Doug Van Pelt

Who Were The Nephilim?

"When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. The the Lord said, 'My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.'

"The Nephilim were on the earth in those days -- and also afterward -- when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

"The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, 'I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth -- men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air -- for I am grieved that I have made them.' But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

"Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God."

So God instructed Noah to build an ark, for He made a covenant with him, that He would save his family. Can you imagine building an ark -- knowing that it was for the specific purpose of saving his family's life and the destruction of every other life on the planet? That would be a heavy load to carry. More than the ridicule he might have faced from neighbors for building an ark in a time when a flood seemed a near impossibility, I respect Noah for holding the burden of the destruction of all mankind in his heart.

So, who were the "sons of God" mentioned in this chapter (Genesis 6)? Who were the Nephilim? Some say they were fallen angels. In Job 1:6 and 2:1 the phrase "sons of God" refers to angels. Others point to Jude 6-7 and say that the phrase refers to angels. Others still say that intermarriage and sexual relations between angels and humans, though mentioned in ancient mythologies, is certainly excluded as an explanation, because of the very nature of the created order. (NIV Study Bible) These argue that "sons of God" refers to godly men and "daughters of men" refers to sinful women, possibly from the line of Cain. Another suggestion is that "sons of God" refers to kings that lived debaucherous lifestyles. Who knows? Maybe they were alien beings? I doubt it.

Interesting stuff. We also see in this passage that God is grieved. Sometimes we have weird viewpoints of God, because it's hard to imagine what God is like. But we know that we were made in His image, so seeing hints at His character, like the fact that He can be grieved, offers some insight into Who He is.

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at September 13, 2006 08:25 AM