GIANTS AND THE SONS OF GOD

Some vocabulary: Hebrew word “Rephaim” (STRONGS H7496) translates as “dead, spirit of the dead”: Job 26:5 The dead (repaim) tremble under the waters and their inhabitants. Sometimes Hebrew words with the root of “rapha” are translated as “giant.”

“Nepilim” (Nephilim) STRONGS H5303: the root of this word means “to fall, collapse, be inferior, to drop, bring to ruin, to cast, throw down, abandon, give birth.

MOABITES called giants “Emim”.

AMMONITES called giants “Zamzummim”.

(Sidenote: Moabites and Ammonites are clans descended from the children bore when Lot’s 2 daughters got Lot drunk and had incestual intercourse with him.)

CANNANITES called giants “Anakim”.

HEBREWS called giants “Rephaim”.

DRIVE OUT THE INHABITANTS OF THE LAND

Deuteronomy 7:1-5 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, 2 and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. 3 You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. 5 But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire.

Genesis 15:18-20 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

Deuteronomy 9:1-2 “Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, 2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’

• Refer to Numbers 13:33 on page 2, sons of Anak come from Nephilim. Nephilim explained in Genesis 6 in "THE GIANTS" section below.

Leviticus 18:22-28 22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion. 24 “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25 and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. 26 But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you 27 (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), 28 lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.

• As you continue, you will see that The Promised Land was inhabited by people groups that included giants.

• God is commenting on the need to completely drive out the inhabitants of the Promised Land, based on severe generational iniquity. The existence of the giants is a part of that iniquity.

• Iniquity: Strong’s Hebrew H5771. “Avon” meaning perversity, (moral) evil, fault, iniquity, mischief, punishment of iniquity, sin. Comes from another Hebrew root that means to twist, distort. Translated in KJV primarily as iniquity. Iniquity involves premeditated, continuing, and escalating rebellion; sin worthy of punishment.

NOAH'S SON HAM...HAM'S SON CANAAN IS CURSED

Genesis 9:20-25 20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father's nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”

• Ham’s descendants become many people groups that inhabit the Promised Land, continually war against Isreal, and that have giants.

Table of Nations, Noah’s descendants

Genesis 10:6-18 6 The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. 7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. 8 Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.” 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and 12 Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. 13 Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14 Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim.15 Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, 16 and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, 17 the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites 18 the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites.

• Canaan was specifically cursed, but all of Ham’s sons had descendants that became people of war. Think about the descendants of Egypt …. Isreal was enslaved in Egypt when Moses was Called to supervise their Exodus.

• Ham’s descendant, Nimrod, was the first on earth to be a “mighty man.” See Genesis 6:4 below, where “mighty men” is used to describe the Nephilim / giants. Nimrod founded Babel, as in the Tower of Babel.

• Ham’s descendants eventually include the Canaanites, Philistines, Amorites, etc. All clans with giants. The Philistines were in Gath - a city in the land of Canaan. Goliath was from Gath.

THE GIANTS

Genesis 6:1-4 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 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 6:5-8 5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

• Reminder: Nephilim means “to fall, throw down, abandon, give birth.” Think about that in this context.

• Note that after the Nephilim are born onto the earth, God limits man’s life to 120 years and then in the immediate next verses, God decides to do The Flood.

• Sons of God will be discussed in later section.

Numbers 13:33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

Numbers 13:28 28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.

Joshua 11:21-22 21 And Joshua came at that time and cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua devoted them to destruction with their cities. 22 There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain.

• Joshua and the spies commenting on the giants when they scope out the Promised Land.

1 Samuel 17:1-7 17 Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. And they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. 2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. 3 And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. 4 And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went before him.

2 Samuel 21:15-22 15 There was war again between the Philistines and Israel, and David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines. And David grew weary. 16 And Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David. 17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David's men swore to him, “You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.” 18 After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants. 19 And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. 20 And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended from the giants. 21 And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David's brother, struck him down. 22 These four were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

Deuteronomy 2:10-11 10 The Emim formerly lived there, a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim. 11 Like the Anakim they are also counted as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim.

Deuteronomy 2:20-22 20 (It is also counted as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim formerly lived there—but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim— 21 a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim; but the LORD destroyed them before the Ammonites, and they dispossessed them and settled in their place, 22 as he did for the people of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them and they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day.

Joshua 15:13-14 13 According to the commandment of the LORD to Joshua, he gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh a portion among the people of Judah, Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron (Arba was the father of Anak). 14 And Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak, Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai, the descendants of Anak.

Joshua 21:11 11 They gave them Kiriath-arba (Arba being the father of Anak), that is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, along with the pasturelands around it.

Joshua 14:15 15 Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba. (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim.) And the land had rest from war.

Amos 2:9 “Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars and who was as strong as the oaks; I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath.

Deuteronomy 1:27-28 27 And you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the LORD hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”’

Deuteronomy 3:11-13 11 (For only Og the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, according to the common cubit.)…13 The rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, that is, all the region of Argob, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (All that portion of Bashan is called the land of Rephaim...

• There were a LOT more giants in Scripture than just Goliath.

• Remember that Rephaim, Emim, Anakim, Zamzummim, Nephilim are all giants.

SONS OF GOD

Job 1:6-7 6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”

Deuteronomy 32:8 8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.

Psalm 82:1-3 1 God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: 2 “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah 3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

Psalm 82:6-8 6 I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; 7 nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.” 8 Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!

Daniel 4:16-18 16 Let his mind be changed from a man's, and let a beast's mind be given to him; and let seven periods of time pass over him. 17 The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’ *(Daniel interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.)

• Sons of God are some type of angelic being.

• There’s what sounds like a type of executive or manager’s meeting repeatedly in Heaven.

• Deutoronomy 32:8 says God divided mankind and fixed the borders of nations according to the sons of God. Throughout Scripture there’s talk of the various gods of each people group. Though the pagans have a pantheon of gods, each group had a primary god or two that they worshipped.

  • Exodus 12:12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.

  • 1 Samuel 5:1-3 When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. 3 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place.

  • Judges 16:23-24 23 Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” 24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.” *(Samson destroys them)

  • 2 Kings 23:13 And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

  • Jeremiah 48:46 Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are undone, for your sons have been taken captive, and your daughters into captivity.

  • Numbers 21:29 Woe to you, O Moab! You are undone, O people of Chemosh! He has made his sons fugitives, and his daughters captives, to an Amorite king, Sihon.

  • 1 Kings 11:33 because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and they have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my rules, as David his father did.

  • 1 Kings 11:7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. *(Milcom may be a different spelling for Molech, or may be 2 different gods)

• It is not clear to me if watchers and sons of God, etc are the exact same entities. It seems so, but I can’t be certain. But we know that there were several rebellions from these spiritual entities:

• Sons of God mated with human women, creating Nephilim. A type of demi-god (half god, half human). God decreased human life span and made The Flood.

• Sons of God seem to each be assigned a nation. Which makes deeper context for God choosing Abram and making a nation for Himself! And for later, when Jesus opens access to God up to all nations / the gentiles! Psalm 82:8 says God will inherit the nations!

• I wonder if this isn’t an Epic Smackdown: ‘You think you can rule humanity better than me? You each get a nation and I’ll make a nation out of this one man. Let’s see what happens.’

  • Psalm 82:2 says the gods judged humanity unjustly and showed partiality to the wicked.

  • Daniel 4:17 talks about watchers / holy ones decree on Nebuchadnezzar. Sounds like the concept of a Divine Council.

  • Psalm 82:6 calls them “gods, sons of the Most High.”

  • Psalm 82:7 says God’s Judgement against them is that they will die like men.

    • Jude 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day…

    • 1 Peter 3:18-20 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 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.

I know some might ask “Why is this important? Shouldn’t we just focus on Jesus?” All of this is part of God’s Story and part of Jesus’s Work in redeeming humanity … from these unjust gods, from our own sin when Adam and Eve rebelled against God to align with Satan. This is part of the origin story of rebellion and sin. Our God has suffered much rebellion. These rebellious sons of God do not have a chance at Redemption, I think because they were IN HEAVEN in God’s direct presence yet rebelled. And because when charged with aiding in supervising humanity, they led humans to worship themselves and they corrupted humanity in many vile ways. (Also, they aren’t human, not made in God’s Image.)

But through Jesus, humans do have a chance at Redemption! Praise His Holy Name!

Credit to Dr. Michael Heiser’s book The Unseen Realm; which God used to introduce these concepts to me.

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