On his Facebook page, Pastor Jeff Wickwire noted the following
Are evil Nephilim giants walking among us?
Much controversy currently swirls around the subject of the Nephilim, the giants mentioned in Genesis 6:4 “There were giants (in the Hebrew language ‘Nephilim’) in the earth in those days…”
The ORIGIN of these giants is the rub. Genesis attributes them to sons of God cohabiting with earthly women. “…the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose” (vs 2).
Many believe the ‘sons of God’ are fallen angels that decided to cohabit with earthly women, and sired the Nephilim.
But this view presents BIG TIME problems. One, angels (fallen or otherwise) are spirit beings. They are asexual. Nor did God ever grant to them the power to bequeath to themselves male anatomy, including the spermatozoa necessary to sire children.
Two, one of the primary sources for the fallen angel/Nephilim theory is the Book of Enoch, written a few centuries before Christ. It claims the Nephilim were 450 feet tall and the product of angels and earthly women. But news flash—the Book of Enoch is filled with fairy tales and mythology, and has never been accepted as the inspired word of God.
Three, look carefully at this verse. “There were giants on the earth in those days, and AFTERWARD, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men (had sexual relations)…”
Notice, the giants in question were ALREADY ON THE EARTH, before the sons of God had relations with earthly women.
Four, the Nephilim giants in question are typically painted as evil offspring from an ungodly coupling. But the giants mentioned in Genesis 6:4 were ‘mighty men of renown!’ The Hebrew word translated into ‘renown’ means ‘honor, authority, character.’ Certainly not evil!
Five, CONTEXT really matters here. Starting with Genesis 4:16-24, the Bible tracks two lineages–the lineage of Cain and the lineage of Seth. Cain’s lineage is godless, while Seth’s lineage ‘began to call on the name of the Lord’ at the end of chapter 4.
Then chapter 5 is completely dedicated to Seth’s lineage, ending with Noah and his sons. Next, Chapter 6 launches with the phrase ‘sons of God’ in verse 2. The flow of thought is seamless. From Seth’s full lineage in chapter 5 to the use of the phrase ‘sons of God’ at the beginning of chapter 6 makes total sense. The sons of God are the lineage of Seth.
Finally (I know this is a long post), NOWHERE in all the Bible does God ever address an evil entity as a ‘son of God.’ The phrase is only and exclusively used to describe the righteous.
These are only my thoughts on the matter. It’s why I can’t go with the notion that evil Nephilim now roam the earth. Evil devils and an evil Satan? Yes.
You are more than welcome to chew the meat and spit out the bones. Please be civil in your comments. Whatever your view is, it doesn’t affect your salvation!
Jan Peacock Bergmann replied
Thank you Pastor Jeff, I have been seeing alot about the Ethiopian Bible and 22 books of the Bible were left out of the KJV because they didn’t want us to know the whole truth and alot being said about the book of Enoch.
I am like Lord is this real.
So if I am understanding correctly what you said that their really is a book of Enoch?
Pastor Jeff Wickwire
the Ethiopian Bible contains up to 88 books as opposed to the 66 books of our Protestant Bible. One of them is the book of Enoch, which is Jewish literature but decidedly NOT inspired. And it is NOT the oldest Bible in existence as many claim. I would consider the 22 books they’ve added to our 66 to be uninspired and not a part of the 2 Tim 3:16 inspired word of God.
I, True Freethinker, replied
That 1 Enoch is in the Ethiopian canon doesn’t make that one canon uniquely correct but rather, uniquely incorrect since 1 Enoch is Bible contradicting folklore from millennia after the Torah (see my book, “In Consideration of the Book(s) of Enoch”) in fact, that cannon also contains a text titled, “The Life of Adam and Eve” which claims that when God created Adam, God commanded the Angels to worship Adam.
Biblically contextually “Nephilim giants” would mean “Nephilim Nephilim” so what’s the usage of the vague, generic, subjective, multi-usage and modern English word “giants” in English Bibles? What’s your usage? Do those two usages agree?
“’sons of God’ are fallen angels…presents BIG TIME problems” the original, traditional, and majority view among the earliest Jewish and Christians commentators, starting in BC days, was the Angel view as I proved in my book “On the Genesis 6 Affair’s Sons of God: Angels or Not?: A Survey of Early Jewish and Christian Commentaries Including Notes on Giants and the Nephilim.”
The primary problem is that your Angelology isn’t biblical: you asserted, “angels (fallen or otherwise) are spirit beings” but you seem to base that assertion upon the one English version you’re reading that has the term “spirits” poorly translated when referring to Angels. You have to focus on the fact that every single description of Angels proves that Angels are always described as looking like human males, performing physical actions, and without indication that such isn’t their ontology—see my book “What Does the Bible Say About Angels? A Styled Angelology.”
You can’t overturn every single description with one single poorly translated modern English word.
“They are asexual. Nor did God ever grant to them the power to bequeath to themselves male anatomy, including the spermatozoa necessary to sire children” are more merely assertions: again, since Angels are described as looking just like human males and performing physical actions and without any indication that such isn’t their ontology then why would they only be missing THE key features of the male anatomy?
1 Enoch is Bible contradicting folklore from centuries, if not millennia, after the Torah, see my book “In Consideration of the Book(s) of Enoch.” It actually claims they were 3,000 ells tall that’s MILES tall: great folklore, poor reality.
The Gen 6 affair narrative’s contextual focus is the sons of God and daughters of men: their attraction, their marriage, their copulation, and their offspring. Thus, it would violate that narrative’s contextual focus to artificially insert a mere passing reference to some unrelated Nephilim guys who just happened to be around at the time, are mentioned for no apparent reason, and about whom nothing more is said in relation to the narrative’s contextual focus.
Your view is a late-comer based on myth and prejudice since it just made up that “Cain’s lineage is godless” so that’s ungraceful: you literally condemned an entire lineage spanning centuries based on 2-3 sins committed by 2 Cainites.
You very specifically asserted, “Seth’s lineage ‘began to call on the name of the Lord’” but God’s Word is actually general, “men began to call upon the name of the LORD.”
When Israel sinned, turned away from God, and worshipped idols they’re still called Israel. Fallen Angles are called sons of God as an identification backed by Job 38:7, as one example, but never thereafter (with the possible exception of Ps 82) so you just invented a mere assertion that, “NOWHERE in all the Bible does God ever address an evil entity as a ‘son of God.’ The phrase is only and exclusively used to describe the righteous.” But keep in mind that you violate your own pseudo-standard since you claimed that Sethites where the sons of God even though you put them in the position of being such terrible sinners that their sin served as the premise for the flood.
Well, that ended it since no interaction was forthcoming.
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