Ref: this video featuring Dr. Heiser explaining some important biblical understanding of the Nephilim and the Conquest.
One of our biggest problems in analyzing the text of the Bible is that there are no clear lines delineating between literal and figurative language. Sometimes it’s obvious, but there are plenty of places where it’s all jumbled together, like John’s Revelation.
I have said, for example, that the passage about the Sons of God taking wives from the daughters of men is not precisely literal. There’s a reason for this: The Nephilim keep showing up, after their human ancestors were wiped out. Something about the Nephilim does not require DNA to generate new ones. They can use it, but it’s not required. Rather, it’s some other kind of mixing with humans that produces someone who is superhuman and evil.
Not every giant is a Nephilim (like Saul), but every Nephilim is apparently a giant in one sense or another. We know that the descendants of Rapha (Rephaim) and Anak (Anakim) bred true and apparently uniformly evil, but there is no mention of where Goliath came from. The narrative in the Bible seems to indicate he’s one of the Philistines.
Further, the term “Nephilim” is not used as an ethnic identity, but a moral presence that intends to corrupt humanity. The name only shows up twice (Genesis 6:4 and Numbers 13:13) in the Bible, but there are several other terms elsewhere that can refer to them. For example, most scholars are convinced that Nimrod was one of them. Dr. Heiser points out that the terms “Rephaim” and “Anakim” cannot be divorced from them.
It is Heiser who also helps us to understand that whatever is meant by “demons” in the New Testament is the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim, and not angelic beings. Satan’s invisible lackeys are not “fallen angels” but the Nephilim. He explains the problem with the term “fallen angels” as used in the New Testament as a mistaken translation based on the limits of Greek trying to equate the Hebrew terminology, and ending up with a very imprecise term.
I mentioned in a previous post that I consider The Cult to be a front for people who consort with demons (spirits of the Nephilim). Here’s what I’m getting at: I’m convinced the Nephilim will regain physical form as part of Satan being cut loose for a brief period near the End of Time.
One of the major reasons we do not yet see a concentrated attack on faith and covenant is because humans willing to be used by the Devil don’t have the talents necessary to organize what we see in the Bible as the Battle of Har-Megidon. It would require something superhuman to carry that off. I take the release of Satan as a hint that he’ll raise up his ancient allies for one last hurrah, and to me, it seems only natural that it would include a fresh crop of Nephilim people running around.
Of course, this is admittedly speculation on my part. Just a thought…
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“I have said, for example, that the passage about the Sons of God taking wives from the daughters of men is not precisely literal. There’s a reason for this: The Nephilim keep showing up, after their human ancestors were wiped out. Something about the Nephilim does not require DNA to generate new ones. They can use it, but it’s not required. Rather, it’s some other kind of mixing with humans that produces someone who is superhuman and evil.”
There’s a good story behind this, based how you worded it.