ALT Headlines—which is an anyone can post anything site, “Alternative News and Independent Views By People Like You!”—posted Who Were The Nephilim? which is a very repetitive article only a portion of which I am interested in reviewing.
They note that “Many believe the descendants from the Nephilim people are still living today. While others believe the great flood wiped them out, even though some references in the Bible say they remained even after the flood.”
Thus, “It is possible that they interbred with others during that time and there are ancient nephilim blood lines still intact today.”
I am interested in the statement that “The idea that the Nephilim remained on the Earth after the flood comes from a Genesis chapter 6 reference which we will cover later in this article” which actually never really happens.
Rather, they note that “The flood that God put on the Earth was partly due to the acts of the Nephilim giants. Since there were practicing ‘evil ways’, the Lord felt that he needed to rid the Earth of all the sin by spreading the great flood.” Indeed, so if they came back did God say, “Oopsy!”?
It is also stated that “When natural disasters occur today, many people question if this is another sign of the clearing of corruption that took place many years ago with the flooding” and while I have not heard of this one until now, it, sadly, does not surprise me.
One last quotation before dissecting, “There are many other religious references including ‘The Children of Seth (God) which were called Bene Ha-Elohim, and their offspring were also referenced as the Anakim.”
Since the reference was generically to “other religious references” with no citation I know not of what they speak. In fact, the original article included that beginning quotation mark but forgot the closing one so I am unsure not only what is being quoted but how much of it is supposed to be a quotation.
In any case, that “The Children of Seth (God)” are “called Bene Ha-Elohim” means that they Sethite view of the Genesis 6 affair is being referenced. Note that the earliest Jewish and Christian commentators almost unanimously take the Angel view. So that is was not “The Children of Seth (God)” but that the “sons of God” were Angels.
Now, that “their offspring were…the Anakim” is not accurate as per Genesis 6 which has their children being the Nephilim but points to the fact that the whole thing about people who “believe the descendants from the Nephilim people are still living today…interbred with others,” etc. is based on Numbers 13 which is the only place in the entire Bible wherein the term Nephilim occurs.
A note first: some translations render “Nephilim” (as well as a few other Hebrew words) as “giants” which is a generic term which only means taller than the average—and the average Hebrew male of those days was 5.5 ft.
The key Genesis 6 text is, as per the KJV:
And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose…There were giants [Nephilim] in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
The key Numbers 13 text is, as per the KJV:
The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants [Nephilim], the sons of Anak, which come of the giants [Nephilim]: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
From the entirety of the Bible one can easily conclude that 1) the Nephilim did not survive the flood either in person of genetically, 2) they were not bred all over again post-flood, 3) there is no such thing as a return of the Nephilim even in the distant future.
But what about the Numbers text?
Here are the bullet-point basics: God commanded His people to move into the land. The key statements were made by the majority of the spies who dissuaded the people from doing so. Caleb, who was one of the spies, speaks up so as to encourage the people. The majority of spies take their fearmongering up a notch by, only then, referring to the Nephilim. They are said to have been presenting a bad/evil report. In Numbers 14 God affirms that the Anakim were in the land but says nothing of the Nephilim. In Joshua 14 Caleb relates this event and also affirms that the Anakim were in the land but says nothing of the Nephilim. Thus, as noted, it appears that, is in keeping with the text to conclude, and makes perfect sense that it was a case of fearmongering to mention the Nephilim.
For more details on this, see Did Caleb and the spies see Nephilim giants in the land?
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