Nephilim As the Bible Records

If you have a look at the book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible (6:1-4), Nephilim are described as the mighty children of the sons of God and the beautiful daughters of men. The sons of God are purported to have been attracted to the women and this made God very angry with mankind. For this reason God reduced the number of years a man can live to 120 years.

In Hebrew, Nephilim means ‘the ones that cause others to fall’. Hebrew scholars therefore propose that the name was given to the giant creatures that lived in those times. These creatures were called Nephilim simply because their giant physique. Their warlike nature made men to fear and even run in battle. This theory is especially supported by a later account in the Bible where young king David killed a Nephilim descendent called Goliath during a biblical account of battle.

New American Bible is outright in condemning Nephilim as the children of heavenly beings and earthily women, due to increased wickedness among the mankind.

One consistent attribute given to Nephilim by biblical accounts is the denomination of giants or more precisely of giants of Canaan. This makes it seem that the term Nephilim may be a generic term referring to giants. The book of Numbers according to Vulgate and Septuagint translations puts emphatic stress on an abnormal height.

When Israelites were across the Jordan River and sent out spies to assess the power of the enemy and the outlay of the land, the bible presents the most graphical description of Nephilim. It states, “The land we spied devours her inhabitants and the people we saw there are of a great height. We saw the Nephilim and we seemed like grasshoppers in comparison.”

Another graphic example that exemplifies the ‘giant’ nature of the Nephilim is in the book of Joshua. After Israelites conquered Canaanite tribes, a few aborigines of the land survived and were called Rephaim. A later dispossession however sees all of them killed or displaced except one, Og king Bashan. The bible records that his bed was of iron, over 13 feet long and 6 feet wide.

Nephilim As the Bible Records