This is the third in an ongoing series of responses to former-pastor-turned-atheist Dan Barker’s Bible Quiz, posted on the Freedom From Religion Foundation web site. In the Bible quiz, Barker highlights all kinds of troubling or surprising teachings in the Bible, making the case that these things are inconsistent with an accurate, “good” book.
Today’s question is about the mysterious group of people known as the “Nephilim” in Genesis 6:4. Were they really the offspring of humans and angels? Has the Bible borrowed a page from Greek mythology (or vice versa)? Since the pre-flood world is shrouded in some amount of mystery, my response is a little speculative, but you’ll see it’s backed up by solid Bible support and scientific principles. This is kind of a long one, but full of interesting information. I hope you enjoy it!
As usual, Barker’s original questions, answers and comments appear first, while my response comes at the end.
9. What is the origin of the "mighty men" giants known as nephilim?
- They were the offspring of God's angels and young women.
- They were the result of an earlier, botched creation.
- They were monsters from the evil nation of Nephi.
- They were part of the "blessing of Abraham" that ensured military victory to God's chosen people.
Answer: A. Can't God maintain better control over his libidinous troops? This is scandal in high places.
"And it came to pass . . . That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. . . . There were giants [nephilim] in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown." (Genesis 6:1-4)
This is obviously mythical. The "sons of God" were angels: "the expression clearly refers to divine beings." (Harper's Bible Dictionary) The word nephilim "could mean 'fallen ones' and allude to stories in related cultures of rebellious giants defeated by the gods in olden times (cf. Isa. 14:12)." (Harper's)
Some suggest this is why Paul admonished Christian women to keep their heads covered in church, so as not to sexually tempt the angels: "For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels." (I Corinthians 11:10)
Pastor Tom’s Response:
No matter what any Bible dictionary says, I don’t see how the sons of God in Genesis 6:2 & 4 could be angelic supernatural beings of any sort. First, there’s simply no Biblical example in favor of it. Angels could take on human form, but they could not have physical union with human beings. God is all-powerful, and could bring about the conception of Jesus through the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20). Angels don’t have that unlimited power.
Second, consider God’s reaction to that turn of events and the resulting rebellion against Him. “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years (Genesis 6:3).” Notice, God doesn’t mention anything about disciplining angels. Human beings are the ones held responsible. Similarly, in Genesis 6:7 God said He would “wipe mankind” off the face of the earth. Would angels get off scot free if they were guilty? The devil (a fallen angel) certainly didn’t when he tempted Eve (Genesis 3:14-15)!
My theory is that the line of Adam’s son Seth became known as “the sons (or children) of God,” and the line of Adam’s son Cain (the one who killed Abel) became known as “the sons (or children) of Men.” There is evidence to show that Cain’s descendents went away from God and became a law unto themselves. In Genesis 4:24 Cain’s descendent Lamech is quoted as saying, “If Cain is avenged seven times (referring to God’s protection of Cain in Genesis 4:15), then Lamech seventy-seven times.” We can see that Lamech was, at least potentially, a very vengeful and violent man, and that God’s level of vengeance wasn’t good enough for him.
By contrast, in Genesis 4:25-26 we hear about the beginning of Seth’s line. “Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth… Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD.” The LORD refers to God’s proper name Yahweh, indicating a faith and worship relationship between the line of Seth and God.
It’s likely these two groups – the “Cainites” and the “Sethites” – lived in relative isolation from each other, because we know that Cain went away from his family after Abel’s murder (Genesis 4:16). It’s also very probable that the Sethites were forbidden from taking wives from the Cainites because of their false religious practices and violent ways. After many generations, though, the “Sons of God” (the males of the Sethites) desired the “Daughters of Men” (the females of the Cainites) for marriage.
So, if this is simply humans from one “nation” marrying humans of another, why did these marriages produce the Nephilim, “heroes of old, men of renown (Genesis 6:4).” The Nephilim were so renowned that thousands of years later when the Israelites came upon abnormally large people, they still called them Nephilim (Numbers 13:33). I think it has to do with genetics.
It is well known that when animal populations are isolated from each other in different environments, they develop their own unique characteristics over the generations. Natural selection is the process by which this happens. Animals that are better suited to their environments survive, while others die off. Natural selection is not an evolutionary process, by the way! Genetic studies reveal that natural selection results from a loss or mutation of already present genetic information. Since evolution theorizes life gradually changing from simple to complex, lots of genetic information would need to be added.
It is also well know that when animal populations that have been isolated from each other for a long time are reintroduced, long lost characteristics can be restored. For example, ligers (offspring of a male lion and female tiger) are about 30% larger than lions or tigers, approximately the same size as the now extinct European cave lion.
I believe a similar thing happened when the line of Seth and the line of Cain came back together after being isolated. The recombination of long separated DNA could very well have resulted in human beings of greater size and strength than the normal human population of the time. Apparently, the amoral practices of the Cainites rubbed off on the Sethites, causing the newly formed group to be known as the “fallen ones” (the meaning of Nephilim) and for the writer of Genesis to describe humanity as exceedingly wicked (Genesis 6:5).
One final observation to support the “genetic information recombination” theory of the Nephilim: I think the same thing has been happening in the recent history of the human race. Professional athletes, for example, are bigger than they were 50 years ago. Some of that has to do with improved training methods, nutrition, and other factors, but groups of people who were isolated for perhaps thousands of years are now integrated because of the ease of travel in our world. Lots of once separate DNA is coming back together, and I believe we are seeing the results in the human race.
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