A Book about the Nephilim

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

There is a great deal of interest in the Nephilim, and much of what is written is not supported by the canonical Scriptures, history, archaeology and anthropology.

The term refers to powerful men who were considered "sons of God" in the ancient world because of their authority and grandeur.

In Genesis 6 the phrase "sons of God" parallels the phrase "daughters of men." Such parallelism is typical of Semitic literature. 

The attempt to portray the archaic rulers as an alien supernatural element fails because these were mortal men whose descendants were living among the Horite Hebrew in Hebron. Numbers 13:33 identifies the Nephilim with the people of Anak, a ruler. His “Anakim” people are associated with Kiriath Arba, an ancient name for Hebron, where Sarah resided. Her settlement marked the northern boundary of Abraham’s territory.

Unfortunately, most Bibles translate Nephilim as “giants” when it should read “great ones.” Nephilim comes from the same root as the Aramaic npyl (naphil) which means great. This is equivalent to the Arabic nfy, meaning hunter. It is said concerning Nimrod that he was a “mighty hunter” or a “mighty man” before the Lord (Gen. 10).

If the word nephilim came from Hebrew naphal, it would not be spelled as we find it. For the word nephilim to mean "fallen ones" it would be spelled as nephulim. Likewise, nephilim does not mean "those who fall" or "those who fall away" - that would be nophelim. The only way in Hebrew to get nephilim from naphal by the rules of Hebrew morphology would be to presume a noun spelled naphil and then pluralize it. However, this noun does not exist in biblical Hebrew.

These powerful rulers were also designated gibborim, a Hebrew word that means "mighty ones". The word gibor refers to a great or powerful man. Some Hebrew queens held the title gibrah, meaning powerful woman.

The period of 300-200 BC includes the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint) and the First Book of Enoch, both of which gave rise to the idea of fallen angels mysteriously mixing with humans. The Books of Enoch are 1 Enoch, also known as the "Ethiopic Apocalypse of Enoch" and the Slavonic version that is referred to as 2 Enoch or "The Book of the Secrets of Enoch." 1 Enoch was originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic (probably both), but the only complete copy known today is in Ge'ez, a language of Ethiopia. 1 Enoch dates to no earlier than around 200 BC. The pertinent chapters are 1-36 (The Watchers) and chapters 72-82 (The Astronomical Writings). These books fit Risto Santala's description of literature that, like "the esoteric Qabbalah wandered off the right track in creating a very extensive literature on doctrines of angels and mysteries..."

I have written an entire book on these "mighty men" who are identified as "heroes" and "men of renown" in Genesis 6:4. They were the First Lords of the Earth and their influence on humanity continues to this day. 

Related reading: BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: Reading the Bible in a Different Way; STEM Education: The Genesis Rulers Through the Lens of Anthropology

The Messy Transition of Genesis 6

Alice C. Linsley

Genesis chapters 1-3 are creation and origin stories that are capped by the king lists of Genesis 4 and 5. Genesis chapter 6 is a messy transition from the king lists to the flood narratives of Genesis 7-9. A detailed reading of chapter 6 calls attention to contextual incongruities. Contextual incongruities are evidence of layers of interpretation from different cultural and historical contexts. Here are some examples:

1. God promises to wipe out all people on earth except for Noah’s immediate family, yet Genesis 9 lists Noah’s many descendants and Genesis 10 lists some populations older than the time of Noah.

2. Noah is presented as having only one wife, yet the rulers of Noah’s lineage had two wives.

3. The “covenant” language of Genesis 6:18 reflects a theological development of a much later period than Noah.

4. Historical persons of the archaic world are recast as mythical beings (“Nephilim”) by a late hand on the material. Fallen angels are said to have had sexual relations with humans. This indicates that this chapter has been shaped by a third-century rabbinic source. The historical significance of deified sons is disguised by rabbinic mysticism. The incongruity is evident in Genesis 6:1-4. Here the Nephilim are posed as fallen angels and at the same time they are described as “heroes of days gone by, men of renown.”

The high kings of the ancient Nile were called “sons of God” and this expression is parallel to the “daughters of men.” Such parallelism is typical of Semitic literature. Apparently, the opening material was originally a continuation of the accounts of the ruling lines of Cain and Seth.

The attempt to portray the archaic rulers as an alien supernatural element called “Nephilim” fails because the Bible makes it clear that these are mortal men whose descendants were living with the Horite Hebrew in Hebron. Number 13:33 identifies the Nephilim with the people of Anak. Anak was a ruler, and his “Anakim” people are associated with Kiriath Arba, an ancient name for Hebron, where Sarah resided. Her settlement marked the northern boundary of Abraham’s territory in ancient Edom.

Unfortunately, most Bibles translate Nephilim as “giants” when it should read “great ones.” Nephilim comes from the same root as the Aramaic npyl (naphil) which means great. This is equivalent to the Arabic nfy, meaning hunter. It is said concerning Nimrod that he was a “mighty hunter” or a “mighty man” before the Lord (Gen. 10).

If the word nephilim came from Hebrew naphal, it would not be spelled as we find it. The word nephilim to mean "fallen ones" would be spelled as nephulim. Likewise, nephilim does not mean "those who fall" or "those who fall away" - that would be nophelim. The only way in Hebrew to get nephilim from naphal by the rules of Hebrew morphology would be to presume a noun spelled naphil and then pluralize it. However, this noun does not exist in biblical Hebrew.

However, in Aramaic the noun naphil does exist. It means "giant," making it easy to see why the Septuagint translated nephilim as gigantes ("giants"). The period of 300-200 BC includes the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint) and the First Book of Enoch, both of which gave rise to the idea of fallen angels mysteriously mixing with humans.

The Books of Enoch are 1 Enoch, also known as the "Ethiopic Apocalypse of Enoch" and the Slavonic version that is referred to as 2 Enoch or "The Book of the Secrets of Enoch." 1 Enoch was originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic (probably both), but the only complete copy known today is in Ge'ez, a language of Ethiopia. 1 Enoch dates to no earlier than around 200 BC. The pertinent chapters are 1-36 (The Watchers) and chapters 72-82 (The Astronomical Writings). These books fit Risto Santala's description of literature that, like "the esoteric Qabbalah wandered off the right track in creating a very extensive literature on doctrines of angels and mysteries..."

As for the historically significant elements in chapter 6, we have the three-clan confederation of Noah’s sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth (Gen. 6:10). However, the rabbinic editor seems aware of the marriage and ascendancy pattern of these descendants of Cain and Seth. Noah is assigned but one wife, as are his sons. Yet the rulers among Abraham's ancestors had two wives.

Noah is said to be a good man, whose righteousness exceeds all his contemporaries. Yet he is heartless when it comes to his grandchildren. He saves animals, but his grandchildren are left to die in the flood. Apparently, not all died because in Genesis 9:25 we read that Noah curses Canaan, one of his grandchildren.

It is true that during the time that Noah lived (5000-3000 BC) there were periods of flooding. This has been confirmed by the discovery of boats and boat images in the Sahara. The period is called the “African Humid Period” or “the African Aqualithic.”

Archaeologists have also found evidence that the Proto-Saharan rulers like Noah kept royal menageries of exotic animals. The oldest known zoological collection was found during the 2009 excavations at the shrine city of Nekhen on the Nile. It dates to c. 3800 BC.

If we extricate the historical from the later mystical interpretation, we find that Genesis 6:1-4 describes the early kingdom builders as the “mighty men of old, as “heroes” and “men of renown.” They constructed temples, palaces, fortified shrine cities ("high places"), great stone monuments, and pyramids. They were patrons of the arts, science, agriculture and architecture. They controlled commerce on the major water systems and collected taxes and tribute. The estimated wealth of the High Kings of Egypt exceeds the combined estimated wealth of Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) and J. P. Morgan (1837-1913) at the time of their deaths, which is 675 million. Gold mined by the Egyptians was used to make precious objects found as far from Egypt as Southern China and Ireland.

Evidently, Noah was a ruler during the African Humid Period, a time of flooding across the Fertile Crescent. As a ruler he had access to more than one boat. He and his royal household would have been the first to be saved in the event of a catastrophic flood. He had the resources to save the animals of his royal menagerie. These elements of the flood narratives can be verified by anthropological and archaeological research.

This photo is of a boat constructed of bundles of hollow marsh reeds over a wood frame. Genesis 6:14 states Noah's ark was constructed of גפר (gofer/gopher), which is the word used to describe the reed basket in which Moses floated on the Nile. The hollow reeds make the boat extremely buoyant. Such vessels are still constructed by the marsh Arabs of Iraq and by Nilotic fishermen.

Related reading:  The Historicity of Noah's Flood; Noah's Sons and Their Descendants; Was Earth Re-populated by Noah's Descendants?

The Mighty Men of Old

Was this biblical Eden?

Alice C. Linsley

The rulers of the archaic world were apparently related and dispersed across a vast region that extended from central Africa to Mesopotamia, Crete, and Anatolia. These rulers are called "the mighty men of old" in Genesis 6:4. They are described as heroes and men of renown. They constructed temples, palaces, fortified shrine cities ("high places"), and pyramids.

The "mighty men of old" were a caste of rulers who spread across the ancient Afro-Asiatic Dominion, establishing kingdoms for themselves. They were served by royal warriors, priests, and sages. In ancient texts the ruler-priest caste is known 'Apiru or Habiru (Hebrew), from the Akkadian word Abru, meaning priest.

They ruler-priests are associated with the number seven. This explains the connection to the Nilo-Saharan word for seven: abiriyo.

Among the Habiru there were many peoples, including the Shasu, the Annu, and the Anakim. The last two words are related. Anak and his people the Anakim dwelt in the region of Hebron, where Sarah resided. They are associated with the Nephilim (Num. 13:33), with the Raphaim (Deut. 2:10) and with the Calebites (Josh.15:13). According to a later biblical source, Caleb drove the Anakim out of the region, but there is evidence that they remained in Canaan after the time of Caleb. 

Other related peoples are the Zumim and the Emim. Amongthese populations there were priest dedicated to God Father and God Son. They were called "Horites." Shrine cities, such as Hazor, were governed by Habiru, so the attempts of Joshua and Caleb to take these settlements indicates a power struggle between kinsmen rather than strangers.

The Anakim and the Nephilim are linked to the giants, the "sons" of God, and the "powerful ones of old" in Genesis 6:1-4. The word npyl (nephil) in Aramaic means giant or great one and is equivalent to nfy in Arabic, meaning hunter. It is said concerning Nimrod that he was a mighty hunter or a mighty man before the Lord.

The clue to understanding Genesis 6 is the word gibbor-iym (powerful ones). This passage is speaking about ancient rulers who were regarded as the "sons of the gods" or deified kings (elohiym). The gibbor-iym, also designated elohiym (deified rulers), comprise the divine council spoken of in Genesis. This is a common theme in Africa, especially among the Buganda of Uganda, the Yoruba, the ancient Kushites and the ancient Egyptians. The idea spread across the ancient Afro-Asiatic Dominion.

Anak's father was Arba. Hebron was called Kiriath-Arba. This suggests that he belonged to a larger group known as the Ar clans. They were royal scribes. Dr. Catherine Acholonu connects the Ar of Canaan to the Aro of Nigeria. She writes, "In Nigeria the caste under reference is the Ar/Aro caste of Igbo Eri priest-kings, who were highly militarized in their philosophy."

Genesis 10 speaks of the Ar who controlled the Red Sea and the Mediterranean kingdoms of Tyre and Arvad. This appears to be a 3-clan confederation, consisting of Ar, Arvd and Arkt. The last two clans are called “Arvadites” and “Arkites” in Genesis 10:15-18.

Apparently, the Anakim were taller than the general Canaanite population and probably wore necklaces. Some believe that the term anak comes from the root 'nq (anaq) which means necklace. The word appears in the Song of Solomon 4:9 and Judges 8:26. As a verb, anaq means to serve as a necklace (Ps. 73:6) or figuratively to bestow riches upon someone (Deut. 15:14). Hebrew scholars take the word Anak to be a reference to "people with necklaces" or 'long-necked people."

It is more likely, however, that the term anak is of Nilotic origin. Among the Nilotic Bisa, a small population of people who conform to the older ways, light skin cattle are called ánaku, which means "to bleach in the sun." This is probably the origin of the Biblical term Anakim for Abraham’s Ainu ancestors who had a lighter skin. The singular form of the word is ának. (Eric Ten Raa’s The Couth and the Uncouth: Ethnic, Social, and Linguistic Divisions among the Sandawe of Central Tanzania, p. 148)

Excavations in the region of Edom in Jordan have turned up graves containing necklaces. The Edomite shrine city of Petra reflects the pillared architecture of the Horite shrines of the Nile, and Obodas, the first ruler of Petra, took his name from the Edo/Edomite name for ruler which is Oba. Linguist Helene Longpre notes that Demotic Egyptian (7th-5th BC) and Nabatean Aramaic closely correspond to Meroitic or Old Nubian. (Longpre, "Investigation of the Ancient Meroitic Writing System", Rhode Island College, 1999.)

Lists of place names in the Nubian temples of Soleb and Amara West record six toponyms located in “the land of Shasu.” One of the six is found on a monument of Ramesses II that claims he “has plundered the Shasu-land, captured the mountain of Seir” in Edom; a 19th Dynasty letter mentions “the Shasu-tribes of Edom”; Ramesses III declares that he has “destroyed the Seirites among the tribes of the Shasu.” The Egyptians regarded the Shasu as a prominent part of the Edomite population. (Read more here.)


Social organization of the Anakim

The Anakim were organized into three-clan confederations as were many other groups living in Canaan. The three Anakim clans were named for the three highest ranked sons of Anak whose names are Sheshai (Shasu), Ahiman and Talmai (Josh.15:14).

Three-clan Horite confederations included Uz, Huz and Buz and Magog Og and Gog.

Other three-clan confederations listed in Scripture include:

Cain  Abel  Seth (Gen. 4-5)
Ham  Japeth  Shem (Gen. 5-9)
Og  Gog  Magog (Gen. 10; Nu. 21:33)
Haran  Nahor  Abraham (Gen. 11-12)
Ishmael/Yishmael  Joktan/Yaqtan  Isaac/Yitzak (Gen. 16, 21, 25)
Shelah  Perez  Zerah (Nu. 26:20)
Jeush  Jalam  Korah (Gen. 36: 4-18)
Korah  Moses  Aaron (Ex. and Nu.)
Dedan  Tema  Buz (Jer. 25)

In Canaan, the 3-clan Jebusite confederation consisted of Sheba, Jebu and Joktan.

Among the Sara of Chad, Sudan and Somalia the confederation is comprised of the qir ka, the qin ka, and the qel ka. The Sara are descendants of the Sao, an earlier three-clan confederation of warriors and kingdom builders. According to legend, there were giants among them. This connects the Anakim to Sara, Abraham's half-sister wife, who lived in Hebron.

Martin Noth, in his seminal work "The Scheme of the Twelve Tribes of Israel" (1930), showed that the twelve tribes of Israel did not exist prior to the covenant assembly at Shechem described in the book of Joshua. It appears that the older pattern of social organization involved three clans.


Related reading: Righteous Rulers and the Resurrection; The Tumuli of the Rulers of Old; Burial Practices of the Rulers of Old; Enoch: Angelic Being or Deified Ruler?;  Three-Clan Confederations to Twelve-Clan Confederations; The Nubian Context of YHWH; Boats and Cows of the Nilo-Saharans; Kushite Kings and the Kingdom of God

Recovering the African Background of Genesis

Modupe Oduyoye 

Alice C. Linsley

Modupe Oduyoye is a Nigerian philologist whose book Sons of Gods and the Daughters of Men: An Afro-Asiatic Interpretation of Genesis 1-11 makes connections between the book of Genesis and African names, places, narratives and religious practices. The book was published in 1984 by Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York.

In his book, Dr. Oduyoye notes the connection between Adamu Orisa (of Lagos State) and the Hebrew r’ison Adam. He notes that Hebrew Qayin (Kain/Cain) and the Arabic word for smith qayn are cognates. This relates to the biblical Kenites who were metalworkers and descendants of Cain. Oduyoye notes that these words are related to the Yoruba Ogun and Fon Gun, both referring to the “patron saint of smiths.”

Other cognates include Ebira Egene (the metalworker caste) and Hamn Kuno (who invented iron smelting). This may connect Kain to the city of Kano, which is north of the ancient complex at Nok, the place to which Kain likely "wandered" after he was sent away, and where he married a daughter of the ruler of Nok. Oduyoye notes that the Hebrew Nod נוד and Nok נוך are almost identical.

Oduyoye’s book was a response to the 1969 publication "Biblical Revelations and African Beliefs," a report of the first consultation of African theologians held in Ibadan in 1966. Oduyoye is a member of the Anglican Church and has served as a Bible teacher, a seminary professor, and the literature secretary of the Christian Council of Nigeria.

Dr. Oduyoye studied English, Latin and History at University College, Ibadan, Nigeria, before theological studies at Yale Divinity School. He also studied Comparative Semitic Linguistics at Ann Arbor and Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics at London University Extra-Mural Dept. He is the author of "Words and Meaning in Yoruba Religion" and "The Vocabulary of Yoruba Religious Discourse" (1972).

Oduyoye is a humble man.  He has acknowledged his debt to Archdeacon Olumide Lucas who taught his father. Lucas was appointed Vicar of St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Breadfruit, Lagos in 1936. Oduyoye sought Lucas' advice while writing "The Sons of Gods and the Daughters of Men."

Acknowledging his debt to earlier pioneers, Oduyoye wrote, "The thoughtful restudy of past scholarship is not criticism for the sake of criticism, but an attempt to elucidate the principles involved in the discovery of truth… in doing this, however, it is right that we express our gratitude and respect to those whose work is being used and restudied, and, without whose pioneering zeal and daring, the present evaluation will not have been attempted."


Oduyoye Challenged Seminarians

In August 1979, Dr. Oduyoye was asked to lead a Bible study by the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Odogbolu (Ogun State). The Rt. Rev. I.B.O. Akintemi asked him to teach seminarians. This marked the beginning of serious exploration into the linguistic intricacies of Genesis 1-11.

Oduyoye asked the seminarians why the Hebrew language uses the plural suffix (-iym) for God in Genesis 1 and in Genesis 6:1 when the Hebrew religion is anti-polytheistic. In the beginning eloh-iym (the gods) created the heavens and the earth. Why the plural form? Is this the Old Testament counterpart of the Baptism of Jesus in which the Trinity is manifested?

In Genesis 6:1, who are the sons of the Gods? Some say they are the nephilim, others say angels, and still others argue for the Israelites. The clue to understanding Genesis 6 is the word gibbor-iym (powerful ones). This passage is speaking about ancient Horite rulers, the "sons of the gods" or deified kings. This is a common theme in Africa, especially among the Buganda of Uganda, the Yoruba, and the ancient Egyptians.

Oduyoye says, “The sons and daughters of Naa Nyamo (“Father God”) are known to us as jemawoji, 'the gods of the world.' They are powerful and intelligent beings who walk about the world, but they have their own abodes in the seas, lagoons, mountains and other natural objects. Having been delegated by Naa nyamo to be his vicegerents, they are in active contact with the world of nature in man.”

In other words, the Genesis text reveals a henotheistic worldview, typical of the oldest tribal societies. Henotheism is the view that there is a single supreme Creator who is served by lesser assisting powers (baals). God alone is worshiped, but the lesser powers are venerated as good since they are not free to defy the Creator. These are the messengers (angels) of God.

The idea of fallen angels rests on the assumption that the word nephilim is the masculine plural participle of Hebrew naphal, meaning to fall, but this likely reflects the Jewish tendency to disdain the powerful rulers of their past. In the Book of Daniel the Aramaic term used to denote angels is `îrîn (watchers). Each is also called `îr weqadîsh (watcher and holy one). "Watcher" implies that angels act as God's sentinels, as did the angels appointed to guard the entrance to Eden.

Oduyoye wanted the seminarians to dig into the text because they needed to understand its cultural context, a context suggested by the etymology. He explained, “Christian preaching certainly needs a stronger pillar to lean upon than a basis of obscurantism.”

In seeking to understand Genesis 1-11, Oduyoye drew from many of the Afro-Asiatic languages and encouraged his students to consider their own African dialects and folklore. Having considerable acquaintance with many languages, Oduyoye's vantage point enabled him to ask questions that European and Anglo Bible scholars were not asking. He also questions many of the long-accepted interpretations of Jewish scholars.


Connecting the Linguistic Dots

One of the most significant contributions of Dr. Oduyoye has been to demonstrate common roots in Yoruba, Ancient Egyptian, Hebrew, Arabic and Hausa. European and Anglo linguists already acknowledged a relationship between Hebrew, Akkadian, Aramaic, Ugaritic, but it took this Nigerian philologist to demonstrate a clear connection to African languages like Tiv, Efik, Yoruba, Ibibio, Igbo, Fon, and Twi.

Oduyoye pointed out that Igbo dibia (medicine man) is cognate with the Arabic tibia (doctor) and that the Yoruba ajo is cognate with the Hebrew haj and the Arabic hajj. He notes also that the word ha-rison-iym (ancestors) in Psalm 79.8 is related to the Ijebu lisa (first in rank), to the igbo olise (God as in Olisemeka), to the Arabic ras, the Aramiac resh, the Akkadian rishu and the Yoruba orisha.

Oduyoye noted that the Arabic word harem and the Hebrew heremboth convey the idea of something set apart as sacred. Oduyoye explains that the /h/ is missing in Yoruba because “Yoruba nouns generally do not begin with an /h/ or any h-type sound.” This is more characteristic of the Afro-Arabian languages.

Oduyoye notes that confused in Hebrew is balal, but the Genesis writers use babel (b-b-l). Oduyoye explains that the writer of Genesis is basing etymology on a single leg of sound similarity without any consideration for the other leg. Hebrew balal means mingle, mix, confuse, confound and is cognate with Chichewa balala-balala which means to scatter or disperse. Oduyoye says, "Here, etymology has two legs to stand upon. Phonology and semantics."

“Babel is the name of the Babylonian capital whose only gate was memorably designed with religious motiffs. It came to be known by the Babylonians as baab ilu, "the gate of God." Babylon was very powerful and very ambitious. The Jews therefore saw the ruins of its ziggurats as divine punishment.

Oduyoye argues that at some point the historical becomes mixed with a redactor's agenda. He writes, “The etymology of Genesis 1-11 are based on fancy, not fact. They serve the purpose of mythology, not that of linguistics or philology.”

Oduyoye goes on to say, “The truth is that the story is one of many told by the Hebrews to ridicule nations against whom they harbor a grudge.” The Jews labeled their Canaanite kinsmen “idolaters” which justified their attempts to annihilate them in the name of Yahweh. They labeled their Moabite kinsmen as an incestuous race. They suggested that God destroyed all the other peoples of the earth in a catastrophic flood, save Noah and his family.

Oduyoye notes the relationship between the Yoruba Lamurudu (N-m-d / l-m-d) and the name Nimrod. He says, “Given this anterior greatness of the Kushite Nimrod, the first gibbor, the writers of Genesis did with Nimrod what they did with Nebuchadnezzar. For no reason other than his greatness, they stated that Nimrod’s greatness was offensive to God.”


Related reading: Why Does Genesis Speak of Gods?; Who Were the Nephilim?; The Nilotic Substrata of Genesis 1; Kain's Princess Bride; Nimrod was a Kushite Ruler; Was the Land of Nod Enoch's Territory?; Ancient African Astronomers; Kushite Kings and the Kingdom of God; African Religion Predates Hinduism

UFOs in Genesis?

When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. (Gen. 6:1-4)

Michael Heiser reads Biblical Hebrew and studies the history of UFO sightings. He thinks that people should keep an open mind about evidence for UFOs and contact with extraterrestrials or “watchers” in the Bible. Genesis 6:1-4 is one of the verses often cited in support of contact with extraterrestrial beings. Another is Numbers 13:33: “there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, which come of the Nephilim”.

Are the Nephilim beings from space or are they angels? Some believe that the Nephilim were fallen angels or demons who had intercourse with human females in Noah’s time and produced a race of giants. However, angels were not created to sexually reproduce. Jesus states that the angels neither marry nor are given in marriage.

The interpretation of fallen angels rests on the assumption that the word nephilim is the masculine plural participle of Hebrew naphal, meaning to fall, but this is not conclusive. In the book of Daniel, the Aramaic term used to denote angels is "watchers" (`îrîn). Such a being is also called "watcher and holy one" (`îr weqadîsh). The term "watcher" implies that angels act as God's sentinels, as did the angels appointed to guard the entrance to Eden. The existence of these angelic watchers could explain some of the mysterious appearances classified as contact with extraterrestrials since angels are assigned to watch over heaven and earth. Heiser, who has read thousands of pages of testimony about UFO sightings, notes that the majority of sightings involve lights.  Angels are associated with light in the Bible so perhaps there is some basis for believing that people have had unusual encounters with angels.  As to the claim of some that they were abducted, we have the story of Lot being taken from Sodom as a possible example of abduction by angels.

However, these `îrîn (watchers) appear in literature that post-dates the earliest material in Genesis. They are also mentioned in Vedic (Sanskrit) texts which tell of gods begetting children with humans. They appear in the Epic of Gilgamesh, in the Lamech scrolls, and in The Book of Enoch which states that 200 "Watchers" descended to earth in the time of Jared and instructed men in the arts and sciences.

These non-biblical sources lend support to the view that technological advances made by ancient man came as the result of contact with more advanced beings. This is more or less the position of Michael Tellinger who is promoting his new book Temples of the African Gods. Instead of recognizing that ancient Africans were observers of the heavens and regarded the cardinal points as the basis for understanding the order of creation he insists that the ancient ruins found at Mpumalanga, South Africa prove contact with extraterrestrial beings. Here is what Tellinger writes about that stone ruin:

This ruin has become the subject of much research and measurement by Johan Heine. It features prominently in our new book Temples of the African Gods. There are multiple alignments with the cardinal geographical points. The perfect hexagon is formed by extending the length of the flattened edge across the top right side into the circle. This has a very important significance since it suggests that the architects had a good understanding of particle physics and sacred geometry, since the hexagon is just a flattened perspective of a Star Tetrahedron. It is directly linked to advanced ancient knowledge. The Star Tetrahedron is a very important structure in the study of sacred geometry. Leading physicists believe that this is the fundamental structure of all matter in the universe.

These monoliths are found in the same region and date to the time of the mines from which miners were extracting red ochre, a symbol of blood.  Sophisticated mining operations in the Lebombo Mountains reveal that thousands of workers were extracting red ochre which was ground into powder and used in the burial of nobles in places as distant as Wales and Turkey. There is consensus among anthropologists (who agree on little, it seems) that this red powder symbolized blood, and its use in burial represented hope for the renewal of life. These mining operations suggest long-standing human industry rather than intervention from space beings.

Heiser’s idea of contact with UFOs is based on reading thousands of pages of reports by sighters, including United States military pilots. Tellinger insists that the discoveries of advanced civilizations in southern Africa dating between 80,000 to 100,000 years ago must be explained by contact with more advanced beings. The two men are building their arguments for UFOs based on different data. Genesis has something to say about angels and technological advances, but it doesn’t support the popular conception of UFOs from outer space.

Related reading: Who Were the Nephilim?; The Mighty Men of Old

Who Were the Nephilim?

Alice C. Linsley


The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.  Genesis 6:4

There is a simple explanation for this passage. The nephilim were the powerful ruling ancestors of Abraham's Horite Hebrew (the Horim). They are called gibbor-iym, which means the mighty ones. They are also called "the mighty men" of old.

The word "Nephilim" refers to "great ones," not giants. This is a reference to the "might men of old" (Gen. 10). Nephilim comes from the same root as the Aramaic npyl (nephil) which means giant as in great. This is equivalent to the Arabic nfy, meaning hunter. It is said concerning Nimrod that he was a “mighty hunter” or a “mighty man” before the Lord.

The reference is clearly to the early biblical kingdom builders such as Nimrod. They ruled over territories from Africa to Anatolia and from Arabia to Southern China. Among them were the ruler-priests, the Habiru (Hebrew) who served at the royal temples and shrines.

Among Abraham's ruler-priest ancestors, the high king was regarded as a "son of God" or a deified ruler. These "heroes of old" appear again in the book of Revelation where priests and angels are linked in the descriptions of the coming of the Son of Man. The Orthodox Study Bible (p. 1725) notes that the angelic powers represent the Old Testament priests who sounded their trumpets during the temple liturgy (Jos. 6:12; 1 Ch. 16:6; Ps. 97:6). The seven angels with their seven trumpets are accompanied by an angel who offers the prayers of the saints with a great amount of incense (Rev. 8:3). Their rulings houses, which originated in the Nile region, spread across the Levant and Mesopotamia and as far as Southern India. They were the great kingdom builders of the dawn of history, men such as Nimrod, the son of Kush (Gen. 10).

Two deified rulers about whom we have a good amount of information from archaeology are Ped-Isis and Pi-Hor, the sons of a metalworking ruler of Ku-pr. Kuper means "temple of Kush." The ancient Egyptian word for temple or house was pr. The Hapiru devotees of Horus called a temple O-piru, meaning "house of the Sun." Azu or Asa is an East African name for God. Sargon the Great's birth place was Azu-piranu which means “house of God” and is equivalent to the Hebrew word "Beth-el." The Horite Hebrew ruler-priests were called Hapiru in Akkadian Cuneiform, and the word actually means "human." The Egyptians called the temple attendants ˁprw, the w being the plural suffix.

Clearly belief in a deified son who would embody kindness and unite the peoples found fulfillment in Jesus Christ, a descendant of the Horite Hebrew ruler-priests, the divine son of the Virgin Mary, daughter of the priest Joachim of the line of Nathan. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham's Hebrew ancestors in Eden (Gen. 3:15).


Angels or Ancestors?

It is commonly believed that the Nephilim were fallen angels who had intercourse with human females in Noah’s time and produced a race of giants. The apparent intention of this reference is to highlight the disordered affairs of men and justify the destruction brought by Noah's flood.  The flood was perceived to be God's punishment of the unrighteous.  However, the nephilim were likely righteous rulers who were Abraham's ancestors.  The resurrection from the dead was believed to depend on the righteousness of the ruler.

The notion of one kind of created being mating with a distinct kind of creature is entirely foreign to the biblical wordview which maintains strict boundaries between "kinds" and would regard such an event as a violation of God-established boundaries.  In this sense, it is apparent that Genesis 6:4 is intended to show disorder in the creation.

However, this interpretation of Genesis 6:4 poses many difficulties. Those who hold to a worldwide flood must explain how there continued to be Nephilim after the time of Noah if all were destroyed in the Flood? Also, angels were not created to sexually reproduce. Jesus states that the angels neither marry nor are given in marriage. There is also the evidence of the words “and also afterwards” which suggest that a story about the time of Noah has been conflated with a story from Numbers 13:33: “there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, which come of the Nephilim”.

The intepretation of fallen angels rests on the assumption that the word nephilim is the masculine plural participle of Hebrew naphal, meaning to fall, but this is not conclusive. In the Book of Daniel the Aramaic term used to denote angels is "watchers" (`îrîn). Each is also called "watcher and holy one" (`îr weqadîsh). The term "watcher" implies that angels are to act as God's sentinels, as were the angels appointed to guard the entrance to Eden.

These watchers appear in literature that post-dates the earliest material in Genesis. They are mentioned in Vedic (Sanskrit) texts which tell of gods begetting children with humans. They appear in the Epic of Gilgamesh, in the Lamech scrolls, and in The Book of Enoch which states that 200 "Watchers" descended to earth in the time of Jared and instructed men in the arts and sciences. The term appears in the book of Daniel which has a Babylonian context.

The evidence then points to a gloss on the text by someone versed in extra-biblical Babylonian texts. This conception of the Nephilim isn't consistent with the worldview of the African Noah. However, because both the Babylonians and Abraham's people are Afro-Asiatics, there must be some points of contact and an older layer that points to Africa. This is found in the hint that the watchers might be ancestor spirits or the souls of deified persons. In this view the word nephil is related to the Hebrew nefesh (soul) and to the Swahili nafsi (soul).

An ancestor in traditional African religion is someone who died a good death, practiced the traditions of his people and faithfully transmitted them to his descendants. A first-born son is most likely to become an ancestor because he is able to maintain the chain of the generation in a long genealogy.This African view of the nephilim fits the author's identification of the nephilim with the gibborim or "heroes of old" who are "men of renown" (Gen. 6:4). These rulers were regarded as "sons of God", as was the case with the rulers of ancient Egypt who were required to make a pilgrimage to "The Land of the Gods" prior to their ascent to the throne. They are believed to have the power to visit their descendents in dreams and visions and to interceed for them in death.

Peoples of central Africa believe that the greater a ruler in life, the more powerful his spirit after death. Deified ancestor rulers stand between the living and the Creator. The spirits of righteous ancestor rulers continue after death to seek good for their people. Malevolent spirits bring evil and can "sleep" with human women. In west Africa these dream visitors are called 'night husbands' or 'spirit husbands.' (The Latins of antiquity similarly believed in sexual encounters with incubi and succubi.) The African notion is the more primitive layer and the most likely background for Genesis 6:1-4.

Consider Tswana poet Gabriel M. Setiloane's words:

Ah, . . . yes . . . it is true.
They are very present with us
The dead are not dead; they are ever near us;
Approving and disapproving all our actions,
They chide us when we go wrong,
Bless us and sustain us for good deeds done,
For kindness shown, and strangers made to feel at home.
They increase our store, and punish our pride.

[Excerpt from "How the Traditional World-View Persists in the Christianity of the Sotho-Tswana," in Christianity in Independent Africa, Edward Fashole-Luke, ed., Indiana University Press, 1978, p. 407].

This description of watching ancestors fits the Genesis depiction of the Nephilim as the "heroes of old" or "men of renown". A 2008 discovery in southeastern Turkey of the funeral stele of a royal official indicates that Abraham's Nilotic ancestors believed the soul of the ancestor survives after death. The Aramaic word for soul that appears on the stele is "nabsh". Aramaic was spoken throughout northern Syria and parts of Mesopotamia in the eighth century BC.

The Nephilim probably originally related to human ancestors, not to angelic beings. The Genesis 6:4 reference appears to be a later gloss on the text and serves the purpose of highlighting disorder in the creartion.  However, it reflects a worldview quite contrary to that of Abraham's Kushite ancestors and comes instead from a time and culture like that of the dualistic Persians or the Helenized Jews.

Nonetheless, the question remains: are Daniel's "watchers" angels or the deified ancestors who the Bible might speak of as resting in the bosom of Abraham?


Related reading: Righteous Rulers and the Resurrection; The Seventh Seal and Silence in Heaven; Horite Deified Sons; Why Does Genesis Speak of Gods?; Abraham's Kushite Ancestors; Angels and Demons: The Prometheus Connection; UFOs in Genesis; The Bosom of Abraham