The Nephilliums In Genesis 6

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Paul1954

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What is the general consensus on who the Nephilliums were that is mentioned in Genesis?
 
The only one I have known to use that word is “pastor” Arnold Murray a fundamental protestant televangelist based in Ark.

I would like to hear from an orthodox Catholic on the subject.
 
The Nephilim are probably just an ancient people that the Israelites encountered. They pop up again in Numbers 13, and then we never see them again. From what little Biblical evidence we have, they were taller than average, which may have given rise to mythical explanations of their great height, such as the tidbit in Genesis 6 when it talks about the sons of God having children with the daughters of men. The phrase “sons of God” in the Old Testament typically refers to angels (both upright and fallen, see Job 1). Now, since angels have no physical body, it’s quite impossible for them to create a child. This being the case, we’re left with A) the Nephilim were an ancient people the Israelites had contact with, B) They were probably just naturally taller than the Israelites, angel-human reproduction being impossible.
 
I have read that they are children of intermmrriages between the family of Seth and the family of Cain. At the time, the family of Seth was good and the family of Cain evil. God did not approve of the sons of God (the good Sethites) marrying the daughters of men (the evil Cainites).

Some have explained Nephilim as angel-human hybrids, but I do not believe this interpretation because angels are spirits and of a nature different from humans. For more information you can refer to the online Haydock commentary (Catholic source). God bless you.
 
Here’s what the Old Catholic Encyclopedia says in their article on Angels, in the sub-section on “evil angels”:

It should moreover be noted that the Hebrew word nephilim rendered gigantes, in 6:4, may mean “fallen ones”. The Fathers generally refer it to the sons of Seth, the chosen stock.

So some interpreters view them as fallen angels. Others view them as the line of Seth.
 
Joe_5859 said:
Here’s what the Old Catholic Encyclopedia says in their article on Angels, in the sub-section on “evil angels”:

It should moreover be noted that the Hebrew word nephilim rendered gigantes, in 6:4, may mean “fallen ones”. The Fathers generally refer it to the sons of Seth, the chosen stock.

So some interpreters view them as fallen angels. Others view them as the line of Seth.
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What you said made me think of something that I never really thought of. If the nephilim were of the line of Seth and were intermingling with the daughters of man, then Noah and his family were of the line of Cain? Do I have that right? If so, then that means today we are all of the line of Cain? Or do I have it backwards?
 
Sebrina said:
What you said made me think of something that I never really thought of. If the nephilim were of the line of Seth and were intermingling with the daughters of man, then Noah and his family were of the line of Cain? Do I have that right? If so, then that means today we are all of the line of Cain? Or do I have it backwards?
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Not necessarily. Just because some of the line of Seth intermarried with the line of Cain doesn’t mean they all did. Noah’s geneology traces back straight to Seth. Whether or not some of the women were from Cain’s line or not is not really discernible from the text as far as I can tell.
 
Paul1954 said:
What is the general consensus on who the Nephilliums were that is mentioned in Genesis?
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I think they were the Amalekites who were so wicked and evil that God ordered Israel to destroy every man, woman, child, old and young. Of course not all of them were actually destroyed so they kept cropping up again. It is believed that they were finally destroyed or absorbed into other tribes.

There are legends surrounding them which are utter nonesense. Similar to the legends the Greeks dreamed up about some of the famous or infamous people of their early history. Some were turned into " gods, " some into " demons. " 👍
 
Linusthe2nd said:
There are legends surrounding them which are utter nonesense. Similar to the legends the Greeks dreamed up about some of the famous or infamous people of their early history. Some were turned into " gods, " some into " demons. "
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Er, not the Greeks. Robert Graves’ completely-unprovable claims about the prehistoric aetiology of Greek myths aside, the Greeks did not have demons in the Christian sense, those being a West Asian thing. In pre-Christian Greek thought, a δαιμων was just a “spirit”, not necessarily bad or good or even sentient: ευδαιμονια is “happiness”. Their gods took the role of harmful supernatural agencies, the most obvious example being Αρης, the widely-hated god of war-as-a-crime-against-humanity.
 
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