Friends,
(This is part #1 of a 3 part series on Sons of God and daughters of men. Ensure that you read all the three posts to get the complete picture.)
Base text:
Gen 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
Gen 6:4 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.
Quite a few myths are built upon these scriptures. There are pseudoscientists who claim that these giants (Nephilim) were as tall as 72’ and 450’ feet. They even quote Num 13:33 to prove their view.
Num 13:33 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.
Debunking the myth.
A newborn human child can have an average height of 1½ feet; that is ¼ the height of an adult (6 feet). If the height of an adult Nephilim were 72 feet, it should have been born as an 18 feet tall child. Will any of these pseudoscientists tell us how "a daughter of man" 6 feet tall can deliver a child that is 18 feet tall? If the height of a Nephilim were 450 feet it should have been born as 112½ feet tall child.
There are many Bible Students who got deluded by these myths and believe that Nephilim were 72 feet tall, at the least. They post photos of skeletons of Nephilim on Facebook and other social networking sites not knowing what they post are images from computer and video games like “Shadow of the Colossus”.
We have skeletons and other remnants of many animals that existed before the flood. We have the eggs and skeletons of dinosaurs in many museums around the world. If 72 or 450 feet tall Nephilim existed prior to the flood, why are there no skeletons in any of the museums? One can Photoshop pictures and videos of the skeletons of Nephilim and post them on the internet and even delude millions of people, but why are there no physical, real skeletons anywhere?
And also after that…
KJV Gen 6:4 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.
ASV Gen 6:4 The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them: the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.
ESV Gen 6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
Nephilim were already on the earth when “the sons of God” married “daughters of men”, which means Nephilim need not be the children of “the sons of God”.
The clause “and also after that” is a difficult one. The meaning of the clause may depend on how the sentence is punctuated. Let us consider a similar sentence. “I was a programmer during those days, even after that, when my kids were born.” Obviously, in this construct, “even after that” is associated with “I was a programmer during those days”. The sentence means “I was a programmer while my kids were born and even after that I was a programmer”.
If the above construct is correct, Nephilim existed on the earth even after the flood. And this matches perfectly with Num 13:33 which even makes it clear as to who Nephilim were:
Num 13:33 And there we saw the giants (Nephilim), the sons of Anak, which come of the giants (Nephilim):
Though this verse is part of the “evil report” brought by those who went to spy on the land of Canaan along with Joshua and Caleb, there is no doubt that the sons of Anak existed and they were giants. It is also obvious that Nephilim are the sons of Anak. All the giants are not sons of Anak, but all the Nephilim were sons of Anak.
(See: Num.13:22,28,33; Deu. 1:28; 2:10,11,21; 9:2; Jos.11:21,22; 14:12,15; 15:13,14; 21:11; Jdg. 1:20 for reference on the sons of Anak)
If these Nephilim / Sons of Anak were in fact 72 feet or 450 feet tall, can a man of 6 feet defeat a few of them single-handedly? That is what Caleb did!
Jos 15:14 And Caleb drove thence the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak.
Height of a giant
Deu 3:11 For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants(Rephaim); behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.
If a cubit is around 18 inches, Og’s bed would have been 162 inches or 13½ feet long. The length of a normal bed is around 6⅔ feet, whereas most of us who use such bed are less than 6 feet in height. So, the height of Og at best could have been 12½ feet. 72 feet and 450 feet giants exist only in old wives’ fables.
Those who attempt to make a literal application of “we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight” forget that scriptures often make use of figures of speech and hyperbole. If the speakers of these words really meant that Moses should understand these words literally, when they said the following words they must have thought that Moses was a fool of the first order:
Deu 1:28 Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.
Moses rephrased their words “we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight” as “people is greater and taller than we”. Those who overlook the use of figures of speech in Biblical narrative tend to delude themselves and others.
Conclusions of this part:
- Nowhere it is said that the flood was brought about to annihilate Nephilim.
- Nephilim existed even after the flood.
- There is no proof that Nephilim were born by “Sons of God” marrying “daughters of men.”
- The offenses of the antediluvian people were polygamy and violence and God punished them for their offenses and not to eliminate Nephilim.
...to be continued in part 2
In Christ,
Tomsan Kattackal
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