Difference between revisions of "Nephilim" - New World Encyclopedia
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| + | [[Image:Nephilim.gif|thumb|right|One of the fallen "sons of God" and his human lover, parents of giant Nephilim in Gen. 6:4.]] | ||
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| + | '''Nephilim''' are supernatural beings, specifically the offspring of human women and “[[sons of God]]” (proposed to be giants or proto humans), who appear significantly in Genesis 6 and are mentioned also in other biblical texts and in some non-canonical Jewish writings. Others consider the Nephilim, in contrast, to be the offspring of human men descended from [[Seth]] and human women descended from [[Cain]].<ref>Samuel David Luzzato in his commentary ad. loc.</ref> Both interpretations say that the lustful breeding of the Nephilim was one of the provocations for [[Noah's Ark|Flood]], which is also referred to as the [[Noah's Ark|Deluge]]. | ||
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| + | ==In the Bible== | ||
| + | [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 6:1–4 describes the origin of the Nephilim as part of the “increasing wickedness of mankind” which, according to the New American Bible, was likely incorporated not only to account for the prehistoric “giants” of Canaan, whom the Israelites called the Nephilim, but additionally to introduce the story of the flood with a moral orientation<ref>''New American Bible'', footnotes page 12, referring to 6:1–4.</ref>: | ||
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| + | {{cquote|When men began to multiply on earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of heaven saw how beautiful the daughters of man were, and so they took for their wives as many of them as they chose. Then the Lord said: “My spirit shall not remain in man forever, since he is but flesh. His days shall comprise one hundred and twenty years.” At that time the Nephilim appeared on earth (as well as later), after the sons of heaven had intercourse with the daughters of man, who bore them sons. They were heroes of old, men of renown.<ref>Genesis 6:1–4, ''New American Bible''.</ref>}} | ||
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| + | Also, the phrase “(as well as later)” stated above is a reference to the [[Book of Numbers]] 13:33, how the Israelites likened the tall aborigines (“Anakim”) to the Nephilim, possibly due to seeing the “megalithic structures” of Canaan that appeared to have been built by a race of giants, whose superhuman strength was attributed to semi-divine origin.<ref>Book of Numbers, ''New American Bible''.</ref> | ||
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| + | The [[Epistle of Jude|Letter of Jude]] draws upon the statements set forth in Genesis, referring implicitly to the paternity of Nephilim as heavenly beings who came to earth and had sexual intercourse with women:<ref>''New American Bible'', footnotes page 1370, referring to verse 6.</ref>: | ||
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| + | {{cquote|The angels too, who did not keep to their own domain but deserted their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains, in gloom, for the judgement of the great day. Likewise, Sodom, Gomorrah, and the surrounding towns, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual promiscuity and practiced unnatural vice, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.<ref>Jude 1:6–7, ''New American Bible''.</ref>}} | ||
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| + | However, the phrase “practiced unnatural vice” (seen above)—translated literally as “went after alien flesh”—refers to the desires for sexual intimacies by human beings with angels, which is the reverse of the account in Genesis, where heavenly beings (angels) sought after human flesh.<ref>''New American Bible'', footnotes page 1370, referring to verse 7.</ref> This "B" part of the scripture may be a reference, not to the Nephilim, but to the account at Genesis 19, in which the men and boys of Sodom and Gomorrah demanded that Lot's angelic visitors be delivered to them for the purpose of forced sexual intercourse. | ||
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| + | == In Biblical criticism == | ||
| + | ===Etymology=== | ||
| + | The Hebrew of “nephilim” is נפלים, which may mean “those causing others to fall”. [[Abraham Ibn Ezra]] says they were called this because mens hearts would fail at the sight of them. Targum Yerushalmi understand this appelation in light of the legend that they were fallen angels who were divorced from heaven. Some have compared it to the usage in Job 1:15 "And the Sabeans fell upon them" in which Naphal means to take in battle, describing the warriorlike nature of the Nephilim ([[Jean le Clerc]] and [[Aquilas]]).Alternatively, [[Samuel David Luzzatto| Shadal]] understands it as deriving from the hebrew word פלא Pela which means wonderous <ref>Hamishtadel(his Bible commentary ad. loc.)</ref>. | ||
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| + | The nephilim come from a union between “sons of God” (בני האלהים “b’nei ha-'elohim” Lit. "Sons of the powers" <ref>However see Genesis Rabbah (26,8) that explicitly states that this is not the correct interpretation and that it should be understood simply as a title for a judge (cf. Exodus 22:8) or a mighty warrior.</ref> and “daughters of man”. | ||
| + | In [[Aram]]aic culture, the term ''Nephila'' specifically referred to the constellation of [[Orion (constellation)|Orion]], and thus ''Nephilim'' to [[Orion (mythology)|Orion]]'s semi-divine descendants (cf. ''Anakim'' from ''[[Anak]]'');<ref>''Peake's commentary on the Bible''</ref> the implication being that this also is the origin of the Biblical ''Nephilim''. Some commentators{{Fact|date=February 2007}} have suggested that the Nephilim were believed to have been fathered by members of a proto-[[Hebrews|Hebrew]] [[pantheon (gods)|pantheon]] (which causes much controversy among Jewish peoples<ref>Targum Yonathan, [http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=1&CHAPTER=6#C64]</ref>) and are a brief glimpse of early Hebrew religion, most of the details of which were later edited out from the [[Torah]] (or at least would have been edited out when, as some claim, [[documentary hypothesis|it was redacted together]]), and that this passage may have offered monotheistic Hebrews a way to fit semi-divine pagan heroes into their cosmogony. | ||
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| + | The idea that the Torah was somehow changed is not in keeping with traditional Hebrew practice, in which if even a single character is out of place in a parchment translation of the original Hebrew Torah, the entire parchment must be destroyed and replaced anew. However, there are several variations, some of great significance, between ancient manuscripts of the Torah, between [[Septuagint]], [[Syriac Peshitta]], [[Dead Sea Scrolls]], [[masoretic text]], [[Samaritan Pentateuch]], and the versions in the [[Hexapla]], as well as between various manuscripts within each of these groups. | ||
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| + | In the Hebrew Bible, there are a number of other words that, like "Nephilim", are sometimes translated as "giants": | ||
| + | *'''Emim''' ("the fearful ones") | ||
| + | *'''Rephaim''' ("the dead ones") | ||
| + | *'''Anakim''' ("the [long]-necked ones") | ||
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| + | This has led to a great deal of confusion, even to the point of medieval legends recounted in the [[Talmud]] of a giant stowing away on [[Noah's Ark]]. It is possible that these names in the Torah were not meant to signify any antediluvian race that survived the Great Flood, but were simply denotations for particular groups of [[Canaan]]ites, or other ordinary ethnicities. | ||
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| + | ===Rephaim=== | ||
| + | {{seealso|Valley of Rephaim}} | ||
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| + | "[[Rephaim]]" is a general title that the [[Book of Joshua]] states was given to the [[Indigenous peoples|aborigine]]s who were afterwards conquered and dispossessed by the [[Canaan]]ite tribes).<ref>''Genesis 14:5''</ref> The text states that a few ''Rephaim'' had survived, one of them being [[Og]], the king of [[Bashan]]. Og of Bashan is recorded as having a 13-ft long bed. | ||
| + | {{cquote|Only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaites. His bed was made of iron and was more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide. It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.<ref>Deuteronomy 3:11 of ''New International Version'' </ref>}} | ||
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| + | The Rephaim may have been the same Canaanite group known to the [[Moabite]]s as ''[[Emim]]'',<ref>[[Deuteronomy]] 2:11</ref> i.e., ''fearful'', and to the [[Ammon (nation)|Ammonites]] as ''[[Zamzummim]]''. The second of the [[Books of Samuel]] states that some of them found refuge among the [[Philistine]]s, and were still existing in the days of [[David]]. Nothing is known of their origin, nor of anything specifically connecting them with Nephilim, though the connection is made by Jewish tradition. | ||
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| + | ===Anakim=== | ||
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| + | ''Anakim'' are the descendants of [[Anak]], and dwelt in the south of Canaan, in the neighbourhood of [[Hebron]]. In the days of [[Abraham]], they inhabited the region afterwards known as [[Edom]] and [[Moab]], east of the [[Jordan river]]. They are mentioned during the report of the spies about the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. The book of Joshua states that Joshua finally expelled them from the land, excepting a remnant that found a refuge in the cities of [[Gaza]], [[Gath (city)|Gath]], and [[Ashdod]]. The [[Philistine]] giant [[Goliath]], whom [[David]], or [[Elhanan]],<ref>2 Samuel 21:19, some translations have ''brother of Goliath'' rather than just ''Goliath'', though the latter is more accurate to the [[Masoretic Text]]</ref> later encountered, was supposedly a descendant of the Anakim. | ||
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| + | {{cquote|The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.<ref>Numbers 13:32-33, English Standard Version</ref>}} | ||
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| + | The Sumerians called their gods the [[Anunaki]]; according to a [[Midrash]] [http://judaism.about.com/library/3_askrabbi_o/bl_simmons_abrahamidols.htm], Abraham was the son of an [[Cult image|idol]] manufacturer in the Sumerian city of [[Ur]], and so could reasonably be expected to have known about these gods {{Fact|date=August 2007}}. Whether via the knowledge of a historical ''Abraham'', or via [[folk memory]] that passed down to the [[Yahwist]], the words Anak and its plural (''Anakim'') could simply be [[corruption (linguistics)|corrupted]] versions of ''[[Anunaki]]''; this would equate the Nephilim with the Sumerian ''demigods'' such as [[Gilgamesh]]. | ||
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| + | Note that it is more commonly suggested by traditional Jewish sources (such as the [[Midrash]]) that the spies saw large and powerful inhabitants in Canaan and because of their own fears, cowardice, and inadequate faith in [[Yahweh]], saw themselves as grasshoppers in the eyes of the Canaanites, whether they were actual 'giants' or not. | ||
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| + | ==In other texts== | ||
| + | {{main|Book of Enoch|Jubilees, Book of|Grigori}} | ||
| + | In the texts of [[Ugarit]], there were 70 sons of God, each one being the special deity of a particular people from whom they were descended. Some memory of this is found in Biblical texts which speak of [[Baal]] [[Melkart]] of [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] or [[Chemosh]] of [[Moab]]. | ||
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| + | The story of the Nephilim is chronicled more fully in the [[Book of Enoch]] (part of [[Tewahedo Church|Ethiopian]] [[biblical canon]]). Enoch, as well as [[Jubilees]], connects the origin of the Nephilim with the [[fallen angels]], and in particular with the [[Grigori]] (''watchers''). [[Samyaza]], an [[angel]] of high rank, is described as leading a rebel sect of angels in a descent to earth to instruct humans in righteousness. The tutelage went on for a few centuries, but soon the angels pined for the human females and began to instruct the women in magic and conjuring. The angels [[sexual intercourse|consummated their lust]], and as a result produced hybrid offspring: the Nephilim. | ||
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| + | According to these texts, the fallen angels who [[human reproduction|begat]] the Nephilim were cast into [[Tartarus]]/[[Gehenna]], a place of 'total darkness'. However, Jubilees also states that God granted ten percent of the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim to remain after the flood, as demons, to try to lead the human race astray (through idolatry, the occult, etc.) until the [[final Judgement]]. | ||
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| + | In addition to ''[[Book of Enoch|Enoch]]'', the ''[[Jubilees, Book of|Book of Jubilees]]'' (7:21-25) also states that ridding the Earth of these Nephilim was one of God's purposes for flooding the Earth in Noah's time. The Biblical reference to Noah being "perfect in his generations" may have referred to his having a clean, Nephilim-free bloodline, although it may be inferred that there was more diversity among his three [[wives aboard the Ark|daughters-in law]]. | ||
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| + | These works describe the Nephilim as being gigantic in stature, with prodigious strength and immense appetites. Supposedly, upon devouring all of humankind's resources, the Nephilim had begun to consume humans themselves, and attacked and oppressed them, becoming the cause of massive destruction on the earth. | ||
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| + | There are also allusions to these descendants in the [[deuterocanonical books]] of ''[[Book of Judith|Judith]]'', ''[[Sirach]]'', ''[[Book of Baruch|Baruch]]'', ''[[3 Maccabees]]'', and ''[[Book of Wisdom|Wisdom of Solomon]]''. | ||
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| + | ==Nephilim in popular culture== | ||
| + | ===Books=== | ||
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| + | Zecharia Sitchin<ref> | ||
| + | {{cite book | ||
| + | | last = Sitchin | ||
| + | | first = Zecharia | ||
| + | | title = Genesis Revisited: Is Modern Science Catching Up with Ancient Knowledge? | ||
| + | | publisher = Avon Books | ||
| + | | year = 1995 | ||
| + | | isbn = 978-0380761593 }} | ||
| + | </ref> and Erich Von Daniken both claim that the Nephilim are our creators. In Sitchin's voluminous works he uses [[Semitic]] language etymology and translations of [[Sumerian]] [[cuneiform]] tablets to equate the ancient mesopotamian gods with the [[fallen angels]] (the "sons of Elohim" in [[Genesis]]). The chief Sumerian deity was known as Enlil, and a group of these [[Anunnaki]] were sent down to the Earth from their home planet Nibiru. The leader of this mission was Enlil's half-brother (known first as Ea and then given the title Enki, or Lord of the Earth). His symbol was the snake or two snakes wrapped around a pole. This symbol, called the cadeuseus (alt. spelling caduseus and cadeuceus), was used to denote the Egyptian god [[Thoth]], the Greek god [[Hermes]], and the Roman god [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]] among others. All of these deities were given titles such as "God of Knowledge," "Bringer of Wisdom," and "Messenger of the Gods." The Hebrew word for angel is Malakh, and means messenger while the word "angel" itself derives from the [[Greek language|Greek]] "angelos" which means also messenger. The Sumerian gods (also worshiped by the [[Babylonians]], [[Assyrians]], [[Hittites]] and others) were nearly always depicted with wings as well. | ||
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| + | The Nephilim, as well as the angel [[Samyaza|Shemyaza]], feature heavily in [[Storm Constantine]]'s [[Grigori]] trilogy. | ||
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| + | Nephilim play an important part in Madeleine L'Engle's novel [[Many Waters]] and [[Tess Gerritsen]]'s novel ''[[The Mephisto Club]]''. | ||
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| + | Most of the major characters of the [[Mortal Instruments trilogy]] by [[Cassandra Clare]] features the Nephilim. According to the Mortal Instruments mythology [http://www.mortalinstruments.com/mortalworld.html], a thousand years ago, the Angel [[Raziel]] mixed his blood with the blood of men and created the race of the Nephilim. Human-angel hybrids, they walk amongst us, unseen but ever-present, our invisible protectors. They call themselves [[Shadowhunters]]. | ||
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| + | As in the made-for-tv movie of the same name, [[The Fallen]] and it's counterparts by [[Tom Sniegoski]] center around one Nephilim | ||
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| + | ===Television and Movies=== | ||
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| + | The BBC television series [[Hex (TV series)|Hex]], contained many references to Nephilim, though the beings referred to as "Nephilim" are actually fallen angels, like their fathers the [[Grigori]]. | ||
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| + | [[ABC Family|ABC Family Channel]] aired a movie in the Summer of [[2006]] about a modern day Nephilim discovering his powers called [[Fallen (ABC Family film)|Fallen]]. Further episodes are due to air during 2007. | ||
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| + | [[The X-Files]] season 5 episode "All Souls" features four congenitally deformed girls who may be Nephilim, and the fight between the [[Seraphim]] and the [[Devil]] to "claim" them. | ||
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| + | An Israeli show is called The Nephilim, and is about people who possess various abilities from escaped alien criminals, back in the time when the world was created. | ||
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| + | '[[The Prophecy 3: The Ascent]]' movie featured Nephilim as its central storyline. | ||
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| + | '[[The Fallen]]' a series of 3 episodes featuring a Nephilim called 'The Redeemer' which can absolve fallen angels from their sins and give them back their wings and sends them back to heaven. | ||
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| + | ===Music=== | ||
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| + | [[Fields of the Nephilim]] is a gothic rock/gothic metal band formed in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in 1984 | ||
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| + | The Blackened Death Metal band [[Behemoth]] featured a song on their album [[Demigod]] named "The Nephilim Rising." | ||
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| + | The [[Punk Rock]] band [[AFI (band)|AFI]] wrote a song on their 5th album, [[The Art of Drowning]], called "The Nephilim". | ||
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| + | [http://nephilimband.com Nephilim] is a metal band from Southern California, formed in 2006. | ||
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| + | ===Computer games=== | ||
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| + | The [[Playstation 2]], [[Personal computer]] and [[Macintosh]] game [[Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness]] has a plot centered around a secret cult, hell bent on reviving one of the last remaining Nephilim that was discovered in Cappadocia - Turkey. | ||
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| + | In the computer game [[Wing Commander: Prophecy]], Nephilim is the given codename of an alien race that begins a conquest expanding from near the remains of the [[Kilrathi]] homeworld. Similarly in the game [[Freespace]] and its sequel [[Freespace 2]] it is the given codename for a [[Shivan]] [[bomber]] craft. | ||
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| + | In the computer game [[Shadowbane]], the Nephilim are one of the playable races, introduced by the ''Rise of Chaos'' expansion on December 9, 2003. | ||
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| + | In the computer game [[Lineage II]], various Nephilim populate the necropolises and catacombs. | ||
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| + | In the Exile and [[Avernum]] computer game series by [[Spiderweb Software]], the Nephilim are a race of cat-people native to the surface. They live by a tribal system. Some tribes are friendly; others are hostile to humans. The Empire, the human government that rules the surface, works to eradicate the Nephilim or banish them to Avernum, a series of caves beneath the surface. | ||
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| + | In the Xenosaga Trilogy, the song of Nephilim is the cause behind people being driven mad as well as the cause of the world's destruction. | ||
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| + | ===Roleplaying Games=== | ||
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| + | A role-playing game named "Nephilim" explores the secret world of Nephilim who are reincarnated in living human hosts. The game is seemingly steeped in a wealth of so-called occult knowledge. Whether this is just background for the game, or an attempt to share knowledge is difficult to discern. | ||
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| + | In the backstory of the table-top wargame "Warhammer 40,000", there are two types of servitors (see Adeptus Mechanicus) called Cherubim and Nephilim that are used by the Imperial Church. Cherubim are vat-grown servitors that appear as babies with wings implanted in their backs (these are sometimes accompanied by other implants, depending on what function the Cherubim is intended to perform), while Nephilim are the same, except they are normal children who have been mind-scrubbed (all memory erased) and dosed with numerous chemicals to retard the aging process and the same Cherubim wings are implanted into their backs. | ||
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| + | In the Guildpact expansion of "Magic: The Gathering", there are five bizarre creatures with the type Nephilim: Dune-Brood Nephilim, Glint-Eye Nephilim, Ink-Treader Nephilim, Witch-Maw Nephilim and Yore-Tiller Nephilim. They are, by now, the only four-colored creatures in the history of the game. There are also two cards, Blessing of the Nephilim and Might of the Nephilim, which reward creatures for having multiple colors. In the novel, they were supposedly massive, unkillable monstrosities, but all but one were killed during the novel's storyline. | ||
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| + | ==See also== | ||
| + | *[[Book of Enoch]] | ||
| + | *[[Grigori]] | ||
| + | *[[Edomite]]s | ||
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| + | ==Notes== | ||
| + | {{reflist}} | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==References== | ||
| + | {{eastons}} | ||
| + | |||
| + | * ''Peake's commentary on the Bible.'' | ||
| + | * ''New International Version.'' | ||
| + | * Sitchin, Zecharia (1995). ''Genesis Revisited: Is Modern Science Catching Up with Ancient Knowledge?.'' Avon Books. ISBN 978-0380761593. | ||
| + | * Samuel David Luzzato, commentary ad. loc. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==External links== | ||
| + | All links retrieved October 24, 2007. | ||
| + | |||
| + | * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek4F65iqQBk Forbidden History of The Nephilim Part1] | ||
| + | * [http://epologetics.org/nephilim.php The Origins of the Nephilim? by Thad Hopkins] | ||
| + | * [http://www.thedivinecouncil.com/nephilim.pdf Michael S. Heiser explains why "Fallen ones" is an incorrect translation, and supports the traditional "giants".] Needs [[Adobe Acrobat]]. | ||
| + | * [http://www.geocities.com/nephilimnot/nephilim Comprehensive scriptural analysis of the nephilim] | ||
| + | * [http://www.deliriumsrealm.com/delirium/mythology/watchers.asp Nephilim/Watchers] | ||
| + | * [http://www.spiraloflife.com Nephilim Trilogy] | ||
| + | * [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=24&letter=F Jewish Encyclopedia: Fall of Angels] | ||
| + | * [http://www.geocities.com/age_of_giants/ancient_giants/index.html Extensive Documentation of Ancient Giants] | ||
| + | *[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01476d.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Angels] | ||
| + | *[http://www.biblicaluniversalist.com/Raphaim.html The Raphaim] | ||
| + | *[http://www.geocities.com/darmandp3/Nephilim_in_oWoD_DtF.html The Nephilim: for the oWoD games (DtF)] | ||
| + | *[http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Lagoon/1345/giants.html (Giants) Skeletons of unusual size and shape references] | ||
| + | * [http://www.nephilimthemovie.com/index1.htm Nephilim: Comic Book, Movie, and Video Game] | ||
| + | *[http://www.e-gospelministries.org/forum/e107_files/downloads/Genesis%206%20Nephilim%20-%20Unique%20Genetics%20or%20Unholy%20Conception%20-%20book.pdf Nephilim - Unique Genetics or Unholy Conception book by Pastor Joshua Hughes of Everlasting Gospel Ministries] Needs [[Adobe Acrobat]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | [[Category: Philosophy and religion]] | ||
| + | [[Category: Religion]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | {{Credits|164412782}} | ||
Revision as of 01:46, 25 October 2007
Nephilim are supernatural beings, specifically the offspring of human women and “sons of God” (proposed to be giants or proto humans), who appear significantly in Genesis 6 and are mentioned also in other biblical texts and in some non-canonical Jewish writings. Others consider the Nephilim, in contrast, to be the offspring of human men descended from Seth and human women descended from Cain.[1] Both interpretations say that the lustful breeding of the Nephilim was one of the provocations for Flood, which is also referred to as the Deluge.
In the Bible
Genesis 6:1–4 describes the origin of the Nephilim as part of the “increasing wickedness of mankind” which, according to the New American Bible, was likely incorporated not only to account for the prehistoric “giants” of Canaan, whom the Israelites called the Nephilim, but additionally to introduce the story of the flood with a moral orientation[2]:
| “ | When men began to multiply on earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of heaven saw how beautiful the daughters of man were, and so they took for their wives as many of them as they chose. Then the Lord said: “My spirit shall not remain in man forever, since he is but flesh. His days shall comprise one hundred and twenty years.” At that time the Nephilim appeared on earth (as well as later), after the sons of heaven had intercourse with the daughters of man, who bore them sons. They were heroes of old, men of renown.[3] | ” |
Also, the phrase “(as well as later)” stated above is a reference to the Book of Numbers 13:33, how the Israelites likened the tall aborigines (“Anakim”) to the Nephilim, possibly due to seeing the “megalithic structures” of Canaan that appeared to have been built by a race of giants, whose superhuman strength was attributed to semi-divine origin.[4]
The Letter of Jude draws upon the statements set forth in Genesis, referring implicitly to the paternity of Nephilim as heavenly beings who came to earth and had sexual intercourse with women:[5]:
| “ | The angels too, who did not keep to their own domain but deserted their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains, in gloom, for the judgement of the great day. Likewise, Sodom, Gomorrah, and the surrounding towns, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual promiscuity and practiced unnatural vice, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.[6] | ” |
However, the phrase “practiced unnatural vice” (seen above)—translated literally as “went after alien flesh”—refers to the desires for sexual intimacies by human beings with angels, which is the reverse of the account in Genesis, where heavenly beings (angels) sought after human flesh.[7] This "B" part of the scripture may be a reference, not to the Nephilim, but to the account at Genesis 19, in which the men and boys of Sodom and Gomorrah demanded that Lot's angelic visitors be delivered to them for the purpose of forced sexual intercourse.
In Biblical criticism
Etymology
The Hebrew of “nephilim” is נפלים, which may mean “those causing others to fall”. Abraham Ibn Ezra says they were called this because mens hearts would fail at the sight of them. Targum Yerushalmi understand this appelation in light of the legend that they were fallen angels who were divorced from heaven. Some have compared it to the usage in Job 1:15 "And the Sabeans fell upon them" in which Naphal means to take in battle, describing the warriorlike nature of the Nephilim (Jean le Clerc and Aquilas).Alternatively, Shadal understands it as deriving from the hebrew word פלא Pela which means wonderous [8].
The nephilim come from a union between “sons of God” (בני האלהים “b’nei ha-'elohim” Lit. "Sons of the powers" [9] and “daughters of man”. In Aramaic culture, the term Nephila specifically referred to the constellation of Orion, and thus Nephilim to Orion's semi-divine descendants (cf. Anakim from Anak);[10] the implication being that this also is the origin of the Biblical Nephilim. Some commentators[citation needed] have suggested that the Nephilim were believed to have been fathered by members of a proto-Hebrew pantheon (which causes much controversy among Jewish peoples[11]) and are a brief glimpse of early Hebrew religion, most of the details of which were later edited out from the Torah (or at least would have been edited out when, as some claim, it was redacted together), and that this passage may have offered monotheistic Hebrews a way to fit semi-divine pagan heroes into their cosmogony.
The idea that the Torah was somehow changed is not in keeping with traditional Hebrew practice, in which if even a single character is out of place in a parchment translation of the original Hebrew Torah, the entire parchment must be destroyed and replaced anew. However, there are several variations, some of great significance, between ancient manuscripts of the Torah, between Septuagint, Syriac Peshitta, Dead Sea Scrolls, masoretic text, Samaritan Pentateuch, and the versions in the Hexapla, as well as between various manuscripts within each of these groups.
In the Hebrew Bible, there are a number of other words that, like "Nephilim", are sometimes translated as "giants":
- Emim ("the fearful ones")
- Rephaim ("the dead ones")
- Anakim ("the [long]-necked ones")
This has led to a great deal of confusion, even to the point of medieval legends recounted in the Talmud of a giant stowing away on Noah's Ark. It is possible that these names in the Torah were not meant to signify any antediluvian race that survived the Great Flood, but were simply denotations for particular groups of Canaanites, or other ordinary ethnicities.
Rephaim
"Rephaim" is a general title that the Book of Joshua states was given to the aborigines who were afterwards conquered and dispossessed by the Canaanite tribes).[12] The text states that a few Rephaim had survived, one of them being Og, the king of Bashan. Og of Bashan is recorded as having a 13-ft long bed.
| “ | Only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaites. His bed was made of iron and was more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide. It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.[13] | ” |
The Rephaim may have been the same Canaanite group known to the Moabites as Emim,[14] i.e., fearful, and to the Ammonites as Zamzummim. The second of the Books of Samuel states that some of them found refuge among the Philistines, and were still existing in the days of David. Nothing is known of their origin, nor of anything specifically connecting them with Nephilim, though the connection is made by Jewish tradition.
Anakim
Anakim are the descendants of Anak, and dwelt in the south of Canaan, in the neighbourhood of Hebron. In the days of Abraham, they inhabited the region afterwards known as Edom and Moab, east of the Jordan river. They are mentioned during the report of the spies about the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. The book of Joshua states that Joshua finally expelled them from the land, excepting a remnant that found a refuge in the cities of Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. The Philistine giant Goliath, whom David, or Elhanan,[15] later encountered, was supposedly a descendant of the Anakim.
| “ | The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.[16] | ” |
The Sumerians called their gods the Anunaki; according to a Midrash [2], Abraham was the son of an idol manufacturer in the Sumerian city of Ur, and so could reasonably be expected to have known about these gods [citation needed]. Whether via the knowledge of a historical Abraham, or via folk memory that passed down to the Yahwist, the words Anak and its plural (Anakim) could simply be corrupted versions of Anunaki; this would equate the Nephilim with the Sumerian demigods such as Gilgamesh.
Note that it is more commonly suggested by traditional Jewish sources (such as the Midrash) that the spies saw large and powerful inhabitants in Canaan and because of their own fears, cowardice, and inadequate faith in Yahweh, saw themselves as grasshoppers in the eyes of the Canaanites, whether they were actual 'giants' or not.
In other texts
In the texts of Ugarit, there were 70 sons of God, each one being the special deity of a particular people from whom they were descended. Some memory of this is found in Biblical texts which speak of Baal Melkart of Tyre or Chemosh of Moab.
The story of the Nephilim is chronicled more fully in the Book of Enoch (part of Ethiopian biblical canon). Enoch, as well as Jubilees, connects the origin of the Nephilim with the fallen angels, and in particular with the Grigori (watchers). Samyaza, an angel of high rank, is described as leading a rebel sect of angels in a descent to earth to instruct humans in righteousness. The tutelage went on for a few centuries, but soon the angels pined for the human females and began to instruct the women in magic and conjuring. The angels consummated their lust, and as a result produced hybrid offspring: the Nephilim.
According to these texts, the fallen angels who begat the Nephilim were cast into Tartarus/Gehenna, a place of 'total darkness'. However, Jubilees also states that God granted ten percent of the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim to remain after the flood, as demons, to try to lead the human race astray (through idolatry, the occult, etc.) until the final Judgement.
In addition to Enoch, the Book of Jubilees (7:21-25) also states that ridding the Earth of these Nephilim was one of God's purposes for flooding the Earth in Noah's time. The Biblical reference to Noah being "perfect in his generations" may have referred to his having a clean, Nephilim-free bloodline, although it may be inferred that there was more diversity among his three daughters-in law.
These works describe the Nephilim as being gigantic in stature, with prodigious strength and immense appetites. Supposedly, upon devouring all of humankind's resources, the Nephilim had begun to consume humans themselves, and attacked and oppressed them, becoming the cause of massive destruction on the earth.
There are also allusions to these descendants in the deuterocanonical books of Judith, Sirach, Baruch, 3 Maccabees, and Wisdom of Solomon.
Nephilim in popular culture
Books
Zecharia Sitchin[17] and Erich Von Daniken both claim that the Nephilim are our creators. In Sitchin's voluminous works he uses Semitic language etymology and translations of Sumerian cuneiform tablets to equate the ancient mesopotamian gods with the fallen angels (the "sons of Elohim" in Genesis). The chief Sumerian deity was known as Enlil, and a group of these Anunnaki were sent down to the Earth from their home planet Nibiru. The leader of this mission was Enlil's half-brother (known first as Ea and then given the title Enki, or Lord of the Earth). His symbol was the snake or two snakes wrapped around a pole. This symbol, called the cadeuseus (alt. spelling caduseus and cadeuceus), was used to denote the Egyptian god Thoth, the Greek god Hermes, and the Roman god Mercury among others. All of these deities were given titles such as "God of Knowledge," "Bringer of Wisdom," and "Messenger of the Gods." The Hebrew word for angel is Malakh, and means messenger while the word "angel" itself derives from the Greek "angelos" which means also messenger. The Sumerian gods (also worshiped by the Babylonians, Assyrians, Hittites and others) were nearly always depicted with wings as well.
The Nephilim, as well as the angel Shemyaza, feature heavily in Storm Constantine's Grigori trilogy.
Nephilim play an important part in Madeleine L'Engle's novel Many Waters and Tess Gerritsen's novel The Mephisto Club.
Most of the major characters of the Mortal Instruments trilogy by Cassandra Clare features the Nephilim. According to the Mortal Instruments mythology [3], a thousand years ago, the Angel Raziel mixed his blood with the blood of men and created the race of the Nephilim. Human-angel hybrids, they walk amongst us, unseen but ever-present, our invisible protectors. They call themselves Shadowhunters.
As in the made-for-tv movie of the same name, The Fallen and it's counterparts by Tom Sniegoski center around one Nephilim
Television and Movies
The BBC television series Hex, contained many references to Nephilim, though the beings referred to as "Nephilim" are actually fallen angels, like their fathers the Grigori.
ABC Family Channel aired a movie in the Summer of 2006 about a modern day Nephilim discovering his powers called Fallen. Further episodes are due to air during 2007.
The X-Files season 5 episode "All Souls" features four congenitally deformed girls who may be Nephilim, and the fight between the Seraphim and the Devil to "claim" them.
An Israeli show is called The Nephilim, and is about people who possess various abilities from escaped alien criminals, back in the time when the world was created.
'The Prophecy 3: The Ascent' movie featured Nephilim as its central storyline.
'The Fallen' a series of 3 episodes featuring a Nephilim called 'The Redeemer' which can absolve fallen angels from their sins and give them back their wings and sends them back to heaven.
Music
Fields of the Nephilim is a gothic rock/gothic metal band formed in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in 1984
The Blackened Death Metal band Behemoth featured a song on their album Demigod named "The Nephilim Rising."
The Punk Rock band AFI wrote a song on their 5th album, The Art of Drowning, called "The Nephilim".
Nephilim is a metal band from Southern California, formed in 2006.
Computer games
The Playstation 2, Personal computer and Macintosh game Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness has a plot centered around a secret cult, hell bent on reviving one of the last remaining Nephilim that was discovered in Cappadocia - Turkey.
In the computer game Wing Commander: Prophecy, Nephilim is the given codename of an alien race that begins a conquest expanding from near the remains of the Kilrathi homeworld. Similarly in the game Freespace and its sequel Freespace 2 it is the given codename for a Shivan bomber craft.
In the computer game Shadowbane, the Nephilim are one of the playable races, introduced by the Rise of Chaos expansion on December 9, 2003.
In the computer game Lineage II, various Nephilim populate the necropolises and catacombs.
In the Exile and Avernum computer game series by Spiderweb Software, the Nephilim are a race of cat-people native to the surface. They live by a tribal system. Some tribes are friendly; others are hostile to humans. The Empire, the human government that rules the surface, works to eradicate the Nephilim or banish them to Avernum, a series of caves beneath the surface.
In the Xenosaga Trilogy, the song of Nephilim is the cause behind people being driven mad as well as the cause of the world's destruction.
Roleplaying Games
A role-playing game named "Nephilim" explores the secret world of Nephilim who are reincarnated in living human hosts. The game is seemingly steeped in a wealth of so-called occult knowledge. Whether this is just background for the game, or an attempt to share knowledge is difficult to discern.
In the backstory of the table-top wargame "Warhammer 40,000", there are two types of servitors (see Adeptus Mechanicus) called Cherubim and Nephilim that are used by the Imperial Church. Cherubim are vat-grown servitors that appear as babies with wings implanted in their backs (these are sometimes accompanied by other implants, depending on what function the Cherubim is intended to perform), while Nephilim are the same, except they are normal children who have been mind-scrubbed (all memory erased) and dosed with numerous chemicals to retard the aging process and the same Cherubim wings are implanted into their backs.
In the Guildpact expansion of "Magic: The Gathering", there are five bizarre creatures with the type Nephilim: Dune-Brood Nephilim, Glint-Eye Nephilim, Ink-Treader Nephilim, Witch-Maw Nephilim and Yore-Tiller Nephilim. They are, by now, the only four-colored creatures in the history of the game. There are also two cards, Blessing of the Nephilim and Might of the Nephilim, which reward creatures for having multiple colors. In the novel, they were supposedly massive, unkillable monstrosities, but all but one were killed during the novel's storyline.
See also
Notes
- ↑ Samuel David Luzzato in his commentary ad. loc.
- ↑ New American Bible, footnotes page 12, referring to 6:1–4.
- ↑ Genesis 6:1–4, New American Bible.
- ↑ Book of Numbers, New American Bible.
- ↑ New American Bible, footnotes page 1370, referring to verse 6.
- ↑ Jude 1:6–7, New American Bible.
- ↑ New American Bible, footnotes page 1370, referring to verse 7.
- ↑ Hamishtadel(his Bible commentary ad. loc.)
- ↑ However see Genesis Rabbah (26,8) that explicitly states that this is not the correct interpretation and that it should be understood simply as a title for a judge (cf. Exodus 22:8) or a mighty warrior.
- ↑ Peake's commentary on the Bible
- ↑ Targum Yonathan, [1]
- ↑ Genesis 14:5
- ↑ Deuteronomy 3:11 of New International Version
- ↑ Deuteronomy 2:11
- ↑ 2 Samuel 21:19, some translations have brother of Goliath rather than just Goliath, though the latter is more accurate to the Masoretic Text
- ↑ Numbers 13:32-33, English Standard Version
- ↑ Sitchin, Zecharia (1995). Genesis Revisited: Is Modern Science Catching Up with Ancient Knowledge?. Avon Books. ISBN 978-0380761593.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.
- Peake's commentary on the Bible.
- New International Version.
- Sitchin, Zecharia (1995). Genesis Revisited: Is Modern Science Catching Up with Ancient Knowledge?. Avon Books. ISBN 978-0380761593.
- Samuel David Luzzato, commentary ad. loc.
External links
All links retrieved October 24, 2007.
- Forbidden History of The Nephilim Part1
- The Origins of the Nephilim? by Thad Hopkins
- Michael S. Heiser explains why "Fallen ones" is an incorrect translation, and supports the traditional "giants". Needs Adobe Acrobat.
- Comprehensive scriptural analysis of the nephilim
- Nephilim/Watchers
- Nephilim Trilogy
- Jewish Encyclopedia: Fall of Angels
- Extensive Documentation of Ancient Giants
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Angels
- The Raphaim
- The Nephilim: for the oWoD games (DtF)
- (Giants) Skeletons of unusual size and shape references
- Nephilim: Comic Book, Movie, and Video Game
- Nephilim - Unique Genetics or Unholy Conception book by Pastor Joshua Hughes of Everlasting Gospel Ministries Needs Adobe Acrobat
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