Nephilim

"The Bible is full of stories that seem superstitious and implausible."

Natters, I have to totally disagree. Nothing in the Bible given as a true account seems superstitious to me.

"Genetic engineering could have been practiced by these "sons of God" on their human hosts to make use of the full capacity of the human brain."

Hank, is there anything that indicates the Nephilim were nothing more than larger than normal people? I don't think so. People are reading into the text something that is not there.

 

blackbird said "To speculate half human/half demon species, readers would have to agree, sounds much more "far fetched" than speculating that some sinful humans got together"

Sounding "far fetched" has nothing to do with it. Many things in the Bible sound far fetched.

Marcia said "Natters, I have to totally disagree. Nothing in the Bible given as a true account seems superstitious to me."

I'm just saying that there are many things in the Bible that defy our understanding of physics, biology, etc. Especially once we start considering the spirit realm, of which we know very little in the first place.

 

No and there is really nothing that indicates that they were larger than normal people except for the metaphorical figure of speech "as grasshoppers" in Numbers 13:33.

The KJV word "giants" in Genesis 6 is the crossover word for nephilim also known as or associated with the anakim, raphaim, emim and zamzummim.

The entymology of "nephilim" includes a specialized Hebrew word which means "those fallen in battle", specifically the corpses littering the battlefield. The plural "im" ending often indicates a race of people.

The "raphaim" are associated with large size in Deuteronomy 3:11.

Goliath was Gittite.

There is also an asociation of the nephilim with the gheborim, which (if I remember correctly) indicates nobility and education.

Like I said, it's speculation but not completely groundless.

HankD

 

Marcia said "Natters, I have to totally disagree. Nothing in the Bible given as a true account seems superstitious to me."

Natters said:
"I'm just saying that there are many things in the Bible that defy our understanding of physics, biology, etc. Especially once we start considering the spirit realm, of which we know very little in the first place."

But those things are either miracles or something in the angelic realm. That is not the same as a mythlike story or fable, which is how the idea of evil spirits mating with human women strike me. That does not sound like a miracle or like something kept within the angelic realm because it's mixing the two worlds of humans and angels/spirits.

 

Marcia, you talk about how it strikes you and what seems supersitious to you. I have friends that see the whole book of Genesis as mythlike and fable, starting with 1:1. When it comes to understanding scripture, nobody should say "this or that must not be true because I personally have trouble accepting it as anything but a superstitious fable".

Why do you allow for difficult-to-understand things to happen within the angelic realm, but not when that angelic realm overlaps and interacts with the human realm? Yes, the fallen angel view is very strange and feels like legend or myth. But it was the myth that was universally accepted as truth until about the 4th century A.D., some 250+ years after the NT was completed and another 1500+ since Genesis itself was written.

 

The Giant Gene could have been passed down thru Noah's Wife or daughter-in-laws. According to some Jewish Tradition. Noah's Wife was the granddaugther of Cain and Tubal-Cains Sister, Naamah.

Naamah according to Enoch appeared to have a Red Shade of Skin and Noah a White Shade of Skin as for their sons Red, White and Black shades of Skin. I can not remember which one had which shade of Skin. Nothing is really said about their wives. One of them could have influence the problem that brought about Canan being cursed. No one can really say thou.

Could Fallen Angels have had sex with Women. Well we have Angels with the Ablity to take on Human form, We know Angels desire and have feelings, we know that when Angels have taken human form it has always been Male. We know that Angels are referred to as the Sons of God by Job and Paul.

In the end wether it happened or not has no dealings with Salvation but it is an interesting toopic. I personally think it could have happened God could have allowed it to be done. I heard someone say how could He let it happen to something made in His Image. I say look what we have done to all ho are made in His Image.

 

Yes, I'm writing down what strikes me as superstitious or mythlike and that is why I say "seems to me" or words to that effect, to show that I am not asserting those views as facts. When I give my opinion or reaction, that is what I do. Seems to be a lot of it on the BB so I thought it was okay, especially in an area like this where we seem to be dealing almost totally with speculation.

At least I don't give my opinion and say it's fact (not meaning you, natters, but have seen it done on the BB).

 

erratum: Last Post entymology s/b etymology.

HankD