Bad men, Angels, and Giants – PART 2 (Genesis 6)

"The Nephilim were on the earth in those days (Gen 6:4a)"

Foot notes, and even BDB (Hebrew lexicon) say that nephilim are giants. They get this from the LXX (Septuagint = Greek translation done by Jewish scholars in Egypt) and the Vulgate (Latin translation done by the Catholic church, which probably relies heavily upon the LXX).

Nephilim is not a name of a species, or nation (i.e. Egyptians). It is the Hebrew word Nephilim which was directly transliterated into English, and not translated. There are times, where transliteration is a poor choice on the part of the translators, because they then don't do the Hebrew justice in the English text. This time, the transliteration was wise – to translate the term would give too much translator bias.

Nephilim comes from the Hebrew 3 consonant root N-PH-L which means "to fall, lie, die a violent death, attack" as a verb (naphal). As a noun it can mean: naphel- miscarriage, abortion, maphalah- ruin, maphelet – carcass, ruin, overthrow*.

Walke/O'Conner discusses the different types of vowel pointing in nouns. For this text, the noun is nephil (-im makes the word plural). This particular vowel pattern is used for adjectives, substantives, and professional terms. Which follows the typically picturesque way Hebrew describes and names things (see ** in PART 1). The Nephilim are a group of people known for violence, attacks, carcasses, ruin, destruction. They are the "mighty men, who were of old, the men of renown (Gen 6:4d, ESV)**."

All this to say, Nephilim is a descriptive term describing a specific people group known for violence and ferocity. Which could be why the Israelites called the large, fierce people in Canaan Nephilim in Numbers 13:30. They died out in the flood, as did the children from the union of the "sons of God" and "daughters of man." But they are part of the reason for the flood. In Gen 6:11-13 God cites the "corruption" and "violence" on the earth as reasons for destruction. My personal take on this passage is that Gen 6:1-7 is a descriptive mirror to Gen 6:8-22. When you read Gen 6:11-13 and you see the word "corrupt" you should think back to the "sons of God" and the "daughters of man" in Gen 6:1-2. When you read the word "violence," you should picture Gen 6:4, the Nephilim***.

BUT DON'T MISS Gen 6:5 – "The LORD saw, that the wickedness of adam/man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry/regretted that he had man adam/man on the earth, and it grieved/hurt/pained Him to His heart." God calls down judgment upon the corruption and violence, but the sin in THE HEART of mankind caused Him pain and sorrow. Never forget that your thoughts are open to Him, and He can be pained by our actions.

*If you are interested: Changing the vowels in a Hebrew root changes the flavor of the meaning and can turn the word from a verb to a noun. If you a "m" to the front of a verb you change it into a certain types of participles which can act as a verbal-noun "falling" or a noun "ruin." FYI. :-D

** Some people think the Nephilim are descended from the union of the "sons of God" and "daughters of man." I disagree. "The Nephilim² were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown." The phrase in italics is a dependent clause giving time and linking the events with the Nephilim to the rest of the mess on earth at that time and is dependent upon the key phrase "also afterward" – logically, the Nephilim were on the earth at the time of Gen 6:1 BEFORE 6:2.

***And interesting note. If you search for previous uses of the root N-PH-L in Genesis the only time it is mentioned is when Cain is angry and about to kill Abel, and his face "fell." Perhaps the decedents of Cain are not the "daughters of man" but the Nephilim. Food for thought. J