The Nephilim, or
"Giants" of Genesis 6, etc. This Is Appendix 25
From The Companion Bible.
The progeny of the fallen angels with the
daughters of Adam (see notes on Genesis 6, and Appendix 23 are
called in Genesis 6, N
e-phil´-im, which means fallen ones
(from naphal, to fall). What these beings 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 (Genesis 3:15).
This was why the Flood was brouhgt "upon the
world of the ungodly" (2Peter
2:5) as prophesied by
Enoch (Jude 14).
But we read of the Nephilim again in Numbers 13:33 : "there we
saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, which come of the
Nephilim". How, it may be asked, could this be,
if they were all destroyed in the Flood ? The answer is contained in
Genesis 6:4, where we read:
"There were Nephilim in the earth in those days (that is to say,
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 (Hebrew gibbor, the heroes)
which were of old, men of renown" (literally, men of the
name, that is to say, who got a name and were renowned for their
ungodliness). So that "after that",
that is to say, 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
irruption, it was evidently soon after it became known that the seed was
to come through Abraham; for, when he came out from Haran (Genesis
12:6) and entered
Canaan, the significant fact is stated: "The Canaanite was then
(that is to say, already) in the land." And in
Genesis 14:5 they were already
known as "Rephaim" and "Emim", and had
established themselves as Ashteroth Karnaim and Shaveh Kiriathaim.
In chapter 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" (Genesis 15:19-21; compare Exodus
3:8,17; 23:23. Deuteronomy 7;
20:17. Joshua
12:8).
These were to be cut off, and driven out, and
utterly destroyed (Deuteronomy 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; 2:1-5; 3:1-7); and we know not
how many got away to other countries to escape the general destruction. If
this were recognized it would go far to solve many problems connected with
Anthropology. As to their other names, they were
called Anakim, from one Anak which came of the
Nephilim (Numbers 13:23), and
Rephaim, from Rapha, another notable one among them.
From Deuteronomy 2:10, they were known
by some as Emim, and Horim, and
Zamzummim (verse 20,21) and
Avim, etc. 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 Isaiah 26:14 (where the proper
name is rendered "deceased", and verse 19, where it is
rendered "the dead"). It is rendered
"dead" seven times (Job 26:5. Psalm
88:10. Proverbs
2:18; 9:18; 21:16. Isaiah
14:8; 26:19).
It is rendered "deceased" in Isaiah
26:14.
It is retained as proper name
"Rephaim" ten times (two being in the margin).
Genesis 14:5; 15:20. Joshua
12:15 (margin).
2Samuel
5:18,22; 23:13. 1Chronicles
11:15; 14:9; 20:4 (margin). Isaiah
17:5.
In all other places it is rendered
"giants" , Genesis 6:4, Numbers
23:33, where it is
Nephilim; and Job 16:14, where it is
gibbor (Appendix 14. iv).
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 Genesis 14, for there
the Rephaim
were mixed up with the five nations or peoples, which included Sodom and
Gomorrha, and were defeated by the four kings under Chedorlaomer. Their
principal locality was evidently "Ashtaroth Karnaim"; while
the Emim were in the plain of Kiriathaim (Genesis
14:5).
Anak was a noted descendant of the
Nephilim; and Rapha was another, giving
their names respectively to different clans. Anak's father was
Arba, the original builder of Hebron (Genesis
35:27. Joshau
15:13; 21:11); and this
Palestine branch of the Anakim was not called
Abrahim after him, but Anakim after Anak. They
were great, mighty, and tall (Deuteronomy 2:10,11,21,22,23; 9:2), evidently
inspiring the ten spies with great fear (Numbers 12:33). Og king of
Bashan is described in Deuteronomy 3:11).
Their strength is seen in "the giant cities
of Bashan" to-day; and we know not how far they may have been
utilized by Egypt in the construction of buildings, which is still an
unsolved problem. Arba was rebuilt by the
Khabiri or confederates seven years before Zoan was built by
Egyptian Pharoahs of the nineteenth dynasty. See note on Numbers
13:22.
If these Nephilim, 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
Genesis 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 Comogonies, 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,
distorded in proportion as their origin was forgotten, and their memories
faded away.
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