- For other uses, see Nephilim (disambiguation).
In the Hebrew Bible and several non-canonical Jewish and early Christian writings, nephilim (in Hebrew הנּפלים means The Fallen [ones]) are a people created by the cross-breeding of the "sons of God" (beney ha'elohim, בני האלהים) and the "daughters of men". (See Genesis 6:1.) The word nephilim is loosely translated as giants or titans in some Bibles, and is left untranslated in others. There is some controversy as to the identity of the "sons of God" who fathered them; apparently, the Hebrew authors believed they were angels or minor gods.
Despite the literal text of the Bible, the idea that heavenly beings mated with humans is controversial, particularly among Christians, who cite the teaching of Jesus in the Book of Matthew that angels do not marry. Others who find the idea of angels mating with humans as distasteful have suggested more figurative interpretations of the nephilim, such as the idea that they were the offspring of men possessed of demons, or of aliens.
Still others believe that the most reasonable view of Genesis 6:1 is that the allusion refers to the fact that some men, from the godly lineage of Seth, called sons of God (an expression denoting those in covenant relationship with Jehovah - cf. Deuteronomy 14:1; 32:5), began to pursue fleshly interests, and so took wives of the daughters of men, i.e., those who were unbelievers.
There are two clear Biblical references to the Nephilim, one in the Book of Genesis 6:1-4 as the offspring of "the sons of God" and "the daughters of men", and the other in the Book of Numbers 13:33 as inhabitants of the land of Canaan.
They are mentioned in two contexts in the Bible:
Nephilim in Genesis
- "...Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Yefeth. Man began to increase on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them. The sons of God saw that the daughters of man were good, and they took themselves wives from whomever they chose. God said, 'My spirit will not continue to judge man forever, since he is nothing but flesh. His days shall be 120 years.' The nephilim ("giants" or "titans") were on the earth in those days and also later. The sons of God had come to the daughters of man and had fathered them. They were the mightiest ones who ever existed, men of renown." [1] (http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=1&CHAPTER=6) (Genesis 6:1-4)
Thus from the above source the nephilim are the "sons" of the union between the "sons of God" who are supposedly fallen angels according to classical Judaic explanations (Targum Jonathan) [2] (http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=1&CHAPTER=6#C64) and the daughters of man descended from Adam.
It is sometimes suggested that ridding the Earth of this race of giants was God's real purpose in flooding the Earth in Noah's time.
Nephilim in Numbers
- "God spoke to Moses, saying: 'Send out men for yourself to explore the Canaanite territory that I am about to give the Israelites...The men headed north and explored the land...They gave the following report:'...However, the people living in the land are aggressive, and the cities are large and well fortified. We also saw "the giant's" (ha'anak) descendants there'...They began to speak badly about the land that they had explored. They told the Israelites: 'The land that we crossed to explore is a land that consumes its inhabitants. All the men we saw there were "huge men" (anshei midot). While we were there, we saw the nephilim ("giants" or "titans"), they were sons of the "giant" (anak), who descended from the nephilim ("giants" or "titans"), and we saw ourselves as tiny grasshoppers and that's what we were in their eyes." [3] (http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=4&CHAPTER=13) (Numbers 13:1-2;21;27-33).
From the above episode in the Book of Numbers it is therefore the spies sent by Moses to scout out the land who give negative and frightening descriptions about the land of Canaan and who provide reports of the nephilim inhabiting the land. From the context of that report it is clear that they assume that their listeners already know about the nephilim whose origins are described in the Book of Genesis.
Other Biblical giants
The Anakim and the Rephaim, which are mentioned in the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua, are races of giants which descended from the Nephilim.
Nephilim in other works
The story of the Nephilim is chronicled more fully in the Book of Enoch (part of Ethiopian biblical canon).
There are also allusions to these descendants in the deuterocanonical books of Judith, Sirach, Baruch, and Wisdom of Salomon.
Cultural references to Nephilim
The antediluvian Nephilim are a key plot element in Madeline L'Engle's science fantasy novel Many Waters.
Fields of the Nephilim is the name of a gothic rock group.
The X-Files episode "All Souls" features four dying, disfigured girls that Scully believes are Nephilim.
Nephilim is a role-playing game by Chaosium, in which the players take on the roles of ancient spirits that can move from one human incarnation to another.
The Nephilim are a race of beings from a parallel plane that interact with humans in Gregory Keyes's trilogy Age of Unreason.
Nephilim is the name of a mysterious and angelic little girl in the Namco/Monolith Software video game, Xenosaga Episode I: der wille zur macht
In the video game Wing Commander: Prophecy, Nephilim is the code name given to a race of insectoid extraterrestrials who invade our galaxy via an artificial wormhole.
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