Expert: Marilyn - 2/25/2008

Question
How did (Giants) come into existence. Are Nephilim cosidered spirits? Did  spirits mate with humans in order for the giants to be born. Also, is this type of thing still happening today? Does Nephilim still exist today, since we still have modern day giants?

Answer
Hello Jimmy;

According to the entry in Wikipedia, the name "Nephilim" literally means, "those causing others to fall."  Samuel David Luzzatto, a Hebrew Italian, also known as Shadal, wrote that the name "Nephilim" derived from the Hebrew word "Pela" which means "wondrous."  The "sons of God" in Hebrew is literally translated, "sons of the powers."

Speculation abounds that the Nephilim were offspring of angels and human women.  However, Jesus clearly states in Matthew 22:30 that angels are not capable of producing offspring.  

Nephilim are mentioned again in Numbers 13:33 when the spies Moses sent into the Promised Land return to report "giants" live there.  "We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim).  We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."  Earlier in the chapter, verse 22 we read, "They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived."  Anak is mentioned in Deuteronomy 2:10 & 11.  In Joshua 15:13 we learn that Anak's forefather was Arba.  Anak means literally "long neck."   

Caleb drove out Anak's descendants from the land and settled there.  Clearly, the spies' declaration that there were "giants" in the promised land refers to their own lack of self-esteem and faith in God more than it refers to the size of their adversaries.

We know that God created other humanoid beings besides humans, perhaps the Nephilim are Neanderthals or some other humanoid.  Some commentators believe that the blood line needed to eventually bring Jesus, the Redeemer, to the earth was being polluted, the "sons of God," indicating Adam's righteous descendants, and the "daughters of men" referring to Cain's descendants.  God sent the flood, in part, to cleanse the earth of this corrupted blood whether that corrupted blood be the admixture of other humanoid species with human or Cain's blood with his righteous cousins' blood.

The Nephilim remain a mystery.  

Sincerely,

Marilyn