Quote:
Originally Posted by testallthings
Yes we have Numbers 13:33, " 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.”
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So then there is the question of what Nephilim actually refers to. Is it truly linked to the pre-flood result of fallen angels marrying the sons of men? Or is that a conjecture itself. And if those were called Nephilim, is the current reference intended to establish a literal link, or just a general connection due to external characteristics?
So look into the word "Nephalim" and you find that it is a transliteration of the word found in both Genesis and Numbers. But the word simply means giant. Oddly, the reference in Genesis to the sons of God bearing children through the daughters of man is not linguistically linked to Nephilim. Just in the same sentence as being something "afterward." The word means giant. There is nothing special here except that they were larger than normal. And it appears that one of the Canaanite tribes was named Nephilim because there were some significantly large men among them.
I find it interesting that among certain ethnic groups there are sometimes larger than normal occurrences of extremely large and tall people. More common among certain Czech communities. I saw someone only slightly smaller than Andre the Giant in a butcher shop in West, Texas (the city, not the western part of Texas). I would be afraid if I had to go into battle where it was heavily hand-to-hand.
So is Nephilim really linked to something so spiritually special, or just a word left in its original language and thereby creating a buzz of mystery when the translated word would have simply indicated giants. Not saying giants are not significant. But is there really any mystery about them other than the fact of little explanation of how "giant" they were or how they came to be?