3 - Who were the Nephilim ?

The Nephilim were a race that came to dominate already since the antediluvian (pre-flood) world, and are referred to in the Bible as the heroes of old, men of renown. They were reportedly the children born to the "Sons of God" by the "daughters of men", and are described as giants. It is also important to note that they are mentioned almost simultaneous to God's statement that He would destroy the earth by flood, and it seems from this association that their effect upon mankind was one of the primary justifications for their destruction, whether it be by the flood or in battle.

In the Greek Septuagint the word "nephilim" was also translated as "gigantes" (gigantic). This translation is undoubtedly used because the Nephilim later became known as giants to the ancient Hebrews, as illustrated by the manner in which they were referenced to when the Israelite spies were sent into Canaan (See Numbers 13 verse 33, mentioned before).

We may wonder what could be the meaning or significance of the existence of the nephilim.  The Bible gives us clear indications in which direction we have to look for the answer:

The “sons of God”, were actually fallen angels, as explained in chapter 2.1 before. They were really demons, evil and twisted beings. Nothing they do should surprise us.

The only possible answer to the question of what their intentions were is that they were trying to contaminate the blood of the human race, with the final purpose to prevent the coming of the Messiah - Jesus Christ. God had promised that the Messiah would come from the lineage of Eve and would crush the serpent's head - Satan. (See Genesis 3 verses 14 and 15: ”You will be punished for this; you alone of all the animals must bear this curse: From now on you will crawl on your belly, and you will have to eat dust as long as you live.   I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring’s heel”.)   The demons tried to prevent this, contaminating the blood of the human race, thus making it impossible that one day the Messiah would be born, pure and without sin. All this is in complete agreement with everything the Bible teaches.

Throughout their existence we see that the nephilim were always present when there was an opportunity for them to destroy Israel, or to prevent them from establishing themselves. (See for example the story of Goliath, and Numbers 13 verse 22: “They went first into the southern part of the land and came to Hebron, where the clans of Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of a race of giants called the Anakim, lived”.)

Thinking about this “race of giants”, it makes us compare it with Hannibal of Carthage who also used “giants”, - in his case elephants-, to combat the Romans.

Indeed, the giants that lived in and around Palestine, at the time when the Israelites were to take possession of the land, were a strong force (prepared by Satan) they had to overcome.