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Nephilim

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{{otheruses}} Image:nephilim.gif thumb|right|Artists impression of a Grigori or "fallen one" and his human bride. In the Hebrew Bible and several non-canonical Judaism Jewish and early Christian writings, '''nephilim''' (in Hebrew language Hebrew '''×”× Ö¼×¤×œ×™×?''' means ''the fallen [ones]'') are a people created by the crossbreeding of the "sons of God" (''beney ha'elohim'', ×‘× ×™ ×”×?×œ×”×™×?) and the "daughters of men". (See Genesis 6:1.) The word ''nephilim'' is loosely translated as ''giants'' or ''titans'' in some Bibles, and is left as ''nephilim'' in others. :''When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years." 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 6:1-4, English Standard Version) The phrase "sons of God" is sometimes translated into English as "sons of gods". The Hebrew word, "Elohim", is a plural form, but is often used with single verbs and adjectives (as in this case) when the single meaning refers to the "Godhead." The traditional Judaism Jewish view, deriving from the Book of Enoch, is that the fathers of the nephilim, the "sons of God", were the Grigori (also called the ''Watchers''); however, there is some controversy on this point (Targum Jona than) [http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=1&CHAPTER=6#C64]. Some commentators{{fact}} have suggested that the nephilim were believed to have been fathered by members of a proto-Hebrews Hebrew pantheon (gods) pantheon, and are a brief glimpse of early Hebrew religion, most of the details of which was later edited out from the Torah, and that this passage may have offered monotheistic Hebrews a way to fit semi-divine pagan heroes into their cosmogony. Others, especially some Christianity Christians, suggest the "sons of God" were fully human. It is sometimes suggested that ridding the Earth of these Nephilim was one of God's purposes for flooding the Earth in Noah's time. In the Book of Enoch, Azazel is said to have been "bound hand and foot" under the desert sands of "Dudael" as punishment for his disobedience to God. Despite the literal text of the Bible and its traditional interpretation, the idea that heavenly beings mated with humans is controversial, particularly among many Christianity Christians, who cite an interpretation of the teaching of Jesus in the Book of Matthew that Angels do not marry; however, they may take the verse in question out of context, because Jesus said that the resurrected do not marry in heaven, but are "as the angels". Others who find the idea of angels mating with humans as distasteful have suggested more figurative interpretations of the nephilim, such as the idea that they were the offspring of men demonic possession possessed by demons. In light of the alien abduction scenario, some have speculated a form of artificial insemination being implemented. Still others, including the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, take the view of Genesis 6:1 that the allusion refers to some men, from the godly lineage of Seth, called ''sons of God'' (an expression denoting those in covenant relationship with YHWH - cf. Deuteronomy 14:1; 32:5), began to pursue fleshly interests, and so took wives of ''the daughters of men'', i.e., those who were descended of Cain. Not only is this unequivocally stated in most Orthodox versions of ''I Enoch'' and ''Jubilees'', but this is also the view presented in a few extra-biblical, yet ancient works, particularly the Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan Second Book of Adam and Eve.

Other Hebrew words sometimes interpreted as "Giants"
In the Hebrew Old Testament, there are a number of other words that, like "Nephilim", are sometimes translated as "giants": Emim, Rephaim, and Anakim. This has led to a great deal of confusion, even to the point of medieval legends recounted in the Talmud of a giant stowing away on Noah's Ark. However, it is unlikely that these names in the Torah originally were meant signify any antediluvian race that survived the Great Flood, and in all probability, they denoted groups of Canaanites.

Rephaim
The Book of Joshua refers to "Og king of Bashan", who "had survived as one of the last of the Rephaites". The Rephaim may have been the same Canaanite group known to the Moabites as Emim, i.e., "fearful", (Deut. 2:11), and to the Ammon (nation) Ammonites as Zamzummim. The second of the Books of Samuel states that some of them found refuge among the Philistines, and were still existing in the days of David. Nothing is known of their origin, nor anything specifically connecting them with Nephilim. ''See also :'' Valley of Rephaim

Anakim
In the Torah, the Anakim are the descendants of Anak, and dwelt in the south of Palestine, in the neighbourhood of Hebron. In the days of Abraham, they inhabited the region afterwards known as Edom and Moab, east of the Jordan river. They are mentioned during the report of the spies about the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. The book of Joshua states that Joshua finally expelled them from the land, excepting a remnant that found a refuge in the cities of Gaza, Gath_(city) Gath, and Ashdod. The Philistine giants whom David encountered were supposedly descendants of the Anakim. :''"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."'' (Numbers 13:32-33, English Standard Version) Note that it is more commonly suggested by traditional Jewish sources (such as the Midrash) that the spies saw large and powerful inhabitants in Canaan and because of their own fears, cowardice, and inadequate faith in YHVH, saw themselves as grasshoppers in the eyes of the Canaanites, whether they were actual 'giants' or not.

Nephilim in other works
The story of the Nephilim is chronicled more fully in the ''Book of Enoch'' (part of Tewahedo Church Ethiopian biblical canon). There are also allusions to these descendants in the deuterocanonical books deuterocanonical books of ''Book of Judith Judith'', ''Sirach'', ''Book of Baruch Baruch'', and ''Book of Wisdom Wisdom of Solomon''.

Nephilim in parahistory
There have been many interesting attempts to reconcile mythology with science; many have theorized that mythology can and does contain grains of truth in the form of a highly distorted "folk memory". In this context, the Nephilim have been associated with everything from Atlantis to extraterrestrials in efforts to rationalize their literal existence. One theory is that Nephilim were actually surviving Neanderthals, or a ''Homo sapiens''-Neanderthal hybrid. It is believed by such people that modern man shared several thousand years of history with Neanderthals, and also that the Middle-Eastern region was home to some of the last surviving pockets of ''Homo sapiens neandertalensis'' or ''H. neandertalensis''. Therefore, it is conceivable that a Folk Memory of these creatures survived by way of mythology- but not necessarily in the way that it is imagined. In addition, it appears that the very last Neanderthals adopted some of the technological and cultural innovations of their contemporaries. So, the theory goes, surviving Neanderthals or hybrids might have been very large, powerful men, possessing the intellect and societal characteristics of our species, explaining their identification as: "mightiest ones" and "men of renown," which could be a great exaggeration based on some level of prowess. One major flaw in this "theory" some have suggested is that ''neanderthalensis'' were in fact slightly shorter in height than ''H. sapiens'' and unlikely to have been named giants. On the other hand, they were giants relative to their even shorter predecessors, Australopithecus and ''Homo habilis''. Zecharia Sitchin and Eric Von Daniken both claim that the Nephilim are our alien ancestors and that we were created by an Alien race. (see:Ancient astronaut theory) David Icke has a similar theory, in which interdimensional reptilian beings somehow created offspring through genetic engineering, whose traits are large stature, light skin, and susceptibility to any form of hypnotic suggestion (which, he states, is when the demons possess their offspring and demand allegiance), and that this bloodline has been in control of the world from the days of Sumer to today U.N.

Cultural references to Nephilim
*In the Madeleine L'Engle novel, Many Waters, Nephilim are present, and indeed mate with human women to spawn giants, in comparison to the other characters from the era, who are reputedly short in stature. *The ''Light Brigade'' is a DC Comics four-part series in which the nephilim and the Grigori are Nazis trying to claim the world they think they should have controlled by finding the Spear of Destiny. *John Wyndham's 1957 book ''The Midwich Cuckoos'', and its film adaptation in 1960's ''Village of the Damned (1960 film) Village of the Damned'', the 1963 sequel ''Children of the Damned'', and John Carpenter's Village of the Damned (1995 film) 1995 remake all have obvious analogies to this subject concerning (variably) blond, blue-eyed, superintelligent ESP psychic/telekinesis telekinetic children who are the product of alien interbreeding. *The X-Files episode "The X-Files (season 5)#All Souls All Souls" features four dying, mentally retarded, polydactyl girls that Dana Scully Scully believes are Nephilim. *The 1967 Britain British film ''Quatermass and the Pit'' (AKA: ''5 Million Years to Earth'') is about Nephilim skulls found under a London subway, accompanied by a Martian spacecraft carrying and preserving the bodies of an advanced warlike race of giant gargoyle-like locusts). *In the motion pictures ''The Prophecy II'' and ''The Prophecy 3: The Ascent'', the creation of Nephilim was a major source of conflict between opposing camps among the angels. Gabriel (played by Christopher Walken) at first opposes the union between man and angel, but then relents after being made human for a period of time. *In the video game Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness the Nephilim are angel-human hybrids that died out. The corpse of the only remaining full-blooded Nephilim is referred to as 'The Sleeper' and is brought to Prague in a sarcophagus by a cult that wishes to resurrect the species in order to bring about a 'New Order'. The series heroine, Lara Croft, stumbles across this due to a string of murders (Including that of a former mentor) and sets upon a quest to stop the cult from succeeding in their goals. *In the video game Diablo II: Lord of Destruction the Ancients Ones are referred to as "Spirits of the Nephilim". They guard The Worldstone Keep, which leads to the Throne of Destruction, where Baal, the boss of the game resides. Their names are; Madawc The Guardian, Korlic The Protector, and Talic The Defender. *In the video game Wing Commander (computer game) Wing Commander: Prophecy, ''Nephilim (Wing Commander) Nephilim'' is the code name given to a race of insectoid extraterrestrials who invade our galaxy via an artificial wormhole. *Nephilim (role-playing game) Nephilim is a role-playing game by Chaosium, in which the players take on the roles of ancient spirits that can move from one human incarnation to another. *Fields of the Nephilim is the name of a gothic rock group. *The "angels" in Gainax's "Neon Genesis Evangelion" are allusions to the Nephilim, sharing some of their names. *The Invisible Masters of a series of erotic mind-control stories are hinted as possibly being Nephilim. The stories are presented as being based on investigations of the phenomena and the re-discovered repressed memories of victims. *In the Xenosaga game series, Nephilim is the name of a mysterious little girl who seems to exist as a spirit or other non-corporeal entity. Also in Xenosaga is ''The Song of Nephilim'', a plot point in the form of a song that seems to drive people mad. The connection between the character and the song is as yet unknown. *The Nephilim are a race of beings from a parallel plane that interact with humans in Gregory Keyes's trilogy ''Age of Unreason''. *In the video game Shadowbane, the Nephilim are one of the playable races, introduced by the ''Rise of Chaos'' expansion on December 9, 2003. *In Mick Farren's Victor Renquist Renquist Quartet, the Nephilim are a race of aliens ruled by a king named Marduk Ra. They conquered Earth in prehistory, and are the basis of all religions. They conducted experiments on primitive humans, creating a warrior race. The Nephilim then left Earth to pursue a war. The abandoned warriors became the basis of vampire legends. *The race of giants in Doris Lessing's ''Shikasta'' is an allusion to the Nephilim. *The band AFI (band) AFI's album "The Art of Drowning" (2000) contains a song titled "The Nephilim." In the lyrics, the Nephilim or "Fallen Ones" make for a figurative representation of their feelings of rejection and other-ness. *In the computer role-playing game series "Exile (computer game) Exile" and its remake series "Avernum", the Nephilim (abbreviated as "Nephils") are a race of feline humanoids. Jeff Vogel, designer and programmer of the games, has said that he invented the name for this race independently. *The second verse of the Frank Black song "All My Ghosts" is all about the Nephilim: ''Have you heard about the heavenly angels/ ''How they came to earth and met some ladies/ ''With whom they mated/ ''And their young became giants every one *The alien Shivans in the computer game Descent: Freespace fly a heavy bomber codenamed Nephilim by the Terrans. *Author L. A. Marzulli wrote The Nephilim Trilogy in 1999 in which he interwove many popular phenomena from the occult. *''Format C:'' by Edwin Black features Anakim in the latter stages of the book as a race of giants who have survived in captivity over the years. *The Polish heavy metal band Behemoth wrote a song call "The Nephilim Rising" for their album Demigod *The nephilim have been written about by David Icke in such books as "Children of the Matrix" where he takes the point of view that they are Hyperspace (science fiction) extra dimensional reptilian humanoids that have genetically manipulated human beings so as to make them more susceptible to possession (apparently this is done by a gene that makes one go into a trance-like state whenever there is any ritualistic patterns) so that they control us incognito. *Lynn A. Marzulli wrote a novel entitled "Nephilim", in which alien abductions turn out to be the return of the Nephilim (as per the Book of Enoch). *In the game Blue Stinger, Nephilim is the mysterious character that seems to follow the main character Elliot around, although her intentions are not known to Elliot. *Nephilim is a clan in the game GunZ:The Duel. *In the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game set ''Guildpact'', there is a rare cycle of five creature cards, called ''Dune-Brood Nephilim'', ''Witch-Maw Nephilim'', ''Ink-Treader Nephilim'', ''Glint-Eye Nephilim'' and ''Yore-Tiller Nephilim''. They are depicted as dark, powerful, god-like monsters whose coming is a sign of a great catastrophe.

See also
*Ancient astronaut theory *Edomites *Kenites *Serpent seed *Zecharia Sitchin *David Icke *Michael S. Heiser *Bill Schnoebelen http://www.withoneaccord.org/store/Biography.html

External links

- http://www.thedivinecouncil.com/nephilim.pdf Michael S. Heiser explains why "Fallen ones" is an incorrect translation, and supports the traditional "giants". Needs Adobe Acrobat.
- Psyche's Links: Nephilim
- Nephilim/Watchers
- Nephilim Trilogy
- Comprehensive scriptural analysis of the nephilim http://www.withoneaccord.org/store/Biography.html Category:Torah events Category:Torah people {{eastons}} de:Nephilim es:Gigantes bÃblicos nl:Nephilim pt:Nephilim sv:Nefilim

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