Did Fallen Angels Create the Nephilim

by CK Quarterman
(Franklin, NC)

Giants Sketched on Ground

In Genesis the fallen angels are called, “the sons of god” (Gen. 6:4). Genesis is a much older writing than the Book of Enoch. The dating of the Book of Enoch is around the 2nd-1st Century BC. The writings of the Book of Genesis are dated to at least that of the United Monarch somewhere around 1200 BC.

In Genesis fallen angels are known as the “bene ha-’elohim” (sons of god) who have sex with human woman.

“The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all that they chose ….. The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men” (Gen. 6:4). This union of fallen angels created giants.

These giants were seen before the flood, and again after the flood when the children of Israel attempt to enter Canaan. A fallen angel would have had to been the father of Goliath since Gen. 6:4 says this is how they are created. This account gives rise to, and an understanding of the giant races of antiquity by the union of demigods with human wives as portrayed by Greek Mythology.

It has been the opinion of Rabbinical Scholars, and the translators of the Septuagint that this event actually occurred.

The early church agreed with this view. Justin Marty, Cyprian, Eusebius, and even Josephus a historical writer accepted this view. While we should not let tradition have the final say in doctrinal matters, we can learn from their statements why they considered Fallen Angels to have actually been cohabitating with human females. Justin Marty (the earliest of the church fathers) in his Second Apology wrote, “The Angels lusted after woman, and beget giants. These giants upon death became the demons.”

This cohabitation with human females resulted in an offspring called “Nephilim”. The King James Version says, “Giants”. Giants in the Hebrew text are described as those “who ruined the world” (by their violence, (Enoch vii. 3, 4). They comprise three classes: the original giants, who begot the Nephilim, to whom in turn, were born the Eliud (Book of Enoch, vii. 2).

What about the origin of the word Nephilim, Nephilim cannot mean, “fallen ones” as some have speculated (the spelling would then be nephulim). Likewise, Nephilim does not mean “those who fall” or “those who fall away” as Zecharia Sitchin suggests (that would be nophelim). The only way in Hebrew to get nephilim from naphal by the rules of Hebrew morphology (word formation) would be to presume a noun spelled naphil and then pluralize it. This is what Zecharia Sitchin suggests.

However, in Aramaic the noun naphil(a) does exist. When the ancient Greek version of the Hebrew Old Testament (the LXX or Septuagint) was written, the word “Nephilim” was translated gegenes, (giant) a word implying “Earth born.” This same terminology is used to describe the Greek gods. Greek and Roman mythology have legends of “gods” coming down and intermarrying with humans having hybrids, half-human and half-god or animal. Unger’s Bible dictionary says, “the Nephillim are considered by many as demigods, the unnatural offspring of the daughters of men mortal women in cohabitation with” the sons of god” (angels). This utterly unnatural union, violating God‘s created order of being, was such a shocking abnormality as to necessitate the worldwide judgment of the flood.” (pg. 788) These legends and folklore are distortions of the true account given in Genesis.

This mingling was disastrous for humanity. The mingling of angel and human is a fact reported somewhat as a matter of fact in Genesis. However, other texts explain this occurrence with a little more color. According to The Book of Enoch, the offspring of the fallen angels, the Nephilim began to oppress the earth, and to eat up the inhabitants thereof.

Angels can change into physical form even though by nature they are spirit beings. The Bible does not tell us how this happens, but it refers to angels “which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation” Jude 6-7. This verse is saying that the angels who kept not their “own habitation” had gone after “strange flesh”. These are the angels referred to in Genesis Chapter Six who took on human form “strange flesh” and went after “strange flesh”, that is the daughters of Adam. Jude gives us an understanding of fallen angels and their interaction with humanity and of those who resist such knowledge are called, “brute beasts”. Interesting….

What does it mean that they “kept not their first estate”? The word rendered “habitation” (oikētērion) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It means they kept not their spiritual bodies but took upon themselves flesh!

What purpose would there be for such an intermingling? They the Watchers (name given to these fallen angels) were captivated by the love of women. This said in Genesis, and the Book of Enoch, although it has been suggested that it was also an attempt to pollute the gene pool by introducing something foreign, and well it may be. This would have been disastrous since Christ would then not have been able to been born of humankind. You might notice that Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. We would now say “perfect in his gene pool”. This word “perfect” is the same Hebrew word used to denote the perfectness of a sacrificial lamb for slaughter. Noah was not affected by the defiled “gene pool” of humankind by the fallen angels.

When God flooded the earth, what happened to these offending angels?

“For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;” (2Pe 2:4)

“And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” (Jud 1:6-7)

Both of these verses give account of the sin of the angels, which departed from their own nature to go after unnatural desires. Because of this, they are confined in chains in Tartarus. Tartarus is the deepest abyss of Hades, and is the same as the underworld, or abode of the dead. This incarceration in chains until judgment day gives us further insight into who these angels are. If the sin mentioned here was the original fall of the angels, then all the evil angels would be in chains, not just some. This would mean that all the angels would be bound, and would not be active today. Obviously, reading the Book of Revelation this is not correct so the only other explanation is a separate event which prompted God to lock them up.

According to Enoch, the two hundred fallen angels who had intermarried with the daughters of men in the days of Jarad were chained under hell in darkness. The desert which is in Dudael (Judean Desert) was opened, and the offenders were thrust down into Tartarus and covered with sharp stones and chains of darkness to await the Day of Judgment.

These fallen angels have ventured into our dimension several times. The first incursion began before the Great Flood when some two hundred fallen angels or Watchers followed Samyaza and elected him their leader. Under Samyaza they swore an oath to materialize into this realm and to perform the deed of cohabiting with the daughters of men. They forsook their own realm in direct opposition to the command of the Lord.

Samyaza said to them, “I fear that you may not fulfill this venture, and I alone shall suffer for so terrible a crime.” They answered and said to him, “We all pledge and bind ourselves by fears that we will not change our mind and hearts, but we will fulfill this venture.” The two hundred swore together, and all bound themselves by the fears. The whole number, with their leaders, descended upon Mount Hermon in the days of Jared. All of the Watchers who materialized into this realm took wives, cohabiting with them and teaching them all manner of wickedness, sorcery, and witchcraft.

Wickedness continued to increase, and fornication by the fallen angels rampaged throughout the Earth.

“Then came the flood upon the earth, namely, owing to the fornication wherein the Watchers against the law of their ordinances went a whoring after the daughters of men, and took themselves wives of all which they chose: and they made the beginning of uncleanness. And they begat sons, the nephilim, and they were all unlike, and they devoured one another: and the Giants slew one man another “(Book of Jubilees).

The mating of the sons of God with humans did not end after the flood. The short statement “…in those days; and also after that”, refers to the fact that the fallen angels, the sons of God, continued to sin with the daughters of men. (Genesis 6:4)

When incidents amplified in places such as Sodom and Gomorrah, God would destroy the area. Sodom and Gomorrah were not the only cities God destroyed, because Jude 1:7 states that, there were other cities “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner”.