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Nephilim

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In the Torah and several non-canonical Jewish and early Christian writings, nephilim (Hebrew, הנּפלים, those causing others to fall) are a people created by the crossbreeding of the sons of God (b'nei elohim, בני האלהים) and the "daughters of men"<ref>Genesis 6:1</ref>. The word nephilim is loosely translated as giants or titans in some translations of the Bible, and is left as nephilim in others:

When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.<ref>Genesis 6:1-4, English Standard Version</ref>

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[edit] Origin and interpretation

In Aramaic culture, the term Nephila specifically referred to the constellation of Orion, and thus Nephilim to [Orion]'s semi-divine descendants (cf Anakim from Anak)<ref>Peake's commentary on the Bible</ref>; the implication being that this also is the origin of the Biblical Nephilim. Some commentators[citation needed] have suggested that the nephilim were believed to have been fathered by members of a proto-Hebrew pantheon, and are a brief glimpse of early Hebrew religion, most of the details of which was later edited out from the Torah (or at least edited out when it was redacted together, and that this passage may have offered monotheistic Hebrews a way to fit semi-divine pagan heroes into their cosmogony.

The idea that the Torah was somehow changed is not in keeping with traditional Hebrew practice, in which if even a single character is out of place in a parchment translation of the original Hebrew Torah, the entire parchment must be destroyed and replaced anew. However, there are several variations, some of great significance, between ancient manuscripts of the Torah, between Septuagint, Syriac Peshitta, Dead Sea Scrolls, masoretic text, Samaritan Pentateuch, and the versions in the Hexapla, as well as between various manuscripts within each of these groups.

The traditional Jewish view, deriving from the Book of Enoch, is that the fathers of the Nephilim were a particular class of angels - the Grigori (Watchers) -, though there is some controversy on this point<ref>Targum Yonathan, [1]</ref>. Others, especially some Christians, suggest the "sons of God" were fully human. It is sometimes suggested that ridding the Earth of these nephilim was one of God's purposes for flooding the Earth in Noah's time. The Biblical reference to Noah being "perfect in his generations" may have referred to his having a clean, Nephilim-free bloodline, although it may be inferred that there was more diversity among his three daughters-in law.

Despite the literal text of the Bible and its traditional interpretation, the idea that heavenly beings mated with humans is controversial, particularly among many Christians, who cite an interpretation of the teaching of Jesus in the Book of Matthew that Angels do not marry; however, they may take the verse in question out of context, because Jesus said that the resurrected do not marry in heaven, but are "as the angels". 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 by demons.

Still others, including the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Latter-day Saints, take the view of Genesis 6:1 that the allusion refers to certain human men, from the lineage of Seth, that were called sons of God simply in reference to their being in a covenantal relationship with Yahweh (cf. Deuteronomy 14:1; 32:5); according to these sources, these men had begun to pursue fleshly interests, and so took wives of the daughters of men, i.e., those who were descended from Cain. Not only is this unequivocally stated in most Orthodox versions of I Enoch and Jubilees, but this is also the view presented in a few extra-biblical, yet ancient works, particularly the Second Book of Adam and Eve.

[edit] Nephilim in ancient texts outside the Torah

Several ancient works, including Enoch and Jubilees, expand on the narrative in the Torah, connecting the origin of the Nephilim with the fallen angels, and in particular with the Grigori (watchers). Shemhazai, an angel of high rank, is described as leading a rebel sect of angels in a descent to earth to instruct humans in righteousness. The tutelage went on for a few centuries, but soon the angels pined for the human females and began to instruct the women in magic and conjuring. The angels consummated their lust, and as a result produced hybrid offspring: the Nephilim.

According to these texts, the fallen angels who begat the Nephilim were cast into Tartarus/Gehenna, 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 (through idolatry, the occult, etc.) until the final Judgement.

These works describe the Nephilim as being gigantic in stature, with prodigious strength and immense appetites. Supposedly, upon devouring all of humankind's resources, the Nephilim had begun to consume humans themselves, and attacked and oppressed them, becoming the cause of massive destruction on the earth.

[edit] Other Hebrew words sometimes interpreted as Giants

In the Hebrew Old Testament, there are a number of other words that, like Nephilim, are sometimes translated as giants:

  • Emim (Hebrew for the fearful ones)
  • Rephaim (Hebrew for 'the dead ones)
  • Anakim (Hebrew for the [long]-necked ones).

This has led to a great deal of confusion, even to the point of medieval legends recounted in the Talmud of a giant stowing away on Noah's Ark. It is possible that these names in the Torah were not meant to signify any antediluvian race that survived the Great Flood, but were simply denotations for particular groups of Canaanites, or other ordinary ethnicities.

[edit] Rephaim

Rephaim is a general title that the Book of Joshua states was given to the aborigines of Palestine, which were afterwards conquered and dispossessed by the Canaanite tribes. The text states that a few Rephaim had survived, one of them being Og. the king of Bashan. Og of Bashan is recorded as to have a 13-ft long bed.

Deut 3:11 11(Only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaites. His bed was made of iron and was more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide. It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.) NIV

The Rephaim may have been the same Canaanite group known to the Moabites as Emim<ref>Deuteronomy 2:11</ref>, i.e., fearful, and to the Ammonites as Zamzummim. The second of the Books of Samuel states that some of them found refuge among the Philistines, and were still existing in the days of David. Nothing is known of their origin, nor of anything specifically connecting them with Nephilim, though the connection is made by Jewish tradition.

See also : Valley of Rephaim

[edit] Anakim

In the Torah, the Anakim are the descendants of Anak, and dwelt in the south of Palestine, in the neighbourhood of Hebron. In the days of Abraham, they inhabited the region afterwards known as Edom and Moab, east of the Jordan river. They are mentioned during the report of the spies about the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. The book of Joshua states that Joshua finally expelled them from the land, excepting a remnant that found a refuge in the cities of Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. The Philistine giant Goliath, whom David, or Elhanan<ref>2 Samuel 21:19, some translations have brother of Goliath rather than just Goliath, though the latter is more accurate to the masoretic text</ref>, later encountered, was supposedly a descendant of the Anakim.

"The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them." (Numbers 13:32-33, English Standard Version)

The Sumerians called their gods the Anunnaki; Abraham, being the son of an idol manufacturer in the Sumerian city of Ur, could reasonably be expected to have known about these gods, if he existed<ref>this argument is made in a Midrash [2]</ref>. Whether via the knowledge of a historical Abraham, or via folk memory that passed down to the Yahwist, the words Anak and its plural (Anakim) could simply be bastardized versions of Anunnaki; this would equate the Nephilim with the Sumerian demigods such as Gilgamesh.

Note that it is more commonly suggested by traditional Jewish sources (such as the Midrash) that the spies saw large and powerful inhabitants in Canaan and because of their own fears, cowardice, and inadequate faith in YHVH, saw themselves as grasshoppers in the eyes of the Canaanites, whether they were actual 'giants' or not.

[edit] 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, 3 Maccabees, and Wisdom of Solomon.

[edit] Nephilim in parahistory

There have been many interesting attempts to reconcile mythology with science; many have theorized that mythology can and does contain grains of truth in the form of a highly distorted "folk memory". It must be remembered that there was no tradition of "fiction" in those days.

In this context, the Nephilim have been associated with the demi-gods of myth and legend, inhabitants of Atlantis that allegedly descended from extraterrestrials, and other such stories. One theory among those that accept the correlation between science and the Bible is that the Nephilim were actually surviving Neanderthals, or a Homo sapiens-Neanderthal hybrid.

It is believed by some people that modern man shared several thousand years of history with Neanderthals, and also that the Middle-Eastern region was home to some of the last surviving pockets of Homo sapiens neandertalensis or H. neandertalensis. Therefore, it is conceivable that a folk memory of these creatures survived by way of mythology. In addition, it appears that the very last Neanderthals adopted some of the technological and cultural innovations of their H. sapiens contemporaries. The theory is that surviving Neanderthals or hybrids might have been large, powerful men possessing the intellect and societal characteristics of our own species, which would explain their identification as "mightiest ones" and "men of renown." One flaw in this theory is that H. neanderthalensis were slightly shorter than H. sapiens. On the other hand, they were giants compared to their even shorter predecessors, Australopithecus and Homo habilis.

Zecharia Sitchin and Erich Von Daniken both claim that the Nephilim are our ancestors and that we were created by an alien race. In Sitchin's voluminous works he uses Semitic language etymology and translations of Sumerian cuneiform tablets to equate the ancient mesopotamian gods with the fallen angels (the "sons of Elohim" in Genesis). The chief Sumerian deity was known as Enlil, and a group of these Anunnaki were sent down to the Earth from their home planet Nibiru. The leader of this mission was Enlil's half-brother (known first as Ea and then given the title Enki, or Lord of the Earth). His symbol was the snake or two snakes wrapped around a pole. This symbol, called the cadeuseus (alt. spelling caduseus and cadeuceus), was used to denote the Egyptian god Thoth, the Greek god Hermes, and the Roman god Mercury among others. All of these deities were given titles such as "God of Knowledge," "Bringer of Wisdom," and "Messenger of the Gods." The Hebrew word for angel is Malakh, and means messenger. The Sumerian gods (also worshiped by the Babylonians, Assyrians, Hittites and others) were nearly always depicted with wings as well.

David Icke has a similar theory, in which interdimensional reptilian beings somehow created offspring through genetic engineering, whose traits are large stature, light skin, and susceptibility to any form of hypnotic suggestion (which, he states, is how the demons possess their offspring and demand allegiance), and that this bloodline has been in control of the world from the days of Sumer to today. This would be a literal interpretation of royalty's "divine right to rule" and their "blue blood."

(see:Ancient astronaut theory)


[edit] Cultural references to Nephilim

  • The book series The Fallen by Thomas E. Sniegoski revolves around a modern-day teenage boy who discovers he is nephilim. The four books have been made into a six-part TV series for ABC Family called Fallen, which is set to debut in August 2006. [3] [4]
  • The trilogy Cradleland Chronicles features Nephilim as a frequent enemy. The Nephilim further interbreed with humans to produce a race called "nephlings." In addition, when nephilim die in the trilogy, their spirits exist as demons; weak compared to Angels and Fallen Angels, but capable of possessing humans and animals. The Nephilim were said to originally have been a plot by Satan to pollute human DNA and prevent the birth of Jesus later in the future.
  • The book Heaven Sent by Montre Bible tells a story of a half human, half nephilim teenage boy trying to find his purpose in life and deal with strange things in his life all connected to his status.[5]
  • Hex is a UK television series (2004-2005) about a remote country school that becomes the battleground between a the leader of the Nephilim, Azazeal, and the witches that oppose it.
  • The Greek Melodic Death Metal band Septic Flesh have a song entitled "Nephilim Sons" on their 5th album, Revolution DNA.
  • In the Madeleine L'Engle novel Many Waters, Nephilim are present, and indeed seduce and mate with human women. The nephilim and women are generally perceived as being married, although the children seem to remain with their mothers.
  • The Light Brigade is a DC Comics four-part series in which the nephilim and the Grigori are Nazis trying to claim the world they think they should have controlled by finding the Spear of Destiny.
  • In the motion pictures The Prophecy II and The Prophecy 3: The Ascent, the creation of Nephilim was a major source of conflict between opposing camps among the angels. Gabriel (played by Christopher Walken) at first opposes the union between man and angel, but then relents after being made human for a period of time.
  • In the video game Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness the Nephilim are angel-human hybrids that died out. The corpse of the only remaining full-blooded Nephilim is referred to as 'The Sleeper' and is brought to Prague in a sarcophagus by a cult called "the Cabal" that wishes to resurrect the species in order to bring about a 'New Order'. The series heroine, Lara Croft, stumbles across this due to a string of murders (including that of a former mentor) and sets upon a quest to stop the cult from succeeding in their goals.Ultimately, Lara confronts the Cabal's second-in-command, a man named Joachim Karel, and he reveals himself to be one of the Nephilim who has manipulated the rest of the Cabal, and Lara herself, throughout the game.
  • In the video game Diablo II: Lord of Destruction the Ancients Ones are referred to as "Spirits of the Nephilim". They guard The Worldstone Keep, which leads to the Throne of Destruction, where Baal, the boss of the game resides. Their names are; Madawc The Guardian, Korlic The Protector, and Talic The Defender.
  • 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.
  • The Invisible Masters of a series of erotic mind-control stories are hinted as possibly being Nephilim. The stories are presented as being based on investigations of the phenomena and the re-discovered repressed memories of victims.
  • In the Xenosaga game series, Nephilim is the name of a mysterious little girl who seems to exist as a spirit or other non-corporeal entity. Also in Xenosaga is the "Song of Nephilim", a plot point in the form of a song that seems to drive people mad. The connection between the character and the song is unknown.
  • In the video game Shadowbane, the Nephilim are one of the playable races, introduced by the Rise of Chaos expansion on December 9, 2003.
  • In Mick Farren's Renquist Quartet, the Nephilim are a race of ruled by a king named Marduk Ra. They conquered Earth in prehistory, and are the basis of all religions. They conducted experiments on primitive humans, creating a warrior race. The Nephilim then left Earth to pursue a war. The abandoned warriors became the basis of vampire legends.
  • The band AFI's album "The Art of Drowning" (2000) contains a song titled "The Nephilim." In the lyrics, the Nephilim or "Fallen Ones" make for a figurative representation of their feelings of rejection and other-ness.
  • In the computer role-playing game series "Exile" and its remake series "Avernum", the Nephilim (abbreviated as "Nephils") are a race of feline humanoids. Jeff Vogel, designer and programmer of the games, has said that he invented the name for this race independently.
  • The second verse of the Frank Black song "All My Ghosts" is all about the Nephilim:
    Have you heard about the heavenly angels
    How they came to earth and met some ladies
    With whom they mated
    And their young became giants every one
  • The Shivans in the computer game Descent: FreeSpace fly a heavy bomber codenamed Nephilim by the Terrans.
  • Format C: by Edwin Black features Anakim in the latter stages of the book as a race of giants who have survived in captivity over the years.
  • The Polish heavy metal band Behemoth wrote a song called "The Nephilim Rising" for their album Demigod.
  • The nephilim have been written about by David Icke in such books as "Children of the Matrix" where he takes the point of view that they are extra dimensional reptilian humanoids that have genetically manipulated human beings so as to make them more susceptible to possession (apparently this is done by a gene that makes one go into a trance-like state whenever there is any ritualistic patterns) so that they control us incognito.
  • Lynn A. Marzulli wrote a novel entitled "Nephilim", in which abductions turn out to be the return of the Nephilim (as per the Book of Enoch). This book spawned the "Nephilim Trilogy" in which he interwove many popular occultic phenomena in an eschatological scenario; Azazel is the Antichrist of his trilogy.[6]
  • In the game Blue Stinger, Nephilim is the mysterious character that seems to follow the main character Elliot around, although her intentions are not known to Elliot.
  • Nephilim is a clan in the game GunZ:The Duel.
  • In the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game set Guildpact, there is a rare cycle of five creature cards, called Dune-Brood Nephilim, Witch-Maw Nephilim, Ink-Treader Nephilim, Glint-Eye Nephilim and Yore-Tiller Nephilim. They are depicted as complex, powerful, god-like monsters whose coming is a sign of a great catastrophe.
  • In the online video game Guild Wars, one of the unique hammer-type weapons is called "Gavel of the Nephilim".
  • Derek Sherinian's album "Black Utopia" released in 2003 has a three part song entitled "The Sons of Anu". The third part is called "Return of the Nephilim".
  • Traci Harding's two written trilogies The Ancient Future Trilogy and The Celestial Triad refer to the nephilim in a fantasy/sci-fi setting.
  • In the online video game Lineage 2, different types of high level Nephilim mobs can be found in catacombs.
  • In the popular TV show, Charmed (1998-2006), there are several characters who are the children of an angel (also known as a whitelighter on the show) and a witch, who is a mortal human. They are not referred to as Nephilim, but this is what they essentially are. The Elders, who are the head angels, are very much against witches and whitelighters having relations and even note the penalty will be unspeakable wrath. Nephilim on the show would be the characters Paige, Wyatt, and Chris.
  • The song "Homicidal" (AKA "Genesis") by hiphop artist Immortal Technique as found on a 2006 Turntable Anhilists mixtape entitled "Underworld" makes a reference to Nephalim giants; "Lyrical Nephalim giant/look me up in the bible/the son of the son, Genesis six, homicidal"
  • In the horror movie The Fallen Ones, the Nephillim were giant offspring between a fallen angel and human women that would bring about the end of the world. They were defeated before they could attempt this and left buried in remote locations across the world. One of the creatures was shot and from its wound, smaller versions of itself sprouted from the giant. The beasts appeared almost 'mummy-like' and required the sustenance from devouring humans.
  • In art-rock band, Meqqa, the song "August Decree" talks of the Sons of God returning to earth in 2013. The song is included in the album Sors Salutis (2003)
  • Polish death metal band Behemoth has song "Nephilim Rising" on their album "Demigod"

[edit] See also

Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials novels reference the existence of creatures resembling Nephilim or creatures with Nephilim like parentage at various points in the trilogy.

[edit] External links

This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.de:Nephilim es:Gigantes bíblicos it:Nefilim nl:Nephilim pl:Nefilim pt:Nephilim ru:Исполин sv:Nefilim ur:اناکیم

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