The "nephilim" are not described in the Bible as being angels, nor giants. The word occurs but three times in the Bible in this form, a form which was determined by the Masoretes who added the vowel pointings (niqqud) and cantillation marks (te'amim) to the original Hebrew text.
The Masoretes apparently accepted the apocryphal accounts from the Book of Enoch.
From Chapter 7 of the Book of Enoch, we read:
- And the women conceiving brought forth giants,
- Whose stature was each three hundred cubits. These devoured all which the labour of men produced; until it became impossible to
feed them;
- When they turned themselves against men, in order to devour them;
- And began to injure birds, beasts, reptiles, and fishes, to eat their flesh one after another, and to drink their blood.
This is as mythical as a fairy tale. If such giants had actually existed, their humongous bones would be easily found in the fossil record. Their femurs alone would be over 100 feet long. According to this they were 300 cubits tall--equivalent to between 450 and 600 feet (one "cubit" is the measure of the arm, from fingertips to elbow, and the cubit was larger for larger/taller people; most scholars would put it at between 18 inches and two feet on average).
The influence of the Book of Enoch, which is entirely apocryphal and not part of the Biblical canon, reached even to the translation of the Septuagint, which is where we first see the idea of the nephilim being "giants." In fact, however, the word "nephilim" should not mean "giants" at all.
The Hebrew root word for "nephilim" consists of the nun, peh, and lamed (נפל). When one looks up these root letters, one quickly learns what this Hebrew root means. As a verb, it would be translated as "to fall." In participle or noun form, it would mean "ones who fall," or "fallen ones."
Here are the places where it is commonly mistranslated:
There were giants (nephilim) in the earth in those days; and also
after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men,
and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were
of old, men of renown. (Genesis 6:4, KJV)
And there we saw the giants (nephilim), the sons of Anak, which
come of the giants (nephilim): and we were in our own sight as
grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. (Numbers 13:33, KJV)
However, these two verses do not agree with the meaning of the same Hebrew root used elsewhere--and it occurs over 400 times in the Old Testament, though mostly as a verb in expressions like "fallen upon his bed," "fallen by the sword," "Babylon is fallen," etc.
An example of the exact same root letters where it clearly does not refer to "giants" is found in Ezekiel.
And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen (נֹפְלִ֖ים/nō·p̄ə·lîm) of the
uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war:
and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their
iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of
the mighty in the land of the living. (Ezekiel 32:27, KJV)
Notably, this text also refers to "the mighty," yet it does not translate these "nophilim" as "giants."
The context of Genesis 6:4 is that of the wickedness then existing among the people who lived before the Flood which prompted God to send the Flood. It makes perfect sense, then, that "nephilim" should mean "the fallen ones." They had certainly fallen into sin.
Consider the message if this translation were corrected.
There were fallen ones in the earth in those days; and also after
that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they
bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old,
men of renown.
Even after the Flood, many were fallen, of course. This is one of the difficult parts to explain for those who suggest these "nephilim" were angels--how would this have been true after the Flood? But it is easily explained when the true meaning of the root letters is followed.
The "sons of God" is a reference to the godly, the righteous ones, among the people--largely the descendants of Seth. Throughout the Bible, "sons of God" carries this same meaning. Consider:
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12, KJV)
The "daughters of men," conversely, would be those women who were not God-fearing. When the righteous men married unrighteous women, their children were influenced to become wicked even as were their mothers, thus increasing the magnitude of their guilt.
Genesis 6:2 gives a big clue as to what was taking place.
That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and
they took them wives of all which they chose. (Genesis 6:2, KJV)
The expression "of all which they chose" implies even polygamy. This was not according to God's design. These men who knew the truth and knew better were giving in to their lusts, and the results stand plainly on record.
