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

Learn About the Early Hebrew

 

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

The application of kinship analysis, a tool of cultural anthropology, has proven extremely useful in identifying the features of the social structure of the biblical Hebrew, the ruler-priest caste that believed in the Father God who has a son and whose Spirit generates life. Understanding their social structure sheds light on many of the more difficult passages of Scripture. Therefore, I recommend my book "The First Lords of the Earth: An Anthropological Study" (Amazon).

 
Chapters 1 and 2 explain the empirical, data gathering method of Biblical Anthropology.

 
Chapters 3-5 present what is known about the early Hebrew (4000-2000 BC), drawing on the available data. Specifically, these chapters look at the Hebrew caste and moiety system, the oldest known site of Hebrew worship along the Nile, and what the Hebrew believed.

 
Chapter 6 clarifies that the social structure of the early Hebrew was not patriarchal, as is often claimed, and chapters 7-13 demonstrate the gender balance of their social structure using the biblical data.

I was able to make a rather complex subject easy to understand. I hope you will buy the book and discover answers to some questions, such as:

• Was the social structure of the biblical Hebrew patriarchal?
• Who were the Horite Hebrew and the Sethite Hebrew?
• Where is the oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship?
• Were the Hebrew in Canaan before Abraham's time?
• Why did many high-status Hebrew men have two wives?
• What was the difference in status between wives and concubines?
• What types of authority did the biblical Hebrew recognize?
• How did the Hebrew acute observation of the order of creation inform their reasoning?
• If Judaism is NOT the faith of the early Hebrew, what did they believe?

I hope you will find the book helpful and informative. The sequel describes the lives of the "First Ladies of the Earth" and will be available in August 2024.

Why "The First Lords of the Earth" Matters

 

Dr. Tim Daughtry, a Christian Apologist, reviews The First Lords of the Earth: An Anthropological Study

The book of Genesis is typically read and interpreted by Christians and Jews in one of two ways. In one approach, Genesis is treated as a literal and accurate description of human origins and early human history. In this literalist view, Adam and Eve were not only real people, but they were also the first people on Earth. In the other approach, Genesis is read as a series of folk stories and myths that reveal important truths about humanity when interpreted allegorically. In this view, Adam and Even are characters in the creation story rather than real people who existed in history. The important point in this mode of interpretation is not that Adam and Eve were real historical characters but that that the story reveals important truths about human pride, disobedience, estrangement from God, and the hope of reconciliation.

In The First Lords of the Earth, Alice Linsley offers a fresh perspective through the lens of Biblical anthropology. Drawing from over forty years of research into Genesis along with scientific studies of ancient cultures, symbols, beliefs, and linguistic analysis, Linsley makes the case that the important figures of Genesis were not only real people but were members of the early Hebrew caste of ruler-priests who moved from Africa into the Fertile Crescent and Ancient Near East. As just one example, she makes the case that the Adam and Eve of Genesis were not the first humans, but neither were they mythical archetypes. Instead, Adam was a real ruler who lived in a vast area around the Nile River and whose sons Cain and Seth married the daughters of Enoch, who lived at the same time. The book’s exploration of early Hebrew kinship, marriage, and ascendancy patterns places these and later Biblical characters in an evidence-based historical context and provides rich anthropological context for the Scriptural accounts of the lives of later figures such as Abraham, Noah, and Joseph. The title of the book derives from the anthropological evidence that these and other early figures in Scripture were powerful ruler-priests with extensive domains in the lands described in the Bible.

The book offers a detailed look at a number of factors of early Hebrew culture, but one of the most interesting was the evidence that belief in God Father and God Son, along with a Messianic hope, was an important theme in Hebrew thought going back 6000 years that foreshadowed the beliefs of Christianity. Linsley makes a powerful case that the foundations of Christianity were present in early Horite and Sethite Hebrew beliefs that were present long before Abraham’s time.

The First Lords of the Earth is an excellent resource for a wide range of readers, including those interested in early Hebrew history for its own sake and for those who want to deepen their understanding of Scripture.


END

Related Reading: The First Lords and Their Authority; The First Lords and Messianic Expectation

Response to a Review of "The First Lords"

Review at Amazon by "The Adawm"

I have been following Dr. Alice C. Linsley's work since 2009. Since that time I casually read some of her articles that she post on her blog. I have found her work to be fascinating, and it will take many in the Judeo-Christian worldview on a journey beyond your typical Sunday school sessions. I do admire her work but some areas are highly speculative, however, she will most likely say that her work is unfamiliar to the less astute.

An example of such speculative story telling is that Adahm (Adam) was a 'Hebrew,' suggesting that there were 'Hebrew' people in existence way before Abraham (?) I wonder how many scholars would agree with her claim? Her work also attempts to link the Hapiru with the Hebrew, her reasoning is that they are one and the same people.

Well, according to Dr. David A. Falk who is an Egyptologist, the word 'Hapiru' has a pretty messy history when you start looking in the 18th century BC text. The word, "Hapiru" isn't an ethnic identifier nor is it a tribal group. It's a class identifier and reflects a social group, so anyone can be labeled a "Hapiru" since a person's class and social status can vary with their ethnicity.

Hapiru has been linked to being an mercenary, refugee, outcast, foreigner, plunder, and raiders. Many Hapiru were Amorites as many Israelites were in fact Amorites. And there is an Amorite, Israelite and Hapiru overlap that does exist, however, not all Israelites are Amorites.

According to the Exodus narrative, a mix-multitude left Egypt (Khemet), which would have included many ethnic groups such as: Nubians, Libyans, Asiatics, Egyptians (Khemetians) and Cushites (Ethiopians).

As Dr. David A. Falk has stated: some Israelites were Amorites, and some Israelites were both Hapiru and Amorites. A Hapiru is not a tribal marker, marking one's ethnicity but it is a marker of a social class. Hapiru persons have been found as East Semitic, West Semitic, Hurrian (Horite) and Amoritic.

There is an etymological association with the word Hapiru and Hebrew. But the link is immaterial since 'Hapiru' represents a class and "Hebrew" (or Hebrew Israelite) represents a blood related ethnicity.
Linsley also claims that there were two divisions of the Hebrew caste, (1) the Horite Hebrew (2) the Sethite Hebrew which she identifies with Egyptian (Khemetian) Cosmology.

For many in the Judeo-Christian sphere this forecasting can be damaging to their theological and doctrinal creeds. My opinion of the matter is just the same as with the Hapiru and Hebrew controversy, that is, there is in fact some overlap that exists.

According to the Exodus narrative there was a mixed multitude that left. The problem with the Exodus story is the fact that there has not been any archaeological evidence that confirms this story outside of the biblical narrative. All current data points to the Ancient Hebrew Israelites as native Canaanites.

Regardless though, I still find her work to be quite fascinating. Thank you Alice C. Linsley for your 40+ years.

My response

It appears that this reviewer did not read the book very carefully. He does not address any of the main points of the book.

He clearly has read some of my blog posts where I have "speculated" (along with others) that the English word Hebrew is related to the word Habiru/Hapiru. However, in "The First Lords of the Earth" I state that the word Hebrew is derived from the ancient Akkadian word for priest which is "abru", and the caste was called "abrutu". Akkadian is the oldest known Semitic language, and it reveals that the Hebrew ruler-priest caste existed before the time of Abraham (c.2000 B.C.). Akkadian was the language of Nimrod's kingdom. Nimrod was a Kushite kingdom builder (Gen.10).

Further, the Horite and Sethite Hebrew are mentioned in the Ancient Pyramid Texts as maintaining shrines along the Nile, and some of these texts date to before the time of Abraham. The Horite and Sethite mounds were well established before Abraham's time. Abraham was NOT the first Hebrew.

My book is about the early Hebrew, long before the time of the Exodus of Jacob's clan called the "Israelites". It involves tracing the Hebrew dispersion out of the Nile Valley into many parts of the Ancient Near East. These were kingdom builders, and their marriage and ascendancy pattern drove their dispersion through the practice of sending away non-ascendant sons.

Analysis of the kinship pattern of the early Hebrew, beginning with the historical Adam and his contemporary Enoch, reveals that they had the same marriage and ascendancy pattern as Abraham and Moses.

I'm not familiar with Dr. Falk. However, reading about his work indicates that his field is Egyptology, not the biblical Hebrew. As far as I can tell, he has no knowledge of the social structure of the biblical Hebrew. Understanding their caste structure with its moieties, and their marriage and ascendancy pattern clarifies many difficult passages of the Old Testament.  

Related reading: The First Lords of the Earth is a Paradigm-Shifting Book; The First Lords of the Earth and Messianic Expectation; The Hebrew Were a Caste

About My Book "The First Lords of the Earth"

Dear Readers,

It has been a long time coming (40 years), but my book The First Lords of the Earth: An Anthropological Study is now available to purchase on Amazon. Purchase options include Kindle, paperback, and hardcover. All are priced to accommodate the book lover on a tight budget.

This paradigm-shifting book identifies the social structure and religious beliefs of the early Hebrew ruler-priest caste (6000-4000 years ago), their dispersion out of Africa, their territorial expansion, trade routes, and influence on the populations of the Fertile Crescent and Ancient Near East.

I was able to make a rather complex subject easy to understand. I hope you will buy the book and discover answers to some perennial questions, such as:

• Who were the Horite Hebrew and the Sethite Hebrew?
• Where is the oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship?
• Why did so many Hebrew men have two wives?
• What was the difference in status between wives and concubines?
• What types of authority did the biblical Hebrew recognize?
• What were some symbols of authority among the early Hebrew?
• How did their acute observation of the patterns in nature inform their reasoning?
• If Judaism is NOT the Faith of the early Hebrew, what did they believe?

It is ancient history, anthropology, and Biblical studies wrapped into one fascinating read. I hope you will find it helpful and informative.

Best wishes to you all,

Alice C. Linsley

Related reading: The First Lords and Messianic Expectation; The First Lords and Their Authority; The First Lords is a Paradigm-Shifting Book; Response to a Review of First Lords of the Earth