Tag: Book of Giants
Nephilim demons
Are the demons the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim?
As a background, please read our articles on “Who were the sons of God in Genesis 6:1-4?”, and “Who were the Nephilim?” With the understanding that the sons of God were the fallen angels, and that the Nephilim were the hybrid offspring of the union between the fallen angels and human women, the question then arises: What happened to the spirits of the Nephilim after they were killed, whether by the flood, or in the case of the possible post-flood Nephilim (Genesis 6:4; Numbers 13:33), after the flood?
Some speculate that the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim remained on the earth and became what we now refer to as demons. The presumption is that, as angelic-human hybrids, the spirits of the Nephilim would have been different from the human soul-spirit, having the ability to remain present in this world despite no longer having a physical body. This would possibly explain the desire the demons have to possess human beings, thus gaining control over a physical body. This would also make some sense from the perspective of the fallen angels, who are outnumbered 2-1 by the holy angels (see Revelation 12:4), giving them a good reason to seek to increase their ranks.
The Nephilim explanation for the origin of the demons is partly the result of a misunderstanding of who exactly are the “spirits in prison” in 1 Peter 3:19 (see also Jude 6). Many misunderstand the “spirits in prison” to be all of the fallen angels who rebelled against God. If all of the fallen angels are imprisoned, then there must be an alternate explanation for the existence of demons; thus, the need for the Nephilim explanation. However, clearly, not all of the fallen angels are imprisoned. Satan, the leader of the angelic rebellion against God, is not imprisoned. Why would God allow the rebel leader to remain free but then confine the angels who followed Satan in the rebellion? No, it makes more sense to understand the “spirits in prison” as the fallen angels who participated in an additional rebellion, viz., the sons-of-God/daughters–of-men incident. The fallen angels who mated with human females are the ones who are imprisoned. There is no solid biblical reason to reject the idea that the demons are the same beings as the fallen angels.
The idea that the demons are the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim is also drawn from the book of Enoch, which goes into great detail regarding the Nephilim. We have to remember that, while the book of Enoch contains some truth (Jude 14), it is not the inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God. We should never base a belief exclusively, or even primarily, on extra-biblical literature. So, with no need to explain the existence of demons outside of the fallen angels, and with no clear evidence in Scripture for the spirits of the Nephilim continuing on Earth, there is no solid basis on which to identify the demons with the spirits of the Nephilim. While the idea is possible, it cannot be derived explicitly from Scripture, and therefore should not be considered the best explanation of the origin of the demons.
Book of Giants
What is the Book of Giants?
The Book of Giants is a pseudepigraphal book set in the antediluvian time; its characters include Enoch and several giants, and the plot deals with the sinful state of the world before the flood. The Book of Giants was considered official scripture in Manichaeism, but it is not God’s inspired Word. Although it draws from the canonical book of Genesis, the Book of Giants is not inerrant, nor is it reliable history.
The Book of Giants has similar content to another pseudepigraphal Jewish book called 1 Enoch, which probably predates it. Fragments of an Aramaic copy of the Book of Giants were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, meaning that the book is a bona fide ancient document, having been composed before the second century BC. Portions of the Book of Giants have been found in the Middle Persian, Old Turkic, Parthian, and other languages.
The Book of Giants gives a fictional backstory for the biblical Nephilim by tying them to Enoch, Noah’s great-grandfather. Genesis 6:4 says, “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.” There’s plenty that the Bible does not tell us about the Nephilim and Enoch. Thus, the doorway for speculation (and imagination) is wide open.
According to the Book of Giants, certain angelic beings called Watchmen descended to earth and produced the Nephilim through human women. These offspring were giants who behaved monstrously, killing many humans and also destroying much plant, animal, and sea life. In the story, the giants have disturbing dreams that warn of the coming flood and their own demise, and one of them, a giant named Mahaway, seeks the counsel of Enoch. Enoch warns the giants and a Watcher named Semihaza to repent because the archangel Raphael has taken notice of their misdeeds and their destruction is imminent. In the end, the giants, the Nephilim, and a multitude of demons meet a violent fate. Depending on what version of the Book of Giants is being read, the Watchers are either killed or bound by four angels in a dark prison.
Elements of the Book of Giants found their way into the 2014 movie Noah, directed by Darren Aronofsky. The film portrays Watchers, environmental destruction, and widespread violence, but, as its own director said, the film is “the least biblical biblical film ever made.”
The general public, who, by and large, are not biblically literate, too frequently assume that entertainment products such as the film Noah relate true biblical narratives. But this is rarely the case with mainstream studio releases, and it would be helpful to think of the Book of Giants in the same way. It’s ancient, but it’s not a lot different from a contemporary movie that takes liberties with the Bible.
There are scores of ancient documents similar to the Book of Giants that have the “feel” of biblical books but do not make the cut as true history or holy canon. One reason they have lasted so long is that they appropriate the Bible’s gravitas. Documents such as the Book of Giants steal from the Bible’s plot or sometimes use biblical characters as actors to create what we’d call today historical fiction.
Works such as the Book of Giants are imaginative, and they may help us understand ancient cultures and languages. But if God wanted us to know more about the Nephilim and the giants that lived before the flood, He would have given us more information about them in His Word.
