Astonishingly, the Nephilim have been all over social media lately, and that’s because of an appearance they made at a mall in Miami! At least according to some. Let’s give some attention to the first few verses of Genesis 6. The text reads:

“When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.’ 4 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.”

Some have the strange notion that the “sons of God” in this text refers to wicked angels, and then actually go on to say that they came down to earth and had relations with “the daughters of man” and whose offspring became known as the “Nephilim.” This is actually taught in the apocryphal book of 1 Enoch and is believed by many today. But is this what the Bible really teaches?

We should note that the phrase “sons of God” does at times have reference to angels (see Job 1:6; 2:1), but not always, and definitively not in our text. The “sons of God” here almost certainly refers to the more righteous line of Seth, as compared with the wicked line of Cain, “the daughters of man.” The magnitude of evil on this earth came to a climax when the righteous line of Seth intermarried with the wicked line of Cain. God desires “godly offspring” (see Mal. 2:15), but that is not naturally occurring when the righteous marry the wicked. The seemingly innocent beginning of this problem, which led to the global flood, was marriages based largely on beauty.

The “Nephilim theory” may be debunked very quickly noting that angels are not even sexual beings! (see Mt. 22:30). The simple truth of this matter does not set well with those looking for novel things more than true and biblical things. But this fact is insurmountable for the one who believes Scripture.

We should also note that this intermarrying between these lines did NOT produce the Nephilim, period! This is simply not what the text says. The Nephilim were already a people before this ever occurred. Verse 4 says, “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterwards when the sons of God came into the daughters of man…”

So, who are these Nephilim? The end of verse 4 says, “These were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.” Two things we learn here is that they: (1) “Weren’t born yesterday,” (or in the days that Genesis 6 refers to) and (2) They had quite a reputation.

We also read about the Nephilim in Numbers 13:33 which says, “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.” Though the Nephilim were certainly known for their size, they were also known for being just as human as anyone else, like the Philistine giant, Goliath (see 1 Sam. 17).

Let’s read the Bible carefully and seek to understand what it really says and means instead of seeking to find something novel.

Daren Schroeder