JohnWilliams writes:
but I wanted to start from scratch to determine who or what is the meaning of these mysterious giant people mentioned in the OT.
"There were 'giants' in the earth in those days" Gen. 6:4
We all know that the original hebrew word was "Nephilim" and then later translated to "giants."
While the english translations use the word 'giant', its important to understand the meaning of the hebrew word nephilim
Nephilim comes from a root word meaning 'fall'
The word Nephilim actually means 'Fellas' so liteally it means 'men who cause others to fall' or 'men who make others fall'
It would be wrong to conclude that 'nephilim' is a reference to a specific race of people. Nephilim is actually a verb...so its the act of causing one to fall that makes one a nephilim.
At the occurance in Genesis, the Nephilim were the children of the materialized angels. These angels had relations with women and the children born were of superhuman strength...but they used their strength to bring harm to others. They promoted violence and the people followed their example. This is why Genesis says that the world came to be filled with violence in connection with the nephilim...'the mighty ones' and the 'men of fame'
In regards to the mention of nephilim in Numbers 13.33, this was a 'false report' that was given about the inhabitants of the land of Cannan. The account is in no way claiming that there was a race of giants in cannan.
John Williams writes:
The Nephilim seem to be of mythological significance, and the term is rather vague. It can be translated to tyrants, villains, and mighty men. Basicaly, the Nephilim seem to be the hybrid children who were born from the gods and the earth women - similar to Hercules of the more well known Greek mythology.
yep, i agree that this is where the myths about giants originated. The reputation of the Nephilim (pre flood) likely gave rise to many mythologies. The decendents of Noah would have taken the pre flood story with them as they spread abroad and although distorted and embellished the original story, the resemblance in their ancient mythologies are unmistakably biblical.
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