A race of giants in the Bible

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Genesis Chapter 6:1-4 1 When men began to multiply on earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of heaven saw how beautiful the daughters of man were, and so they took for their wives as many of them as they chose. 3 Then the LORD said: “My spirit shall not remain in man forever, since he is but flesh. His days shall comprise one hundred and twenty years.” 4 At that time the Nephilim appeared on earth (as well as later), after the sons of heaven had intercourse with the daughters of man, who bore them sons. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown.
Angels or aliens??:hmmm:
Them crazy Bible Code people love this one.:rotfl:

Nephilim means either “fallen ones” or “untimely birth”.
There are a few passages in the book of Joshua that refer to the descendents of Anak who was supposed to be a giant or a very strong & tall warrior.

I briefly reseached this & found that Gilgamesh was also said to be a giant. A find it all to be quite funny.
 
Fallen angels influence humans. I suppose that could be what the author is trying to convey.
 
many scholars hold that these verses teach that there was once interaction between fallen angels and men. their offspring were the great heroes of old, like achilles or aeneas, and perhaps the giants in philistia - those belonging to the family from whence came goliath and his brothers.

you can read more about this at users.aristotle.net/~bhuie/gen6sons.htm

i’m not sure what the church’s contermporary teaching is on the subject. i’d be interested to know.
 
When the Beaver is explaining to the Pevensey children where the white witch came from, he says she is the descendent of Adam by his first wife, Lilith. They of course are sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, so the rightful possessors of the 4 thrones of Narnia at Cair Paravel. Who is Lilith?
 
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puzzleannie:
When the Beaver is explaining to the Pevensey children where the white witch came from, he says she is the descendent of Adam by his first wife, Lilith. They of course are sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, so the rightful possessors of the 4 thrones of Narnia at Cair Paravel. Who is Lilith?
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That account of the White Witch’s ancestry doesn’t quite agree with “The Magician’s Nephew”, though. Perhaps Mr.Beaver was relying on rumour. 🙂​

Lilith, or Lilitu, is a female nocturnal demon mentioned in Isaiah 34.14, who was feared in Babylonia as a stealer of infants:

Isa 34:14 And wild beasts shall meet with hyenas, the satyr shall cry to his fellow; yea, there shall the night hag [Heb. lilith] alight, and find for herself a resting place.

The idea that she was Adam’s wife is a Jewish legend:

jewishencyclopedia.com/search_results.jsp?searchType=1&pageNum=1&search=Lilith&searchOpt=0&x=21&y=7 should give all you want to know. ##
 
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jeffreedy789:
many scholars hold that these verses teach that there was once interaction between fallen angels and men. their offspring were the great heroes of old, like achilles or aeneas, and perhaps the giants in philistia - those belonging to the family from whence came goliath and his brothers.

you can read more about this at users.aristotle.net/~bhuie/gen6sons.htm

i’m not sure what the church’s contermporary teaching is on the subject. i’d be interested to know.
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There is a range of opinions among interpreters, but nothing that could be called teaching by the Magisterium.​

I think those who take the “sons of God/gods” - bene Elohim/elohim in Hebrew - as divine beings from the Canaanite pantheon, are convincing. They marry with mortal women, and the gibborim - “heroes”, “mighty men”, “giants” - are the result.

The “Sethite and Cainite” explanation, and the “angelic marriage” explanation, both predate the discoveries at Ras Shamra in and after 1929 that have given us the texts that refer to the “sons of El”. The “angelic marriage” story is related at length in the Book of Jubilees, where it is linked to the “fall of the angels”.

There are several references to gibborim in the OT, in different contexts. Sometimes it is clear from the context that they are thought of as being of unusual height.

The whole question is discussed in great detail in C. Westermann’s Commentary on Genesis 1-11. ##
 
i see what you mean about it not seeming to agree with ‘magician’s nephew’, but in MN, it’s never mentioned where the queen comes from to begin with. it’s assumed she’s from that world (charn) originally, and the fact that she loses her ‘blasting power’ when she comes to earth makes it seem strange that she originally CAME from earth, but it’s not out of the question.

then again, maybe mr beaver was just relating a myth that, upon further research, turns out not to be the case.
 
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jeffreedy789:
i see what you mean about it not seeming to agree with ‘magician’s nephew’, but in MN, it’s never mentioned where the queen comes from to begin with. it’s assumed she’s from that world (charn) originally, and the fact that she loses her ‘blasting power’ when she comes to earth makes it seem strange that she originally CAME from earth, but it’s not out of the question.

then again, maybe mr beaver was just relating a myth that, upon further research, turns out not to be the case.
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I believe MN was written after LWAW so maybe Narnian scriptural exegesis had developed over time, was illuminated by recent archeological discoveries, or was hijacked by revisionists.
 
Sorry but I can’t give a link for the following.

The only giant fossils/skeletons on man were found in the state of Oregon. To understand how big the skulls were, they would wear a size 9 to 10 size hat. The height was aprox. 8 feet tall.

The skulls almost came to a point on the back.
 
’ believe MN was written after LWAW so maybe Narnian scriptural exegesis had developed over time, was illuminated by recent archeological discoveries, or was hijacked by revisionists.’

lol. yes, it was written after LWAW. but lewis was usually very careful to accurately tie his books together. even lists of seemingly random characters in one book end up being real people in other books. he was a great storyteller, and very critical of poor storylines, so i think he probably didn’t drop the ball on this one.

but no one’s perfect. (with One exception)
 
“Nephilim” - or נפילים - does not refer to angles or to giants, but to princes who had become corrupted with immorality, and “fell” from their social caste by engaging in relations with women from the servant caste.
 
Gottle of Geer:
The “Sethite and Cainite” explanation, and the “angelic marriage” explanation, both predate the discoveries at Ras Shamra in and after 1929 that have given us the texts that refer to the “sons of El”. The “angelic marriage” story is related at length in the Book of Jubilees, where it is linked to the “fall of the angels”.
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The objection to the angelic beings explanation, of course, is that angels are by definition non-corporeal beings and thus unable to interbreed with humans.

The Catechism points out:
328 The existence of the spiritual, *non-corporeal beings * that Sacred Scripture usually calls “angels” is a truth of faith. The witness of Scripture is as clear as the unanimity of Tradition.
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330 As *purely spiritual * creatures angels have intelligence and will: they are personal and immortal creatures, surpassing in perfection all visible creatures, as the splendor of their glory bears witness.
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According to the NAB footnotes on Genesis 6:
[1-4] This is apparently a fragment of an old legend that had borrowed much from ancient mythology. The sacred author incorporates it here, not only in order to account for the prehistoric giants of Palestine, whom the Israelites called the Nephilim, but also to introduce the story of the flood with a moral orientation–the constantly increasing wickedness of mankind.
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[2] The sons of heaven: literally “the sons of the gods” or “the sons of God,” i.e., the celestial beings of mythology.
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[4] As well as later: According to Numbers 13:33, when the Israelites invaded Palestine and found there the tall aboriginal Anakim, they likened them to the Nephilim; cf Deut 2:10-11. Perhaps the huge megalithic structures in Palestine were thought to have been built by a race of giants, whose superhuman strength was attributed to semi-divine origin. The heroes of old: the legendary worthies of ancient mythology.
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According to theologian Scott Hahn, the sons of god are the descendents of Seth and the sons of men are the descendents of Cain. The resulting “mighty men” are so-named because they are men of violence and war. For more explanation than this, you need to listen to Hahn’s tape set on Genesis 1–22.
 
I think this is only just a legend. In my Great Bible Adventure study class, Jeff Cavins explains it this way. Paraphrasing of course.

The sons of heaven are those who are in a right relationship with God. The chosen family, if you would. Through Seth’s line, God was preparing his people to know and love Him and ultimately preparing them for the coming of Christ. They are the one who have a covenant with God

The daughters of men are those who do not care for the One True God. Cain’s line. They worship anything and everything. They do not have a covenant with God.

What we have here is intermarrying, believers with nonbelievers, for the purpose of sexual pleasure. Intermarrying would have resulted in the believers to be assimilated into the nonbelievers. Their faith in God was not strong and they would soon be worshipping false gods.

At this point, in salvation history, the people were becoming increasingly evil (due to the fact that they were worshipping demons); this is when God steps in and “starts over again” with Noah.

At least, this is what I got out of the session the first time around.
 
i can see how someone could interpret it that way, except for that little phrase ‘they were men of reknown, heroes of old’. that bit makes no sense in a metaphorical explanation.

i hold to the view of relations between the fallen angels and the humans, myself.
 
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puzzleannie:
I believe MN was written after LWAW so maybe Narnian scriptural exegesis had developed over time, was illuminated by recent archeological discoveries, or was hijacked by revisionists.
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The big difference between the books so hideously abbreviated 🙂 and the Bible, is that there is plenty ofevidence for the scholarly ideas about the relationship between (say) the OT, and the religious ideas of the Canaanites 🙂​

 
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jeffreedy789:
i can see how someone could interpret it that way, except for that little phrase ‘they were men of reknown, heroes of old’. that bit makes no sense in a metaphorical explanation.

i hold to the view of relations between the fallen angels and the humans, myself.
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I think you have been watching too many movies. 😃 How can a pure spirit and a fleshy spirit, (human) have sexual relations that produce offspring? Has it ever happened again? (Blessed Mother exclude. Don’t go there.)

How can believers and nonbelievers have sexual relations that produce offspring? (rhetorical question) Has it ever happened again? (rhetorical question)
 
GilKobrin said:
“Nephilim” - or נפילים - does not refer to angles or to giants, but to princes who had become corrupted with immorality, and “fell” from their social caste by engaging in relations with women from the servant caste.
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This sounds much more believeable then “fallen angels” taking human women for wives, although I have heard of some satanists that claim to have had relations with demons. :eek:
 
ya, it’s where we get the words incubus and succubus.

i’m afraid i’m unable to give a very complete answer to how angels and humans can produce offspring, but this, to me, seems to be what the account is saying, and even though i don’t fully understand it, this in no way precludes it from being true. there are lots of things i don’t understand and can’t explain, yet are true nonetheless.
 
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jeffreedy789:
ya, it’s where we get the words incubus and succubus.

i’m afraid i’m unable to give a very complete answer to how angels and humans can produce offspring, but this, to me, seems to be what the account is saying, and even though i don’t fully understand it, this in no way precludes it from being true. there are lots of things i don’t understand and can’t explain, yet are true nonetheless.
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You seem to be taking scripture at face value on this passage. There are many passages that when taken at face value will give a different truth.

In Genesis, God asks Adam “Where are you.” At face value this could mean God couldn’t find Adam. Therefore God is not all knowing.

Or in another passage, God remembers His covenant, or Moses reminds God of His promise. Implying God forgets, therefore God is not perfect.

I am not a scripture scholar, so my information comes from those who have studied the scriptures.
 
Heck, I vote for Neanderthals which were either eventually assimilated where they could intermarry or in most areas died out. Just a thought.
 
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