Subject: The Sons of God in Genesis 6:1-4 |
Bible Note: Dear Jesusman, You said,"The story of the Flood concludes that all life on the earth, except those in the ark, died. So, the Niphillim could not have survived the flood, unless they were on the Ark." Please explain the following existence of Giants in the Bible. Num 13:33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. The giants, the sons of Anak. Some have suggested that the spies imagined there were giants about when they saw great walls, sometimes fifty feet high, and supposed only giants could build them. But the measurements of King Og's iron bedstead given in Deut 3:11 testify to the existence of a race of abnormally large people. Deut 2:10,20 and Gen 14:5 indicate that the "giants" date from as early as patriarchal days, and were given various local designations (Emims, Zamzumims, and Rephaim). In the Hebrew of Deut 2:11 the Anakim are called Rephaim (translated "giants"). Josh 11:22 tells us that Anakim remained in three of the Philistine cities - Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod (Jer 27:5, LXX). The family of Goliath in Gath may have been descendants of these earlier people, for in 2 Sam 21:16-22 and 1 Chron 20:4-8 these Philistine giants are called sons of the Rapa'. The fifteenth century texts from Ugarit mention the Rephaim (C. H. Gordon, Ugaritic Literature, pp. 101-103), who probably were not "shades of the dead" but actually these same mighty people (cf. Ugaritic ilnym and Hebrew ('elim); Job 41:17, Heb. Bible; 41:25, Eng.) from the north, whence came iron processing (cf. Og's bedstead). (from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press) GIANT GIANT. An abnormally tall and powerful human being of ancient Bible lands; the rendering of several Heb. words. Nephilim (nef'i-lim; Heb. nepilim; Num 13:13). The form of the Heb. word denotes a plural verbal adjective or noun of passive signification, certainly from napal, "to fall," so that the connotation is "the fallen ones," clearly meaning the unnatural offspring that were on the earth in the years before the Flood, "and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them" (Gen 6:4). The mention of the great stature of the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, in the evil report that the ten spies brought of the land of Canaan (Num 13:33) together with the LXX rendering, gigantes, suggested the translation giants. They were exceedingly wicked and violent so that "every intent" of the thoughts of men's hearts "was only evil continually" (Gen 6:5). See Merrill F. Unger, Biblical Demonology, pp. 45-52. Rephaim (ref'a-im; Heb. repa'im, "shades, ghosts"). The aboriginal giants who inhabited Canaan, Edom, Moab, and Ammon. In Abraham's time, c. 1950 BC, Chedorlaomer defeated them. At the period of the conquest, c. 1440 BC, Og, king of Bashan, is said to have alone remained of this race (Deut 3:11; Josh 12:4; 13:12). His huge bedstead of iron is mentioned in particular. Anakim (an'a-kim; Heb. anaqim, "sons of Anak"). In Num 13:33 the Anakim are classified with the Nephilim on account of their gigantic size. Emim (em'im), a race that inhabited the country of the Moabites (Gen 14:5) and that is pictured as "great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim" (Deut 2:10). Zamzummim (zam'zum-im), a giant race inhabiting the land of Ammon (Deut 2:20). Other References. From a remnant of the Anakim in Philistine Gath came the famous Goliath (1 Sam 17:4). Two of the Philistine giants are mentioned in 2 Sam 21:16-22. The tradition of a giant race persisted in the ancient Near East and goes back in the Genesis account to intercourse between fallen angels and mortal women. Although this so-called angel hypothesis of Gen 6:1-4 is disclaimed by many Bible students, it is a clear implication of the original. Says W. F. Albright, "Yahweh was believed to have created astral as well as terrestrial beings and the former were popularly called, 'the host of heaven' or 'the sons of God'. In Gen 6:1 ff., for example, . . . the (astral) gods had intercourse with mortal women who gave birth to heroes (literally, meteors, nephilim), an idea that may often be illustrated from Babylonian and Greek mythology. But the Israelite who had this section recited, unquestionably thought of intercourse between angels and women (like later Jews and Christians)" (From the Stone Age to Christianity [1940], p. 226). (From The New Unger's Bible Dictionary. Originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois. Copyright (c) 1988.) Bless you, Love Fountain |