The Nephilim (sing. נָפִיל, Naphíl or Naphil) were offspring of the "sons of God" and the "daughters of men" before the Deluge according to 2 Genesis; the name is also used in reference to giants who inhabited Canaan at the time of the Israelite conquest of Canaan according to 2 Numbers. A similar biblical Hebrew word with different vowel-sounds is used in 2 Ezekiel to refer to dead Philistine warriors.
Etymology
The Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon gives the meaning of Nephilim as "giants".[1] Many suggested interpretations are based on the assumption that the word is a derivative of Hebrew verbal root n-ph-l "fall". Robert Baker Girdlestone [2] argued the word comes from the Hiphil causative stem, implying that the Nephilim are to be perceived as "those that cause others to fall down". Adam Clarke took it as a perfect participle, "fallen", "apostates". Ronald Hendel states that it is a passive form "ones who have fallen", equivalent grammatically to paqid "one who is appointed" (i.e., overseer), asir, "one who is bound", (i.e., prisoner) etc.[3][4] According to the Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon, the basic etymology of the word Nephilim is "dub[ious]", and various suggested interpretations are "all very precarious".[5]
The majority of ancient biblical versions, including the Septuagint, Theodotion, Latin Vulgate, Samaritan Targum, Targum Onkelos and Targum Neofiti, interpret the word to mean "giants".[6] Symmachus translates it as "the violent ones"[7] [8] [9] and Aquila's translation has been interpreted to mean either "the fallen ones"[7] or "the ones falling [upon their enemies]".[9] [10]
In the Hebrew Bible
The term "Nephilim" occurs just twice in the Hebrew Bible, both in the Torah. The first is 2 Genesis, immediately before the story of Noah's ark.
| Genesis 6:4[11] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| width=50% style="border-right:solid 1px;" | Hebrew (MT) | width=50% | English (JPS) |
| ד הָיוּ בָאָרֶץ, בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם, וְגַם אַחֲרֵי-כֵן אֲשֶׁר יָבֹאוּ בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים אֶל-בְּנוֹת הָאָדָם, וְיָלְדוּ לָהֶם: הֵמָּה הַגִּבֹּרִים אֲשֶׁר מֵעוֹלָם, אַנְשֵׁי הַשֵּׁם. | 4 were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown. | ||
| width=50% style="border-right:solid 1px;" | Latin (Vulgate) | width=50% | English (KJV) |
| 4 autem erant super terram in diebus illis postquam enim ingressi sunt filii Dei ad filias hominum illaeque genuerunt isti sunt potentes a saeculo viri famosi | 4 There were in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare [children] to them, the same [became] mighty men which [were] of old, men of renown. |
The second is 2 Numbers, where ten of the Twelve Spies report that they have seen fearsome giants in Canaan.
| Numbers 13:33[12] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| width=50% style="border-right:solid 1px;" | Hebrew (MT) | width=50% | English (JPS) |
| לג וְשָׁם רָאִינוּ, אֶת- בְּנֵי עֲנָק--מִן-; וַנְּהִי בְעֵינֵינוּ כַּחֲגָבִים, וְכֵן הָיִינוּ בְּעֵינֵיהֶם. | 33 And there we saw, the sons of Anak, who come of ; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.' | ||
| width=50% style="border-right:solid 1px;" | Latin (Vulgate) | width=50% | English (KJV) |
| 33 ibi vidimus quaedam filiorum Enach de genere quibus conparati quasi lucustae videbamur | 33 And there we saw, the sons of Anak, [which come] of : and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. |
The nature of the nephilim is complicated by the ambiguity of Genesis 6:4, which leaves it unclear whether they are the "sons of God" or their offspring who are the "mighty men of old, men of renown". Richard Hess in The Anchor Bible Dictionary takes it to mean that the nephilim are the offspring,[13] as does P. W. Coxon in Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible.[14]
Interpretations
There are effectively two views[15] regarding the identity of the nephilim, which follow on from alternative views about the identity of the sons of God (Bənê hāʼĕlōhîm):
- Offspring of Seth: The Qumran (Dead Sea Scroll) fragment 4Q417 (4QInstruction) contains the earliest known reference to the phrase "children of Seth", stating that God has condemned them for their rebellion. Other early references to the offspring of Seth rebelling from God and mingling with the daughters of Cain, are found in rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, Augustine of Hippo, Julius Africanus, and the Letters attributed to St. Clement. It is also the view expressed in the modern canonical Amharic Ethiopian Orthodox Bible.
- Offspring of angels: A number of early sources refer to the "sons of heaven" as angels. The earliest such references[16] seem to be in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Greek, and Aramaic Enochic literature, and in certain Ge'ez manuscripts of 1 Enoch (mss A–Q) and Jubilees[17] used by western scholars in modern editions of the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha.[18] Some Christian apologists, such as Tertullian and especially Lactantius, shared this opinion. The earliest statement in a secondary commentary explicitly interpreting this to mean that angelic beings mated with humans can be traced to the rabbinicalTargum Pseudo-Jonathan and it has since become especially commonplace in modern-day Christian commentaries.
Fallen angels
See main article: Fallen angel. The New American Bible commentary draws a parallel to the Epistle of Jude and the statements set forth in Genesis, suggesting that the Epistle refers implicitly to the paternity of nephilim as heavenly beings who came to earth and had sexual intercourse with women.[19] The footnotes of the Jerusalem Bible suggest that the biblical author intended the nephilim to be an "anecdote of a superhuman race".[20]
Some Christian commentators have argued against this view,[21] [22] citing Jesus's statement that angels do not marry.[23] Others believe that Jesus was only referring to angels in heaven.[24]
Evidence cited in favor of the "fallen angels" interpretation includes the fact that the phrase "the sons of God" (Hebrew, בְּנֵי הָֽאֱלֹהִים; literally "sons of the gods") is used twice outside of Genesis chapter 6, in the Book of Job (1:6 and 2:1) where the phrase explicitly references angels. The Septuagint's translation of Genesis 6:2 renders this phrase as "the angels of God".[25]
Second Temple Judaism
See main article: Book of Enoch, Book of Jubilees and Watcher (angel).
See also: Second Temple Judaism. The story of the nephilim is further elaborated in the Book of Enoch. The Greek, Aramaic, and main Ge'ez manuscripts of 1 Enoch and Jubilees obtained in the 19th century and held in the British Museum and Vatican Library, connect the origin of the nephilim with the fallen angels, and in particular with the egrḗgoroi (watchers). Samyaza, an angel of high rank, is described as leading a rebel sect of angels in a descent to earth to have sexual intercourse with human females:
In this tradition, the children of the Nephilim are called the Elioud, who are considered a separate race from the Nephilim, but they share the fate as the Nephilim.
According to these texts, the fallen angels who begat the nephilim were cast into Tartarus (2 Peter 2:4, Jude 1:6) (Greek Enoch 20:2),[26] a place of 'total darkness'. However, Jubilees also states that God granted ten percent of the disembodied spirits of the nephilim to remain after the flood, as demons, to try to lead the human race astray until the final Judgment.
In addition to Enoch, the Book of Jubilees (7:21–25) also states that ridding the Earth of these nephilim was one of God's purposes for flooding the Earth in Noah's time. These works describe the nephilim as being evil giants.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan identifies the nephilim as Shemihaza and the angels in the name list from 1 Enoch.[27] b Yoma 67, PRE22 and 1 QapGen ar ii 1 also identify the nephilim as the angels that fell.
There are also allusions to these descendants in the deuterocanonical books of Judith 16:6, Sirach 16:7, Baruch 3:26–28, and Wisdom of Solomon 14:6, and in the non-deuterocanonical 3 Maccabees 2:4.
In the New Testament Epistle of Jude 14–15 cites from 1 Enoch 1:9, which many scholars believe is based on Deuteronomy 33:2.[28] [29] [30] To most commentators this confirms that the author of Jude regarded the Enochic interpretations of Genesis 6 as correct, however others[31] have questioned this.
Descendants of Seth and Cain
Orthodox Judaism has taken a stance against the idea that Genesis 6 refers to angels or that angels could intermarry with men. Shimon bar Yochai pronounced a curse on anyone teaching this idea. Rashi and Nachmanides followed this. Pseudo-Philo, Biblical Antiquities 3:1–3 may also imply that the "sons of God" were human.[32] Consequently, most Jewish commentaries and translations describe the Nephilim as being from the offspring of "sons of nobles", rather than from "sons of God" or "sons of angels".[33] This is also the rendering suggested in the Targum Onqelos, Symmachus and the Samaritan Targum which read "sons of the rulers", where Targum Neophyti reads "sons of the judges".
Likewise, a long-held view among some Christians is that the "sons of God" were the formerly righteous descendants of Seth who rebelled, while the "daughters of men" were the unrighteous descendants of Cain, and the nephilim the offspring of their union.[34] This view, dating to at least the 1st century AD in Jewish literature as described above, is also found in Christian sources from the 3rd century if not earlier, with references throughout the Clementine literature,[35] as well as in Sextus Julius Africanus,[36] Ephrem the Syrian[37] and others. Holders of this view have looked for support in Jesus' statement that "in those days before the flood they [humans] were… marrying and giving in marriage" (Matthew 24:38).[38]
Some individuals and groups, including St. Augustine, John Chrysostom, and John Calvin, take the view of Genesis 6:2 that the "Angels" who fathered the nephilim referred to certain human males from the lineage of Seth, who were called sons of God probably in reference to their prior covenant with Yahweh (cf.Deuteronomy 14:1; 32:5); according to these sources, these men had begun to pursue bodily interests, and so took wives of the daughters of men, e.g., those who were descended from Cain or from any people who did not worship God.
This also is the view of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church,[39] supported by their own Ge'ez manuscripts and Amharic translation of the Haile Selassie Bible—where the books of 1 Enoch and Jubilees, counted as canonical by this church, differ from western academic editions.[40] The "Sons of Seth view" is also the view presented in a few extra-biblical, yet ancient works, including Clementine literature, the 3rd century Cave of Treasures, and the ca. 6th Century Ge'ez work TheConflict of Adam and Eve with Satan. In these sources, these offspring of Seth were said to have disobeyed God, by breeding with the Cainites and producing wicked children "who were all unlike", thus angering God into bringing about the Deluge, as in the Conflict:
Arguments from culture and mythology
In Aramaic culture, the term niyphelah refers to the Constellation of Orion and nephilim to the offspring of Orion in mythology.[41] However the Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon notes this as a "dubious etymology" and "all very precarious".[1]
J. C. Greenfield mentions that "it has been proposed that the tale of the Nephilim, alluded to in Genesis 6 is based on some of the negative aspects of the apkallu tradition".[42] The apkallu in Sumerian mythology were seven legendary culture heroes from before the Flood, of human descent, but possessing extraordinary wisdom from the gods, and one of the seven apkallu, Adapa, was therefore called "son of Ea", despite his human origin.[43]
Ezekiel's "mighty fallen" or nophlim
Ezekiel 32:27 speaks of "the fallen mighty (gibborim nophlim, גִּבֹּורִים נֹפְלִים) of the uncircumcised, which are gone down (yardu, יָרְדֽוּ) to the grave with their weapons of war"; a change to the vowels would produce the reading gibborim nephilim.[44] [45] [46]
Misidentification of fossil remains
Cotton Mather believed that fossilized leg bones and teeth discovered near Albany, New York, in 1705 were the remains of Nephilim who perished in a great flood. However, paleontologists have identified these as mastodon remains.[47] [48]
Related terms
In the Hebrew Bible, there are a number of other words that, like "Nephilim", are sometimes translated as "giants":
Popular culture
See main article: Nephilim in popular culture.
In Cassandra Clare's book series The Mortal Instruments, the Nephilim are a special race of humans with the blood of angels running through their veins. The job of the Nephilim in the series is to rid the world of evil demonic activity.
In Becca Fitzpatrick's quartet book series, Hush, Hush, the Nephilim are offsprings of fallen angels and humans. According to the information in the books, the Nephilim can be made to swear fealty to a fallen angel, during the Jewish month of Cheshvan, the only month that does not have any holidays or specialmitzvot. The Nephilim would then become the vassal of the fallen angel to which it swore fealty, thus allowing the fallen angel to possess it during the month of Cheshvan.
In Richard Kadrey's Book Series "Sandman Slim" The Main Character, James Stark aka: Sandman Slim is a Nephilim.
See also
- Cain tradition
- Cambion
- Demigod
- Gigantes
- Grigori
- Kenites
- List of giants in mythology and folklore
- Quinametzin
- Serpent seed
- Titan (mythology)
External links
Notes and References
- Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew Lexicon p. 658; Strongs H5307
- Girdlestone R. Old Testament Synonyms p. 54
- Hendel R. ed. Auffarth Christoph; Loren T. Stuckenbruck The Fall of the Angels Brill (22 Feb 2004) ISBN 978-90-04-12668-8 p. 21, 34
- Marks, Herbert "Biblical Naming and Poetic Etymology" Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 114, No. 1 (Spring, 1995), pp. 21–42
- Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew Lexicon p. 658
- Book: Van Ruiten, Jacques. Primaeval History Interpreted: The Rewriting of Genesis I-II in the Book of Jubilees. 189. Brill. 2000. 9789004116580.
- Book: Wright, Archie T.. The Origin of Evil Spirits: The Reception of Genesis 6.1-4 in Early Jewish Literature. 80–81. Mohr Siebeck. 2005. 9783161486562.
- The Greek text reads 'οι βιαιοι; the singular root βιαιος means "violence" or "forcible" (Liddell & Scott. Greek-English Lexicon, 1883.)
- Book: Stackhouse, Thomas. A History of the Holy Bible. 53. Blackie & Son. 1869.
- Salvesen. Alison. Symmachus Readings in the Pentateuch. Origen's Hexapla and Fragments: Papers Presented at the Rich Seminar on the Hexapla, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, [July] 25th-3rd August 1994. 190. Mohr Siebeck. 1998. 9783161465758. The rendering "he fell upon, attacked" [in Symmachus, Genesis 6:6] is something of a puzzle...If it has been faithfully recorded, it may be related to the rendering of Aquila for the Nephilim in 6:4, οι επιπιπτοντες..
- Web site: Genesis 6 / Hebrew - English Bible / Mechon-Mamre. 5 June 2015.
- Web site: Numbers 13 / Hebrew - English Bible / Mechon-Mamre. 5 June 2015.
- Richard Hess, article "Nephilim" in Freedman, David Noel, ed., The Anchor Bible Dictionary, (New York: Doubleday) 1997, 1992.
- P. W. Coxon, article "Nephilim" in K. van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst, "Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible", p. 619
- G. Milton Smith Knowing God in His Word—Genesis 2005 Page 140 "The other view holds that the sons of God were fallen angels who had some sort of union with the women of Noah's"
- paleographically dated by Milik as c150BC see Michael E. Stone Selected studies in pseudepigrapha and apocrypha 1991 p. 248
- either stolen or purchased from street vendors by the British in the reign of Tewodros
- compare: R. H. Charles 1 Enoch 7:2 "And when the angels, (3) 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. Ethiopian Orthodox Bible Henok 2:1–3 "and the Offspring of Seth, who were upon the Holy Mount, saw them and loved them. And they told one another, "Come, let us choose for us daughters from Cain's children; let us bear children for us."
- New American Bible, footnotes page 1370, referring to verse 6.The angels too, who did not keep to their own domain but deserted their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains, in gloom, for the judgement of the great day. Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the surrounding towns, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual promiscuity and practiced unnatural vice, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.—Jude 1:6–7, New American Bible.
- The author does not present this episode as a myth nor, on the other hand, does he deliver judgment on its actual occurrence; he records the anecdote of a superhuman race simply to serve as an example of the increase in human wickedness which was to provoke the Flood.—Jerusalem Bible, Genesis VI, footnote.
- Web site: Who are the sons of God and the Nephilim?. 5 June 2015.
- Web site: Ken Raggio teaches Did Angels Breed Giants?. 5 June 2015.
- Web site: Matthew 22:30. BibleGateway.com, from the New American Standard Bible translation.
- Bob Deffinbaugh, Genesis: From Paradise to Patriarchs, The Sons of God and the Daughters of Men
- Book: Swete, Henry Barclay. The Old Testament in Greek according to the Septuagint (Volume 1). Cambridge University Press. 1901. 9. Greek text: 'οι αγγελοι του θεου
- R. H. Charles A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St John p239 "He may be Uriel, if it is legitimate to compare 1 Enoch xx. 2, according to which he was the angel set over the world and Tartarus (ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τοῦ Ταρτάρου). In 1 Enoch, Tartarus is the nether world generally.
- Archie T. Wright The origin of evil spirits: the reception of Genesis 6.1–4 6:1–4 in Early Jewish Literature. 2005 Page 82 "Targum Neofiti's rendition of nephilim follows that of Onkelos ... Targum Pseudo-Jonathan interprets the Genesis 6.4 passage with significant changes, which indicate a strong negative"
- "1.9 In 'He comes with ten thousands of His holy ones' the text reproduces the Masoretic of Deut. 33² in reading אָתָא = ἔρχεται, whereas the three Targums, the Syriac and Vulgate read אִתֹּה = μετ' αὐτοῦ. Here the LXX diverges wholly. The reading אתא is recognised as original. The writer of 1–5 therefore used the Hebrew text and presumably wrote in Hebrew." R.H.Charles, Book of Enoch: Together with a Reprint of the Greek Fragments London 1912, p.lviii
- "We may note especially that 1:1, 3–4, 9 allude unmistakably to Deuteronomy 33:1–2 (along with other passages in the Hebrew Bible), implying that the author, like some other Jewish writers, read Deuteronomy 33–34, the last words of Moses in the Torah, as prophecy of the future history of Israel, and 33:2 as referring to the eschatological theophany of God as judge." Richard Bauckham, The Jewish world around the New Testament: collected essays. 1999 p276
- "The introduction.. picks up various biblical passages and re-interprets them, applying them to Enoch. Two passages are central to it The first is Deuteronomy 33:1 .. the second is Numbers 24:3–4 Michael E. Stone Selected studies in pseudepigrapha and apocrypha with special reference to the Armenian Tradition (Studia in Veteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha No 9) p.422.
- e.g. Michael Green The second epistle general of Peter, and the general epistle of Jude p59
- James L. Kugel Traditions of the Bible: A Guide to the Bible As It Was at the Start of the Common Era (9780674791510)
- "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of the nobles would come to the daughters of man, and they would bear for them; they are the mighty men, who were of old, the men of renown."—Genesis 6:4 (chabad.org translation)
- 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.
- Web site: KITĀB AL-MAGĀLL OR THE BOOK OF THE ROLLS. ONE OF THE BOOKS OF CLEMENT.. 5 June 2015.
- Web site: ANF06. Fathers of the Third Century: Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius, and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arn. 5 June 2015.
- Commentary in Genesis 6:3
- Rick Wade, Answering Email, The Nephilim
- http://www.mahiberekidusan.org/Default.aspx?tabid=98&ctl=Details&mid=371&ItemID=75 Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Sunday Schools Department: The "Holy Angels"
- The Amharic text of Henok 2:1–3 (i.e. 1 En) in the 1962 Ethiopian Orthodox Bible may be translated as follows: "After mankind abounded, it became thus: And in that season, handsome comely children were born to them; and the Offspring of Seth, who were upon the Holy Mount, saw them and loved them. And they told one another, "Come,let us choose for us daughters from Cain's children; let us bear children for us."
- e.g. Peake's commentary on the Bible 1919
- J. C. Greenfield, Article Apkallu in K. van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst, "Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible", pp.72–4
- J. C. Greenfield, Article Apkallu in K. van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst, "Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible", pp.73
- W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel vl.2 Translated J. D. Martin; Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1983 p168, 176
- RS Hendel, Of Demigods and the Deluge: Towards an Interpretation of Genesis 6:1–4, JBL 106 (1987) p22
- Web site: Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. 5 June 2015.
- Book: Rigal, Laura. American Manufactory: Art, Labor, and the World of Things in the Early Republic. Princeton University Press. 2001. 91. 9780691089515.
- Rose. Mark. When Giants Roamed the Earth. Archaeology. 58. 6. November–December 2005. 15 October 2014.
