Who Were The Nephillim?

In this regular feature, Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call.  Here’s this week’s question, which is a composite of several we’ve received:  “I’ve been reading books and listening to tapes about the Nephilim in Genesis 6.  What is your belief in this regard?”

Tom:

Dave, I want to read first, Genesis:6:4There were giants in the earth in those days; 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 mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
See All....  “There were giants on the earth in those days and also afterwards when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them.  They were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”  Now, some Christian writers, or there are some who seem to be pushing views about the Nephilim that go far beyond what the Scriptures can reasonably support.  But Dave, can’t we run into trouble in this area?

Dave:

Well, I guess we could run into trouble in any area if we try to go beyond what Scripture says.  This is a difficult passage. For example, those who interpret these as being fallen angels, would go to Jude where it says, the angels that kept not their first estate—talks about them going after strange flesh and so forth.  And then they would say that there was some kind of a hybrid race and that was the reason for the flood.  So, who are these sons of God?  Well, in Job it says the sons of God came together and Satan came with them so it doesn’t seem to call Satan a son of God and I would think that then, his underlings wouldn’t be called sons of God.  Men are called sons of God—Adam is called a son of God.  It could just be saying that men took women as they pleased, it says.  Great men of renown were born—they were giants—I mean genetically—this sort of thing that happened.  I don’t think that it’s saying that demonic beings or fallen angels, spirit beings could procreate with human beings.  If then, why not now?  But this is not just some incubus, some incident that occurs, but it says they became their husbands, they took wives and they had families.  So, this would be demonic entities or spirit entities somehow taking bodies that are not just an apparition, like the apparition of Mary or whatever, but they have flesh and they remain on this earth for a period of time.  I just can’t accept that.

Tom:

Well, Mark:12:25For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.
See All... tells us, for when they rise from the dead they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven.  That seems to indicate that—

Dave:

Angels are sexless—right.  They don’t have sex.

Tom:

Or, at least, they don’t get married and this Scripture says they have taken wives so that would be, at least, the Scripture that would make me wonder about some of the speculation.

Dave:

Yes.  So, in some of these cases, Tom, I mean, I certainly don’t pretend to have all the answers to every difficult scripture out there and in some cases I just have to say, well, I’m not sure what that means but I cannot believe that spirit entities took bodies and became the husbands of women on this earth.  Now, there are some other possibilities.  Some people say it was the godly seed of Seth who were intermarrying and they shouldn’t have been.  There are other possibilities as well.  I don’t know, Tom, but I don’t think that there are spirit beings who invaded this earth and that now—I mean some people try to equate it with Goliath.  He had four brothers and they were giants and they say that these were some of the Nephilim.  Well, but I thought that they were all destroyed in the flood and if they weren’t all destroyed in the flood or if their spirits are still floating about out there and they can do this sort of thing—this is like a virgin birth, you know—why aren’t we having instances of this down through history and we don’t have it.  So, it’s a difficult Scripture, Tom, and I’m not prepared to give some definitive answer except, I don’t think it’s spirit beings having sex with women and becoming their husbands.

Tom:

And the speculation along this line and I think that’s part of what we are seeing out there—the speculation that’s built upon speculation and then doctrines form and I don’t think, in many cases, we have a basis for it.

Dave:

Actually we are better off if we leave these kinds of passages alone and stick with what we really know.

Tom:

Dave, as we have been indicating, Genesis:6:4There were giants in the earth in those days; 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 mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
See All..., is really a very difficult passage to understand.  It’s not that we’re not to take the time and the effort to search these things out but there can be a real problem with developing something on something that’s too difficult to really understand, developing even the doctrine.

Dave:

There’s a temptation, Tom that we want to be the ones who know something that nobody else knows.  We want to have a sort of an esoteric interpretation and I’m not blaming anybody for that but we have to be very careful that we don’t try to build, as you say, build too much.  And here’s a Scripture that’s very difficult, then I don’t think that I should try to build some big teaching based around this.  I would rather go to those passages of which we are certain and so I would say that that’s the problem and then we can become preoccupied, spend so much time trying to understand this and I think that is dangerous as well.  So, what are we saying?  We shouldn’t even think about it?  No, as you said, it’s worth thinking about but in the final analysis I want to be very careful I don’t build too much on a very shaky foundation.