Meg’s notes on episode five: Nephilim, Giants, and Hybrids

If you’ve listened to previous episodes you know we’ve discussed the rebellion of Genesis 6, when the sons of God took human wives for themselves against God’s instructions. This lays the foundation for deception by means of defilement. The hybrid offspring race that was produced as a result of this incursion described in Genesis 6 are called the Nephilim.

In scripture, we see reference to and description of the Nephilim. Not only hybrid creatures (heavenly and human) but also huge - they were giants:

“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.” (Genesis 6:4)

Let’s look at the Hebrew:

Nephilim is plural for Nephil which means “giants” and is derived from naphal meaning “to fall, lie” also “abandon, bring down, cast down, defect, fall down, give birth, go over, topple, waste away”
“Sons of God” is benai elohim
“Mighty” is gibbor meaning “strong, mighty” and is derived from gabar meaning “to be strong, mighty”
“Of old” is olam meaning “long duration, antiquity, futurity”
“Renown” is shem meaning “name, renown, famous, memorial”

We know from scripture and also our discussion in our Genesis 6 episode that the Nephilim were on the earth prior to the flood, as well as after. If you’re like me, you’re wondering wait, I thought the flood wiped out everything and everyone? While there is not a clear explanation in scripture of how Nephilim survived, we are told that some did survive. We place our trust in truth, which is God’s word, and so we know from the truth of God’s word that Nephilim survived and were on the earth before the flood “in those days” as well as after the flood (Genesis 6:4).

The hybrid offspring race that was produced as a result of this incursion described in Genesis 6 are called the Nephilim. In scripture, we see reference to and description of the Nephilim. Not only hybrid creatures (heavenly and human) but also huge - they were giants.

Let’s look elsewhere in scripture to see when and how Nephilim are mentioned. Turn to the book of Numbers, when Moses at the command of God sent one man from each tribe into the land of Canaan, to look at the land and report back on its condition:

“Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country, and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” (Numbers 13:17-20)

The spies went out and scoped out the land. Scripture tells us they saw the descendants of Anak (13:22), as well as a massive cluster of grapes (13:23):

“So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron, Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt). And they came to the Valley of Eschol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of graphs, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs. That place was called the Valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.”

Anak is the father of the Anakim, a tribe of Rephaim, mentioned several times in scripture (Numbers 13:22, 28, 33; Deuteronomy 2:11, 9:2; Joshua 15:13-14, 21:11; Judges 1:20). Rephaim is plural for Rapha and derived from the Hebrew word raphah meaning “sink, relax.” Rephaim are mentioned also several times in Scripture: Genesis 14:5, 15:20; Deuteronomy 2:11, 2:20, 3:11 and 13; Joshua 12:4, 13:12, 15:8, 17:15, 18:16; 2 Samuel 5:18 and 22, 21:16 and 20 and 22, 23:13; 1 Chronicles 11:15, 14:9, 20:4 and 4 and 8; Isaiah 17:5.

If we look at Scripture we see and we understand that Rephaim are remnants, carriers of Nephilim bloodlines. Bloodlines being important, let’s pause and consider the bloodline of Ham, the son who, scholars believe, defiled his mother (“his father’s nakedness;” see Leviticus 18:7) and the result, again many scholars argue, was Canaan - Noah speaking a curse unto Canaan and Canaan’s descendants (Genesis 9:25) - and we know the land of Canaan and the Canaanites was the land to which Moses sent the spies, and the land where we find descendants of Anak who were Rephaim.

In extra-biblical texts and in our Division of the Nations episode (to be released) we mention that in the book of Jasher (which is referenced in canonized Scripture; 2 Samuel 1:18 and Joshua 10:13 for example) we learn that Nimrod - arguably the first example of the antichrist - received the animal skins that belonged to Adam and Eve from his father, Cush. Cush was the son of Ham, and Ham the son of Noah. Texts tell us that Noah would have had these animal skins on the ark, along with sacred texts (scrolls). Nimrod would go to build the most powerful and vast kingdom - Babylon - as well as call for the construction of the Tower of Babel. It was then that God confused the language, set boundaries (and we argue separated the lands), and dispersed the nations (Deuteronomy 32). Nimrod wasn’t the only one in the line of Ham exhibiting Nephilim (hybrid and giant) DNA - remember also that Nimrod was the first to become mighty (Genesis 10:8). The Philistines, enemy to God’s chosen people of Israel, are descendants of Casluhim, son of Egypt who was son of Ham. One of, if not the most familiar stories of a giant in Scripture is that of Goliath, the giant killed by David in 1 Samuel 17. Goliath was a Philistine giant.

Let’s consider some important information regarding locations, as it relates to our discussion of Nephilim:

Fortified cities (in the Old Testament, ones with high walls, gates and iron bars)
Kingdoms - think Babylon (Nimrod); Philistia, Canaan, even the Amorites, Edomites, and the Moabites, and others
Also structures and formations used in sacrifice and in counterfeit communication downloads - like Gilgal, which is just beyond the Jordan near the area of what would become the hills of Ephraim, or the hill country

Deuteronomy 11:29-30, when the Lord is instructing an awareness of the blessing for those who keep His statutes and the curse for those who go astray:

“And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road, toward the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oak of Moreh?”

In Joshua 4:15-24, when the LORD parted the Jordan and carried the priests who carried the ark of the covenant, and Joshua set up 12 stones so that future generations would know:

“And the LORD said to Joshua, “Command the priests bearing the ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan.” So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.” And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD came up form the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before. The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”

In Joshua 5:9, after Joshua circumcised the men:

“Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.”
The camp would go on to celebrate Passover

“Gilgal” comes from the Hebrew word gilgal meaning “wheel” - there is great significance in the imagery of wheels:

Chariots, wheels in heaven (visions of wheels, like in Isaiah)
At Gilgal, we see a circular stone structure, like a wheel. In fact, this place is called “Gilgal-Rephaim” or “Wheel of the Giants”

In Joshua 9 and 10: the Gibeonite deception and when Joshua calls for the sun to stand still (arguably an excellent example in support of Biblical Cosmology)
So many other examples, going into book of Judges and 1 Samuel and more

1 Samuel 17, David and Goliath

If you haven’t listened to our episode on Genesis 6, I’d encourage you to listen to that one before listening to episode 5 on Nephilim. You may also want to check out my notes On Truth.

On Nephilim, Giants, and Hybrids {Meg’s Notes}

The hybrid offspring race that was produced as a result of this incursion described in Genesis 6 are called the Nephilim. In scripture, we see reference to and description of the Nephilim. Not only hybrid creatures (heavenly and human) but also huge - they were giants.

On Witchcraft and Occult Practices {Shan’s notes}