Many of the divine creatures have a mysterious and dark origin. That is the case of the Nephilim, some extraordinary giants mentioned in the Bible. Although these beings are recognized as biblical monsters, they also have a more heavenly side, since they are children of angels.
Angels are heavenly beings that appear in the three major monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. According to their sacred books, they are beings that are at the service of God, but all three beliefs agree that a faction of them defied him and its members became fallen angels.
One group, the followers of Lucifer, began their ordeal before the existence of the human being. But another, the Grigori, disobeyed God when they were on Earth watching over humans. His sin was to fall in love with the daughters of men and procreate with them. The fruit of this union were the Nephilim, the giants mentioned in the Bible, children of angels and humans.
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Find out who the Nephilim are
Angel names are usually very curious. However, “Nephilim” comes from the Hebrew word “Nafal” which means to fall and, therefore, when the Bible or other Hebrew writings speak of them, translates as “the fallen.”
However, depending on which text is being studied, the word Nephilim could be translated differently and have other meanings such as: «the giants», «the violent» or «the demolishers».
1. The origin of the Nephilim
The history of the Nephilim begins in Genesis 6, 1-4, where it is narrated how the giants of the Bible were created:
When humanity began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to men, the sons of God (the Grigori) saw that the daughters of men were good for them and they took for women whom they preferred among all of them, convincing and deceiving them to be with them.
Then Yahweh said: ‘My spirit will not always remain in man, because he is nothing more than flesh; let his days be 120 years’. The Nephilim existed on earth at that time (and also after), when the sons of God were joined to the daughters of men and they gave them children; these were considered in some versions as the heroes of antiquity, famous men and of great recognition.
When the Bible speaks of the “sons of God” it refers to the angels who were on Earth watching over them, the “Grigori”. These joined human women, they disguised themselves as men of flesh and blood to take the women.
Their children were the Nephilim, who are generally described as terrible and evil giants.who lack spiritual capacity and for this reason are not likely to be resurrected at the end of days, all of them also male, creatures of strength that flooded the Earth with terror.
For some authors, the fallen angels did not procreate with women because they fell in love, but as a sabotage to divine plans in an attempt to contaminate humans and prevent the advent of the Messiah from taking place.
2. Types of Nephilim
Just as there are types of angels, there are equally types or categories of Nephilim. In the texts, several lineages can be found mentioned, although little is known about the distinctions between them.
- anakitas
- Zamaunites
- refaitas
- emit
- giborites
Both the book of Enoch and some of the Dead Sea Scrolls talk about the Nephilim and what they are.
In the first book, in chapter 15, he says: «And now, the giants that are born of the spirits and of the fleshevil spirits will be called on the earth, and their dwelling place will be on the earth.” For some, his great size and power derive from the mixing of demonic “DNA” with the genetics of women.
In turn, the Bible specifies what the Nephilim are in this way: “valiant men who from ancient times were renowned men”.
3. History of the Nephilim
The Book of Enoch, which is only accepted in the Ethiopian canon, explains in the history of the Nephilim that it was because of the evil, corruption and wars that these giants provoked, that the Universal Flood occurred. God, to finish off the Nephilim, he drowned them along with all human beings, except Noah and his family.
The sacred scriptures refer to this event:
“And the Lord saw that the wickedness of men was great on earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord repented of having made men on the earth, and it hurt his heart. And the Lord said: I will destroy men whom I have created from the face of the earth, from man to beast, and to reptiles and birds of the sky; Well, I regret having done it.”
Despite the fact that, in principle, all of them perished, there are legends in many ancient cultures about the Nephilim. In them these beings are an equivalent to the children of the Greek gods or to the heroeswith great physical strength and height, but with negative connotations, since they are considered evil.
5. The giants today
It is believed that after the great deluge, the Nephilim were created again, because again the Grigori reproduced with humans, but this time in less quantity. There is a passage that tells how the Israelites spied on Canaan (one of the Jordanian cities today), «We also saw there giants, sons of Anac, race of giants, and we were, in our opinion, like locusts; and so we appeared to them” Numbers 13:33.
We must make the distinction between a fallen angel and a Nephilim, since they are not the same. The Nephilim are considered hybrids between something supernatural and human. However, there is no evidence about the real existence of these great giants that the Bible narrates..
The Nephilim, like many other creatures, are myths that endure through writings and popular beliefs. Of course, impressive and very interesting beings! To know what the Nephilim are and understanding their origin, allow us to understand how the Christian worldview is formed.
Did you know what the Nephilim are? Do you know other stories about giants from the Bible? Tell us, we read you. And if you want to continue reading more about these curious creatures, we recommend you read some of the findings that tried to prove the existence of the giants, you will surely love it.