|
|
|
|
\ p.7f The Tower of Babel, the nations and the Nephilim Heiser uses myths to become the foundation of his theology in interpreting the Bible. Whenever the biblical text opposes his presupposition based on the Ugarit, he manipulates the text confirming that his commitment is to pagan mythology, not the Bible as truth. We need to approach this theologically using the Bible, not mythologically using unverified outside sources. What does the Bible teach us on two creatures, the Nephilim and demons. To support his theory, Mr. Heiser uses Genesis 6 (argues that “sons of God” in the text are divine creatures who defected and cohabited with human women, producing the Nephilim or what is called giants in the Septuagint (pp. 105-109 Unseen Realm). Biblically, God chooses to destroy the corrupt race of Nephilim along with some of the human race with a flood. Heiser introduces the concept that some of the Nephilim survived the flood. The events of Genesis 6 are repeated again as they produce offspring with humans. Bible verse for this is apparently missing. With the councils continual rebellion (sounds more like a star wars saga meets lord of the rings) corruption continued to spread as they cohabitate with mortal females and themselves producing a mixed hybrid race of human/divine beings- Nephilim. However nephillim (Nephal) means fallen ones in Hebrew so they could not be called divine. Ungers Bible dictionary Nephilim (nef´i-lim; Heb. np ıl̂ ım̂ ; Num. 13:13). The form of the Heb. word denotes a plural verbal adjective or noun of passive signification, certainly from n ā pal, “to fall,” so that the connotation is “the fallen ones, ”… together with the LXX rendering, gigantes, suggested the translation giants.” Heiser says, “I don’t think nephilim means “fallen ones.” Jewish writers and translators habitually think “giants” when they use or translate the term. I think there’s a reason for that. Could it be the offspring were larger than man?” The word is from the Hebrew in the Masoretic text, not the Septuagint and nephal does mean fallen. One reason why Heiser must hold to it being a local flood is because he teaches these Giants who are Nephilim who show up 1,500 years later in Moses’ and Joshua’s time. Yet Joshua never gets to fight any of these many giants that the land is supposedly filled with, why? That will be answered later. Let’s look at his story by his unique interpretation, “ Demons are the departed spirits of dead Nephilim killed before and during the flood. They roam the earth harassing humans and seeking re-embodiment. In books of the Bible that follow Genesis, descendants of the Nephilim of Genesis 6:1–4 are called Anakim and Rephaim (Num. 13:32– 33; Deut. 2:10–11). Some of these Rephaim show up in the underworld realm of the dead (Isa. 14:9–11) where the Serpent was cast down. New Testament writers would later call that place hell.” (Heiser, Supernatural) Absolutely nowhere does it say this in the Bible about them being descended from Nephilim. (Heiser says the Serpent was a council member, a son of god who first rebelled in the garden and was put in the underworld.) “The goal was not revenge. The goal was to ensure the elimination of the Nephilim bloodlines. To the Israelites, the giant clan bloodlines were demonic, having been produced by rebellious, fallen divine beings. They could not coexist with a demonic heritage” (supernatural, Heiser) What he is proposing is that God was unsuccessful by the great flood he sent. Heiser depends on you not being biblically literate or grounded in the truth and will accept this. To him it was a regional flood so it was easy for them to survive. Regardless, Heiser teaches the Nephilim survived the flood. That this conflict with Israel and the land arises because of bloodlines The Nephilim are hybrid humans produced by the sons of god and apparently continuing reproduction among themselves and with other humans. Which means they could be with us today. The Big Question How did the Nephilim survive the flood? Did they build a submarine, or fly away in UFO’s, or maybe they snuck onto the ark with the animals. Or, maybe they were one of Noah’s sons? Maybe he was a son not mentioned? How absurd do we want to get to agree with Heiser’s Nephilim survival skill’s. His answer is that it was a local flood. God says “And all flesh died that moved upon the face of the earth” (Gn. 6:21-23). Whatever was not in the ark did not survive. Remember this is God who knows all things speaking this to man. So whatever giants are found later, they are not descended from the Nephilim. How can Heiser make a doctrine of any importance out of their continuation? By not using the bible. Heiser assures us some of the Nephilim survived the flood, that the events of Genesis were repeated by another set of divine beings who later chose to rebel against God and produce offspring with humans (again). I thought he said these were 70 in number. I do not see a coherent explanation from him of how they survived, only assumptions and certainly none of this is based on Scripture, but speculation, and imagination. He see the whole of the OT contain this sci fi doctrine he inserted, illustrating a struggle of the Elohim gods against gods people. The word giants are found for certain individuals but that does not mean they were an offspring of Nephilim. Furthermore, when it says in Gn. 6:2: “The Nephilim were in the earth in those days and afterwards, it does not mean they continued after the flood. Another assault (invasion) or production of hybrids are not repeated. It means from the time this invasion began taking place UNTIL the flood ; the time of judgment. How do we know this? Because the Bible tells us all outside the ark all that had breath human, animal, birds died in the flood (except sea creatures) except the 8 on the ark. If one denies this doctrine in Scripture than one can be open to just about any explanation. Heiser certainly entertains numerous fringe beliefs. For example “ the dead Nephilim that were wiped out during the Great Flood of Noah are actually the source of demons . So, when Jesus comes on the scene in 1st century Palestine, he came to do battle against the demonic powers, which is why demons are out in full force in the Gospels. When Jesus makes his appearance as the unique, one of kind “ Son of God ,” he not only came to resolve the problem of human sin. He also came to conquer and destroy the demonic powers that seek to enslave humanity in that sin.”’ The Nephilim do not become the demons - their spirit did not survive the flood, it didn’t survive to roam freely. What Heiser is actually proposing is that there are more demons being made all the time by the Nephilim that die. As he claims the Nephilim who are the giants reproduced after the flood also died? And what of those today when they die? We still have giant people. Heiser says the demons came from wandering Nephilim spirits on earth. The bible covers this event in Rv. 12:2-5 describing a woman, “ Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth . And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.” From this we see the third of the angels that original fell with satan he enlists to attack the child with him on earth, in the Land of Israel. This is to stop the one who to be born, the Messiah who will one day rule the nations. So these are angels are not on earth come to earth, this is why there is great demonic activity (and this is a consistent ID throughout the bible, the second heaven our atmosphere or space). They are not spirits of dead Nephilim, nowhere does it even hint this. Another reason they are not spirits of dead Nephilim. 2 Peter 2:4-5 “For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.” Greek word translated hell is Tartarus which is a place in Hades where these angels (demons) that sinned in Gn. 6 are permanently confined. All the angels that sinned are incarcerated until the white throne judgment. Jude 6-7 confirms this, “And angels that kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, he has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day . He then compares Sodom and Gomorrah how they gave themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh .” Again these fallen angels/demons, who follow the first rebel, called Satan are not free to roam around but are permanently confined. If the demons are spirits of the dead Nephilim they would then repeat the Gn.6 assault of which Scripture has nothing to say on this. An event like this being repeated is important and would be included in Scripture and mentioned more than once if it was repeated. 1 Peter 3:18-20 states of Christ “proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water ." There is nothing said like Heiser proposes from the Bible. All spirits that disobeyed are incarcerated, both of mankind and any sort of offspring. If they produced a hybrid human that would affect mankind they too would receive the same sentence as the instigators. These all fell first with Satan in heaven, not in Gn.6 and not again after. Gn.6 was a coordinated assault on mankind never to be repeated. There is no need to speculate on demons being the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim. Demons are originally called spirit beings, the fallen angels, those who rebelled against God with Satan before the Garden of Eden (Ezekiel 28; Isaiah 14). Demons are not spirits of hybrid humans from the (supposed) fallen sons of God according to the Bible. The Giants Enoch 106:13-17... “since my father Jared's day, the fallen angels have been sinning . They sin and are promiscuous with women. They have begotten children. Because of this, there will be great destruction on the earth, a flood shall come, and its waters remain for a year. This child you speak of, and his three sons will be saved. The earth shall be cleansed of the giants born to the fallen angels.” This actually proves the book of Enoch is a fraud, for the Bible records God first telling only Noah after Enoch is gone that he will send a flood. Furthermore Enoch says fallen angels, not sons of God as Heiser claims. Furthermore Enoch says fallen angels, not sons of God as Heiser claims. But he avoids using Enoch for this. And by the way, 1 Enoch describe the giants as “ great giants, whose height was three hundred cubits.” A cubit being 18 inches would make them 450 feet tall. 2 Sam. 21:19 “The Bethleemite slew Goliath the Gittite; and the staff of his spear was as a weaver’s beam. And there was yet a battle in Geth: and there was a man of stature, and the fingers of his hands and the toes of his feet were six on each, four and twenty in number: and he also was born to Rapha. And he defied Israel, and Jonathan son of Semei brother of David, smote him.” According to the Hebrew, Goliath of Gath measured six cubits and a span high (a cubit at 18 inches, would make him 9½ feet tall). Heiser does not believe Goliath was this large (he does not agree with much the Hebrew Bible says.) “One scholar of Israelite culture notes that the average height of an ancient Israelite in the patriarchal period was around five feet. Readers of Unseen Realm (and my blogs) know that I don’t think the biblical giants were taller than unusually tall people of modern times (between 7-9 feet) .” (More Unseen Realm) That’s one scholar! Elsewhere Heiser says , “I personally don’t believe that the biblical giants were over seven feet tall. According to the Septuagint and Dead Sea Scroll readings for the Goliath story, Goliath was actually 6 feet 6 .” Again Heiser changes his opinion because he does not really know. Is someone is 5’0 would they be this afraid of another a foot or so taller than him. Why does the Bible describe them as such tall and fierce people? As if the Israelites never saw anyone over 6’0, they were in Egypt remember (were they 5 ft. too). A land filled with 6’6 tall people, that is supposed to be this intimidating? I don’t think so. There’s other explanations that are more conducive to the Bible. Heiser does not believe Goliath was really a large giant, but a ‘small giant.’ The Septuagint which Heiser uses says, “ his height was four cubits and a span. And he had a helmet upon his head, and he wore a breastplate of chain armour; and the weight of his breastplate was five thousand shekels of brass and iron . And greaves of grass were upon his legs, and a brazen target was between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the spear’s head was formed of six hundred shekels of iron; and his armour-bearer went before him.” Goliaths armor weighed LXX five thousand shekels (Septuagint). “with a bronze helmet, clothed in a coat weight of which was 5,000 shekels (over 150 lbs.), and with a spear like the shaft of a weaver’s beam (Septuagint 1 Chron. 20:5). The ḥănıt, a “spear” of the largest kind, was the weapon of Goliath (1 Sam. 17:7, 45; 2 Sam. 21:19; 1 Chron. 20:5) and also of other giants (2 Sam. 23:21; 1 Chron. 11:23) David “ killed Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.” So he believes certain parts of scripture but not the others. The Hebrew says Goliath of Gath, six cubits and a span high (a cubit at 18 inches, would make him 9½ feet tall). A Cubit was a constant measure among the Hebrews (Ex. 25:10, 17, 23; etc.; 1 Kings 7:24, 27, 31; etc.; Ezek. 40:5; etc.), and other ancient nations. It was commonly reckoned as the length of the arm from the point of the elbow to the end of the middle finger, about eighteen inches. (Unger’s Bible dictionary). For another example, the ark of Noah was three hundred cubits long, fifty broad, and thirty high. (Septuagint is the same as the Masoretic text) Septuagint: (1 Sam.17:4) Heiser speaks of Goliath's height which is in the Greek four cubits and a span (A span is the length of a hand spread, between the thumb and the pinky finger), this is still near 7.80 feet (Maybe the Septuagint is inaccurate here) but Heiser insists it says he's 6’6. He neglects the armor weight and the weight of his spear which is the same as the Masoretic text. If Goliath were only 6’6 (which is absurd) how did he carry such heavy armor (over 150 lbs.) or spear (its head alone was almost 17 lbs.)? anthe rest was the weight of a weavers beam (altogether 30-35 lbs. how far can a 6'6 person throw this?) This is how Heiser changes the Biblical record of one man 6’6 tall scaring all of Israel. Yikes, this is just silly. And where are all the others that are this tall in the land? And what do we do the description of the Amorites in Amos 2:9 “Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, who was as tall as cedars and was as strong as the oaks. I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath.” 1 Chronicles 20:5–8 “And again there was war with the Philistines. And Elhanan son of Jair struck down Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. And again there was war in Gath. And there was a very tall man there, and he had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all. He himself was also a descendant of the Rephaim .” One of the Rephaim. Do they come from Nephilim? These later giant people came from the genes of Noah (not Nephilim), just as we have small people (Dwarfs) from the same gene pool. In fact the largest man alive, 8 feet 5 inches tall just recently died. There are still may people who grow to 7 or 7 ½ or 8 ft. tall. Are they Nephilim because they are this tall? According to the statements of Heiser about biblical history the answer would be yes. What of King Og? At the period of the conquest, c. 1440 B.C., Og, king of Bashan, is said to have alone remained (Deut. 3:11; Josh. 12:4; 13:12) as the last representative of the giant race of Rephaim. Moses speaks of his iron bedstead nine cubits long by four broad, (Deut. 3:11). The Septuagint agrees, it states “For only Og the king of Basan was left of the Raphain: behold, his bed was a bed of iron; behold, it is in the chief city of the children of Ammon; the length of it is nine cubits, and the breadth of it four cubits, according to the cubit of a man.” Deuteronomy 3:11: “or only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon ” (1 Samuel 17). Josh 13:12 all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei, who remained of the remnant of the giants; for Moses had defeated and cast these out. Of Og, “ And the Lord said to me, Fear him not, for I have delivered him, and all his people, and all his land, into thy hands; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst to Seon king of the Amorites who dwelt in Esebon. And the Lord our God delivered him into our hands, even Og the king of Basan, and all his people; and we smote him until we left none of his seed" Some of the primitive inhabitants of Canaan are called Rephaim— giants (Deut. 2:11, 20; 3:11; cf. Num. 13:33). The Amorites appear to belong to this race, as also the Emim, the Zamzummim or Zuzim, Ammon or Ham, and the Anakim, who are described as redoubtable giants. They inhabited the hill country, both E and W of the Jordan. (Ungers bible dictionary) Heiser states, “the size of Og’s bed cannot be taken as a precise indication of Og’s own dimensions.” Og as a Rephaim giant, we cannot know how tall he was from his bed.” As a precise indication no, but he wants us to believe THEY BUILT A BED TWICE THE SIZE AND WIDTH OF THE PERSON? For what reason? Goliath was “was four cubits and a span” the height of king Og must have been at least 6’6. The report of the Spies The Lord says to remove all the inhabitants of the land the same, he does not single out a race of giants as Heiser claims, which becomes a battle between Nephilim and Israelites. Num 13:27-28 “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there….v. 30-33 “Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it." But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we." And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight." One must assume many things to say the descendants of Anak definitely came from the Nephilim. We read that the son of Arba, the founder of Kiriath-arba was the progenitor of a race of giants called Anakim, called Rephaim in the era of Abraham (Gen. 14:5). They are not said to be just tall or taller than Israelites but of great size. The Septuagint reads “ all the people whom we saw in it are men of extraordinary stature. And there we saw the giants; and we were before them as locusts, yea even so were we before them.” Numbers 13:33 does not teach Nephillim existed after the Flood because, when the spies came back, ten of the spies said that the Nephilim were in the Land. 12 spies were sent, from each tribe as God commanded. Only two spies, Caleb and Joshua, have faith and trusted that God would enable Israel to take the land (Numbers 14:6–9). This passage does not say that the Nephilim descendants were present among the inhabitants. But that the 10 spies filled with fear thought they saw the Nephilim because they were giant. This was an exaggerated report because of their fear. Could the spies have seen larger people in Canaan among the inhabitants, possibly yes. But that did not matter as they let fear overtake them and showing their despair were disobedient to Gods command. 10 spies exaggerated the difficulties of the conquest by their unbelief, describing Canaan as a land which "ate up its inhabitants." On the other hand they may have not seen any giants and lied so that they would avoid conflict. “And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land,” more like a slanderous, evil report. What we see is the ten spies were not telling the truth, they were fearful and tried to discourage the people from going into the land as God commanded to conquer. When Joshua conquers the Land, he does not find any Nephilim, none are mentioned, giants are. When Scripture is taken literally, the Nephilim were a one time event from the offspring of a certain type of fallen angelic creatures and human women; they did not remain after the Flood. So we do not dissect a word like Heiser does to find the meaning when the answer is staring us in the face by the events recorded in Scripture. Book of Enoch Heiser uses the book to promote his views, he has even wrote an companion book to it. Book of Enoch was mostly excluded from Christian biblical canons , and it is now regarded as scripture only by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church Lee, Ralph (2014-03-01). "The Ethiopic 'Andəmta' Commentary on Ethiopic Enoch 2 (1 Enoch 6–9)" . Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha. 23 (3): 179–200. doi : 10.1177/0951820714528628 . ISSN 0951-8207 . S2CID 162871589 . "The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church" . www.ethiopianorthodox.org. Heiser uses the book of Enoch as his general reference on this subject and other things the bible does not speak of in detail. This is often popularized by those who lean toward mysticism, UFO’s and aliens as well as those are part of the new age movement. “the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints is NOT found in the 1882 George Schodde, of the Ethiopic text. “ And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones To execute judgement upon all, And to destroy all the ungodly.” (R.H. Charles The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament) Many statements are attributed to Enoch, but according to Jude, we have one sentence that could have been quoted or passed down cited by him. The Ethiopic text was translated from Greek which was translated from Aramaic. The Greek and Aramaic fragments that we have do not contain the Enoch 1:9 statement that Jude quotes (remember that Jude says what Enoch said but not necessarily that which we know as being the Book of Enoch). Heiser states of this book “Most readers would have known better than to think 1 Enoch was written by Enoch, for example, being content to know it was an ancient work about Enoch though it contained material that cast it as the product of Enoch .” Than why the name Enoch assigned to it if there is not authentic authorship. In fact Heiser makes this point that many books in the ancient world are named after people who didn’t write them, even though (in many cases) they are written as though the named person was the author.” So how are we to trust the gospels authorship or any book for that matter? How do we determine eye witness accounts, this is why Moses authorship is denied by Heiser. Enoch the book, can’t have been written by Enoch the seventh from Adam as he is supposed to have lived at a time where there was no writing on parchment but stone. That’s a lot of stones to be brought onto the ark (which is not mentioned). Did his warning survive by Noah speaking it as oral tradition as the story of the flood was told, possibly. Even if an author is quoting an external source it does not mean the whole writing of the source is true or from God; but the certain portion quoted. Case in point, Jude did not quote the book of Enoch but attributes the quote to Enoch, that lived before Noah. He certainly could have received this by divine revelation as a prophet, as he states in the beginning of his letter that he was intending to write on their common salvation but found it necessary v.3 to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints’ turning the topic to the judgment of false teachers and the ungodly. So he includes what Enoch stated on this. The book of Enoch claims that the fallen angels had sex with women kind, which Heiser says were not angels but sons of God. Enoch is given a tour of both heaven and hell. Speaks of names of archangels that not mentioned in the Bible, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is seen in heaven. I can go on and on but we are addressing what Heiser is speaking of. Enoch includes the tale of a race of people 7:12 Whose stature was each three hundred cubits. These devoured all which the labor of men produced; until it became impossible to feed them” Mythology is applied by Heiser which presents more problematic theories that the Bible does not contain. First, biblically, angels are called ‘sons of God’, but these sons of God he speaks of are not angels, the sons of God he speaks of are a different species, members of a divine council of gods that was made before creation, of which man was made in their image and Gods. This is like Star Wars meets the The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Let’s hobbit along… What we are looking at is The Book of Enoch In this story, “ Jeqon” is the one who led the angels astray, not Satan: “The name of the first Jeqon: that is, the one who led astray [all] the sons of God, and brought them down to the earth.” Of all the human vice regent figures, Enoch has perhaps received the most scholarly attention. Enoch is identified as the Son of Man in the throne room scene of 1 Enoch 71. In the book of Enoch we find… Michael commands Satan to worship Adam , “the image of God.” For example, 2 En. 30:11-12 explicitly identifies Adam as one of God’s chief angels over creation: 11 And on the earth I assigned him to be a second angel, honored and great and glorious. 12 And I assigned him to be a king, to reign on the earth, and to have my wisdom. And there was nothing comparable to him on the earth, even among my creatures that exist. Heiser recognizes this, “Adam is also elevated higher than a principal angel in the Life of Adam and Eve (14:2) where Michael commands Satan to worship Adam , “the image of God.” In the T. Ab.11:4, Abraham is shown a man “seated on a golden throne” who has a “terrifying” appearance “like the Master’s.” Abraham’s guide, Michael, reveals the figure’s identity in verse 9: “This is the first-formed Adam who is in such glory, and he looks at the world, since everyone has come from him. ” (Michael S. Heiser, The Lexham Bible Dictionary) Let’s look at another religions view of Adam that throughout the Quran is nearly identical. Sura 2:34 And behold, We said to the angels: "Bow down to Adam" and they bowed down . Sura 7:11 we bade the angels bow down to Adam, and they bowed down” Iblis is often identified with Al-Shaitan ("the Devil"). After he refused, he was cast out of heaven. Sura 17:61 Behold! We said to the angels: "Bow down unto Adam": They bowed down except Iblis: He said, "Shall I bow down to one whom Thou didst create from clay ?" Surah 18:50 Behold! We said to the angels, "Bow down to Adam": They bowed down except Iblis. Sura 20:116 When We said to the angels, "Prostrate yourselves to Adam", they prostrated themselves, but not Iblis: he refused. The unaccepted non canonical book of Enoch will lead you astray. Those who were closer to this time period knew of it and rejected it. It may be found among the Qumran community that collected religious books, but that does not mean it contains truth. That had lots of variant readings. Are Demons the spirits of Nephilim? Dr. Fruchtenbaum in his Demonology: The Doctrine of Demons, makes it clear, In Hebrew this word does not mean giants, rather, it means, “fallen ones.” The word does not refer to giants in the sense of huge beings, but to a race of fallen ones . The reason it was translated as giant is very interesting. In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament done about 250 B.C., the Jewish scholars translated verse 4 by the Greek word gigentes, which means “Titan.” Our English word “giant” comes from this Greek word, gigentes. “But what were the Titans in Greek mythology?” They were part-man and part-god, because they were products of gods and men. When the Jewish scholars in 250 B.C. translated the word Nephilim to Greek, they used the Greek word for Titans, because they recognized this to be a union, not of two types of human beings, instead, they correctly viewed it as a union of angels and humans, which produced a being that was neither angelic nor human. These Jewish scholars, who lived so much closer to the time when Moses originally wrote this passage, clearly understood this to be an intermarriage between angels and human women. As a result of this union, a new race of beings called the Nephilim, a race of fallen ones, came into being. They were gigentes, super, human, but not in size. They had human characteristics but were, at the same time, super-human. They had extra capacities, both mentally and physically, though they may not have been any larger than normal human beings.” So the word Nephilim was used over hundreds of years before the Septuagint. Whether one accepts the view that these were originally angels (the Bible does present them as such in 2 Pt.2:4; Jude 4 (both describing this same event in Noah’s day). As difficult as this may be to accept by some it is ingrained in Scritpure. While it certainly is possible they had greater size along with their abilities it is utterly unbiblical to propose that after the flood the demons /nephilim repeated what the sons of God did in Gn.6 with human females, and further produced more Nephilim among women. Nor is it possible that some traits of the Nephilim were passed on through the heredity of one of Noah’s daughters-in-law. W. F. Albright, “Yahweh was believed to have created astral as well as terrestrial beings and the former were popularly called, ‘the host of heaven’ or ‘the sons of God’. In Gen. 6:1ff., for example, … the (astral) gods had intercourse with mortal women who gave birth to heroes (literally, meteors , nephilim), an idea that may often be illustrated from Babylonian and Greek mythology. But the Israelite who had this section recited, unquestionably thought of intercourse between angels and women (like later Jews and Christians )” (From the Stone Age to Christianity [1940], p. 226). Heiser says Albright is incorrect. There were all kinds of stories circulating, that is what the legends are made of. The tradition of a giant race persisted in the ancient Near East legends goes back to the Genesis account of intercourse between fallen angels and mortal women. Whatever happened, these beings according to the Bible were wiped out by the Flood. The angels/spirits were confined in Tartarus until judgment day, not on the loose like demons. Demons are fallen angels, When Satan fell, these angels fell with him at the time of their fall they became demons. Jesus’ day Heiser claims demons who are the Nephilim were abundant in Jesus time. A legion consists of anywhere from four to six thousand demons. Wow, these Nephilim sure exploded in population. The Bible is consistent in its usage of symbols and descriptions. Revelation 12:3-4: “ And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems. And his tail draws the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stands before the woman that is about to be delivered, that when she is delivered he may devour her child.” “Stars” used symbolically and collectively are always a symbol of angels. In this passage, the dragon, who is Satan, drew one-third of the stars with him. One-third of the entire angelic host that first fell with Satan when he fell, are drawn with him. Indicating that those who follow him, the demons, are also angels. The woman who is with child would be Mary, and in a broader sense Israel. Revelation 12:7-9: And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels going forth to war with the dragon; and the dragon warred and his angels and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.” Again, we see the reference to the fallen angels as being Satan's, angels (the Dragon is the Devil who is satan) fallen angels and demons are the same all through Scripture. At the judgment at Jesus’ return Matt 25:41-42 “ Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels : That would be satan and his fellow angels, not Nephilim. Heiser has made up a doctrine out of his flawed interpretation where there is no mention of this taught in the New Testament, it instead teaches the opposite.
Pt.7g Did god abandon all nations and put 70 fallen gods over them?
|
|
|
