Troublesome Topic: DID THE PEOPLE OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST THINK OF THE NEPHILIM AS DEITIES?

All indications point to the answer being “No”.

The deities of the Ancient Near East had specific names, not just a general designation such as ‘a Nephilim.”

I have never seen or heard of an ancient document in which one of the Nephilim was considered a god, or of a recognized god that belonged to the group called the Nephilim. 1 Enoch calls them neither gods nor demigods, but rather giants. Neither have I heard anything about the Greek or Roman pantheons that points to the Nephilim being gods.

There is speculation that some of the heroes of Greek and Roman mythology were super-humans with special abilities, just like the Nephilim of one of the interpretations of Genesis 6:1-4. But I don’t see any ancient source saying they were actual gods. Admittedly, the Greeks and Romans claimed that, at times, the gods did procreate with human women. However, their offspring, referred to as demigods, were not fully divine and were subject to mortality.

We can assume that, to be part of the Council of the gods, one needed to actually be a god, not just a demigod.

Genesis 6:4 indicates that the Nephilim were on the earth before the flood and afterwards, meaning after the flood. How did they get to the other side of the flood without being on the ark, unless they were in Noah’s DNA? If they were demigods, how did they survive the flood which, according to people like Heiser, God sent specifically to eliminate the Nephilim (and humans were caught in the cross-fire)? Demigods, i.e. super-humans, would not have the power to evade God’s judgment. So saying they survived God’s attempt to eliminate them puts them on God’s level with equal, or close to equal powers.

One could argue that some of the gods with specific names were actually part of the Nephilim. But that would be an argument from silence. I think the silence of all the ancient records regarding them being gods speaks more powerfully against the possibility rather than in favor of it.

Therefore, it seems to me that Michael Heiser’s claim that the Nephilim belonged to the Council of the Gods is a supposition based on him wanting it to be true; there is no historical evidence for it and such an idea contradicts the entire Bible – especially if one takes it to the extreme that Michael Heiser takes it. Such a claim also causes confusion because, according to ancient mythology, the offspring of a god and a human was a demigod, yet Heiser ascribes to them the powers of a god. Even if demigods were to exist, he can’t have it both ways.