Nephilim and The Sons of God - In These Last Days
Genesis 6:1. Now it came about, when mankind began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, verse 2, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Verse 3. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not remain with man forever, because he is also flesh; nevertheless, his days shall be 120 years.” Verse 4. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of mankind, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
There is confusion and controversy (another phrase for disagreement and discussion) on the Nephilim, what were they, and where did they come from; and the ‘sons of God’ in relation to the Nephilim, who were they and where did they come from?
You can read the commentaries for yourself. I have provided two commentaries for your review and consideration. (the Pulpit commentary from Biblehub.com and GotQuestions.org).
WHY DOES IT MATTER?
In these last days God will give this world over to a great delusion and even the elect will be fooled if that were possible. (see. Matthew 24:24).
“Could the end times include a similar alien deception? The Bible doesn’t directly address the issue, but it is certainly plausible, for a variety of reasons. First, the Bible tells us that the world will unite under the power of the Antichrist. In order to achieve an agreement between all the world’s religions, it would make sense for the “uniter” to come from an entirely new source—an extraterrestrial source. It is hard to imagine one religion becoming head of all the others, unless new, unearthly knowledge were the source of the appeal and power of the new “religion.” This would be in keeping with past deceptions and would be a very effective way to deceive a large number of people.
“Second, this deception could provide an answer to the problem of earth’s origins. The scientific theory that the evolution of life on earth was spontaneously generated still has no answer for life’s beginnings. There is evidence for a “big bang,” but that still doesn’t explain what caused the big bang to occur. If alien beings arrived and gave us an extraterrestrial explanation for life on earth, the origins of the world religions, and even the origins of our planet, it would be very persuasive.
“That said, we should not fear. The Lord has said that He will not leave us or forsake us, and that He will protect us (1 Kings 8:57; Matthew 10:31; Isaiah 41:10). Demons / angels are not omnipotent, nor are they omnipresent. Jesus said that in the end times, His appearing would be like lightning—easily visible to all. He said to be wary of any being that says “I am the Christ” or any group that says “He’s over there” or “He’s in here” (Matthew 24:23-24). He said that vultures gather around a dead body, meaning that if you see a group of people gathering around someone claiming to be Christ, that person is death and a false prophet.
“We should be wary of any person or being that produces signs and wonders without biblical fidelity or the presence of obedience to the Lord Jesus, anyone who provides a way to unite the world religions or governments (Revelation 13:5-8), any being that promotes unnatural sexual relationships (Genesis 6:4; Jude 1:6-7), and of course, any person who denies that Jesus is God (2 John 1:7). Furthermore, anyone who presents a “substitute” Jesus, who represents Him as “a god but not the God” or who claims He was merely a good teacher, simply a human, or even a super-human or an alien creature, is a deceiver.
“Lastly, if demons manifesting as aliens are part of the end times, we should remember that they, too, are created beings subject to a sovereign God and ultimately answerable to Him. Whether in alien form or not, the descriptions of demons in Revelation are frightening (Revelation 9:1-12), but we should not fear those who can only kill the body. Instead, we should only fear the One who can kill the body and the soul in hell (Matthew 10:28). No matter what happens to us on the earth, we should trust that the Lord is the Savior, Redeemer, and Protector of the souls of those who put their trust in Him (Psalm 9:10; 22:5).” (gotquestions.org, alien deception)
CONCLUSION:
I am interested in what the Bible says and indicates. Since the commentators disagree on who these Nephilim and sons of God are and where the come from, and since I am neither a Hebrew scholar nor am I a Bible scholar, I will simply compare these terms, words and phrases from Genesis chapter 6 and Job chapter 1 to see the similarities and differences and try to arrive at a conclusion. Please join me.
The phrase ‘sons of God’, both in Job 1:6 and in Genesis 6:2 is from the SAME HEBREW WORD and means the same thing. There is the strong suggestion they are angels.
The word ‘Nephilim’ means giants; but comes from a root word, naphal, meaning to fall or fallen. So, the idea is that the Nephilim could well have been fallen angels.
The controversy centers around the question, ‘were the Nephilim simply descendants of Seth or were they supernatural beings’? Were they fallen angels, (i.e., demons), or were they just very large and evil natural men?
Another suggestion is ‘were they natural men who had been inhabited by evil spirits or Demons’?
It is important to be informed and to inform others, so we are not caught unaware by the deception of the devil or by his demons.
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
Here are some excellent resources
Gotquestions.org, alien deception?
Here is another very good resource on the entire matter:
Khouse.org, topical bible study, the Nephilim
STUDY NOTES:
Pulpit Commentary:
(3) the assertion of our Lord in Luke 20:35 is inconsistent with the hypothesis that by the sons of God are meant the angels; and
(4) consistent exegesis requires that only extreme urgency, in fact absolute necessity (neither of which can be alleged here), should cause the sons of God to be looked for elsewhere than among the members of the human race.
3. The third interpretation, therefore, which regards the sons of God as the pious Sethites (Cyril of Alexandria, Theodoret, Augustine, Jerome, Calvin, Keil, Havernick, Lange, Murphy, Wordsworth, Quarry, 'Speaker's Commentary'), though not without its difficulties, has the most to recommend it.
(1) It is natural, and not monstrous.
(2) It is Scriptural, and not mythical (cf. Numbers 25; Judges 3; 1 Kings 11, 16; Revelation 2, for sins of a similar description).
(3) It accords with the designation subsequently given to the pious followers of God (cf.
Deuteronomy 14:1; Deuteronomy 32:5; Psalm 73:15; Proverbs 14:26; Luke 3:38; Romans 8:14; Galatians 3:26).
(4) It has a historical basis in the fact that Seth was regarded by his mother as a son from God (Genesis 4:25), and in the circumstance that already the Sethites had begun to call themselves by the name of Jehovah (Genesis 4:26). Dathius translates, "qui de nomine Dei vocabantur."
I am interested in what the Bible says and indicates. Since the commentators disagree on who these Nephilim and sons of God are and where the come from, and since I am neither a Hebrew scholar nor am I a Bible scholar, I will simply compare these terms, words and phrases from Genesis chapter 6 and Job chapter 1 to see the similarities and differences and try to arrive at a conclusion. Please join me.
Nephilim and the Sons of God
Bible Word Study:
Job 1:6, New King James Version Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.
Job 1:6, New American Standard Bible Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.
Son: ben: son
Original Word: בֵּן Part of Speech: Noun Masculine Transliteration: ben Phonetic Spelling: (bane) Definition: son
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
afflicted, age, anointed one, appointed to, arrow. From banah; a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense
God: elohim: God, god
Original Word: אֱלהִים Part of Speech: Noun Masculine Transliteration: elohim Phonetic Spelling: (el-o-heem') Definition: God, god
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
angels, exceeding, God, very great, mighty
Plural of 'elowahh; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative -- angels, X exceeding, God (gods)(-dess, -ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty.
New American Standard Bible - Genesis 6:1. Now it came about, when mankind began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, verse 2, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever<mh3605, 834=""> they chose. Verse 3. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not remain with man forever, because he is also flesh; nevertheless, his days shall be 120 years.” Verse 4. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of mankind, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
New King James Version – Genesis 6:1. Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, verse 2, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
Verse 3. And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” Verse 4. There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
Son: ben: son
Original Word: בֵּן Part of Speech: Noun Masculine Transliteration: ben Phonetic Spelling: (bane) Definition: son
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance:
afflicted, age, anointed one, appointed to, arrow. From banah; a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense
God: elohim: God, god.
Original Word: אֱלהִים Part of Speech: Noun Masculine Transliteration: elohim Phonetic Spelling: (el-o-heem') Definition: God, god
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance:
angels, exceeding, God, very great, mighty
Plural of 'elowahh; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative -- angels, X exceeding, God (gods)(-dess, -ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty.
Nephilim - Nephilim: "giants," name of two peoples, one before the flood and one after the flood
Original Word: נְפִיל Part of Speech: Noun Masculine Transliteration: Nephilim Phonetic Spelling: (nef-eel') Definition: "giants", name of two peoples, one before the flood and one after the flood
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance:
giant
Or nphil {nef-eel'}; from naphal; properly, a feller, i.e. A bully or tyrant -- giant.
see HEBREW naphal - naphal: to fall, lie
Original Word: נָפַל Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: naphal Phonetic Spelling: (naw-fal') Definition: to fall, lie
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance:
cast down, self, lots, out, cease, die, divide by lot, let fail,
Topical Bible Verses
Genesis 6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. Topicalbible.org
Numbers 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. Topicalbible.org
Easton's Bible Dictionary:
(Genesis 6:4; Numbers 13:33, R.V.), giants, the Hebrew word left untranslated by the Revisers, the name of one of the Canaanitish tribes. The Revisers have, however, translated the Hebrew gibborim, in Genesis 6:4, "mighty men."
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
(n. pl.) Giants.:
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
NEPHILIM
nef'-i-lim (nephilim): This word, translated "giants" in the King James Version, but retained in the Revised Version (British and American), is found in two passages of the Old Testament-one in Genesis 6:4, relating to the antediluvians; the other in Numbers 13:33, relating to the sons of Anak in Canaan. In the former place the Nephilim are not necessarily to be identified with the children said to be borne "the daughters of men" to "the sons of God" (Genesis 6:2, 4); indeed, they seem to be distinguished from the latter as upon the earth before this unholy commingling took place (see SONS OF GOD). But it is not easy to be certain as to the interpretation of this strange passage. In the second case they clearly represent men of gigantic stature, in comparison with whom the Israelites felt as if they were "grasshopers." This agrees with Genesis 6:4, "the mighty men that were of old, the men of renow." Septuagint, therefore, was warranted in translating by gigantes.
James Orr
Strong's Hebrew:
Nephilim -- "giants," name of two peoples, one before the ... Nephilim or Nephilim. 5302, 5303. Nephilim or Nephilim. 5304 . "giants," name of two peoples, one before the flood and one after ... /hebrew/5303.htm - 6k