The Rise and Fall of the Nephilim (6 page)

(Genesis 1:26)

Is God, in this passage, referring to Himself in the third person, much as would an earthly monarch when speaking of the vast powers he or she holds in sway over his or her subjects? Or is this an example of a plurality of gods speaking as a singular entity?

The examples could go on to a point of trivial exhaustion, as there are more than 2,500 of them throughout the Old Testament. So let us (plural) bring (singular) our (plural) examination (singular) of the word
Elohim
(plural) to a conclusion, putting it in context with our entire subject matter, the Nephilim:

The source of the word
Nephilim
is found only in ancient Jewish religious writings, including the Bible’s Old Testament Books of Moses, the apocryphal book Book of Enoch, and a few other scant biblical and non-biblical references. Whether you like it or not, the Judeo-Christian books of faith are teh absolute source point for the word itself. That is not to say that there are not dozens of other ancient cultures (see
Chapter 4
) that record accounts of the same beings under different labels and names. But for the sake of going to the source of the most commonly understood and used word for these beings, the Nephilim are sourced in Jewish scriptures. According to Genesis, it was
Elohim
who gave birth to or created beings known as the Watchers (according to Enoch), who are called the Sons of God
(bene haElohim)
in Genesis
Chapter 6
. It is said that these Sons of God descended to the earth and cohabited with human women, producing offspring called the Nephilim. Bing. Bang. Boom.

But we still have one intermediate step to look at before getting to the Nephilim themselves—namely, their unearthly lineage, the one half of their cross-bred parentage: the
bene haElohim
, or the Sons of God.

Now that we have examined the plurality of the name
Elohim
, and the presentation of the Jewish concept that it meant (more likely than not) a singular God with vast majesty and possessing of many powers, we now need to examine his offspring. They are the characters in the account of the lineage of the Nephilim known as the Sons of God, the
bene Elohim
or
bene-haElohim
, the “parents”—or least one half of the parental line.

“1 When human beings began to increase in number on the
earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God
saw that these daughters were beautiful, and they married any
of them they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not
contend with human beings 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 the human beings
and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of
renown.”

(Genesis 6:1-4)

These four verses from Genesis
Chapter 6
appear in the preamble to the account of Noah’s Flood. Noah’s name appears for the first time in the text in verse 8, where it states that he
“found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”
The passage goes on to state that Noah (and his family) was the only “righteous” human being left on the earth, and that is why he was chosen to be the builder of the great ark—or barge—which would preserve him, his family, and pairs of animals from the great watery judgment of God’s wrath. (We will examine later the meaning of the word
righteous
and find out that it meant much more than simple spiritual goodness.)

These four verses comprise a very interesting passage in that it differs in writing style from the rest of the Book of Genesis, having earmarks of having been extracted, edited, and perhaps even plagiarized—at least in part—from other extant contemporary source
material. If you’ve ever written a term paper for school, it’s like paraphrasing bits and pieces of material from external sources without quoting that source. After extensive study of this passage, Dr. David Penchansky, chair of the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, Minn.) stated in a personal conversation with me:

This passage has been edited, either by the writer of
Genesis, or by later scribes. It most certainly does not
match the writing style of the rest of the book, and the
language in which it is written is “choppy,” almost as
if it is reproduced in the text as snippets from other
source material. And the account was, obviously, far
too well-known at the time to be omitted completely.

The term
bene haElohim
(
), or Sons of God is found only four times in the Old Testament: Genesis 6:1-4; Job 1:6 and 2:1; Job 38:7; Psalm 29:1.

In the Genesis 6:1–4 passage we are told that the Sons of God looked upon human women (other translations refer to these women as: “the daughters of men/man; men’s daughters; the beautiful women of the human race; and even, ‘these girls’”) and “saw that they were beautiful.” In some translations, the Sons of God “lusted after them,” and then “married any of them they chose,” or in some translations “they took the ones they liked.” The title, Sons of God, has been viewed several ways, and various translations refer to them as “God’s Sons, heavenly beings, and Sons from the Heavens.” It is clear to most biblical scholars that the title, Sons of God refers to angelic beings, and this is supported by other passages throughout the old and new testaments, as well as the apocryphal Book of Enoch, and various other historical texts. It is interesting to note that even Jesus of Nazareth, himself, was called “The Son of God.”

However, different views are taken on the Genesis 6:1-4 passage:

Sons of God simply refers to men, the sons of the nobles who were patrons of the school of the prophets, who married daughters of the
common people. This is the view of many Jewish authorities as well as professors from my own theological roots in fundamentalist, conservative Baptist seminary circles, who hold that the Sons of God are only human men, justified by the use of
elohim
being defined as “judges” in other passages such as Exodus 21:6 and 22:8. But this is simply a means by which certain theologians avoid dealing with the intermingling of spirit beings and human women, an entire notion that falls far too close to an admission that there is more than just humanity inhabiting the universe. This is a perfect example of good scholars using disingenuous scholarship for a means to squeeze the interpretation of certain words into their particular theological point of view.

Sons of God—
bene haElohim
—is used in this passage to demonstrate the stark contrast to the term
daughters of men
(
). From
Elohim
to
adahm;
God to man. When you read Elohim in conjunction with other words in the context, you have to view the Hebrew word for men:
adahm
(
). It simply means “the human race of men.” If, indeed, the Sons of God—the
bene haElohim
—refers only to mere mortal men of the upper classes, seeking to marry the daughters of the lower classes, the word
adahm
would not be contrasted with
bene haElohim
. And when used in the same context with
elohim, adahm
signifies the human race in contrast to the divine. The
bene-haElohim
were anything but human beings, and that is in strict unity with the Hebrew language of the passage.

Some theologians hold that the Sons of God are to be understood as the pious, righteous race descended from Seth (Adam and Eve’s third son), and that “daughters of men” is to be interpreted as the “daughters of worldly men.” However, the language simply does not state that, and, again, it is intellectually disingenuous, and a theological stretch to say that it does.

Whoever they were, the text makes it clear that they were bequeathed by the God who was above them; sons by birth, or sons by creative act, their point of origin is clear in all accounts: They came from the heavens and had some claim to being called Sons of God. The following passage from the Book of Enoch introduces them within the framework of
the Jewish/Christian tradition—despite their appearance in a book that was banned from the canonical scriptures by the Church—and offers up a startlingly similar account to the Genesis 6:1-4 passage.

“1 It happened after the sons of men had multiplied in those days, that daughters were born to them, elegant and beautiful. 2 And when the angels, the sons of heaven, beheld them, they became enamoured of them, saying to each other, “Come, let us select for ourselves wives from the progeny of men, and let us beget children.” 3 Then their leader Shamjaza said to them; “I fear that you may perhaps be indisposed to the performance of this enterprise; 4 And that I alone shall suffer for so grievous a crime.” 5 But they answered him and said; “We all swear; 6 And bind ourselves by mutual execrations, that we will not change our intention, but execute our projected undertaking.” 7 Then they swore all together, and all bound themselves by mutual execrations. Their whole number was two hundred, who descended upon Ardis (during the days of Jared), which is the top of mount Armon (Mt. Hermon in present day Israel). 8 That mountain therefore was called Armon, because they had sworn upon it, and bound themselves by mutual execrations. 9 These are the names of their chiefs: Shamyaza, who was their leader, Urakabarameel, Akibeel, Tamiel, Ramuel, Danel, Azkeel, Saraknyal, Azazel, Armers, Batraal, Anane, Zavebe, Samsaveel, Ertael, Turel, Yomyael, Arazyal. These were the prefects of the two hundred angels, and the remainder were all with them. 10 Then they took wives, each choosing for himself; whom they began to approach, and with whom they cohabited; teaching them sorcery, incantations, and the dividing of roots and trees. 11 And the women conceiving brought forth giants.”

(1 Enoch 7: 1-11)