The Nephilim Giants Again

As we have just seen, the ancient Israelites were in fear of the mysterious Nephilim giants -- and I wonder if it was reading those same verses as he penned his letter that inspired Jude to draw out this second important lesson -- one that provides a transition that will, in a moment, take us much closer to understanding the specific immorality the pseudo-Christian leaders were promoting and condoning.The Nephilim giants are first mentioned in the Bible as living on the Earth in the period of intense violence and wickedness that preceded the Flood of Noah – where we read: "There were giants (Nephilim) in the Earth in those days, and also afterwards when the sons of God went in to the daughters of men and children were born by them. They were heroes of old, men of renown" (Genesis 6:4).

Most commentators have always believed that the sons of God mentioned here were angels, as clearly identified in Job (chapter 38, verse 7), beings who were somehow able to have intercourse with women, thereby generating a race of giant and ferocious offspring – known as the Nephilim. No doubt these giants made their contribution to the violence that engulfed the pre-Flood world. Although there is some confusion as to the origin of the term Nephilim, many scholars think that it derives from a Hebrew word meaning to cast down, or to fall – and that it is to these fallen or cast down, sinful angels that Jude is referring.

The Genesis account may also be referring to the Nephilim when it says: "The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose" (chapter 6, verse 1). Again, the fact that they were able to take any women they chose suggests that they were violent and powerful beings. Most commentators also believe that when Jude speaks of the angels who kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he is referring to those who fathered the Nephilim. Although the meanings of the two phrases Jude uses are somewhat obscure, the implication seems to be that these particular angels first of all deserted their estate, the position or function God had given them, perhaps as guardian angels as we read in Hebrews (chapter 1, verse 14) – and, secondly, were then somehow able to occupy different habitations, a term that can apply to the human body (Ephesians 2:22). With regard to angels appearing in human form and doing physical things, such as eating and drinking, Paul says: "Some people have entertained angels without knowing it" (Hebrews 13:1) -- probably referring to the angels who visited Abraham on their way to Sodom, as we shall see in a moment.

The New Testament also makes it clear that evil spirits can take control human bodies, sometimes imparting super-human strength (Mark 5:3-4) and even psychic abilities (Acts 16:16). Some people wonder, therefore, if the ancient Greek myths may well refer to the exploits of these Nephilim in the pre-Flood world -- beings described in the Genesis account above as heroes and men of reknown.

Perhaps Peter is also speaking of the angels that fathered the Nephilim when he says that Christ, after his resurrection: "preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built" (1 Peter 3:18-19). Again, in his second letter, Peter says: "God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness, awaiting to the Day of Judgment" (2 Peter 2:4). Jude’s lesson in this verse seems to be that even powerful angelic beings that abused their divine appointment and perverted the natural sexual order of things by cohabiting with women will be severely punished by God.