I’m quite familiar with the term nephilim and I’ve notice that many don’t know what it means or confuse it for something else. Nephilim does not have a clear origin or meaning. The word nephilim comes from the root “naphal,” meaning “fallen ones,” or the “ones who have fallen” or the “ones that descended from above” and most modern versions of the Bible have left the word “nephilim” untranslated.
But what we do know about nephilim is that according to Genesis 6:4 they are the offspring of the “sons of God” and the “daughters of men”. This implies that nephilim are half angel and half human. In the book of Job, angels are referred to as “sons of God”. Those angels are the ones that did not fall (and are mentioned separately from Satan who is also mentioned). Jude 6 is often referenced as additional support to this theory when addressing the angels who “…did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode…” this is referring to angels who have left heaven and have come to live on Earth.
Nephilim is most commonly used for those that are the offspring of a human and a angel, making them half-blooded; hybrid. It was also implied that nephilim are giants. That they were taller than the humans as a result of such a union. Though some say that nephilim aren’t half human and half angel at all. Instead they were another species completely (not human, not angel, not demon, not animal), known as giants and they just looked like bigger versions of humans.
Others say that nephilim are that of the offspring of Seth (sons of God) and Cain (daughters of men). This implies that nephilim are humans that come from a lineage of two human races. That the offspring of Seth (who were of the children of Adam were pure, angel-like and believe in God) were said to have disobeyed God, by breeding with the Cainites (children of Cain, who don’t believe in God and/or worshiper of another) and producing wicked children “who were all unlike”, thus angering God into bringing about the Deluge.
But again, the reason why many think that nephilim are that is because “later Judaism and almost all the earliest ecclesiastical writers identify the ‘sons of God’ with the fallen angels; but from the fourth century onwards, as the idea of angelic natures becomes less material, the Fathers commonly take the ‘sons of God’ to be Seth’s descendants and the ‘daughters of men’ those of Cain.” — Jerusalem Bible, Genesis VI, footnote.
It’s not set in stone of what nephilim are but it’s mostly a matter of interpretation, which can differ for everyone just like opinions.
 DamnBlackHeart · Fri Jan 25, 2013 @ 04:32pm · 0 Comments |
