Nephilim in Genesis

“The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward" Genesis 6:4

We previously mentioned a series of locations provided in Genesis 14 lines 5-8 for the cities plundered by Elam during the war. This list includes: The Rephaim in Ashtaroth Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, the Horites in their mountain Seir (until the plain of Paran along the desert), the Amalekites in Kadesh at the site of Ein Mishpat, and the Amorites at Hazezon Tamar. Ultimately this is a complex list with nearly all the people in Canaan represented in some form, including Hamites, Shemites, possible Japhethites and even the Rephaim who were known as descendants of the giants. The implication here is that despite Chedorlaomer’s control over the world, there was stark resistance from nearly all peoples who were with Abram in his war.

Over the coming sections we will break down all of these groups, but to frame this discussion we need to go deeper into the Nephilim and their connection to other races of giants found throughout this list. It is necessary to split the Nephilim into two groups, the antediluvian Nephilim from Genesis and the later Nephilim from Numbers prior to the Israelite conquest of Canaan. While these groups are both called the proper term ‘Nephilim’, the later group in Numbers are explicitly called the ‘sons of Anak’, who themselves were ‘descended from the giants’. The implication from the line is that while they were indeed Nephilim and themselves giant in stature, they may not have been genetically pure in the same way the antediluvian Nephilim had yet to interbreed with human races and the word Nephilim simply becomes the term for the collective ‘giant’ in the post-Flood era.

Digging right into Rabbinic sources we have Genesis Rabbah 26:7 that comments extensively on the Nephilim expanding the list of groups saying “The giants were on the earth in those days.” They were called by seven names: Eimim, Refa’im, Giborim, Zamzumim, Anakim, Avim, Nefilim.”¹ The lists order is slightly different from the war of Chedorlaomer with the Zamzumim seemingly replacing the Zuzim, and multiple groups of ‘giants’ that are excluded from the first list such as the Gibborim, Anakim, Avim, and Nephilim added by the Rabbis as other “giant” groups. This therefore excludes the Horites, Amalekites, and Amorites as giants, and merely as Canaanite peoples during the war of Chedorlaomer. We will analyze the three non-giant Canaanite groups in their own sections due to possible interactions tying together the two groups through various political events. The following line then goes on to give Hebrew linguistic explanations for each of these groups, but we will leave that also for an explicit analysis of the individual groups; right now we are looking for the Nephilim only.

Bereshit Rabbah gives us perhaps the earliest identification for the root of Nephilim, here spelled different “Nefilim – as they toppled [hipilu] the world, fell from the world, and filled the world with stillborns [nefalim] with their immorality.” This connects the term to three other words, the word for toppling, hipilu, indicating their misleading of the world to sin. The resultant ‘fall’ caused by this, or Nefal is a more traditional understanding of the term often being connected in public imagery to the ‘fall of man’ and thus HaSatan, the accuser, triggering the expulsion from Eden. Incorrectly, ‘Satan’ is often thought of as a Nephilim, but this is not the case, and he would actually be an Elohim, or Angelic being if anything. The final connection is to the term for ‘stillborn’ with the connotation of the ever decreasing loss of immortality for human life prior to the Flood.

We are given one other meaning for Nephilim from Chizkuni “of outstanding stature;” the absence of the letter א in this word which we would have expected to have been spelled הנפלאים, is not unique; we find it also in Exodus 33,16: ונפלינו אני ועמך, “and we, Your people will be outstanding;”² Chizkuni explains a further connection to other similar terms where the term lacks the Aleph letter, implying the difference is in their ‘outstanding’ versus fallen stature. A final alternative explanation comes from Ramban who cites Radak “The masters of language say that they [the Nephilim] were so called because the heart of man fell from fear of them. The same applies to the word ha’eimim.”³

Continuing with Bereshit Rabbah we learn “And also thereafter,” Yehuda bar Rav Ami said: The later [generations] did not learn from the earlier ones; the generation of the Flood did not learn from the generation of Enosh, and the generation of the Dispersion did not learn from the generation of the Flood.” Very interesting here is a non-continuity of generational knowledge, with a further delineation between the generation that caused the Flood and the generation of Enosh. This would support our previous discussion about generational cycles of destruction pushing back the exact dating of various events.

Seemingly this is a throw away line, but critically it provides Rabbinic evidence that the information of these antediluvian figures would have been lost, and not preserved like certain sources claim. These sources include the Book of Enoch which extensively details the copulation between these two species, with details far exceeding anything that could have been known outside of directly receiving that information in the Torah from God. Enoch 1-4 would be excluded, but also the Book of Wisdom, and Book of Sirach, another deuterocanonical book accepted in the Church, but clearly an Alexandrian Greek Jewish fabrication written around the time of the Midrashim, representing some sort of Aggadah-like fable.

From the source again “And also thereafter, when the children of the great ones consorted with the daughters of man,” Rabbi Berekhya said: A woman would go out to the marketplace and would see a young man and desire him. She would go and engage in intercourse and would produce a young man like him.”⁴ We are now explicitly told this union produced offspring that would follow in their fathers footsteps, and be called by their fathers name showing a passing down of the title ‘Nephilim’ to their descendants known as the Gibborim even if they were mixed with humans.

Turning to a different source, Midrash Tanchuma Bereshit, we are given an explanation of the line “mighty men of old, men of known” from Gen. 6:4 “This verse informs us that the Nephilim would gaze upon the sun and the moon and perform feats of magic through them, as it is said of them: These are of them that rebel against the light (Job 24:13). The word these in both verses indicates that the Nephilim were the mighty men and were cruel and rebellious and performed acts of magic. Yet they said unto God: Depart from us, for we desire not knowledge of Thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit should we have, if we pray unto him? (Job 21:14–15).”⁵ We see a confirmation of theories that it was the misusing of magic - thus implying Kabbalah and Mysticism - that led the world into sin in the era of Enosh. It was probably the technical manipulation of the stars, and various astrological phenomena combined with Enosh’s teaching the world to manipulate and worship fire that triggered the downfall in that generation.

Continuing “R. Yohanan explained the cause of their rebelliousness as follows: They would sow for a single year and it would produce harvests that lasted forty years. Thus the Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: “Is this how you act? While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease (Gen. 8:22).”⁶ While one might be tempted to root the generation of Enosh further back in time, Midrash Tanchuma makes it clear that this was well within the era of agricultural harvests.

Turning to Rashi’s commentary on the line “and also afterward” he says: “Although they had seen the destruction of the generation of Enosh, when the ocean rose up and inundated a third of the world, the generation of the Flood did not humble themselves to learn from them.”⁷ Another explanation of this line from Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained: “also after” the flood, since the sons of Anak were of the family of bnei ha’elohim.” Ibn Ezra seems to explain the line “also after” as an implication of the Nephilims' survival of the flood, directly providing evidence that both the Nephilim and Bene Elohim would have survived through their offspring, the Giants.

Ramban confirms this approach saying “If so, we must say that either the wives of Noah’s sons were of their [the Nephilim’s] descendants and resembled them or that ibn Ezra will accept the statement of the Rabbi who advanced the interpretation that Og escaped from the flood, to which Rabbi Abraham will add that others too escaped with him”.⁸ Ramban actually goes on to diverge into his own view that the Bene Elohim were “Children of God” rather than gods, plural, as previously discussed in the section on Bene Elohim; however I take the majority view of the Rabbis who believe this wouldn’t refer to Adam and Eve.

A final Rabbinic reference to the line in Genesis comes from the Kitzur Ba’al HaTurim stating “‘The Nephilim’ - three in tradition, one complete and two deficient. The Nephilim were on the earth. Deficient, and we have seen them named Nefilim. Complete, the sons of Anak were from the Nephilim. Deficient, and this is Sihon and Og, etc., as stated in Niddah. Sihon and Og were the sons of Shamhazai and Azazel, and they fell from the sky during the days of the Flood. Therefore, it is written here "The Nephilim were on the earth," deficient.”⁹ We have discussed the connection between Shamhazai, Azazel, Og and the Giants extensively during the discussion on Sihon from Table of Nations: Nimrod, but to reiterate Og and the Giants are Gibborim, descended from a relationship between the Nephilim and Bene Elohim. In effect, Kitzur is saying the Nephilim and Giants/Gibborim are deficient, and impure in some sense, while the Anakim are complete potentially due to their post-Flood origin - with the former being antediluvians.

1. Bereshit Rabbah 26:7

2. Chizkuni Bereshit 6:4:1

3. Ramban Bereshit 6:4:1

4. Bereshit Rabbah 26

5. Midrash Tanchuma Bereshit 12:3

6. Midrash Tanchuma Bereshit 12:4

7. Mechilta Yithro, Massechta Bachodesh 6; Sifrei Ekev 743

8. Ramban Bereshit 6:4:2

9. Kitzur Ba'al HaTurim on Genesis 6:4:1