𝘕𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘮: The mythology of fallen people.

NAFAL nɔ'fɔl verb (Hebrew נָפַל, Strong’s 5307). To fall down, fall prostrate, fall into, be thrown down, be removed.

[Nefil nɛ'fil noun, nefilim nɛ.fil'im plural.]

Every once in a while I get asked about the nefilim (NIV “Nephilim,” KJV “giants”). And folks, it’s not “a nefilim,” ’cause it’s a plural noun. One nefil, many nefilim. Understandable mistake though; most English speakers can’t get our own plurals right, much less Hebrew nouns.

I don’t pry into why people wanna know about nefilim. Although when they explain, it’s nearly always to do with some mythological garbage about half-human half-angel beings. They hear about that, then hear, “And it’s in the bible!” so they check out their bible and find this weird little story. It comes right before the flood story in Genesis 6, so you’d think they’d have read it, but you know people don’t read their bibles. But even when people aren’t confirming weird myths with odd bible verses, they read this story, scratch their heads, and go, “Huh?”

Genesis 6.1-5 NIV

1When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

4The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

5The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

Okay. Lemme start by bluntily saying nobody knows what this passage means. I need to make this crystal clear from the very beginning. NOBODY.

I know; you may think you do, ’cause you’ve heard the myths, and they told you what went down. Or you heard some interpretation which makes sense to you. Or you actually heard or read some bible scholar’s theory, and figure bible scholars are smart people who must know what they’re talking about. But unless they’re really arrogant people, scholars are the first to tell you our theories are nothing but good guesses. ’Cause nobody knows what this passage means. Like I said.

Yeah, this fact bugs people. Since the scriptures are God-inspired, and meant for our instruction and correction and growth, 2Ti 3.16 how can there be such things as scriptures which no one understands? And since we Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit—the same Spirit who inspired the writer of Genesis to drop this story in the book—shouldn’t he have clued us in on what it means?

Fair questions. And there are people who claim the Spirit has told ’em what this passage means. I might even believe ’em… if their interpretations lined up, and if they weren’t so arrogant about it. But they don’t, and are. So I ignore them. You should too.

True, we can always ask the Spirit what a bible passage means. Sometimes he tells us. And sometimes he doesn’t. It’s up to him how much he cares to divulge, and (as is the case with apocalypses) sometimes what he chooses to divulge, is not what we wish he’d divulge. If he doesn’t see any good fruit coming from it, he’s not sharing. And we have to learn to be okay with that. We answer to him, remember?

If you don’t like not knowing, join the club. And work on your humility: The Holy Spirit’s under no obligation to tell us all. He’s the LORD. We’re not.

Biblical prehistory.

Popular Christian culture claims the writer of Genesis was Moses. We’ve no proof of that. Seriously: The bible doesn’t say who wrote it. It’s one of the “books of Moses,” but only because it’s one of the five books of the Law, and the other four books have Moses as one of the main figures. For convenience, I’m gonna call the writer of Genesis “Moe.”

Moe wanted to explain where humanity’s 120-year lifespan came from. After all, Genesis 5 describes a world where humans lived way longer than that… yet today, the world’s oldest people rarely make it to their 120s. (Few even make it to 100. That may change in a decade, but we’ll see.) Anyway Moe knew a story about how that came to be. So here it is.

This story comes from prehistory. Prehistory means “before history was properly recorded”: Before humans began to write down their current events, which over time becomes history. ’Cause the problem with writing down non-current events, is it’s gonna lack details and context. We kinda need these details to help us interpret the story.

Fr’instance: What on earth did Moe mean by בְנֵי הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙/binéy ha-Elohim, “God’s children”? (KJV “sons of God.”) God has children?

Well of course he has children; we’re God’s kids. He adopted us. But is that what’s going on in this story?—are these humans whom God adopted like he adopted us? Or are they some other kind of being? Some kind of divine beings?

We find “God’s children” in Job as well:

Job 1.6 CSB

One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them.

I had to switch translations to the CSB, because the translators of the NIV decided binéy ha-Elohim now means “the angels.” The Hebrew text of Job does not say “the angels,” as the NIV’s footnote confesses: “Hebrew the sons of God” is what it says. The interpreters really didn’t wanna imply God has any children other than Jesus. Which is fine; I don’t care to imply that either. But it does say binéy ha-Elohim, “God’s children,” and we oughta deal with that, not sweep it under a footnote as if we’re trying to hide a textual flaw.

The writer of Job never says what God’s children are; the text simply goes to the bit where Satan and the LORD get into a conversation about Job of Uz. We’re just left hanging. Why are “God’s children” standing before God? What are “God’s children” anyway? Are these God-followers who died, who are now standing before God for judgment? And Satan’s there to accuse them, ’cause that was its job in the Old Testament?

The most popular interpretation—which is a really strange one, ’cause we Christians only believe in the One God—is “God’s children” are other gods. Okay, not literally other gods. They’re powerful spirit beings, which humans mistakenly call gods, ’cause we’re under the delusion that if you’re mighty, you’re some kind of god. Superhero movies regularly have people claim powerful heroes and villains are godlike, if not new gods themselves. (And sometimes they’re literally gods. Like Thor and Loki of Marvel Comics, who are meant to be the literal Norse gods. Or Wonder Woman, the daughter of the Greek god Zeus—and sister of the Greek god Ares, one of her regular antagonists.) “God’s children” are mighty beings which we mistakenly call lesser gods—or if you wanna use the Greek word for them, δαιμόνια/demónia. Yep, demons. To Greeks, demons aren’t evil spirits; just lesser gods. To Christians, they’re not really gods—and if they claim to be, that’d be evil.

Okay, now let’s get to the Admite daughters. Literally they’re בְּנ֣וֹת הָֽאָדָ֔ם/benót ha-Adam, “Adam’s daughters.” The KJV went with “daughters of men,” because adám also means “human” or “humanity.” But which one does it mean? Are these simply human women? Or literal daughters of Adam?—the first generation from Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel and Seth’s sisters? Except this story comes after the genealogy list from Adam to Noah, Ge 5 so probably not. Or is “daughters of Adam” a special term for some religious group called that? We could be talking about prehistoric clubs, for all we know.

Yeah, historical context would really help us out here. But we don’t have it. ’Cause prehistory. So as a result we don’t know where this story fits in the timeline, who it addresses, or even the meanings of the words in it. I defined Nefil’s root-word, nafál, in the beginning of this piece… but historical context might’ve altered that definition. Just like “driver” no longer means “one who drives a horse forward,” nafál might’ve meant something different when this story originated. Or something different for a brief time in Moe’s day. There might be a lost meaning in there somewhere. We don’t know. ’Cause prehistory.

I know; you were probably hoping for definite answers. Sorry.

Enoch and the watchers.

When humans have gaps in our knowledge, we fill in the blanks with theories. Some of these theories are totally valid explanations, backed by lots of scientific evidence, like the theory of relativity. Some are wishful thinking, like karma or social Darwinism. Some are full-on deception, like the idea Satan used to be a mighty being.

In history we call these theories myths. They’re not necessarily fiction: Some myths probably happened! We speculate humans figured out how to make alcohol by accidentally leaving fruit juice out too long, and it’s entirely likely that’s just what happened. (Some Christians speculate that’s why Noah got drunk, Ge 9.20-21 ’cause their hangups with alcohol won’t let ’em imagine a good man intentionally making wine.) But most of us figure myth means fiction, and most of the time that’s exactly how I use the word.

The Pharisees’ interpretation of this story goes like yea: “God’s children” refers to an עִיר/iyr, “eye-opener,” an Aramaic word describing a spirit being or angel—which we only read of in Daniel, ’cause it’s one of the few books of the bible with passages in Aramaic. The KJV translates this as “watcher.” Pharisees believed God sent these “eye-openers” to the Adamites because they didn’t know the Law; the LORD hadn’t yet given it to Moses, remember? So Pharisees claimed he gave it to the Adamites through the watchers.

This story trickled into the popular culture of Jesus and the apostles’ day. It’s why the New Testament refers to the Law being handed down by the ministry of angels.

Acts 7.53 NIV

“…you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

Galatians 3.18 NIV

18BThe law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator.

But if you actually read the Law, you’ll notice Moses didn’t get the Law from angels; he got it directly from the LORD himself. So where in the bible do we see angels giving or ministering the Law? We don’t. The idea comes solely from Pharisee myth: The Adamites needed to learn the Law, so God sent ’em angels. And if you challenged a Pharisee on this theory, they’d point you to this verse:

Genesis 7.2 NIV

“Take with you seven pairs of every kind of cleana animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate…”

How would Noah know which animals were ritually clean and unclean, since God hadn’t yet spelled this out in the Law which he wouldn’t hand down for another few thousand years?

Yeah, I’d probably answer special revelation: God must’ve personally explained it to Noah, much like he let Cain and Abel know how he liked his sacrifices. Ge 4.4-5 But Pharisees insisted watchers taught Cain and Abel how to do sacrifices, and watchers taught Noah what’s clean and what’s not: The watchers taught the Law to the Adamites. So that’s why God eventually had to flood the planet: The Adamites violated the Law like crazy, and God had to judge ’em.

Not that the watchers were all that righteous either: They’re the very same “God’s children” who saw the Adamite daughters and “married any of them they chose.” Even though Jesus teaches us angels don’t marry, Mk 12.25 Pharisees claimed these particular angels could and did. And weren’t supposed to. Breeding creatures of different species violates the Law, y’know. Lv 19.19 So these watchers sinned. Adamite women were just so enticing.

In the Pharisee myth, the prophet Enoch found out about this, and told God on them. (I’ve no idea how God didn’t know already.) The naughty watchers were thrown into the Abyss, and as a reward, Enoch “was not,” Ge 5.24 instead of having an ordinary lifespan and dying, like other Adamites. Other Pharisee myths claim Enoch went the highest heaven, not merely paradise; that he was transformed into Metatrón, the angel who speaks for God to us, because God’s literal voice would obliterate mortal beings. (Even though God’s voice didn’t vaporize Adam and Eve, who heard him just fine even after they sinned. Ge 3.10)

Most Christians have never even heard of the myths about Enoch and the watchers, so they don’t know what to make of any of this. And are a little horrified to discover it gets referenced in Jude too—what in the world was Jesus’s brother doing, referring to a myth as if it actually happened? But I remind you plenty of preachers refer to popular fiction, like books and movies, in their sermons and podcasts. There’s nothing wrong with this. We know they’re talking about fiction.

Jude’s readers probably knew this too… although just as there are people who think the events in certain historical movies literally happened like that, I’m sure there were people in the first century who also thought the Enoch and watchers myths literally happened too. Whether they believed it or not, it doesn’t really matter when it comes to biblical interpretation. The scriptures don’t confirm the Enoch myths. They don’t deny ’em either: They’re not really worth taking a stand on. I personally don’t believe they happened, but meh. Believe what you like.

Anyway, Pharisees also claimed Noah’s flood was God’s way of making sure the watchers’ progeny, the nefilim, were wiped out once and for all.

Except they weren’t. Nefilim come up in the book of Numbers:

Numbers 13.30-33 NIV

30Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

31But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devoursd those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33We 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.”

But this doesn’t necessarily mean Nefilim survived the flood. Remember, this was a false report, spread to discourage the Israelis from invading Palestine.

Lastly, Greek mythology. When the Septuagint was translated, Pharisees translated “nefilim” with the Greek word γίγαντας/yígadas, which we transliterate as “gigantes,” creatures from Greek mythology. The yígadas were sons of Gaia, looked like massive humans, tried to overthrow Olympus, and were defeated and destroyed. Pharisees must’ve figured yígadas sounded a lot like nefilim, so they used the word. (To my mind, “titans” might’ve been better, but whatever. It’s a bad translation either way.) Anyway, the KJV borrowed that idea, and translated “nefilim” as “giants.”

Okay, but what were they really?

Yes I know what popular culture’s myths claim: Half angel, half human. Since Christianity doesn’t have demigods (’cause Jesus is fully God, and God doesn’t have sex with humans like Zeus did) they’re the next best thing. Many an author has loved to retell the very old yarn of a young man or woman who discovers their mysterious parentage has granted ’em special powers. Pity it’s an angel gone wrong.

But I gotta burst your bubble: Angels aren’t physical beings. Humans are. So we can’t breed with angels. Period.

Other than the Holy Spirit, a spirit can’t make a human. Nor a half-human, nor a demigod. Biology doesn’t work like that, no matter what the myths claim. Therefore any of the theories which say the “God’s children” of Genesis 6 are angels or spirits, don’t work at all. If they reproduced with humans, they were, whatever they were, physical beings.

Now yes, mythmakers wanna speculate the watchers were a special case; that God gave these specific angels a physical form so the Adamites could interact with them. And yeah, whenever angels show up in the bible, often they resemble humans and physically interact with the world, so it’s not a completely implausible theory. It’s more of a leap to assume they were also granted working reproductive systems, and the hormones necessary to work ’em. (If true, from what we know of puberty, no wonder they’d wanna make babies right away!) But the only reason we’d make these leaps is because we want nefilim to be demi-angels. Not because it makes any sense at all for God to give an angel testicles.

I’ve also heard the theory the watchers were space aliens. I think it’s a silly theory… but then again, y’realize it’s not like angels are from Earth.

Well, regardless of how they were parented. As I stated in the beginning of this piece, the verb nafál means “to fall down.” The related noun nefíl means “one who fell down.” So the original meaning of nefilim is “fallen people.” I’ve heard Christians claim this therefore means “God’s children” were fallen angels—but their connect-the-dots thinking has skipped a dot. “Fallen people” describes the offspring, not their parents.

In what way were nefilim fallen? My guess: If you’re familiar with mythology, you notice nearly all mythological heroes, mixed in among their great deeds, did something really stupid and had to suffer the consequences of their hubris. (That’s how karma works, remember?) Heroes regularly fell. Maybe “nefilim” refers to the fact heroes regularly fall.

If nefilim are the heroes of myth, they’d be what we (and the Greco-Roman myths) call demigods. Like Herakles, Theseus, Perseus, Achilles, Æneas, and all the other god/human hybrids, who turned out to become great figures in other religions’ mythologies. And of course a lot of them suffered tragic circumstances, or endings. But since the bible doesn’t single out any nefil in particular, we don’t know their stories. That’s the problem with prehistory: That lack of context again. Maybe the actual Herakles was a nefil whose stories got passed around till finally the Greeks got ahold of him. I sincerely doubt it, but once again: We don’t know. These famous people were lost in prehistory.

So, finding a practical application for this story becomes really difficult. We don’t have any solid interpretation of it. All we know is this is the reason Moe gives us for why humans no longer live 900-plus years: People had sex who shouldn’t have, so God decided to trim our lifespan down to something less immortal.

But no Christian can claim, “Here’s what a ‘God’s child’ is,” nor “Here’s what a nefil is,” and demand others see it the same way as we. Demanding our fellow Christians must believe nefilim are demigods, or that “God’s children” are lesser gods—or even that this is a pagan story which somehow got mixed into the bible!—isn’t wise, and isn’t valid.

William Shakespeare put in the mouth of Hamlet, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Hamlet 1.5 Apparently God’s universe includes “God’s children” and nefilim, and we know next to nothing about them. The solution isn’t to guess at what they are, then get dogmatic about our guesses. It’s to accept our universe has more weirdness in it than we’re aware of.

What ultimately matters is we follow Jesus, and let the rest sort itself out whenever God decides it needs sorting. Till then let’s stick to what’s relevant.