The progeny of the fallen angels with the daughters of
Adam are called in Genesis 6 Ne-phīl-īm, which means
fallen ones (from nāphal, to fall) What
these things were can be gathered only from Scripture. They were evidently
great in size, as well as great in wickedness. They were superhuman,
abnormal beings; and their destruction was necessary for the preservation of
the human race, and for the faithfulness of Jehovah’s Word.
Gen 3:15. And I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.
This was why the Flood was brought “upon the world of the
ungodly”
2 Peter 2:5 And spared not the old
world, but saved Noah the eight person, a preacher of righteousness,
bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.
As prophesised by Enoch: Jude1:14, (Read All verses.)
1:14 And
Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, The
Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints.
But we read of the Ne-phīl-īm again in…
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.
“There we saw the Ne-phīl-īm, the sons of Anak, which
come of the Ne-phīl-īm”. How, it may be asked,
could this be, if they were all destroyed in the Flood? The answer is contained
in Gen 6:4. Were we read
in Genesis.
:
Gen 6:4. “ There were Ne-phīl-īm in the earth in those days
(i.e. in the days of Noah); 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 [the] mighty men (Heb gíbbör, the heroes) which were of old, men of renown”.
(Lit. men of the
name, i.e. who got a name and were renowned for their ungodliness) So that
“after that”, i.e. after the Flood there was a second
irruption of these fallen angels, evidently smaller in number and more limited
in area, for they were for the most part confined to Canaan, and were in fact
known as the “ nations of Canaan”.
It was for the destruction of these, that the sword of Israel
was necessary, as the flood had been before.
As to the date
of this second eruption, it was evidently soon after it became known that
the seed was to come through Abraham; for, when he came out from Haran
…
Gen 12:6 And
Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of
Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
…and entered Canaan, the
significant fact is stated: “The Canaanite was then (i.e. already in the
land).” and in …
Gen 14:5 And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the
kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the
Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim.
They were already known as “Rephaim” and “Emim”,
and had established themselves at Ashteroth Karnaim and Shavah
Kiriathaim. In ch 15:18-21
they are enumerated and named among Canaanite Peoples: “Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, and
the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, and
the Amorites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites”.
(Gen15: 19-21; cp. Ex . 3. 8, 17; 23:23. Deut 7;
20.17. Joshua 12:8).
These were to be cut off, and driven out, and utterly
destroyed (Deut
20:17 Joshua 3:10). But Israel failed in this (Joshua 13:13;
15:63; 16:10; 17:18. Judges. 1:19; 20,28,29,30-36; 21-5, 3:1-7); and we know not how many
got away to other countries to escape the general destruction.
If this were recognised it would go far to solve many
problems connected with Anthropology. (The scientific study of the origin,
the behavior, and the physical, social, and cultural development of humans). As to their other names, they were called Anakim, from one Anak
which came of the
Ne-phīl-īm (Num 13:23) and Rephaim from Rapha,
another notable one among them. As Rephaim they were well
known, and are often mentioned: but, unfortunately, instead of this, their
proper name, being preserved, it is variously translated as “dead”,
“deceased”, or “giants”. These Rephaim are to have no
resurrection. This fact is stated in Isa 26:14 (Where the proper name
is rendered “deceased,” and v19, where it is rendered “the dead”). It is
rendered “dead” seven times (Job 26:5. Ps 88:10. Prov 2:18; 9:18; 21:16. Isa
14:8; 26:19). It is rendered “deceased” in Isa 26:14.
It is retained as a proper name “Rephaim” ten times (two
being in the margin). Gen 14:5; 15:20. Joshua 12:15.(margin).
2 Sam. 5:18, 22,; 23:13. 1 Chron. 11:15; 14:9; 20:4
(margin) Isa 17:5. In all other places it is rendered “giants”, Gen 6:4; Num
23:33; where it is Ne-phīl-īm; and Job 16:14, where
it is gibbōr. By reading all these passages the bible
student may know all that can be known about these beings.
It is certain that the second irruption took place before
Gen 14, for there the Rephaim were mixed up with the five nations
or peoples, Which included Sodom and Gomorrha, and
were defeated by the kings under Chedorlaomer. Their principal locality was
evidently “Ashteroth Karnaim”; while the Emim were
in the plain Kiriathaim (Gen 14:5).
Anak
was a noted descendant of the Ne-phīl-īm; and Rapha was
another, giving their name respectively to different clans. Anak’s
father was Arba, the original builder of Hebron (Gen
35:27, Josh 15:13; 21:11); and this Palestine branch of the Anakim
was not called Arbahim after him, but Anakim
after Anak. They were great, mighty, and tall (Deut 2:10, 11:21; 22:23.
9:2), evidently inspiring the ten spies with great fear (Num 13:33). Og king of Bashan is described in…
Deut 3:11.
Their strength is seen in the “giant” cities of
Bashan today; and we know not how far they may have been utilised
by Egypt in the construction of buildings, which is still an unsolved problem.
The Khabiri or confederates rebuilt Arba seven years
before the Egyptian Pharaohs of the nineteenth dynasty built Zoan.
(See note on Num13: 22.)
If these Ne-phīl-īm,
and their branch of Rephaim, were associated with Egypt, we have
an explanation of the problem, which has for ages perplexed all engineers, as
to how those huge stones and monuments were brought together. Why not
in Egypt as well as in the “Giant cities of Bashan” which
exist as such to this day? Moreover,
we have in these mighty men, the “men of renown,” the explanation of the
origin of the Greek mythology. That mythology was no mere invention of the
human brain, but it grew out of the traditions, and memories, and legends of
the doings of that mighty race of beings; and was gradually evolved out of the
“Heroes” of Gen 6:4. The fact that they were supernatural in their
origin formed an easy step to their being regarded as the demi-gods of the
Greeks.
Thus the Babylonian “Creation Tablets”, The Egyptian Book of
the dead”, the Greek mythology, and heathen Cosmogonies,
which by some are set on an equality with Scripture, or by others adduced in
support of it, are all the corruption and perversion of primitive truths,
distorted in proportion as their origin was forgotten, and their memories faded
away.
Rev J.L. Porter D.D. 1877 explored the “Giant Cities”,
and the link to this interesting site is below.
http://home.att.net/~warplover/08_bashan_and_its_giant_cities__index.html