Troublesome Topic: THE NEPHILIM WERE HUMAN GIANTS WHO WERE BRUTAL GENIUSES

Here is my take on Genesis 6:1-4 and the Nephilim.

Genesis 6:3

Translation

And YHVH

(read Adonai) said, “My Spirit

shall not govern

man forever, for indeed he is flesh,

yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty.”

Paraphrase

Then THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD said, “I will not indefinitely exert the effort and investment of myself that is necessary to govern men, for indeed they have proven that they want to be governed by their flesh; yet I will have mercy for a short time; they will have one hundred and twenty years before I judge them.”

Genesis 6:4

Translation

The NEPHILIM were on the earth in those days

(and also after that),

when the SONS OF ELOHIM

went in to the daughters of men and they bore them children. Those were the mighty men of old,

the men of renown. (See comments below.)

Paraphrase

The GREAT BIG BULLIES WHO BOWED DOWN TO FALSE GODS AND FORCED OTHERS TO BOW DOWN TO THEM AS GODS were on the earth in those days (and also after the flood). This was because the MIGHTY ONES AMONG THE FOLLOWERS OF GOD approached those who were committed to following man’s sinful nature and had sex with them, and of

course children were born from these relationships. Those children grew up to be famous for being ruthless and power-hungry, of whom many stories have been told. (See comments below.)

THE NEPHILIM WERE HUMAN GIANTS WHO WERE BRUTAL GENIUSES

I believe the word Nephilim refers to people of great size who used their strength to their advantage in order to subdue and rule over others. It need not refer to a specific race of people. We can assume that there was great diversity among humans and animals of that time because of the richness of the gene pool. Therefore, there were probably many people of great size to be found in a variety of family lines. Some of them were farmers or merchants who happened to be extra-large. In those cases they were not highly concerned with producing offspring that were also very large, so they married women for other traits, not their size. However, those who wanted to use their size to control others were very interested in producing offspring of great size and so they would only marry women who were also very large. This would begin to produce certain family lines that were larger than others. But I am convinced that the term Nephilim refers to any people of great size who used their size to bully others. There is reason to believe that Adam and Eve and others that lived before the flood were very intelligent. Their population would have had a higher percentage of geniuses than ours does. If you add genius to the traits of size and ruthlessness, you end up with a person who wants to dominate others, will do anything to get what he wants, and has the brains and the physical strength to get others to do his will. For the purpose in mind, the types of genius that would be most advantageous would be a political genius, and a military genius. It also appears that a genius at inventing machinery and building physical structures was used by some leaders to convince people to follow them in order to have a more advanced society. They were the “perfect storm,” if you will.

The next lesson is HOW BIG WERE THE GIANTS ACCORDING TO 1 ENOCH?

Footnotes

1

Notice that here the name for God is YHVH, not Elohim. When you see this type of change remember that that name YHVH was even greater, higher, and more awe-inspiring than Elohim. While the name Elohim seems to mean “ruler,” the name YHVH comes from the Hebrew verb of being “to be,” and emphasizes a God who has always, and will always exist; He was not created, He just is. Although this was their highest name for God, it was also more personal, more intimate than Elohim. This God who exists outside of time has chosen to enter our lives in search of a close relationship with us.

2: “My Spirit"

This is another way of saying “I”.

3

The most basic meaning of the word used here is “to judge, to act as judge, to execute judgment, to govern (to rule), to contend with or strive with or against” but it also encompasses the other side of that issue, meaning, “to plead the cause of, to vindicate.” I have chosen to render this word as “govern’ because it includes judging, and punishing the wicked, as well as pleading the cause of the just and vindicating the just. The usage of this word in this verse seems strange and awkward, but it makes more sense when we realize that the meaning of “govern” seems to be implied in the second part of this verse where man is “governed” by his flesh, rather than being willing to be “governed” by God. It is thus a play on the word “govern,” which is a common literary tool employed in Hebrew. Here it is a play on words even though the second time it is only inferred, not used specifically.

4: “he is flesh”

At first it may seem that God is saying that man is only flesh, however, the context seems to call for a deeper meaning than that, for punishment is coming. It seems the better part of wisdom to understand it as meaning that man has given himself over entirely to the flesh in contrast to following the Spirit of God. Man is “governed” by his flesh rather than allowing God to govern him. Because of this God said, “Enough!”

5: “hundred and twenty"

“hundred and twenty

6: “sons of Elohim”

The paraphrase column combines the two ideas that I think are being implied by this phrase; these men had been followers of God, and they were also giant men who had risen to positions of leadership among their relatives. (See my full-length comment after verse two for the reasons why the phrase “sons of God” is not likely to refer to angels in this passage.)