TJ Steadman on Rephaim, Nephilim and Gibborim as Giants

This is a styled follow upon my article TJ Steadman claims “gibbowr can have other meanings besides ‘giant’”.

You can find all of my articles regarding TJ Steadman here.

As is clear from the title of that article TJ Steadman claims that gibbowr, from the root gabar thus, gbr can mean whatever he may mean by “giant” at any given time he uses that subjective, generic, vague English term.

He also wrote:

Giants: usually translated from raphe but also from other terms such as Nephiyl (Nephilim) or gibbowr (Gibborim).
Things can get confusing here as the giants are frequently referred to in the context of being dead…
For example, in Ezekiel, the LXX renders the Hebrew gibborim as giants, but every time, the reference is translated to dead gibborim.
This is all the more easily explained when one considers that the final form of the Old Testament took shape hundreds of years after the last of the giants were dead.

Yes, some modern version translate, actually it is rendering rather then translating, giants from raphe, Nephiyl, and gibbowr which, frankly, only causes problems.

If for no other reason, it is problematic to render three very different words with only one word and there is no way that raphe, Nephiyl, and gibbowr (so, rph, npl, and gbr) are actual root words for whatever giant means.

TJ Steadman adds to the confusion by ubiquitously referring to giants rather than elucidating what he means at any given time. For example, when he claims that giants are referenced regarding being dead he is referring to one of the meanings (plural) of the root rapha.

As for that gibborim as giants in the LXX, not even this is accurate since it is being rendered as “gigantes” (or “gigas”) which means “earth-born” and implies nothing about height, nor being dead, etc.

Thus, it is myopic to refer to how “every time, the reference is translated to dead gibborim” as that term one means might/might (as noted in the referenced article).

Now, this has gotten us one step closer to understanding why it is that TJ Steadman wants, as I will term it, gibbor to (sometimes) mean giants since it pertains to his view of Nimrod.

See my various books here.

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