The Weirdest Story in the Bible: Who are the Nephilim???
One of the most common questions I get from young Christians who are excited to explore the Bible and hungry to learn more is, “what is the deal with the Nephilim?”
This has got to be the weirdest story in the Bible.
If you’re not familiar with the passage, it’s from the beginning of Genesis chapter 6.
When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”
Genesis 6:1-7
To be honest, I would love to read this passage and say, “I have no idea, let’s move on” - rather than pretend I have a clue. It’s one of those passages that leaves me with more questions than answers. And with a passage this obscure, I’m not going to even pretend I know it all. But I have been asked this question more than once - (usually by young Christians excited to explore the Bible, and hungry to learn more before running into this passage like a bird into a window) - so I am going to do my best to shed some light on it.
The appearance of the Nephilim and the marriage between the “sons of God and the daughters of men”, appears to have something to do with the wickedness of mankind and God’s decision to destroy / restart His creation. The two stories are intertwined. Verse 2 opens with the mingling of the “sons of God and the daughters of men”, followed by God’s frustration and pronouncement in verse 3. We see the pattern repeated again with the description of the Nephilim in verse 4, followed by his judgement in verse 5-7.
Just looking at this story at face value, it says that the sons of God looked at the daughters of men, and said “I want in on that!”, married them, had some sort of Demi-god offspring called the Nephilim who were the heroes of old.
And right off the bat we have some questions. Who were the Nephilim? What does it mean by “son’s of God”? Who were the beautiful daughters of men? (Actually that last one is pretty straightforward - they were beautiful women. I happen to have married one of those myself.)
Theologians, scribes, and rabbis, have been debating what is meant by, “Son’s of God” for millennia. “Son’s of God” - in Hebrew “ben Elohim” - is only used 3 other times in the Old Testament, all of which are found in the book of Job. - Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7. All 3 times it is used to describe and is translated as “Angels”, the heavenly hosts.
There are 3 predominant theories out there on what is meant by “the son’s of God” in this passage. And if you want to plunge down a theological Wikipedia black-hole, pouring hours into research and exploration (as you might do if you were making a video on this topic) google it, and knock yourself out.
Here are the 3 major theories and I’ll do my best to explain ‘em all.
Some people think “the Son’s of God” is referring to the the godly line of Seth.
If you flip back a couple of pages in your Bible to Genesis chapter 4, we find the story of Cain and Able. Cain became jealous of Able because God looked on Able with favor because Able was doing the right thing. Cain wanted God’s favor too, he just didn’t want to do the right thing. So Cain killed his brother in a field and was banished by God. Adam and Eve had another son named Seth - Seth’s descendants walked with God. Genesis 5 contrasts Seth’s descendants with Cain’s descendants - the Canaanites. Since this story comes immediately after, some people think that this verse refers to Godly people who gave into their own lust and chose ungodly marriages with the Canaanites.
So “sons of God” refers to righteous people. This explanation isn’t too crazy. 1 John chapter 3 call us, as followers of Jesus, sons of God - “See how great a love, the father has lavished upon us that we should be called sons of God. Because that’s what we are!” But the term is used differently in 1 John to describe those of us who have inherited eternal life. It’s pretty early in the story of the Bible to use that phrase for the descendants of Seth, especially given that only some of them walked with God. It also doesn’t seem to fit the context of the passage or use of the term elsewhere in the Old Testament.
2. A second interpretation suggests that this verse is alluding to angels.
The other 3 times this phrase “sons of God” is used in the Old Testament, it is referring to angels. Apart from the strangeness of angels mingling with mortal women and giving birth to these demi-god offspring, that’s what the text says at face value.
3. The third perspective, is that this passage could be referring to fallen angels.
This word “sons of God” doesn’t mean they’re necessarily walking with God. Some people even theorize that this passage could be the story of the fall of some of the angels.
Heres the thing: each of these explanations seems so bizarre. I think that’s why I get so many questions and see so much speculation over these verses. And, like I said, I would love to say “I don’t know, let’s move on”! But I get this question a lot. So let’s dive into some other relevant passages of scripture that may help us to understand this a little bit better.
Let’s start with the book of Jude chapter 1. (Actually there’s only one chapter in the book of Jude, so we just call it Jude.) Jude was the son of Mary and Joseph. Yeah, that Mary and Joseph, from your nativity set. Jude was the half brother of Jesus. Turn to the exact opposite side of your Bible and you will find the book of Jude right before the book of Revelation. Jude chapter 1.
He opens up,
3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. 4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago, have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
Jude writes to the church and begins by saying “I really wanted to write you and encourage you about the salvation we share! But instead, I have to right you and warn you about the people who have slipped into your church. They are taking the grace of Jesus, the grace and forgiveness that saved you and me, and they are twisting it. They are essentially saying “I have grace! I can do whatever I want because Jesus will forgive me anyway!” They have taken God’s grace as a license to sin, not a freedom from sin. They claimed Jesus as their savior, but He is not their LORD.”
Then he continues - and this is the part that is relevant to Genesis 6.
Actually, rewind. These first 4 verses are so much more relevant to us than where ever a Nephilim came from. If you are saying that God saved you, but He is not LORD of your life, if He is not the boss of your life, if you are not living according to His Word, then you are ABUSING His grace, using it as a license to sin. And then He warns those who are living like that.
5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions (circle that, were talking of the fallen angels) but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
In his warning Jude says, don’t abuse God’s grace. If you have been delivered, don’t forget that God destroyed those who didn’t live and walk by faith. But check out the second example he gives.
There were fallen angels, who did not keep their position - bound in darkness. In a similar way, (now, you can read that as “in a similar way to the Angels, who fell”) Sodom and Gamorrah gave themselves to sexual immorality. Now, maybe Jude is just saying “in a similar way, look at the destruction of the Israelites, the fallen angels, and Sodom and Gamorrah.” Or maybe he is saying, the angels who fell… it was in a similar way to Sodom and Gamorrah… in sexual sin and lust.
There is a second in 2 Peter 2:4 that seems to go along with what Jude is saying. (Its a long passage so I will abbreviate it.)
God did not spare angels when they sinned, or the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, or the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah but made them an example, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority.
Both Jude and Peter wrote to the early church saying “remember the angels? There are many examples of those who chose the sin of sexual immorality, and they got punished for it.” While the fallen angels are used as examples in both texts, are they also examples of those who followed their sexual lust, the corrupt desire of the flesh and despised authority? Does this refer back to Genesis 6:1-7 about the fallen angels, the “Son’s of God”, and the judgment of the flood in Genesis 6?
I don’t know.
So then, what do we do with these 7 difficult to understand verses? I think there are 2 take a ways from a really weird passage of the Bible.
Both of these letters written to the early church point back to this story to remind us, we each have a choice to make: you can choose to follow God, to pursue righteousness, and God can rescue us from our sin! Or, you can choose to follow your own desires. Your own greed, your own lust, and it doesn’t end well. But God gave you a choice.
When it comes to areas of the Bible, like this one, that aren’t super clear and they don’t seem to give us a lot of details, don’t get hung up on it. Look for the principles to apply to your life today.
And here is the great news. Because of the grace of God, it’s not a one time choice. It’s never too late to make a U-turn, to repent, to say “God, I’m following you now.” Oh, don’t miss the warning of Jude. Do not take the grace of God for granted. Do not use his grace as a license to sin, rather that it is a freedom from sin. But His grace is an opportunity to start over.
Whenever my friends ask me about the Nephilim, after I go into these interpretations and scriptures, they almost always follow up with another question: “So Matt, what do you think?” Put down your pens and your highlighters. Don’t take this to the bank. The following is only Matt’s theory and opinion. Take notes and apply the word of God. Never the word of Matt.
What do I think…? I think these are the fallen angels.
Now, there is a passage in Matthew 22, where Jesus himself says “angels do not marry or take in marriage”. And Jesus knows what he’s talking about.
But I wonder: the very nature of fallen angels is that they have rebelled against our God and His commands. Is Genesis 6 describing their continued act of rebellion? Ignoring God’s design for angels not to marry? Once again, I’m going to answer this with the Matt special:
I don’t know.
But I’ll tell you why I think that it was fallen angels. It all goes back to Genesis chapter 3. To Adam, to Eve, to the snake, to the fall of man. God meets them all in their disobedience. God turns to them and says, “Adam, you blew it. From now on in your work, there’s going to be toil, and struggle and stress. Eve, you blew it. From now on in childbirth there’s going to be toil, and struggle and stress. (And pain.)
But it’s what God says to the woman and the snake (Satan, that serpent of old.) “I am going to put enmity, between your offspring and hers. You will strike his heel, but he will crush your head.”
An offspring of the woman will crush your head. There will be a seed that comes from the woman, from the line of men, and one day, he will undo what you have done. He will undo all sin.
God is talking about Jesus.
Where does this play into Genesis 6? I think Satan and the fallen angels had a plan. A plan to undo the line of men. “If the woman’s seed is our undoing, then let’s seed the woman. Let’s pollute the line of men so badly, that God cannot bring a savior from them.” Is that the plan behind the “son’s of God” taking the daughter’s of men and creating the Nephilim?
You knew by now that I was going to say it: I don’t know. But God brings a flood to wipe out the Nephilim. He was going to save a small number of people (Noah and his family), so that He could save us all.
That’s Matt’s thoughts.
Now, am I going to argue this with anyone? No way. I’m sure I have friends, smarter guys than me, who read and think about this differently. Its a strange passage and the point is not to give us details. It is there to remind us of the principle found in Jude and 2 Peter 2.
One last question I need to answer to wrap all of this up: Wait! didn’t Goliath come from the Nephilim? The Bible doesn’t actually say that. There is one more place in the Bible that the Nephilim are mentioned. Numbers 13. It’s when the Israelites were supposed to be crossing into the promised land. Moses sent out 12 spies to go check the land out. “Tell us about what kind of land God has given us”. Two guys come back stoked - Joshua and Caleb. “This land is a good land! But…”
28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw the Anekites (descendants of Anak) there.
Now, the Anekites were big dudes. It talks about their massive size 9 times in the Old Testament! But when Joshua and Caleb returned they said “with our God, we can take ‘em”!
The other 10 see the fortified cities, and the size and the might of the people there.
32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there, The descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
The other 10 come back and report: This promised land that God was supposed to give us, it’s too powerful for us. It’s too powerful for our God. We can’t take this, even with His help. Oh, and by the way, we saw the Nephilim there.
Now don’t miss this! It says in verse 28 that they saw the Anekites there. The Anekites were big dudes, but Anekites and Nephilim are not the same. No one mentions the Nephilim until the other10 guys are fear mongering, spreading lies about the promise land. Then they say “The Anekites comes from the Nephilim”.
Bur in Genesis 6, God sent a flood to finish the Nephilim. And no, where in the Bible does it say, “the Nephilim were the sons of God and the daughters of men, the heroes of old, and they were really great swimmers.” God took the Nephilim out on page 6.
There you go! A weird confusing story. Not a lot of details, more questions than answers. But 7 verses that say, there was a point in time where people were choosing the ungodly, over the godly. Jude and Peter will come back and say, “you know what the take away from that story is? You have a choice to make too. You can choose to follow God to pursue righteousness, and God can rescue us from our sin! Or, you can choose to follow your own desires. Your own greed, your own lust, and it doesn’t end well for you. But God gave you a choice. How many times a day do we have a choice between choosing what is right, and whatever I desire to do?
I hope this has been helpful to you. Not for the sake of understanding what a Nephilim is, but for reminding you that when hit when we hit a passage where we don’t have all the answers and details, look for the principles behind it. Thats much more relevant and important to your walk with Jesus!
If you have more questions you would like to see tackeld in a future video, feel free to leave them in the comment section in the video, or email them to us at SendUsMail@MattAndSaraBrennan.com
As always we love you guys!
