Dr. Dale Moreau posted a succinct statement titled Unmasking the Unseen: Shedim, Nephilim, and Demons in the Bible, he, “holds a doctorate in Biblical Theology, specializing in Hebrew and Greek. Under the mentorship of distinguished scholars such as Dr. William L. Hendricks, Dr. Michael S. Heiser, and Dr. Nathaniel Tracy, Dr. Moreau developed a deep expertise in biblical studies.”
He noted:
The term shedim appears explicitly in Deuteronomy 32:17 (“They sacrificed to shedim, not to God; to gods they had not known…”) and in Psalm 106:37 (“They sacrificed their sons and daughters to the shedim”).
In both passages, the shedim are the recipients of idol sacrifices, condemned as part of Israel’s apostasy…“shedim” refers to spiritual beings or gods treated as rival deities to Yahweh, closely paralleling Ugaritic šddm and Akkadian šēdu, which denote gods or powerful spirits.
Within the context of my review, the noteworthy part is, “spiritual beings…spirits.” BTW: note that a lot of people confuse and so swap the term spiritual and spirits and end up making non-sequiturs: humans can be spiritual but we are physical while spirits are disembodied—that is spirits proper, since spirits can become embodied.
Moreover:
Dead Nephilim as Rephaim—Shades of the Dead
The Nephilim, first introduced in Genesis 6:1–4 as hybrid offspring of “sons of God” and human women, reappear as legendary giants in passages such as Numbers 13:33. After the flood, their spirits are understood in later Jewish literature to populate the realm of the dead as disembodied spirits, the Rephaim (ְרָפִאים).
“Rephaim” in the Hebrew Bible refers to departed spirits inhabiting Sheol (Isaiah 14:9; 26:14; Proverbs 2:18; also Ezekiel 32:21 where “mighty ones” are associated with judgment in the underworld). Scholarly consensus (John Day, “The Rephaim,” in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible) recognizes overlaps between the Rephaim, ancient Canaanite royal ancestors, and the spirits of fallen heroes or giants.
In texts such as 1 Enoch and Jubilees (pseudepigraphal works influential in Second Temple Judaism), the spirits of dead Nephilim become wandering “evil spirits” or “demons” plaguing humanity. This trajectory is reflected in the New Testament’s terminology for demons (daimonia, pneumata akatharta)—disembodied spirits hostile to God and humanity.
From the get-go, we can (or should) discern that, “Nephilim as Rephaim” would be a category error that violates the law of identity: Nephilim were Nephilim, Rephaim were Rephaim, and there is no correlation between them.
Biblically contextually, “The Nephilim…legendary giants” would mean, “The Nephilim…legendary Nephilim” which, of course, is circularly redundant.
Thus, the key questions are: what is the usage of the vague, generic, subjective, multi-usage and modern English word, “giants” in English Bibles? What is Moreau’s usage? Do those two usages agree?
Based on his appeal to Num 13:33, wherein it is noted, “we saw the Nephilim…and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them” I will suppose that his usage is something vaguely generic about subjectively unusual height of some unknown level above the parochial average (and yes, that is how useless the common parlance usage of that modern English word is).
If that is the case, then his usage does not agree with the English Bibles’ usage since that usage is that it merely renders (does not even translate) Nephilim in two verses or Repha/im in 98% of all others and so never even hints at anything to do with any sort of height whatsoever.
For details, see my linguistics book Bible Encyclopedias and Dictionaries on Angels, Demons, Nephilim, and Giants: From 1851 to 2010.
Anyone who appeals to Num 13:33 needs to mention that they are relying on:
- One single unreliable sentence
- From strictly non-LXX versions (since that version’s version of that verse does not even mention Anakim)
- Of an unreliable, “evil report”
- By 10 unreliable guys
- Whom God rebuked—to death
- Who made five mere assertions unbacked by even one single other verse in the whole Bible
- Who contradicted Moses, Cable, Joshua, God, and the rest of the whole entire Bible
- And now you need to invent un-biblical tall-tales about how Nephilim got past the flood, any of which will imply that God failed, must have missed the loophole you figured out, the flood was much of a waste, etc., etc., etc.
I could go on but see my post Chapter sample: On the Post Flood Nephilim Proposal.
Note that, “later Jewish literature” refers to Bible contradicting folkloric tall-tales from centuries, if not millennia, after the Torah.
Nephilim were strictly pre-flood hybrids, Rephaim were strictly post-flood humans, and was literally zero correlation between them.
It is too generic to myopically assert, “‘Rephaim’ in the Hebrew Bible refers to departed spirits inhabiting Sheol…” since some take the root rapha (which ranges from heal to dead) and apply it to the human tribe, the Rephaim.
God, for example, is referred to as a Rapha and that had nothing to do with being some sort of living dead hybrid being, “I am the LORD, your healer” which is YHWH Rapha (Exo 15).
Thus, texts such as those cited refer to the dead and so those texts are misapplied to the human tribe.
We are told, “the land of the people of Ammon…(It is also counted as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim formerly lived there—but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim…(The Emim formerly lived there [in Ar], a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim. Like the Anakim they are also counted as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim” (Deut 2).
Thus, Zamzummim was an aka for Rephaim and Emim and Anakim were like clans of that tribe.
In the chapter devoted to Rephaim in my book What Does the Bible Say About Giants and Nephilim? A Styled Giantology and Nephilology, I pondered whence, then, came to term/title Rephaim? If Ammonites call them Zamzummim and Moabites call them Emim it seems to me that it was Israelites who called them Rephaim. I suspect that, if that is the case, it was a polemic to the tune of what we may put as, “You’re dead!” or, “The dead ones whom we conquered!” “They’re dead meat!” etc.
As for, “overlaps between the Rephaim, ancient Canaanite royal ancestors, and the spirits of fallen heroes or giants,” the overlap occurs due to that in Ugaritic texts recently deceased kings and heroes are referred to as kings and heroes but after they had been dead for some time, they were referred to as rph, could be summoned from the grave/underworld to attend rituals, etc., see my article Dead Kings and Rephaim The Patrons of the Ugaritic Dynasty.
Such is what happens when we insert Pagan mythology into biblical theology (or Rephaimology).
It is not surprising that Dr. Michael Heiser was noted (and cited in a portion I did not quote): he certainly was credentialed and experienced but not infallible, his Nephilology was not altogether biblical, and he tended to create more problems than he solved—search online for these articles for examples:
Review of Amy Richter and Michael Heiser on four Enochian Watcher related women in Jesus’ genealogy.
Rebuttal to Dr. Michael Heiser’s “All I Want for Christmas is Another Flawed Nephilim Rebuttal.”
I also included him in my book, The Scholarly Academic Nephilim and Giants: What do Scholarly Academics Say About Nephilim Giants?
1 Enoch and Jubilees are Bible contradicting folklore from centuries, if not millennia, after the Torah, see my books In Consideration of the Book(s) of Enoch and The Apocryphal Nephilim and Giants: Encountering Nephilim and Giants in Extra-Biblical Texts.
Thus, that unclean spirits/demons are the spirits of dead Nephilim is just folklore, for a biblical view, please see my article, Demons Ex Machina: What are Demons?
As for, “This trajectory is reflected in the New Testament’s terminology for demons (daimonia, pneumata akatharta)” let us add this from the article first:
Demons in the New Testament: Jewish Tradition and Continuity
The Second Temple Jewish understanding that demons are the spirits of dead Nephilim is pronounced in works like 1 Enoch 15:8–12 and Jubilees 10:1–11. Jesus and the apostles confront “unclean spirits” who oppress and possess humans—conceptualized not as fallen angels per se, but as evil spirits associated with former giants (demons) who lack corporeal bodies.
That is a non-sequitur based on jumping over a step and is also a strictly linguistics argument which is, “The Second Temple Jewish understanding” and usage of, “unclean spirits” ergo, when, “Jesus and the apostles confront ‘unclean spirits’” it can only mean/imply, “evil spirits associated with former giants (demons).”
So, it is:
“The Second Temple Jewish understanding that demons are the spirits of dead Nephilim.”
And, “conceptualized not as fallen angels per se, but as evil spirits associated with former giants (demons) who lack corporeal bodies.”
But that is jumping over the fact that there is no indication, besides the strictly linguistic one (which would be a word-concept fallacy), that as for, “Demons in the New Testament” when, “Jesus and the apostles confront ‘unclean spirits’” it may be technically accurate that they are, “conceptualized not as fallen angels” but they are also not, “conceptualized…as evil spirits associated with former giants (demons).”
Moreover, Dr. Dale Moreau notes:
This view carries directly into New Testament practice, where demons are never said to have bodies of their own and are always portrayed as seeking embodiment or causing harm to the living.
Scriptural Summary
Deut. 32:8–9: The Most High assigns the nations to “sons of God,” creating a divine council structure, which in Israel’s theology are the gods of the nations.
Deut. 32:16–17; Ps. 106:37: Israel sacrifices to shedim, identified as “gods they had not known,” equating the shedim with the lesser, allocated gods of the nations.
Genesis 6:1–4; Numbers 13:33; Isaiah 14:9; Proverbs 2:18: Nephilim are giants, with the Rephaim as their disembodied spirits inhabiting the underworld.
1 Enoch, Jubilees, NT Gospels: The spirits of dead Nephilim (Rephaim) become known as demons, evil spirits, or unclean spirits.
Indeed, therein, “demons are never said to have bodies of their own” but it is myopic to only conclude that they must be dead Nephilim.
I noted, “it may be technically accurate that they are, ‘conceptualized not as fallen angels’” but as per my Demons Ex Machina article, they are: it is just a very technical issue.
A biblical case can be made that unclean spirits/demons are fallen Angels while it cannot be made that they are dead Nephilim.
They are fallen Angels in that while the physical bodies of fallen Angels are incarcerated in Tartarus, their spirits roam the Earth.
FYI: Angels are always described as looking like human males, performing physical actions, and without indication that such is not their ontology, see my book What Does the Bible Say About Angels? A Styled Angelology.
Thus, the only cited text that backs the dead Nephilim view are 1 Enoch and Jubilees.
Also, from this list, “Genesis 6:1–4; Numbers 13:33; Isaiah 14:9; Proverbs 2:18” the only one that can be said to support, “Nephilim are giants” is the unreliable one.
Gen 6 and Num 13 do not even hint at, “Rephaim as their disembodied spirits inhabiting the underworld” and as for Isa 14 and Prov 2, we are back at the root word versus the tribe name/title (or polemic moniker).
Lastly:
Closing Summary
The evidence from Scripture, supported by relevant scholarly sources, demonstrates a strong continuity between the shedim, the gods of the nations, and the dead Nephilim as Rephaim—the latter being the ancestral dead or shades who, in later Jewish and New Testament tradition, emerge as the demons that Jesus and the apostles confronted.
This pattern reveals an ancient Near Eastern supernatural worldview running consistently through the biblical texts and affirmed by key scholarly works.
Setting relevant scholarly sources aside for a moment (pick that up in my book The Scholarly Academic Nephilim and Giants: What do Scholarly Academics Say About Nephilim Giants? and Bible Encyclopedias and Dictionaries on Angels, Demons, Nephilim, and Giants: From 1851 to 2010) it is more a matter of:
Asserted, “evidence from Scripture” based on misapplying one root word (no actual reference to Rephaim in the Torah even hints at anything but 100% humans).
Asserted, “dead Nephilim as Rephaim” only being supported by much, much, much, “later Jewish” but not, “New Testament tradition.”
No New Testament indication of, “the demons that Jesus and the apostles confronted” without reading, “later Jewish…tradition” into it.
Since Dr. Dale Moreau seems to have accepted Num 13:33 as is (or rather, as it is not: he accepted the false tall-tale it tells) then he must hold to (the logically, bio-logically, and theo-logically impossible view of) post-flood Nephilim which means that pre and post flood whenever a Nephil died, a rapha/Repha/unclean spirit/demon came into being.
Yet, we do not have any indication of Rephaim existing until centuries post-flood.
Also, how does the view of Rephaim being disembodied dead Nephilim account for that in the Torah they are a tribe consisting of physical personages (humans)?
Shedim/rapha/Repha/unclean spirit/demon are, “spiritual beings…spirits” but Rephaim fought physical battles, were kings who own beds (such as Og of Bashan), lived in physical cities, etc.
If Rephaim were dead Nephilim then, pray tell, what are dead Rephaim?
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