A Scriptural Investigation Into The Identities Of The "Nephilim" -- By: G. Robert Graf

Journal: Journal of Dispensational Theology
Volume: JODT 20:59 (Spring 2016)
Article: A Scriptural Investigation Into The Identities Of The "Nephilim"
Author: G. Robert Graf


A Scriptural Investigation
Into The Identities Of The Nephilim

G. Robert Graf*

* G. Robert Graf, Ph.D., instructor, Liberty University Online

This article provides a new look at the nephilim by proposing that the Scripture section (Gene 4:1–6:8) forms a single lecture whose provenance was the aftermath of the abortive invasion of Canaan recorded in Numbers 13; the multi-chapter section could be entitled, “The Nephilim Lecture.” Regarding this passage as originally oral will provide the interpretive framework for unlocking the identification of the nephilim and the “sons of God.” The research also includes a special section addressing “giants,” because of the confusion, even in scholarly circles through the ages and to this day, on the relation of the nephilim to giants. The article will suggest that all the nephilim were giants, but not all the giants were nephilim.

Overview

This work will be a scriptural investigation to determine the identities of the nephilim of Genesis 6:1–4 and, concurrently, of Numbers 13:33. The story of Lamech in Genesis 4 will be studied in some detail, and will be integral to the problem of identification, and to its solution. After a section on oral provenance, the author will consider several pieces of evidence in the scriptural record that can be interpreted to arrive at a satisfying conclusion. The pieces of evidence are found in Genesis 4–6, Numbers 13, and Deuteronomy 1. The evidence may be itemized as:

  • The perpetrators of the flood
  • The daughters of the Sethites

*the literary thrust of Genesis 5

*the familial relationship of Naamah

  • The taunt-song of Lamech
  • The sons of Lamech
  • The use of “and also afterward” in Genesis 6:4

*what it does not mean

*the truncated genealogy of Cain in Genesis 4

The methodology of the investigation includes a strong consideration of the oral nature of the initial presentation of the story. Some of the oral features are mnemonic in character; those mnemonics usually transfer well to the written text....

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