The Nephilim in the Bible – Fallen Angels or Giants? is a Crosswalk (“an online Christian living magazine”) editorial sponsored by Moody Bible Institute Distance Learning.
Dr. White (“adjunctive professor of theology and culture on the Charlotte campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary”) quotes Gen 6 thusly:
When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.
Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal ; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
And Numbers 13:33:
We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.
He notes, “scholars have theorized that the ‘sons of God’ were fallen angels (demons) who reproduced with human females or possessed human males who then bore children with human females. Being the offspring of partial angelic heredity, the Nephilim were considered ‘mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.’”
The term “fallen angels (demons)” is tricky and he also writes in terms of, “fallen angels, or demons” yet, demons are spirits and can’t physically mate but 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). Thus, the terms fallen Angel and demons are related but not swappable: see my article, Demons Ex Machina: What are Demons?
That it was, “possessed human males” doesn’t even make blip on the radar of who took which view of this text for the over two millennia it has been discussed: 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.
Dr. White offers a pretty generic citation when referring to that, “According to Hebrew doctrine like the Book of Enoch, the Nephilim were a breed of giants…large size and power probably came from the merger of (fallen) angelic ‘DNA’ with human eugenics.”
One issue is to ascertain what’s the usage of the vague, generic, subjective, multi-usage and modern English word “giants” in English Bibles—and English apocrypha and pseudepigrapha? What’s Dr. White’s usage? Do those two usages agree?
Another issue is that since, again, Angels are always described as looking like human males why would their generics result in whatever giant means humans?
He notes a, “consideration” that, “fallen angels, or demons, were trying to distort the human lineage in order to stop the arrival of the Messiah” thus, “It is speculated by Christian scholars that the Nephilim were one of the main causes for the great flood…God then flooded the whole earth, killing everyone and everything other than Noah, his family, and the animals on the ark [and sea live]. All else died, even the Nephilim.”
That raises the question, “Were the Nephilim in the Land of Canaan? Although the great flood in Genesis killed the Nephilim of that time, it is theorized that the demons continued their breeding with humans sometime after the flood as well.” Again, not demons and there’s literally zero indication of any such thing.
Yet, Dr. James Emery White points out:
After the Hebrews scouted the land of Canaan, they told Moses: “We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them”.
This scripture quote does not mention the Nephilim were actually there, only that the scouts believed they had seen the Nephilim.
It is possible that they simply observed abnormally large people in Canaan and in fear thought them to be the Nephilim. Either way, these “giants” were defeated by the Israelites through their conquering of Canaan (Joshua 11:21-22).
Essentially, he created a problem and then sough to solve it. It wasn’t, “the Hebrews” in general who, “scouted the land of Canaan” nor that, “they” generically, “told Moses” that. Rather, the Num 13 narrative has 12 scouts, upon their return a report is presented which is accepted as is but then 10 of them present an evil report and since it consisted of mere impossible assertions, God rebuked them (see my post Chapter sample: On the Post Flood Nephilim Proposal).
Dr. White notes, “This scripture quote does not mention the Nephilim were actually there, only that the scouts believed they had seen the Nephilim” but it has them affirming that they saw them. But, again, it wasn’t the scouts in general but the 10 unfaithful, disloyal, contradictory, embellishers. The issue of, “they simply observed abnormally large people” is essentially a non-issue—the prospect of confronting multiple strong people groups living in large and well fortified cities was—so the 10 made up a, “Don’t go in the woods!” style of fear-mongering scare-tactic.
When he refers to that, “these ‘giants’ were defeated by the Israelites through their conquering of Canaan (Joshua 11:21-22)” we’re still unsure to what he’s referring, although we now have a hint that it’s something go do with, “large people”—with large being just as vague, generic, subjective, and multi-usage as giants.
As for, “Could the Nephilim Return?” the first issue is that such a concept was invented by pop-Nephilologists (who make a living by selling un-biblical tall-tales—which are often also neo-theo sci-fi—to Christians). He notes, “God has stopped fallen angels from mating” by incarcerating them: Jude and 2 Peter 2.
Since the article compiles more than one comment by Dr. White, he’s then quoted noting, “‘sons of God’ were not fallen angels, as their intermarriage with human women would not only have violated the created order.” Yet, that’s the whole point, it was a violation of the created order: such is why they are considered sinners, having, “left their first estate” in order to do, as Jude put it.
Dr. White, who is also a pastor, actually asserted, “Jesus settled the matter, anyway, when he taught that angels neither marry nor are given in marriage” which is another instance of being generic since Jesus didn’t state any such thing.
Let’s compare:
Dr. White’s comment was all-encompassing, “angels neither marry nor are given in marriage” so all of them at all times and in all places.
Jesus’ comment was very detailed, very nuanced, He employed qualifying terms, “the angels of God in heaven.” So, not all Angels at all times in all places but the loyal ones, “of God” and, “in heaven.”
For some odd reason, Dr. James Emery White then merely asserts, “Most” unknown people, which is a generic assertion” (and FYI: 51% can be most but it’s awfully close to half), “would see the phrase ‘sons of God’ as referring to godly men, and ‘daughters of men’ referring to sinful women…undoubtedly women from the line of Cain. So here you have the intermarriage of the men of Seth with the women of Cain – a loss of the purity of the people of God.”
That is as wholly contrived as it is merely asserted:
Firstly, he just taught that, “godly men” weren’t godly since they married sinful women. Secondly, why think that only exclusively and specifically, “women from the line of Cain” were, “sinful women”? This view is a late-comer of a view based on myth and prejudice.
This section goes back to, “who were the Nephilim?…Numbers 13 as the people of great size that Caleb and Joshua and the other spies encountered when they explored the Promised Land.” Firstly, there’s the issue of that there’s literally zero reason to true that report. Secondly, great size is just as vague, generic, subjective, and multi-usage as large and giants. Thirdly, there’s literally zero reliable indication that, “Caleb and Joshua and the other spies encountered” Nephilim, “when they explored the Promised Land.”
He also somewhat reiterates that, “the mention of their size was clearly an exaggeration on the part of the” 10 unreliable, “spies” and is actually on point that it was they, “who wanted to argue against the positive report offered by Caleb and Joshua.”
The article concludes, “the idea of the Nephilim being fallen angels, or the offspring of fallen angels,” the latter being accurate, derives from:
…pseudepigraphical and noncanonical writing is known as I Enoch (6:1-7:6). This legend was later picked up and promoted by the Jewish historian Josephus (Antiquities 1.3.1).
Also, a Greek translation of the Old Testament in the 3rd century erroneously translated “sons of God” as “angels of God.” And while “sons of God” can refer to “angels of God” in other contexts (e.g., Job 1:6, 2:1, and 38:7), it clearly does not fit here.
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 and The Apocryphal Nephilim and Giants: Encountering Nephilim and Giants in Extra-Biblical Texts.
It’s a bit of a jump to jump to Josephus since that misses other sources but, very well.
Note that he asserts that the LXX, “erroneously translated” as such and yet, it, “can refer to ‘angels of God’” so why, “erroneously”?
Jude and 2 Peter 2 combined refer to a sin of Angels, place that sin to pre-flood days and correlate it to sexual sin which occurred after the Angels, “left their first estate,” after which they were incarcerated, and there’s only a one-time fall/sin of Angels in the Bible.
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