I was in my thirties when I first read Genesis 6 and thought, “Did the Bible really just say what I think it said?”. Let me show you the scriptures in question:
Genesis 6:1-2 (NKJV)
“Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.”
… Angels took human women as wives?
Genesis 6:4 (NKJV)
“There were giants on 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 old, men of renown.”
… So angels took human women for wives, had sexual relations with them, and had children with them? And those children were mighty giants?
Yup. That’s exactly what the Bible says. And that word translated in English as giant, is actually the Hebrew word Nephil, or more commonly, Nephilim. It means a giant who makes things fall (a feller), a bully, and a tyrant. And one more important item to note here, this scripture takes place before Noah’s Flood. So let’s restate it … In the days prior to Noah’s Flood, as mankind was growing and spreading across the planet, certain of God’s angels saw what human males and females did (i.e. sexual relations) and they wanted to experience it too. They took on physical form (the Bible is clear angels can do that) and had their way with women. That union between angel and human created an evil, giant being called a Nephilim.
I know, this sounds crazy. And yes, I’ve heard a lot of commentary saying the sons of God were just standard human males, but somehow special in God’s eyes. Therefore, the Nephilim were only powerful rulers. Well, I would encourage anyone saying that to reread their Old Testament. The expression “sons of God” is only found five times in the OT (at least in the King James Version) and every single time it is used for angels. So it’s quite clear: we’re going to have to wrap our heads around the Biblical fact that angels and women copulated, producing giants.
Here’s another interesting tidbit: The ancient church certainly had no problem with this. The Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament) calls them “angels of God”, not “sons of God”. The Jewish historian Josephus said, “many angels of God accompanied with women, and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers of all that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their own strength.” Later he says, “There were till then left the race of giants, who had bodies so large, and countenance so entirely different from other men, that they were surprising to the sight, and terrible to the hearing.” Early church father Justyn Martyr said, “But the angels transgressed … were captivated by love of women, and begat children.” There are plenty of others too, but I think the point is made.
When I finally accepted this, the Bible became so much clearer. Remember David & Goliath? Yup, Nephilim offspring. The Anakims from Deuteronomy: “the people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to the heaven” … or the Emims, “a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; which also were accounted giants.” … how about Numbers, “and there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants.”—all of these were either Nephilim or their offspring. The Bible is full of giants and now we know where they came from.
But some might counter, “Yeah, but they would have all died in Noah’s Flood.” That’s actually correct, and a great catch! However, let’s reread Genesis 6:4:
“There were giants on 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 old, men of renown.”
Those three words, “and also afterward”, are clearly relating to Noah’s Flood. So, before the Flood, the angels did their horrific sin producing Nephilim. And after the Flood they did it all over again. Yikes!
So what happened to the Nephilim? Why don’t we have fossil records? How about the angels that did this … what happened to them?
That’s all for another blog post.