SHOW NOTES

Our reading for the week is Numbers chapter 3 to Numbers chapter 17.  And you will probably never guess what I am pulling out of these chapters for our discussion this week, Nephilim.  That’s right and it is not the discussion you are probably going to expect.

His everyone, I’m Tammy Becker and welcome to the Almighty God & Gospel Girl Podcast.  We are in the beginning of a series title Investigating Biblical Rabbit Trails and this week I have pulled out the subject of what we in modern English would call giants.

We were first introduced to the Nephilim back in Genesis chapter 6 verse 2 but let me read the first verse as well so that you get the context.  “1) And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2) That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they are fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.”

Well, there is a lot to digest in just those two verses alone, but to understand what even the Nephilim are we need to understand the beginning.  The interpretation of the passage obviously turns on the meaning of the phrase “sons of God” (bene elohim).  Now let me make a sidestep here…when we get to the New Testament, this term is used with reference to all who have been born again through personal faith in Christ Jesus our Messiah (see John 1:12; Romans 8:14)

There are many other paces that we find the term bene Elohim used in the Old Testament (Psalm 73:15; Hosea 1:10; Deuteronomy 32:5; Exodus 4:22; and Isaiah 43:6).  Get this though, not one of these examples uses the same phrase parallel to the meaning here in in Genesis.  Neither the descendants of Seth nor true believers of any sort have been previously referred to in Genesis as son of God in an kind of spiritual sense and, except for Adam himself, they could not have been sons of God in a physical.  The only seemingly obvious and natural meaning without such clarification is that these beings ere sons of God, rather than of men, because they had been created, not born.  Such a description would apply only to Adam (Luke 3:38) and to the angels, whom God had directly created (Psalm 148:2,5; Psalm 104:4; Colossians 1:16).

There are three other times that the actual phrase bene Elohim is used, and they are all in the book of Job (1:6; 2:1; 38:7).  In my mind there is no doubt in these passages, the meaning applies exclusively to the angels.  A very similar form bar Elohim is used in Daniel 3:25, which is referring to either an angel or a theophany.  The term “sons of the mighty” (bene elim) is used in Palm 29:1 and Psalm 89:6 and once again refers to angels.  So, one could easily concur that the writer was conveying the thought of angels-that is fallen angels, no doubt since they were acting against and in opposition to God’s will.

So, there is a lot deeper diving you can do on your own with the scriptures I have provided but we must move on for the sake of time and get to some more key points.

For references, links, pictures in this podcast please see my corresponding post on youministies.com.  Below is a picture depicting a fallen angel, which is probably something that all of us have envisioned angel, fallen or not to look like.  However, as we study on, we learn this is not the case as at.

🙌The passage gives us a description of the offspring in v.4 The Bible calls them Nephilim, which means fallen ones in Hebrew.  But the Septuagint chose to translate the Hebrew word into gigentes in Greek, rather than leaving it as a proper noun.   Gigentes means giant in English, but the original Hebrew was not trying to suggest that the offspring of angels and women were giants. In fact, it would have been an even greater danger if the offspring were indistinguishable from normal men. They would have mixed in more easily and without being easily detectable.

In the text of v.4 there is a potentially confusing statement I want to clarify.  Moses says that the Nephilim were on earth in those days and also afterward. Some think Moses is implying that this intermarriage continued after the food.  They even cite Numbers and the story of the ten spies who reported seeing Nephilim in the promised land.  Awe do you see what I just did, brought Genesis right into our current reading.  So, the report of the ten spies was not accurate, as the story in Numbers bears out.  They were lying to persuade the people of Israel not to enter, since they were afraid of the Canaanites.  Furthermore, it is the syntax of the Hebrew in Genesis 6 that is the cause for our confusion.  If we read it in the Hebrew, we find that the phrase “and afterward” is connected to the second half of the sentence, not the first half.

Listen to the Septuagint:

Gen. 6:4 Now the giants were upon the earth in those days; and also after that when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, they bore children to them, those were the giants of old, the men of renown.

So, the “afterward” is simply a connecting word in Hebrew to introduce what happened after the demons mated with women. The offspring are called Nephilim, fallen ones, but they pose a new and significant threat to God’s plan for mankind.

The introduction of fallen angels into the genealogy of mankind would interfere with God’s plan to bring Messiah into the world as a man.   Messiah must share in the nature of man in order to redeem man.  If man’s nature has been corrupted into one that shares the demon nature, God’s plan to bring Messiah would be derailed.  So, in v.3, God says His Spirit shall not strive with men forever.  The Hebrew word for strive is unique, making it difficult to define since it only occurs here in the entire Bible. It probably means to remain with man, as in to keep his physical body alive.  Remember that God breathed His spirit into man to bring Adam to life.  But that joining of spirit and flesh was no longer permanent. Flesh was now destined to perish because of the curse. So, God is saying that all flesh is destined to die sooner or later. And now the flesh of men was being systematically corrupted by angels. So, God declares that if an end to flesh is inevitable anyway, He now sets a limit to how long flesh will remain on the earth.

The Nephilim, which name appears twice in the Bible:

• Gen 6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward when the sons of God came into the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
• Num 13:33 There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim), and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

“Those days” in Gen 6:4 refer to the time of Noah, so Nephilim existed pre-Flood, but would have perished during the Flood since only eight persons (Noah, his three sons, and their wives) were brought safely through the water (1 Pet 3:20). Now this brings us to our current weeks reading and how, then, could the Nephilim be around in Numbers 13?

To understand this, we need to find out who the Nephilim and “sons of Anak” were. The word Nephilim is the transliteration of the Hebrew word נָפִיל (nāp̄î). Word-for-word English versions such as NASB or ESV simply left the word transliterated. Thought-for-thought versions e.g., GNT translate the word as “giants”.

Anak is the transliteration of the Hebrew word עֲנָק (ănāq)this is typed out in my corresponding notes. It appears 9 times in 8 verses in the NASB, and as “Anakim” another 9 times in 9 verses, for a total of 16 verses as one verse contains both terms. The word means “neck”. The relevant passages which shed light on the subject include:

• Deuteronomy 1:28 Where can we go up? Our brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified to heaven. And besides, we saw the sons of the Anakim there.”’
• Deuteronomy 2:10 (The Emim lived there formerly, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim.
• Deuteronomy 2:21 a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim, but the Lord destroyed them before them. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place,
• Deuteronomy 9:2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’

As you can see, the Nephilim were giants. The sons of Anak were a tribe of big and tall people, i.e., giants, hence a part of the Nephilim. More precisely, the Nephilim or sons of Anak in Num 13:33 were a sub-tribe of Canaanites who were giants. It does not mean the original Nephilim of Gen 6:4 somehow survived the Flood and lasted until the time of Moses when the twelve spies saw them.

Today there is a lot of controversy over the Nephilim/giants.  But in my opinion, and it is simply my opinion, the Bible is clear…the fallen angels, the Nephilim in Genesis were destroyed by the flood.  But do not take my word for it, take YHWH’s Word for, study this subject on your own by praying first and asking our Father to discern the Word for you.  Make use of the Blue Letter Bible and look up the translations for yourself. 

This by far, has always been one of my favorite rabbit trails to study and there is a lot more you can research so I will leave you with my bit and give you some other scriptures from our reading that you might want to take a deeper dive.

Rabbit Trails

Numbers 7:  The 12 tribes of Israel were made – 1 tribe each day for 12 days, a fun activity it to research and chart the tribes.

Numbers 8-10:  Research how many times “the cloud” moves and tlls the tribes where to camp.  Still think about how awesome this must have been to see the Lord moving and guiding them along the way manifested as clouds.

Numbers 11-13:  Moses had personal relationship with YHWH.  One we should strive for every day.

Numbers 12:3:  Moses is humble.  Another trait we could carry forward ourselves.

Numbers 15:30:  Talks about blasphemy did you catch it?

Numbers 16:33:  Here is a rabbit trail for sure…it talks about Sheol!  Yikes.

That wraps it up for this week.  Make sure and visit back each and every week as we head down more rabbit trails together and study YHWH’s Word as He intended.  It’s been a pleasure as always spending time with you.  Once last note.

DISCLAIMER:

This study is in no way to take the place of studying the entire Bible in fact if you haven't studied the entire Bible from book to book, cover to cover I suggest doing that first before you dive into this study. This study is a study, an investigative deep dive if you will, for those of you that have read the Bible and Studied God’s Word cover to cover and want to do a little deeper diving into some “rabbit trails” in the Bible.

I will be providing questions, scriptures, and points of interest, if you will, that you can look up on your own, investigate, and deep dive asking God to help you discern and come to your thoughts. In no way am I trying to influence you one way or another period! My entire goal of doing this series this year is so that you get into your Bibles even more and discover all the treasures that God has placed there for us.

You will hear me mention over and over on my podcasts, don’t take my word for it, get in your Bible, and look it up yourself! I challenge you to challenge me and find the answers for yourself. That’s right, I will bring you a message, I will back it up with scripture, I will give you prompts I will put some questions out there that will make you go or I never thought of that or wow that's something new…but, let me make this very clear….it is your job, that’s right, your job to be in Yahweh’s Word daily.

References and credits:  Verse by Verse Ministry; Christy Jordon; Ray Klu; Christian Leaders; Blue Letter Bible