominent role in the biblical stories about Israel’s entry into the land promised to Abraham. Many of the cities and kings that attacked the Israelites when they entered the land were among the offspring of these giant warriors whose origin stems back to the Nephilim.

But are these giant warriors of old the offspring of the sons of Elohim and the daughters of men? The text is not explicit; rather it uses poetic parallel structures to suggest this:

The Nephilim were in the land in those days ... when

the sons of God were going into the daughters of men

and they were bearing children for them, these were

the mighty warriors.

The poetic structure of the text coordinates the two things: (1) the presence of the great, giant warriors of the ancient past and (2) the sons of Elohim having sex with women.

The phrase “in the day, which ...” (yom + ’asher / אשר + יום) is a standard way of coordinating two events as taking place at the same time (see Deut. 4:10; 1 Kgs. 22:25; Jg. 4:14; 2 Sam. 19:25; see Brown, Driver, Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon, p. 82).

It’s similar to saying “Isn’t it interesting that the Nephilim were in the land at precisely the time period when the sons of Elohim were having sex with women? (hint, hint ... )”

“Mighty Warriors”

The Hebrew word is “gibbor” (singular) and “gibborim” (plural). While this word is not inherently negative (it will be applied to Israelite warriors in Josh. 1:14 and heroes like David in 2 Sam. 17:10), the strategic uses of this word in Genesis 1-11 associate it with the sad portrait of human violence that violates God’s purposes for life. This violent strain runs from Cain to Nimrod.

Cain’s violence ➞ Lamech’s escalated violence ➞ the violent giants ➞ Nimrod the violent warrior

These warriors went by many names: Emim, Anakim, and Rephaim. This last title is fascinating because it is most often used in the Bible to refer to the spirits of dead warrior kings.

NOTES:

Heiser, Michael S.. The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. Lexham Press. Kindle Edition.

The Nephilim are cast as “mighty warriors” (gibborim) and “men of renown”—literally, “men of the name (shem).”1 The terms gibbor(im) and shem appear in several places in the Old Testament story.

Their intersection is at the heart of why books like 1 Enoch teach that demons are actually the spirits of dead Nephilim

The Nephilim bloodlines had a different pedigree. They were produced by other divine beings. They did not belong to Yahweh, and he therefore had no interest in claiming them. Coexistence was not possible with the spawn of other gods

As if this were not enough of an indication to draw the reader’s attention to the Nephilim bloodlines, the writer adds in verse 22, “Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod” did some of the Anakim remain. Why add that note? Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod were Philistine cities. One needs only to recall Goliath of Gath and his brothers to understand that the writer of Joshua is setting the stage for the fact that annihilation of these bloodlines would continue into David’s era.

NOTES

Ken Johnson BibleFacts.Org -