 nd they brought up an evil report which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, 'The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof, and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.' And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants, and we were, in our own sight, as grasshoppers and so we were in their sight." (Num. 13: 32-33) KJV |
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THEN: TIMES THAT "Tried Men's Souls" As we have seen, the Flood epic tells of a strange account with the "sons of God" taking attractive wives from among the daughters of Adam. The Greek Septuagint of the 3rd Century B.C. calls them "gigantes" (earth-born) with the implication and further revelation that they were giant in stature. The Hebrew word "Nephilim" means "fallen ones," leading the believer to see them as angelic. Jude (the half-brother of Jesus) describes them as "angels, having left their first estate in heaven." These fallen angels came to earth and sought to merge with the bloodline of Adam to counteract the expressed plan for a divine kinsman-redeemer ("Goel" in the Hebrew). Thus, these "sons of God" tried to prevent the eventual birth, in the distant future, of the Messiah. In verses 6 and 7, Jude likened them to Sodomites who went after "strange flesh." Peter also mentioned that they were "reserved unto judgment" in Tartarus for their sin (2 Peter2:4). Strangely, the mating of human beings with angels probably resulted in hybrid creatures, evil spirits with human bodies whose mission was to corrupt and destroy the human race, continuing what Satan started in the Garden. The Bible states that the giants existed before the flood and even after that time (Gen. 6:4). This is historically upheld by accounts in Exodus where their descendents are encountered in Canaan by Joshua, Caleb and the rest of Israelites. The pseudepigraphical Book of Enoch quoted by Jude details the activity of these fallen angels. It describes their punishment and even gives some of their names. We know that the Nephilim perished, at least their bodies perished, beneath the waters of the flood. The leaders of this rebellious act were chained in Tartarus, an abode of the dead that Homer says is "as far from earth as earth is from heaven." Yet they appeared afterward. A final consideration Daniel 2:43 mentions "iron mixed with miry clay" as indicative of the final world empire, a revived Roman Empire. Further exegetical investigation reveals that, as iron doesn't mix with clay, so they won't mix but "shall mingle themselves with the seed of men." Who? Could this have anything to do with the "seed of the woman" and that of the serpent in Genesis 3? Hmmm ... The Bible warns that advanced "elohim" or "gods" will continue to deceive mankind. Although the Bible itself does not say that "gods" can genetically manipulate humans, we are certainly warned not to believe false teachers who attempt to mislead the world. |