Defining the Nephilim and the Days of Noah a key to understanding prophecy. There is a pattern established at the beginning of the bible that continues to repeat all the way to Revelation and the end of days. This format is not generally recognized in mainstream Christianity. Since about the third century AD, Christian doctrine has moved to break from the Old Testament and try to become a new religion. This is a big error because Christianity is really the continuation of the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Incorrectly Defining the Nephilim
For those of us who came up in mainstream Christian circles, there was seldom any doubt about the Nephilim. Genesis 6 had something to do with fallen angels mating with women and creating demi-gods and that was that. The doctrine goes further to teach that mankind was destroyed because of these illicit matings. There are a number of problems with this concept right from the get-go.
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” (Gen 6:4-7)
The Nephilim are already on the earth before the supposed illicit mating. That’s a pretty big problem if we’re we are defining the Nephilim as demi-god spawn. Another big problem is why YHVH (the LORD) destroyed mankind. This says He did that because all of men’s thoughts were continually evil. He destroyed mankind because of mankind’s behavior, not because of a corrupted bloodline.
The Correct View
The Torah was not written with chapters and verses. They were added over 1000 years after the New Testament was completed. If we read the Torah without chapters and verses, we realize that the Sons of God are defined just before the flood. Genesis 5 tells of the holy lineage, which are the Sons of God through Seth. This is confirmed by the beginning of the Messiah’s lineage in Luke:
the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
(Luk 3:38)
The video above and the pdf below are a teaching to correctly identify what happened in Genesis 6. This is so we can be on the alert for the behavior that will occur at the end of days. When Yeshua (Jesus) spoke of the Days of Noah in Matthew 24, He was not warning us to be on the alert for angels to mate with our women. He was warning us that when the children of God give themselves over to lust, by rejecting their calling, then the end will come. This pattern is established in Genesis 6 and repeated in other places of the Old Testament. We look for an enormous repeat of it at the end of day.
I hope you find Defining the Nephilim and the Days of Noah not just interesting, but a tool to help you understand scripture and prophecy better.
It’s an interesting case, though there are a few things I think worth noting:
– While the original manuscripts did not have chapters and verses, even without them it is still from pure implication that we would come to the idea that “sons of God” = “Seth’s line,” and to say that it is very clear would mean that is the only logical implication. I can see how that could be a possible implication, but not necessarily the only possible implication. Were all of the daughters of Seth’s line ugly or plain? Perhaps they were simply modest while those of Cain’s lineage were not? The best we can do is assume. What of other places where the term “sons of God” is used? Is “men of renown” talking about the Nephilim, or just referring to their children (what is the meaning of “the same” in Genesis 6:4)?
– You wrote, “Then all the rest of that line are subsequently the son of God because they are the righteous line.”
Are you saying that righteousness is determined by lineage? Beyond the Calvinist-like implications that would have, there is nothing that states any besides Seth, Enoch, and Noah were righteous- actually, assuming the ages of the men in these lineages are literal, then we can see the math:
Noah was 600 years old when the flood came.
Lamech was 182 years old when Noah was born.
Methuselah lived 782 years after Lamech was born. 600 + 182 = 782 – meaning Methuselah died the year of the flood (possibly killed by the flood). Unless Noah was chosen to build the ark year-of the flood, at some time after Methuselah’s death, then Methuselah was not considered righteous as Noah was.
Lamech lived 595 years after Noah was born – meaning until 5 years before the flood. Unless Noah was chosen only 5 years before the flood, Lamech also wasn’t considered righteous as Noah was.
– If we follow the logic to the extreme that “Adam was son of God so his descendants are sons of God,” that would mean that all of mankind were sons of God. Cain also descends from Adam, son of God. If that indicated righteousness, then Adam would also be considered righteous- but we don’t know how he ended his walk before he died, so again we have something that is based on implication alone.
Not saying I have the sure answer, but I wouldn’t call it “awfully clear” based on the logic points given, if looking from a background of not having an already-existing tradition of teaching it.
Either way, though, it doesn’t change the lessons we glean from Noah’s time, Israel’s time, and new testament writings about righteousness and unrighteousness. Certainly we should deny our flesh and walk by the Spirit.
Hi Wes,
Even with the chapters and verses, if the prior lineage isn’t the Sons of God, then that term would be undefined. Imagine we only had the Book of Genesis to go by. Who would we think those people are? The term Nephilim exists in reference to people on both sides of the flood. In this message, I point out the association to the rebel Levites as well. That shows the term doesn’t refer to beings destroyed in the flood if we can have them again later. Genesis 6 also doesn’t literally say the Nephilim are the children of the illicit affairs. It says the Nephilim were on the earth when the affairs happened, which means the Nephilim may very well have been bad people prior to the illicit affairs.
The genealogy in Luke shows the “righteous line” which doesn’t preclude others from being righteous, it was just how that line is often coined. Cain was cursed, though, and that does carry generational problems. Seth’s line got the honor of being named in Genesis 5. Cain’s did not. That matters a whole lot. Off the top of my head, Zecharias and Elizabeth, John’s parents, were also righteous. They probably trace back, too, but that’s at least two more.
Righteousness has been determined by lineage in the past. Israel was a set-apart nation intended to be righteous and to draw the nations to righteousness. Instead, they very frequently rejected their calling. Solomon is the biggest example of falling for the same sin as I spoke about in the message – he went after the daughter of men (the Queen) and subsequently introduced idolatry. This is the same exact thing the Israelites did with the Moabites. This is the same exact sin that has befallen Christianity for 1900 years, mixing paganism with the true worship. This is one of the points I’m trying to make with this message: the entire bible has to make sense. If the sin that caused the world to be destroyed was committed by an undefined third party, then mankind was destroyed because of sins mankind did not commit. And then we fast forward to Matthew 24, where the end of days is to be like the days of Noah. If we continue to draw that line, then we’re waiting for that same third party to come pollute the earth so we can be destroyed again. And nothing mankind does or does not do has any affect on this outcome, we’re just waiting for these Sons of God to come sleep with women and that’s that. But if the sin was the righteous people discarding their righteousness for pleasure and/or paganism, then we have a continuous thread from Genesis 6 through to the end. And the path of righteous stays the same while the path of the wicked stays the same, and all are judged fairly.
Who are the sons of God today?
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.
(Gal 3:26-29 NAS95)
Does this not define the sons of God as the descendants of Abraham and then include us as adopted children of God? How was Abraham a child of God? Through lineage and through his obedience. He rejected idolatry in favor of Yahweh. Do we not do the same? Would it make sense to define the sons of God as nefarious creatures if the phrase actually means “the good guys”?