The Nephilim, Just Who Are They?

By Gordon King

The Nephilim, the Giants of old.  What do we know about the Nephilim?  Most of us have heard the story of David and Goliath.  This was actually a true story.

1 Samuel 17:4

⁴ A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span.

The length of a cubit was based on the distance from the elbow to the fingertips, so it varied between different ancient groups of people.  However, it says according to “the common cubit”, so the average cubit was approximately 18.5 inches.   A span was the distance between the tip of the thumb to the tip of the small finger when the hand is fully extended, approximately 9 inches.

Free Dictionary.com definition “Cubit”: 

An ancient unit of linear measure, originally equal to the length of the forearm from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow, or about 17 to 22 inches (43 to 56 centimeters) or approximately 18.5 inches.

Free Dictionary.com definition “Span”:

The distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger when the hand is fully extended, formerly used as a unit of measure equal to about nine inches (23 centimeters).

So Goliath was 6 cubits x 18.5 inches = 111 inches / 12 inches per foot or 9.25 feet plus 9 inches = 10 feet tall.

1 Samuel 17:48-50

⁴⁸ As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. ⁴⁹ Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.

⁵⁰ So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

Giant-Foot-Print Photo credit: endalldisease com

This is what the bible tells us about the Nephilim:

Genesis 6:4  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.

Free Dictionary.com definition of “Nephilim”: Giants.

The “sons of God” is not quite so clear.  I believe them to be fallen angels or demons.  However, Genesis 6:4 states “the sons of God came in to the daughters of man”.  If they were human then it would not refer to them as the sons of God, but rather as men, perhaps of another clan.  There is much speculation regarding this issue.  Take it as you will and research it more for yourself.  For the sake of this article I will refer to them as “fallen angels”.

Fallen angels, Demons Photo credit: http://www.wallsave.com

Revelation 12:9

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

The Nephilim were Powerful and Famous

Genesis 6:4 says that “they bore children to them”.  And that these children were the “mighty men who were of old, the men of renown”.

Free dictionary.com definition of “mighty”:

1. Having or showing great power, skill, strength, or force: a mighty orator; a mighty blow.

2. Imposing or awesome in size, degree, or extent: a mighty stone fortress.

Free dictionary.com definition of “renown”:

1. The quality of being widely honored and acclaimed; fame.

With these definitions we can see that these Giants or Nephilim were very large, powerful and strong, as well as honored, respected and famous.

They were People of Great Height, Strength and a Voracious Appetite

Nephilim femur   Photo credit: scienceandthebible.xanga.com

We once again hear of the Nephilim in Numbers 13:30-33.

Numbers 13:30-33

But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 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.”

We see that in this passage some of the cities were occupied by the Nephilim.  That they were people of great height (giants), “we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers”.  They were also people of great strength as noted: “they are stronger than we are”, “is a land that devours its inhabitants”.  I take this literally to mean that these giants or Nephilim are actually eating people.  They were cannibals.

Nephilim Skull Greece   Photo credit: about.com

The Time of Noah

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

This part of the verse is saying that the Nephilim were present both before the flood of Noah and after the flood.

Replica of Noah’s Ark Photo credit: governmentgonewild.org

Genesis 6:5-8, 17-18 speaks of God’s sorrow for creating man and his plan for starting over.

⁵ Then the Lordsaw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

¹⁷ And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. ¹⁸ But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.

Only Noah and his family were found to be of pure DNA.

Genesis 9-10

⁹ This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. ¹⁰ And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

The verse speaks of Noah being “perfect in his generations” does not mean that he never sinned.  Jesus was the only one who never sinned.  Rather, it is speaking of his obeying God, and of his perfect, untainted DNA.   The Nephilim had ruined the DNA of man, except of Noah and his family.  The Nephilim were trying to prevent the coming of Christ as the savior of the world.  Remember, the demonic angels created the Nephilim.  They are the children of Satan.

Genesis6:11-12

¹¹ The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹² So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

People of Great Height and Strength

Nephilim femur Photo credit: scienceandthebible.xanga.com

We once again hear of the Nephilim in Numbers 13:30-33.

Numbers 13:30-33

But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 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.”

We see that in this passage some of the cities were occupied by the Nephilim.  That they were people of great height (giants), “we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers”.  They were also people of great strength as noted: “they are stronger than we are”, “is a land that devours its inhabitants”.  I take this literally to mean that these giants or Nephilim are actually eating people.  They were cannibals.

Nephilim Skull Greece Photo credit: about.com

King Og of the Rephaim

Deuteronomy 3:11

(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 cubitswas its length, and four cubits its breadth, according to the common cubit.)

This verse gives us the dimensions of King Og’s (a Nephilim) bed.  It says that it was nine cubits long and four cubits wide.  According to the common cubit.

Royal splendor. Covered with ivory, this wooden bed was discovered in an eighth-century B.C. royal tomb in Salamis, Cyprus. The Hebrew Bible contains several mentions of thrones and beds of ivory as symbols of extravagant luxury. Author Millard argues that these were not made completely of ivory, only that they were decorated with that prized material. Similarly, he reasons, King Og’s bed may have been plated with iron—a rarity at the time that rated a mention in Deuteronomy.       Cyprus Museum

That would make the length of the bed 18.5 x 9 = 166.5 inches / 12 inches per foot = 13.875 feet, or 14 feet long, by 18.5 x 4 = 74 inches / 12 = 6.17 feet or approximately 6 feet wide.  So King Og was approximately 13.5 feet tall.  That’s one big man.  However, it has been reported that many of the Nephilim were much, much larger, up to 36 feet tall, dwarfing King Og.

The Nephilim were real.  They were here before the great flood of Noah and after that.  I believe that they are here today.  Jesus tells us:

Matthew 24:37-39

³⁷ But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. ³⁸ For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

So just as in the days of Noah, people will  not heed the warning calls.  They will be living their lives as if nothing is going to happen.  I also take this verse (“that as in the days before the flood”) to mean that the end times will be filled with evil, violence, murder, selfishness, hatred, sexual immorality and sin.  I also believe that Satan will continue to try and corrupt human DNA.  I believe that the Nephilim will be present and that we will see an increase in cannibalism and other ungodly sins.

I will continue to write more articles on the Nephilim in the future.  We need to know what has happened in our past and what will happen in the future.  Let us not be ignorant.

God Bless!   😉