I don’t know if it is possible to discuss this subject without it getting a little weird. To discuss who and what the Nephilim are, we must inevitably discuss the sons of God and who they are. To discuss what the Nephlim are, it's going to get weird. Not the interdimensional hyper spiritualized type of weird. No, more the “Humans can be so gross” kind of weird. What I intend to do is to use Scripture to showcase who and what the Nephilim are, as Scripture is authoritative. We are commanded in the Scriptures to not add or take away from the Bible, so I do my very best to find answers from the established 66 canonized books. I firmly believe that the answers are in the Bible. Yet, people often look outside of the Bible to other writings for perspectives of which they filter the Scriptures through. This is not good practice. I do not recommend looking at other non-biblical texts to try to understand actual Biblical text. I'll get into more detail on the authenticity of God’s word in a later chapter.
There are two main theories circulating about who the Nephilim were and who were the sons of God. Based on texts that are not the Bible, some have interpreted sons of God to mean fallen angels and the Nephilim as to be the sons of those fallen angels. This is basically the fallen angel theory and it’s derived from the apocryphal book of Enoch. Those who disagree with that interpretation are usually labeled as holding the Sethite view, that the sons of God were just a righteous lineage of Seth who replaced the murdered Abel as a son of Adam. However, what I see and will show is that neither of these views are accurate. It's not about lineage at all, it’s heart posture and obedience. The only lineage element is when the consequences of unrepentant sins of the fathers are being adapted as sins of the sons also, genetically. Are you ready to get weird? There’s a lot to get through, so let’s get started.
What does “Nephilim” mean?
נְפִיל nᵉphîyl, nef-eel'; or נְפִל nᵉphil; from H5307; properly, a feller, i.e. a bully or tyrant:—giant.
The root word shows it's not about sky giants, but it's about those who fall away from obedience and faith, ceasing to be cultivators. Instead, they become destroyers—hunters.
Those who hold the fallen angels viewpoint might ask, “What about the Orion constellation, surely that means that they fell from space like fallen angels wouldn’t it?” While I understand how one might come to that conclusion, no, I do not believe that is what it is referring to.
Matthew 2:2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”
It continues:
Matthew 2:7-10 Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.” 9 After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
Why did they know that this star was proclaiming the birth of the Messiah?
Genesis 1:14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years
This is not astrology, this is biblical astronomy in the order of God. What is the imagery of Orion’s constellation? Orion is the constellation for the hunter. As the Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon states, it is incorrect to ascribe the Nephilim to be large in body over the definition of being bully/tyrant/ hunters that strike down—fellers of men and armies. Make no mistake, there are giants in the Bible and I'll get to the “large in body” in a moment. First, we can see the definitions as cast down like excommunication or cut down like death, as in extinguishing a life, or in some respects to seemingly just lay down as in surrender like one would in abandoning the faith. Fallen from grace. Look at this word God uses as it pertains to Cain in Genesis 4:6:
What is man supposed to do and be? A cultivator shepherd who protects and prospers that which entrusted into his care. What is the opposite of that? A hunter, killer, bully, tyrant. We can see examples of these hunters who reject the ways of God and embrace actively walking contrary to them. Let's look at the first bully, tyrant, feller of men: Cain.
Genesis 4:8-12 Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. 11 Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.” Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
As we established in the previous chapters, Cain was warned by God about what was good and pleasing according to His authority. Cain was told outright that sin sought to rule over him. Cain rejected the dominion that God ordered him to walk in and instead chose dominance over his brother. He rejected God and hated his brother because his brother's deeds were righteous and his were not.
1 John 3:11-12 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; 12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.
Look at the way that Cain parallels Esau:
Genesis 27:39-41 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him, “Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, And away from the dew of heaven from above. 40 “By your sword you shall live, And your brother you shall serve; But it shall come about when you become restless, That you will break his yoke from your neck.” 41 So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
Cain was jealous of Abel because of the blessing of the Father and he sought to kill his brother—and did. He was cursed to wander. Comparatively, Esau the hunter was jealous of Jacob because of the blessing of the father and sought to kill his brother, bearing a grudge, and he was cast away from the fertility of the earth to wander.
It isn't a lineage that made men Nephilim, it is actions. It is a heart posture that abandons faith and walks in the ways contrary to God.
1 John 3 :12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous
Whose son was Cain? Was he not Adam's son? The designation of being a son of the Evil one is based on action.
Genesis 4:1 Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.”
Cain was born to Adam and Eve but he was cut off from the family based on his actions and rejection of the ways of God. He became a killer, tyrant, bully, mighty one, feller of his brother...He became a Nephilim. The son of Cain followed in his father’s footsteps in the rejection of the ways of God, as Lamech engages in polygamy and murder:
Genesis 4:19-24 Lamech took to himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah. ... 23 Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, Listen to my voice, You wives of Lamech, Give heed to my speech, For I have killed a man for wounding me; And a boy for striking me; 24 If Cain is avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”
If you have a group of people who have rejected the commands of God and are engaging in a flesh-based, polygamist family model, and having kids that are also rejecting the ways of God and engaging in ungodly relations, you’re not getting a lot of genetic variance.
Genesis 4:26 To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord.
“There are some who translate this verse, to call themselves by the name of the Lord. This would indicate that people were defying God by attributing deity to themselves. If this is the case, this verse may refer to the heathen idolatry that started at this time.” - Don Stewart Blue Letter Bible
What does this present to us? It shows us the rebellion against God. It can make the case that Lamech is also a bully, tyrant, and feller of men. It can show us the violent culture of those who reject God’s ways. It can show us those who are embracing a fleshly lifestyle. God’s pattern of marriage that was established at creation is one man and one wife.
Genesis 2:24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
It doesn't say that man shall be joined to “wives” and become one flesh; there is no plurality.
Matthew 19:5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
Again, a man, a wife, the two people, becoming one flesh. God never explicitly commands people to take multiple wives. We do have Him prohibiting it:
Deuteronomy 17:17 He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.
Taking multiple wives is contrary to the example of Christ returning for His bride. He doesn’t return for His brides. He’s coming for the one bride, the apple of his eye. What those who have rejected the ways of God have patterned is: one man and…whatever that man wants. Look at the son of Lamech, Tubal-cain:
Genesis 4: As for Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.
Cain, who murdered his brother, has Lamech, who also is a murderer more so than his father, who has Tubal-cain, who becomes an arms dealer. Alright, maybe not an arms dealer, but he’s definitely making swords and the point stands. Lamech rejected God’s pattern of marriage and engaged in the polygamy in flesh-based domination.
Leviticus 18:18 You shall not marry a woman in addition to her sister as a rival while she is alive, to uncover her nakedness.
Esau follows that same pattern of rejection of God’s dominion and instead seeks to establish a fleshly dominance.
Genesis 28:8-9 So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac; 9 and Esau went to Ishmael, and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.
Esau, just like great uncle Lamech. Esau despised his birthright. He despised the ways of the Father. He was a hunter, much like…
Genesis 10:8-10 Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
1 Chronicles 1:10 Cush fathered Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth.
Nimrod was a hunter and he became a mighty one on the earth. Now hold on a second. He became a mighty one? It was these killers and tyrants that became the mighty ones of old mentioned in Genesis 6…
Genesis 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.
What does Nimrod mean?
It means "rebellion". The Nephilim were mighty men of old, and Nimrod began to be one of these mighty men. If this were the fallen angel theory, then that would mean that Nimrod, halfway through his life, would have to decide to be reborn as offspring of the fallen angels. It makes a lot more sense if you see it for what the text points to: Nimrod began to be a bully, tyrant, murderer. He became a man of rebellion as Nimrod was a "mighty one".
Genesis 6:4 states that the mighty ones were men of renown. Men. Men of violence. He was a hunter just like Esau who wanted to kill his brother. He was in rebellion like Cain who rejected the ways of God. He founded Babylon which was a testament to man instead of God. I maintain that the designation of the Nephilim is referring to a man of violence. The fact that we can see the lineage of Nimrod whose father was Cush, who became a Nephilim/ mighty one, tells us that the giants in Moses’ day were humans, not fallen angel half human hybrids.
I know, there are giants in the Bible, I said I would get to that. There’s time like the present, so let's look at Goliath, as he was one of these mighty ones.
1 Samuel 17:4-7 Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was clothed with scale-armor which weighed five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 He also had bronze greaves on his legs and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders. 7 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron; his shield-carrier also walked before him.
The average height of man in the United States is 5ft 9in. The average weight of gear and armor for the United States Army infantry man is 120 lbs of gear. Goliath’s gear was about 200 to 300 lbs for a man of 7 to 9ft in height. He was a destroyer, one that made a reputation as a champion of the Philistines, a killer, a feller of armies and men. Goliath was a descendant of Anak.
Numbers 13 states that there were men of great size and there were the Nephilim
Numbers 13 connects the Nephilim with the sons of Anak (the Anakim)
Joshua 11 notes that the Anakim were driven into Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.
1 Samuel 17 says Goliath was from Gath and that he was a giant.
Why are there giants? Why do they have six fingers and toes? The answer to this is so simple it's easy to overlook. Sin. The wages of sin and the curses that come from rebellion against God. Let's look at the curses that come from rejecting God’s dominion and instead choosing to become a man of warlike dominance in hostile rebellion to God. Deuteronomy 27 lists some of the curses.
Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
‘Cursed is he who strikes his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
‘Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to strike down an innocent person.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
‘Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
It continues in the next chapter, Deuteronomy 28:
“The Lord will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke, in all you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me. 21 The Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from the land where you are entering to possess it. 22 The Lord will smite you with consumption and with fever and with inflammation and with fiery heat and with the sword and with blight and with mildew, and they will pursue you until you perish
“If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the Lord your God, 59 then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses.
Sin and rebellion against the ways of God. Rebellion and hostility against faith in God and against loving God. Rejection of walking with God in whom all His paths are peace results in disease and hereditary afflictions, such as but not limited to: gigantisms, which is a tumor on the pituitary gland, and polydactyly, which is extra fingers and toes. Both of which still exist to this day.
Deuteronomy 28 gives us reasons for the genetic attributes of giants- but it is the choice of action and the rejection of God and God’s ways that make them Nephilim. If you have God-given laws which state you’re not to be incestuously sleeping with your mother or sister and you’re ignoring these commands out of a spiteful hatred of the things of God, then your offspring is not going to have a lot of genetic variances. If you are walking in the curses that God laid out as a spiritual cause and effect, you are going to be predisposed to hereditary diseases, just like God says in Deuteronomy about the sins of the fathers being passed down.
Romans 1:24 24¶Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.
Studies have shown this to be the case with issues such as alcoholism, that the children of alcoholics have a greater disposition to alcoholism. Look back at the context of Genesis 6:
Genesis 6:-31 Now it came about, when men [human men] began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them [secular daughters of these human men], 2 that the sons of God [believers] saw that the daughters of men[secular women] were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man [human men] forever, because he also is flesh [still human men]; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
Men were being led away from the faith and obedience by enticing women. These once obedient sons of God (the church) were taking wives for themselves whomever they chose. One way to interpret that “whomever they chose” aspect might be that they were not following God’s idea of marriage between one man and one wife, but were instead following Cain’s son Lamech’s example and choosing many wives, whomever they wanted. Regardless as to if it was many wives or being led astray by secular women that they were taking as wives, the point remains that they were leaving what was right and they were being led astray by these women…just like with Balaam.
Numbers 31:15 And Moses said to them, “Have you spared all the women? 16 Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of the Lord.
There was (and still is) a pattern of men ignoring what God has called them to do, in the way that they should walk, and abandoning the call to reflect the glory of God in which we were created to reflect. Instead, they went astray after the wayward women. Just like Adam in the garden. Let’s continue in Genesis 6 with the exposition:
Genesis 6: 4 The Nephilim [ Hunter/ Bully / Tyrant/ Murderers] were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
A visual need a timeline for things like this can be helpful, so I drafted this chart: 
Genesis 6:5-13 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 9 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. 10 Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. 13 Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth
Adam was a shepherd, cultivator who bore the image of God. Abel was a shepherd and offered what was good and his deeds were righteous before God. Noah was a shepherd and found favor in the eyes of God, doing what is good, a preacher of righteousness. Jacob was a shepherd and cultivator who didn't choose multiple wives, he was tricked into it, and honored his vows to both women anyway. David was a shepherd and a cultivator before he was king.
Contrastly, Cain rejected the ways of God and became a killer—de-cultivator. Lemech was a polygamist and greater killer than Cain—de-cultivator. Esau rejected the ways of God and became a hunter—de-cultivator. Nimrod was a mighty one who made Babel in defiance of God and was a hunter—de-cultivator.
The fallen angel theory of the sons of God being angels at its core sounds absurd when you break it down to its elements.
Angels, who are constantly before God, rebelled against God. Although Scripture states God cast them into darkness in chains awaiting judgment, He allowed these fallen angels, who would now be classified as demons once they’re exiled from heaven, allowed them to make a pit stop at earth and they somehow developed genitalia. Then, they entered into covenant sexual relationships with earthly women, as it says they took wives not fornicated with unmarried women, and sired offspring that resulted in half-angel, half-man giant demi god-like creatures. God opens and closes the womb. God knits creatures together in the womb, but we're supposed to believe that fallen angels who were kicked out of heaven and became demons were allowed to enter into covenant relationships with human wives and God opened their wombs and knit together a half-angel half-human hybrid that became a giant? That sounds like Greek mythology and Mt. Olympus. It doesn’t sound like the sovereign God of the Bible. Furthermore, The fallen angels theory states that after the angels did this, that is why God wiped out everyone but Noah, in order to preserve a pure bloodline. Does that sound like the God of order? That He wiped out all the earth after making this mistake with the angels, only for the Nephilim to pop back up again after the flood? When we look at the entirety of the texts and we reason them together using the Scriptures instead of external, non-canon books that distort the doctrines of God, we can find clarity.
What we see is that Genesis 6 is not angel-demon babies being born and the union of spirits and women resulting in God killing all the men in the world for some reason, but it is about violence What we see is that actions and choices are what makes one a son of God or reject God. That’s what makes one a Nephilim.
Even Josephus in the Antiquities of the Jews points to this in regard to Nimrod. He writes:
“God also commanded them to send colonies abroad, for the through peopling of the earth; that they might not raise seditions among themselves, but might cultivate a great part of the earth, and enjoy its fruits after a plentiful manner. But they were so ill instructed, that they did not obey God. For which reason they fell into calamities, and were made sensible by experience of what sin they had been guilty of. For when they flourished with a numerous youth, God admonished them again to send out colonies. But they imagining the prosperity they enjoyed was not derived from the favour of God, but supposing that their own power was the proper cause of the plentiful condition they were in, did not obey him. Nay they added to this their disobedience to the divine will, the suspicion that they were therefore ordered to send out separate colonies, that, being divided asunder, they might the more easily be oppressed. 2. Now it was Nimrod who excited them to such an affront and contempt of God. He was the grand-son of Ham, the son of Noah: a bold man, and of great strength of hand. He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God, as if it was through his means that they were happy; but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness. He also gradually changed the government into tyranny; seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence on his own power. He also said, “He would be revenged on God, if he should have a mind to drown the world again: for that he would build a Tower too high for the waters to be able to reach; and that he would avenge himself on God for destroying their fore-fathers.”- Josephus Antiquities of the Jews1.109–1.113 translated by William Whiston
[ Disclaimer: Josephus is not Scripture and shouldn’t be taken as Scripture, but he was a Jewish Historian documenting the thoughts and interpretations of his time]
Nimrod, this mighty one—this Nephilim—is creating violence against the ones who are obedient farmers and cultivators in the faith, for the purpose of getting them to reject God and become dependent upon his hand. Another way of saying this is that "the Nephilim were on the earth and made violence against God imposing tyranny and leading the sons of God astray".
1 John 3:10, By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.
Deuteronomy 14:1-2,You are the sons of the Lord your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave your forehead for the sake of the dead. 2 For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
Romans 8:14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Romans 8:19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
Romans 9:25-27 As He says also in Hosea, “I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’ And her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’” 26 “And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘you are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.” 27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved.”
Galatians 3:26, For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 4:6, Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
Luke 6:35, But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.
1 Chronicles 17:13-16, I will be his father and he shall be My son; and I will not take My lovingkindness away from him, as I took it from him who was before you. 14 But I will settle him in My house and in My kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.”’” 15 According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.16 Then David the king went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that You have brought me this far?”
Luke 20:34-36 Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; 36 for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.”
Take note that this last passage in Luke 20 is stating that the sons of this age are the sons of God being sons of the resurrection. This passage states that the sons of this age marry and are given into marriage, not the angels. Think about the logic of Genesis 6. Does it make sense that fallen angels would take earthly wives, and instead of punishing the angels or the women that slept with them, God took it out on the men? No. What does the Scripture say? It says because of violence and because of the wickedness of man's heart that God was grieved that He made man.
Genesis 6:5-8 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Men were continually walking contrary to the dominion of which they were supposed to govern. Because men refused to walk in the divinely set dominion that God had given, God exercised His dominion by removing man. They were evil. Paul mentions this sort in Romans 1:
Romans 1:28-32 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them
2 Peter 2:5 …and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.
God saved Noah because He was still walking in the created role. He was obedient to God and preaching God’s righteousness to those who were engaging in all forms of sin. Think about this: God saw these men that bear His image and were created for His glory—created to be vessels of His love—and they were the most perverse, evil, hostile, violent, and lawless that people can be. Rapists, pedophiles, oppressors engaging in hedonistic, flesh-appeasing Darwinism. They lived by the mindset that if it feels good to the flesh, do it. If you want something, take it. If you’re crossed, kill.
If the generational curses of breaking the eternal Law of God resulted in violent, incestuous men engaging in reproduction with members of their own family, then the violence that God saw grieved Him so much He destroyed mankind, sparing only Noah. These Nephilim were wiped out by the flood. God destroyed them all. So, why then do they reappear after the flood? We can see the answer to that in the text itself. In Genesis 9, when everyone gets off the boat, God reminds them:
Genesis 9:6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man. 7“As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”
This is the third time God reminds mankind to be fruitful and multiply. In the garden, in the expulsion, and right after the destruction of the world. This is the contrast between the Nephilim destroyer and the Righteous cultivator. What immediately happens after this catastrophic event of the world's destruction due to violence and rejection of God’s ways? Ham and the issue of nakedness.
Genesis 9:22-26 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. 25 So he said,“Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers.” 26 He also said, “Blessed be the Lord, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.
This is gross, I know. In every way you look at it, I know it is gross, but let me show you from the Scriptures what I believe happened during this event, and why Noah cursed Ham’s offspring instead of Ham. What does it mean to uncover nakedness in Leviticus 18?
Leviticus 18:7-17 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, that is, the nakedness of your mother. She is your mother; you are not to uncover her nakedness. 8 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. 9 The nakedness of your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether born at home or born outside, their nakedness you shall not uncover. 10 The nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, their nakedness you shall not uncover; for their nakedness is yours. 11 The nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, born to your father, she is your sister, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 12 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s blood relative. 13 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s blood relative. 14 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother; you shall not approach his wife, she is your aunt. 15 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 16 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. 17 You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, nor shall you take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness; they are blood relatives. It is lewdness
Gross. It's in the Bible because people have struggled with it. The command is there for a reason. Here's the definition:
In Ham’s case , it was to engage in incest and rape. How can we be sure? Because in the passage of Leviticus 18, it states that the inhabitants of Cannan did these very things.
Leviticus 18:1-3;26-27 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘I am the Lord your God. 3 You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes.
26 But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments and shall not do any of these abominations, neither the native, nor the alien who sojourns among you 27 (for the men of the land who have been before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become defiled)
God destroyed the world filled with people who engaged in this lewdness, and then Noah and his sons were spared because of Noah’s righteousness. Ham engaged in the same practices that destroyed the world before him, incest and rape and lewd acts of dominance.
It then makes sense as to why Noah curses the son of Ham. This son was the product of that incestuous rape of Ham’s mother as his father Noah lay vulnerable and unconscious from wine. It also explains the post-flood return of the Nephilim, as the practices of selective breeding and incest returned immediately. As men again sprawled out over the face of the earth and built cities, some in hostile defiance towards God, perhaps even angry that He wiped out the old, lewd ways. Some probably bore grudges against God. God created mankind for a purpose, and that purpose is contrary to our wicked, fleshly desires that are naturally hostile to His Spirit. Anak and Goliath, his descendant, were from the line of Canaan.
As the people populated the earth and men again began to engage in the practices of wickedness, and as the history of the dominance of the barbarian warlord type of man grew stronger, passed down from Noah’s descendants, then it might explain why Abraham and Issac both were afraid as they sojourned in the foreign lands. If they knew that their wives were beautiful and they were familiar with the family history of men murdering godly people to steal their wives as their own, then it would be at the very least an understandable fear that drove them to tell their wives to pretend to be their sisters rather than their wives. The fear that a violent Nephilim man of dominance would murder them and take their beautiful wives as their own was valid. While this might just be a theory, it’s a reasonable one that bears itself out in the context of these stories.
What we don’t see, however, is the post-flood idea that post-heaven angels retained the title “sons of God” and sired another batch of half-angel, half-human giants. Here’s a question to consider: Scripture states that God is the one who opens and closes the womb, and it also states that God is the one that knits together in the womb.
Psalms 139:13-16 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; 16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.
Genesis 30:17-22 God gave heed to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Then Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my maid to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. 19 Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob. 20 Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun. 21 Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah. 22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and opened her womb.
Acts 17:25 The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things
Romans 11:36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
As all life comes from God, and He is the one who opens and closes the womb, and He knits together life in the womb, then the logic of the fallen angel demon-baby theory becomes this: God rejected angles and kicked them out of heaven then allowed them to enter into sexual relationships with women of earth and procreate a new half-man, half-angel creature—and He allowed this by opening the wombs of these women and then knitting together these giant half-breed demi god-like creatures. Then He flooded the earth because of these same giant demon human babies. That is not good doctrine. That is foolishness. There are no verses that say angels are sons of God anywhere in Scripture unless the reader inserts it into the text based not on the Word of God but based on their own suppositions from outside the word of God. I’ll walk you through those passages too.
Some say that Job references angels where it says in Job 1:
Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
And again in chapter 2:
Job 2:1 Again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord.
The fact that "sons of God" appeared before the Lord does not automatically mean that the sons of God are angels and there is nothing in the text to support that. What is more harmonious to the totality of scripture, in my opinion, is that the sons of God are the righteous and obedient men. If we look at Exodus 23, we see the command for the righteous men of God to appear before Him:
Exodus 23:14-16 “Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me. 15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt. And no one is to appear before Me empty-handed. 16 Also you shall keep the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field. 17 Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.
Echoed in Exodus 34:
Exodus 34: 19-24 “The firstborn from every womb belongs to Me, and all your male livestock, the firstborn from cattle and sheep. 20 You shall redeem with a lamb the firstborn from a donkey; and if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. None are to appear before Me empty-handed.
21 “You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest. 22 And you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. 23 Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 24 For I will drive out nations from you and enlarge your borders, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God.
Three times a year, all the righteous and obedient men are to appear before the Lord. Three times a year, we’re to come to the Father and appear before the King. This is the Passover where God makes the distinction between those who are His and those who are in rebellion. It’s the beginning of the harvest when we are to be about the business that God created us to be about. And it is the end of the harvest when we rejoice with God that He may say well done good and faithful servant. As mentioned previously, Jethro was a Midianite priest and Job was a righteous man.
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.
Job would fit under the definition of a son of God in light of the Scriptures mentioned previously. Interesting enough, Exodus 34 talks about protection for these men who appear before God:
Exodus 34: 24 For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders, and no man shall covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God.
Is this not the very objection Satan makes to God that is applying to Job:
Job 1: Have You not made a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
Job was a righteous man, and what did that man do?
Job 2:1 Again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord.
Job 2:3 The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds firm to his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.
Look at what we see in this passage in 1 Samuel:
1 Samuel 1:21 Then the man Elkanah went up with all his household to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow. 22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “I will not go up until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord and stay there forever.”
It's reasonable to see that Job was performing at least the annual sacrifices when the men are called to appear before God, and Job is concerned that his household hasn’t done this. That suggests sons of God are a classification of people that do righteousness, and those who don't are not sons of God. This is affirmed in Scripture time and again.
1 John 3:10 No one who has been born of God practices sin, because His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin continually, because he has been born of God. 10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother and sister.
Ergo, the men of righteousness appearing before the Lord at the appointed times would be in line with men, and not angels, being the sons of God. Those that hold to the fallen angel demon-baby theory point to Job 38 to say that this must mean angels. The case made by those who hold to this position is that the stars sing and they are angels who sing and because angels sing, they’re also the sons of God. Using Job 38:7 to say that sons of God means angels is still an injection of that interpretation to the text when the text doesn't suppose it. This is what it says:
Job 38:7 When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
That was it. That verse doesn’t say angels are the sons of God. It doesn’t equate the two. It only says that these sons of God shouted for joy. Now, I grant that the context of this passage is God talking about the creation of the world. However, in this passage, we see creative imagery and not literal things. The sea is not enclosed with doors, and it didn't come from the womb. Clouds aren't clothes. Morning stars and sons of God shouting for joy doesn't mean that sons of God are angels.
If we consider Job 38 where God is communicating His deep concepts to Job and He mentions stars singing and sons of God, we still would have to inject angels as one of these two things in a poetic passage that also states that ice comes from "lady parts"as verse 29 states. This would also indicate that God wasn't down-dressing Job verbally, but that Job was actually at creation during its formation as God says, "tell me who laid the foundation because surely you were there".
Job 38:19 “Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place,
20 That you may take it to its territory And that you may discern the paths to its home?
21 “You know, for you were born then, And the number of your days is great!
It's a hyper literalism fallacy. It’s rhetorical. God is not reminding Job that Job was there when He created Adam and commanded the bounds of light and darkness. He’s speaking in poetic imagery to remind Job that God is sovereign and beyond Jobs' understanding. Here’s another thing to think about in relation to these “stars”:
Jude 1: 12 These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever
Jude is calling these stars men. The context of Jude is a different disposition of the men as Job records a joyful, worshiping event, and Jude has those men as becoming rebellious and reserved for judgment—both still refer to men.
Let's also look at the contrast found in Psalms 148 where it appears that angels are a separate classification from both the sun and moon and even the stars that give praise, as well as these humans who praise Him:
Psalm 148 1-14 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights! 2 Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His heavenly armies! 3 Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all stars of light! 4 Praise Him, highest heavens, And the waters that are above the heavens! 5 They are to praise the name of the Lord, For He commanded and they were created. 6 He has also established them forever and ever; He has made a decree, and it will not pass away. 7 Praise the Lord from the earth, Sea monsters, and all the ocean depths; 8 Fire and hail, snow and clouds; Stormy wind, fulfilling His word; 9 Mountains and all hills; Fruit trees and all cedars; 10 Animals and all cattle; Crawling things and winged fowl; 11 Kings of the earth and all peoples; Rulers and all judges of the earth; 12 Both young men and virgins; Old men and children.
13They are to praise the name of the Lord, For His name alone is exalted;
His majesty is above earth and heaven. 14 And He has lifted up a horn for His people, Praise for all His godly ones, For the sons of Israel, a people near to Him. Praise the Lord!
When some choose to read Job 38:7 as “stars singing next to sons of God shouting” as “because these are side-by-side and in the same event they must both be the same”, we are obligated to reason the same manner to Psalm 148 and disregard all context and say that everything is angels. Sun, moon, angels, Israel, the sea, fire, hail, clouds, all of it is now angels. God goes into detail in telling us how He created everything in Genesis 1. He didn’t mention making the angels at creation, so to inject that interpretation of angels into both Job 38:7 and Genesis 1 is taking heavy liberties in adding and subtracting scripture. (God did create angels according to Nehemiah 9:6, we just don’t know when.,)
A critique of this explanation is that it must be grounded as a metaphor. Morning stars and sons of God at creation are speaking to a "thing" and are not metaphoric in and of themselves. A metaphor being grounded in reality is a fair criticism.
If it is not a metaphor, is there a text that places sons of God as men rather than the ascription to angels? For this, let us look back at Genesis.
Genesis 1:26-28 Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
During creation, mankind was made. Adam walked with God in the Garden and some believe that God was pre-incarnate Christ, Yeshua in the flesh. If Christ was in the flesh walking and praising the Father with Adam, then the sons of God would both be shouting for joy and that would satisfy Job 38, but let's look further in Genesis 5:
Genesis 5:1-2 This is the book of the generations of Adam. On the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them “mankind” on the day when they were created.
This is stating that on that day of creation, when God created man, He created them, male and female. Mankind is made in the image of God. Mankind is plural. Them is plural. During creation to some degree, Adam, the son of God (contained within himself a plurality), all future generations within him. Him, shouting for joy in worship is the reason mankind was created to glorify God. We were created to reflect God’s glory in His image. When Adam had a son, it says he made his son in the likeness of Adam. Part of Adam went from out within himself into the creation of his son. Contained within Adam at his creation, was Eve and every seed for every son that would ever be. In this poetic sense, Adam was one, but many- If he praised God, all humanity praised God. The same language that is used for God making Adam is used for Adam making his son. Does Scripture say anywhere that angels were created in the image of God, that they may be called sons?
Scripture doesn't even mention angels in the Genesis chapter 1 or 2 creation accounts, so it would be more reasonable for it to be Adam. Adam is mentioned. Eve is mentioned. Mankind is mentioned. Angels are not. So, to take Job and put angels into verse 37 just doesn't fit. Luke 3:38 states that Adam was a son of God the same way Genesis 5 does through genealogy:
Luke 3:38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
Adam, in a pre-sin, perfect state, would be in perfect obedience to God and qualify as both definitions of sons of God. Furthermore, since Job 38 must have a grounding for its spring boarding, then let's take a look at the importance of Hebrews 1:
Hebrew 1:5 For to which of the angels did He ever say,
“You are My Son,Today I have fathered You”?
And again, “I will be a Father to Him
And He will be a Son to Me”?
Granted, this is about the Messiahship of the Savior, but this implies that God never said to angels, “you are My sons”, as they are not sons of God but people are. If God had anywhere said this about angels, then the answer to the question posed when asked “Of which of the angels did God ever say You are My Son?” would be "Steve the angel son of God" or "Todd the angel, God's son". Since it is not the case, we have to ask ourselves, "Can we find a single example in Scripture where an angel is called a son? I haven’t found one and believe me friends, I have been looking. Instead, we have examples of God calling men sons of God.
Job 1, and 2 are referencing the faithful, obedient men of God appearing before the Lord at the three appointed feasts. As it states in Exodus 23 and 34:
Exodus 23:17 Three times a year all your males(sons) shall appear before the Lord God( God).
Exodus 34 :23 Three times a year all your males (sons)are to appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 24 For I will drive out nations from you and enlarge your borders, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God.
Even if you didn’t want to go with Adam being a singular man with all generations within him to account for the sons praising, or you didn’t want to assume that Christ in the garden worshiping God might fit the passage, there is still another option. Noah. After God flooded the earth and destroyed the world everything that wasn’t on the ark:
Job 38:7-11 When the morning stars sang together
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 “Or who enclosed the sea with doors
When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb;
9 When I made a cloud its garment
And thick darkness its swaddling band,
10 And I placed boundaries on it
And set a bolt and doors,
11 And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther;
And here shall your proud waves stop’?
Similar language is used that relates to the flood.
Genesis 7:11-12 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. 12 The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
A case could be made that the language in Job references how God opened the earth and had the water rise, as well as made the clouds dark in torrential, downpouring rain, and it continued to fill the earth until God said stop. Did Noah worship God after he left the ark?
Genesis 8 :18-20 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark. 20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
He did. That gives us three reasonable explanations of who these sons of God are without injecting angels into the text and distorting other texts.
Critics of these reasonable explanations of who the sons of God are tend to get hung up on the language used for the term. In most places, the phrase is “beni Elohim,” which means sons of God. In a few places it says “beni ha Elohim,” which means…sons of God. They argue that there is a special designation for “beni ha Elohim” that must mean angels are literal sons of God. This is an argument from silence, because even if there is a differing qualifier to emphasize specific sonship, there is no verse that tells us that this is referring to the angels. Rather, Adam is a son of God. He has no father but God. Adam is not an angelic being, even though he fits the definition of being a literal son of God. Genesis 5 and Luke 3 both designate that Adam is a son of God.
Genesis 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.
Luke 3:38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
In the obedient sense, we become grafted-in sons of God. In the literal sense by creation, God is our Father.
Malachi 2:10 “Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?
Both designations “beni Elohim” and “beni ha Elohim” are accounted for without needing to push other Scriptures out of their place to hammer together a fallen, demon-giant baby scenario.
In summary, sons of God aren't angels falling and taking earthly wives and making giant babies. Nor are the sons of God just a specific line of Seth or based on heredity at all. Walking in God’s ways are what it means to be adopted sons of God, grafted into His house through obedience and love for Him.
