What are the Nephilim?

“There were giants 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.” (Genesis 6:4)

The Hebrew term that is translated as giants in this verse is נפילים
The English translation of this word is Nephilim

There is much controversy over this verse, and what it implies. Granted, all of this is speculation: I have no special insight into this subject. There are no angels whispering the secrets of God into my ears, (and personally, I believe that anyone who tells me they do is in need of therapy.)

There are two main lines of thought to this. First, that this was the Godly line of Seth that had intermarried with the worldly line of Cain. Nothing spectacular, just two lines of people.

My problem with that explanation is that it does not account for the influx of the Nephilim, or Giants.

Genetics show is that if two groups of people intermingle, they have, for all intents and purposes, normalish human babies. Not a race of Giants, much less, (as we see later in the verse) also producing ‘mighty men.’

Let me throw out a thought. Historically we have seen that humans have a tendency to elaborate on truths. The embellish truths to the point of absurdity at times… but there is always a basis for the truth.

Think of the pantheon of Greek and Roman gods and their ‘offspring.’ Stories of ‘mighty men’ that were the spawn of the ‘gods’ who procreated with mankind. Ludicrous fables? Maybe… but possibly grounded in a truth that is as old as the Earth itself.

The second line of thought extends from the term ‘sons of God’ which happens to be the same term that is used in Job 1:6 to refer to the angels, including Satan.

Back to genetics, we know that two humans will produce, (mutation aside) a normal human. But to produce a ‘race’ of superhumans? This would only be explainable by the influx of alternative DNA.

So what are the Nephilim? Did they stop at giants? Were they wiped out in the flood? Are they among us today?

Simple answer… they appear in fact after Noah’s flood. (Remember that David killed one?) I believe that Genesis 6:4 correlates that they were also mighty men… like Hercules, Achilles, or Perseus to name a few from Mythology.

But what about today?

As we consider modern society, we see that we have the same type of beliefs in certain races of immortals… Vampires, Werewolves and others of paranormal origin that could be the current iteration of the Nephilim…

But you will need to decide that for yourself.