The Progeny of the Rebellion
Genesis 6:1-4
"1 When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the
2 sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.
3 Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years."
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days - and also afterward - when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them.
They were the heroes of old, the men of renown."
Revised Standard Version
"The Watchers were "a specific race of divine beings known in Hebrew as nun resh 'ayin, 'irin' (resh 'ayin, 'ir' in singular), meaning 'those who watch' or 'those who are awake', which is translated into Greek as Egrhgoroi egregoris or grigori, meaning 'watchers'. These Watchers feature in the main within the pages of pseudepigraphal and apocryphal works of Jewish origin, such as the Book of Enoch and the Book of Jubilees. Their progeny, according to Hebrew tradition, are named as nephilim, a Hebrew word meaning 'those who have fallen' or 'the fallen ones', translated into Greek as gigantez, gigantes, or 'giants' - a monstrous race featured in the Theogony of the hellenic writer Hesiod (c. 907 BC)."
(Andrew Collins, From the Ashes of Angels - The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race (1996) p. 3
(http://www.mystae.com/restricted/streams/scripts/watchers.html)
The name "watchers" appears in Daniel 4:13. King Nebuchadnezzar speaking of his dream, " I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and a holy one came down from heaven;" and again in Daniel 4:17, "This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and by the demand of the holy ones: to the intent that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and givith it to whomever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.
It has been assumed by many that the Watchers are so named, because they were set to the task of watching Man. However, if you read The Book of Enoch, where he speaks of being taken to the First and Sixth Heavens by the angels, you will see that they are watching the stars and the heavens - counting and measuring the motions of said stars and planets and cycles of time, as well as climatology and seismology. This fits in very well with the idea that the Watcher culture was responsible for the building of the Sphinx and the icons of Osiris/Orion in the Age of Leo, and perhaps gave a great measure of their knowledge to the astronomer-priests of Sumer, Akkad and Babylon."
(http://www.semjaaza.com/thewatcher.html)
"The books of Enoch, expunged from the set of canonical sacred books by the Christian Church in the 4th century AD, were previously accepted and generally greatly estimated by the Church fathers (they are even now part of the Canon of the Ethiopian church). These books in their present version are dated usually at the second century BC. It is likely that such a date just refers to the surviving versions, where an ancient obsolete language was modernized. They were indeed considered, e.g. by St Augustin, as works of "hoary antiquity" and they do in fact deal with prediluvian events, about which only intriguing hints may be found in Genesis. That several texts dealing with very ancient events were once in circulation to be later completely lost, also follows from references in the Pentateuch to vanished books, e.g. The wars of Jahweh."
(http://itis.volta.alessandria.it/episteme/ep7/ep7-eden.htm)And no, the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD did not exclude the apocrypha such as the Book of Enoch from the Bible. It was banned at the Council of Laodicea (364 AD) along with forty two others which includes The First and Second Book of Adam and Eve.
The two names which we are most familiar for the "rebel" angels are the Watchers and the Anunnaki. Watchers is the Biblical name and Anunnaki is the Sumerian name. The rebellion of these so-called angels is because of Lucifer also known by his ancient name Azazel. All of this mysterious and contested history begins with Lucifer's egotistical pride and his puny attempt (at least on a cosmic scale) to raise himself above God. And as it has been said, "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall". KJV And so this very ancient saga as it has been written begins with celestials coming to this planet, become enamored with the women and by having sex with them beget their sons and daughters, the Nephilim believed to be giants. As a side note, the infamy of the Nephilim is the purported reason for the flood, which according to some theologians was 120 years after the fall.
In researching the Genesis quote above, I have not found anything relating the 120 year life span in regards to the Watchers. This 120 years I believe is the statement that they, the Watchers, had now become mortal. In Genesis 5:5 Adam lives 930 years. Noah's father Lamech lived 777 years. Both lived before the flood. But Abraham lived 175 years and his wife Sarah lived 127 years after the flood so the date could not have referred to humans. Scholars explain the figure of 120 years as referring to the time for the coming of the flood (also given time for repentance) but this in my opinion does not address scripture: "My Spirit will not contend with man forever...". My interpretation is that since these beings could have lived forever, this new life span marks that they have been reduced to mortal men as a result of their transgressions. It is because the Watchers became mortals that precipitated the decision to mate and thus increase their numbers. The result being the Nephilim. So I think this reference is about life span and not time frame. As a Urantia Book reader I know the time frame from the fall of the Watchers to the Sumerian flood is not 120 years, it is a chasm of time. Therefore the only thing left is the mortality of the Watchers. "And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood waters was upon the earth." Genesis 7:6. He was nine hundred and fifty years when he died. So Noah lived even longer than Abraham. No matter how you look at it, the Watchers and the Nephilim are a problem for the religious scholars. And as a final note: this explanation does not conflict with scripture; it makes very good sense based on the inclusion "for he is [now] mortal."
The Traditional and Primary View of Giants (Nephilim)"These giants are often mentioned in the early books of the Old Testament until the last of them were finally killed off. The word nephilim only appears twice in the Old Testament (Gen 6:4; Num. 13:33), but these giants are also referred to as gibbor (Gen 6:4; Num. 13:33; Job 16:14) and rephaim when they reappear in a more limited fashion after the flood (Gen. 14:5; 15:20; Deu. 2:11, 20; 3:11, 13; Jos. 12:4; 13:12; 15:8; 17:15; 18:16; II Sam. 5:18, 22; 21:16, 18, 20, 22; 23:13; I Chr. 11:15; 14:9; 20:4, 6, 8; Isa. 17:5; 26:14). They were known by the proper names of Rephaim, Emim, Anakim, and Zamzummim."
Bryan T. Huie
(http://www.aristotle.net/~bhuie/gen6sons.htm)
The Greek term giants also referred to the titans of their mythology. The titans were partly terrestrial and partly celestial. They rebelled against their father Uranus but were defeated by Zeus and thrown into Tartarus. This is the story of the fallen.
"The B'nai Elohim is a term that refers to angels. It occurs four times in the Old Testament (2) and is rendered "Angels of God" in the ancient Septuagint translation. (3) The intrusion of certain angels into the human family resulted in unnatural offspring termed Nephilim, which derives from the Hebrew naphal (to fall), or the Fallen Ones. (The Greek Septuagint renders this term gigantes, which actually means "earth-born." This is often misunderstood to mean "giants"[emphasis added]---which they also happen to have been, incidentally.)"
(http://www.ldolphin.org/noahdays.html)
"Giants -
(1.) Heb. nephilim, meaning "violent" or "causing to fall" (Gen. 6:4). These were the violent tyrants of those days, those who fell upon others. The word may also be derived from a root signifying "wonder," and hence "monsters" or "prodigies." In Num. 13:33 this name is given to a Canaanitish tribe, a race of large stature, "the sons of Anak." The Revised Version, in these passages, simply transliterates the original, and reads "Nephilim."
(2.) Heb. rephaim, a race of giants (Deut. 3:11) who lived on the east of Jordan, from whom Og was descended. They were probably the original inhabitants of the land before the immigration of the Canaanites. They were conquered by Chedorlaomer (Gen. 14:5), and their territories were promised as a possession to Abraham (15:20). The Anakim, Zuzim, and Emim were branches of this stock.
(3.) Heb. 'Anakim (Deut. 2:10, 11, 21; Josh. 11:21, 22; 14:12, 15; called "sons of Anak," Num. 13:33; "children of Anak," 13:22; Josh. 15:14), a nomad race of giants descended from Arba (Josh. 14:15), the father of Anak, that dwelt in the south of Palestine near Hebron (Gen. 23:2; Josh. 15:13). They were a Cushite tribe of the same race as the Philistines and the Egyptian shepherd kings. David on several occasions encountered them (2 Sam. 21:15-22). From this race sprung Goliath (1 Sam. 1 Chr. 11:9-47; 29:24.) The band of six hundred whom David gathered around him when he was a fugitive were so designated. They were divided into three divisions of two hundred each, and thirty divisions of twenty each. The captians of the thirty divisions were called "the thirty," the captains of the two hundred "the three," and the captain over the whole was called "chief among the captains" (2 Sam. 23:8). The sons born of the marriages mentioned in Gen. 6:4 are also called by this Hebrew name."
(http://www.biblelearn.com/east1474.htm)
"It is significant, however, that the Genesis Apocryphon mentions the Nephilim, and makes reference to the "sons of God" and the "daughters of men" introduced in Genesis 6. The Apocryphon also elaborates considerably on the succinct statements found in the Bible, and provides valuable insights into the way these ancient stories were interpreted by the ancient Jews.
The copy of the Genesis Apocryphon discovered at Qumran dates back to the 2nd century B.C., but it was obviously based on much older sources. When discovered in 1947, it had been much mutilated from the ravages of time and humidity. The sheets had become so badly stuck together that years passed before the text was deciphered and made known. When scholars finally made public its content, the document confirmed that celestial beings from the skies had landed on planet Earth. More than that, it told how these beings had mated with Earth-women and had begat giants".
(http://www.mt.net/~watcher/enoch5.html)
"The Apocryphal books tell us this: Originally the angels, or Sons of God, all surveyed the world and its beings from on high, and among the were those called the Grigori or Watchers. "The Watchers" can be translated with several shades of meaning, and depending on the translator means "observers" or "sentinels, sleepless ones"; whether they are vigilant or simply curious, they watch. Some texts say they were tempted by the beauty of human women ("the Sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair..."), while others grant them a compassionate Promethean urge to guide and teach or a touching desire for family and companionship; there were, we're told, no female Watchers. Whatever their motive, two hundred of the Watchers, led by the great angel Semjaza-Azazel, defied divine direction, descended to Earth and took a personal hand in humankind's education. Crafts and sciences, arts and letters, and the many skills of magic - all of which are described as "secrets...made in heaven", intended only for the Celestials to know - were shared with our distant ancestors. "And Azazel taught men to make swords and daggers and shields and breastplates ...bracelets, and ornaments, and the metals of the earth, and the art of making up the eyes and beautifying the eyelids (...angels invent eye shadow...) ...Amezarak taught all those who cast spells and cut roots; Armaros the release of charms, spells, and magical skills; Baraqiel, astrology...Asradel, the path of the moon...Penemue: this one showed the sons of men the bitter and the sweet; he taught men the art of writing with ink and paper, and through this many have gone astray." Even reproductive choice was granted: "Kasdeyae: this one showed the sons of men the blows which attack the embryo in the womb so that it miscarries."
The Apocrypha claim the disembodied Nephilim are the origin of demons, and accuse them of many crimes. Jubilees places the blame for the Flood squarely upon the fornication of the Watchers and the iniquity and bloodshed of the Nephilim...Noah, petitioning God to "let not wicked spirits rule over [my grandchildren] and destroy them", adds, "Thou knowest what thy Watchers, the fathers of these spirits, did in my day..." making it clear that the demonic spirits and the Nephilim are considered one and the same."
Paula O'Keefe (www.spookhouse.net/angelynx/nephilim/tiamat.html)
Argob
"Argob's Sixty Cities of the Giants
Deuteronomy 3:4 states that the Argob, which Jair seized from the giant King Og, contained sixty cities built by the huge Rephaim. To those who never saw it, it seemed incredible that an oval-shaped district only twenty-two miles long and fourteen wide could accommodate that many cities. But archaeologists and other travelers to that region can still vouch for it. For the ruins, even after all these centuries, not only remain, but, in fact, still stand in a great state of preservation. "The streets," observes Cyril Graham, "are perfect, the walls perfect, and, what seems more astonishing, the stone doors are still hanging on their hinges. . . . Some of these gates are large enough to admit of a camel passing through them, and the doors are of proportionate dimensions, some of the stones of which they are formed being eighteen inches in thickness. The roofs also are formed of huge stone slabs resting on the massive walls. All betoken the workmanship of a race endowed with powers far exceeding those of ordinary men; and [all] give credibility to the supposition that we have in them the dwellings of the giant race that occupied that district before it was invaded by the Israelites. We could not help being impressed with the belief that had we never known anything of the early portion of Scripture history before visiting this country, we should have been forced to the conclusion that its original inhabitants, the people who had constructed those cities, were not only a powerful and mighty nation, but individuals of greater strength than ourselves."
Continues Graham: "When we find one after another, great stone cities, walled and unwalled, with stone gates, and so crowded together that it becomes almost a matter of wonder how all the people could have lived in so small a place; when we see houses built of such huge and massive stones that no force which can be brought against them in that country could ever batter them down; when we find rooms in these houses so large and lofty that many of them would be considered fine rooms in a palace in Europe; and, lastly, when we find some of these towns bearing the very names which cities in that very country bore before the Israelites came out of Egypt, I think we cannot help feeling the strongest conviction that we have before us the cities of the Rephaim of which we read in the Book of Deuteronomy."26 "
(http://www.stevequayle.com/Giants/Mid.East/Giants.Mid.East2.html)
Gilgal Refaim
Another archaeological site is a construction of concentric stone circles and reputedly built by giants. "The Circle of the Giants - Gilgal Refaim. 5200-year-old monument believed by some to have been built by the biblical giants, also called Nephilim." "The fact remains that Israeli archaeologists are totally mystified by the Gilgal Refaim. No other complex built in the Middle East resembles it and it predates the pyramids by over 500 years. The indigenous nomads of the time did not engage in this kind of megalith building, so outsiders were probably the builders. According to the Bible, the only outsiders living on the Golan Heights back then were giants. "
(http://www.mt.net/~watcher/chamishgiants.html Copyright © 1999 by Barry Chamish)
"The picture above is of the Gilgal Refaim (The Circle Of The Refaim) in Israel. It is said to have been built by those same people that Goliath descended from. In the late 1980's a group of British archaeologists may have uncovered skeletal evidence for giants in Jordan. At the site of Tel es-Sa'idiyeh, archaeologist Jonathan Tubb and a team from the British Museum unearthed the remains of some extremely tall people."
(http://liberalcommonsense.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_liberalcommonsense_archive.html)
The above quote is from a very good blog. You will find it listed under Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Baalbek
"According to an Arabic manuscript found at Baalbek and quoted by Alouf in his informative History of Baalbek "after the flood, when Nimrod reigned over Lebanon, he sent giants to rebuild the fortress of Baalbek, which was so named in honour of Baal, the god of the Moabites and worshippers of the Sun."66 Local tradition even asserts that the Tower of Babel was actually located at Baalbek."
(http://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/Baalbek%20-%20Lebanons%20Sacred%20Fortress2.html)
The great platform at Baalbek is so old that it's origin is lost. The current temple ruins at the site were built by the Romans. The original platform may be from a pre-Phoenician culture. This platform is made up of megalithic stones precisely cut and placed to form a foundation for an ancient temple from the distant past. This ancient temple floor has three huge quarried stones each of them weigh about one thousand tons. They are called the Trilithon. These blocks show more erosion than the later Roman additions.Today we are at a lost to explain how ancient men cut and moved such huge behemoths. Roman engineers never moved anything so large. The people that lived near by the temple believed that the great stones were cut and assembled by Djenoun, a Nephilim.
Map of Chedorlaomer's march
Chedorlaomer (At the time of Abraham)
For twelve years the kings of Canaan - most notably Sodom and Gomorrah - paid taxes to an Elamite king known as Chedorlaomer. They rebelled in the thirteenth year refusing to pay their tributes. In the fourteenth year Chedorloamer raised an army to march on them and enforce their servitude. The march would be about 800 miles one way. This campaign would continue to extend his control over an important trade route, the King's Highway, to Egypt through this part of Canaan. There is speculation that the five rebellious kings had an alliance with the giants. Both Ecclesiasticus (16:8-9) and the Book of Jubilees (20:5), confirm that giants lived in Sodom and Gomorrah with Birsha, king of Gomorrah, probably being a giant as well. It may be that both sides employed giants in their armies. If the alliance is true it would make sense that King Chedorlaomer and his three king allies would fight the Nephilim first as he would be at his freshest and greatest strength. Then fighting his way south engaged each tribe separately starting with the Rephaim at Ashtoroth-Karnaim in Geshur. Next were the Zuzim at Ham in Argob. His great army worked its way down the eastern side of the Jordan Valley to battle the Emim at Shaveh-Kiriathiam in Moab and the Horim in Seir. Again the Rephaim in southern Canaan at Hazazon-Tamar fought these armies but to no avail. Now on the west side of the Jordan Valley Chedorloamer turned his armies against the Amalekites and the Amorites who lived in Chatzatzon Tamar. To the north lay the gathered armies of the five kings. Chedorloamer defeats the five kings and takes their booty. But he also finds Lot, Abram's (Abraham) nephew, and takes him away as well. When Abram found out what had happened he perused the four armies and in a midnight raid rescued Lot and his family. There are several reasons why this moment is so important. First this is the first time Abram is called a Hebrew. This is a term used by a non-Israelite. It may refer to the fact that Abram was from "the other side of the river" but that is speculation. Second, The army of Chedorlaomer was a confederation of four kings and as best that can be comprehended they were from middle Anatolia (Hittite), the southern area of the Black Sea, Babylon and Elam (Persia - today Iran). The immense size of this army indicated the importance of the battle. But the third reason is the most important. According to the Bible Abram was instructed to go into Canaan and when he arrived scripture states "And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said Unto thy seed will I give this land..." (Gen 12:7 KJV). It was after this raid that Melchizedek made the covenant with him (Urantia Book 1020). In the Bible part of the covenant is the possession of land: "And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God" (Gen 17:8 KJV known as the Abrahamic covenant). As Urantia Book readers know, this is a pivotal point in history where there is an agreement that God does everything and man only needs to believe. This truth would later be stated by Jesus, "By faith alone are you saved." But Abraham never laid direct claim to the land of Canaan during his lifetime. After the birth of Isaac which fulfilled Melchizedek's promise is when Abram became Abraham. Most of this story of the battle can be found in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis.
After King David there is no mention of the Nephilim in the Holy Land. They are referred to as shades and the dead. Og was the last of the Rephiam according to the Bible. Today the Valley of the Rephiam is a part of Israel just south of Jerusalem by a few miles. It took some time to finally kill them off - around a thousand years from the times of Abraham to David.
The name Nephilim is of an uncertain origin. No one can say for sure what the etymology is. Most web sites concerning this subject say it is Hebrew from the Semetic root npl "to fall". I do not think it comes directly from Hebrew. I think it predates Hebrew and the language of Canaan. Actually the Canaanites and Hebrews spoke the same language (and shared some religious beliefs). It was a Semitic language and spoken by the Phoenicians and Philistines. So Nephilim in not an exclusively Hebrew word. To be even more specific Hebrew is a subgroup of the Canaanite language now extinct. Also, the Canaanites were writing before the Hebrews. It was after all the Phoenicians who invented the alphabet. So Nephilim moves over to Canaanite as a root word. Even the name Canaan is extremely ancient. But we can only go back to a Proto-Canaanite language before all is lost to the prehistoric. All references to the Nephilim have them as ancient and most likely very ancient. "These mighty men of old were the Gibborim or Gibbowrim. If we look at Green’s Interlinear Bible it says (reading the literal words): the giants were on the earth in days those and even afterwards when came in the sons of God (the word for God there ishaElohim, i.e. sons of the God) to the daughters of men (the word there is haAdam, i.e. the Adam) and they bore to them, they were heroes (the word for heroes ishaGibborim, i.e. the heroes) who existed from times ancient, the men of name or renown." (http://www.ccg.org/english/s/P154.html) The name Nephilim is probably a remnant of an even older language now lost. Nephilim most likely was always associated with fallen angels. Maybe not as the name Nephilim itself but certainty the name would be easily understood as it relates to what they were. The Nephilim are so old that they are sometimes referred to as the "aboriginal giants" of Canaan.
An Alternate Traditional View
The word nephilim has been mistranslated as 'giants' ever since Flavius Josephus translated it as such in his book, Antiquities of the Jews; ..."
(http://www.motherbedford.com/ANU01.htm)
The Greek word "Tartarus" (used here to denote the "darkness" where these specific angels are confined) was also the "underworld" where the Titans (hybrid man-gods) are being held, according to Greek mythology. These passages are the only time in scripture the word "Tartarus" (the Greek underworld) is used to refer to hell. Peter and Jude knew their audience, and they knew exactly what they were talking about.
In fact, the term "Giants" in the KJV is only rendered as such, because the Greek translation of the Old Testament (Septuagint) used the phrase "gigantis" in Genesis 6, which was the Greek word for the Titans of (ahem!) "myth," and is where the English word "giant" originally comes from, hence this rendering in the King James Version. All other modern translations remain faithful to the Hebrew root word "naphal," which means "to fall," or "fallen ones."
These angel-human hybrids of Genesis 6 are the factual basis for the "gods" of ancient cultures.
"Returning to Genesis chapter six, after the sons of God took human wives, verse four continues: “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became the mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” However the King James version erroneously translated the Hebrew term nefilim as “giants,” and shem as “renown.” If the original words are used the verse reads: “The Nefilim were upon the Earth, in those days and thereafter too, when the sons of the gods cohabitated with the daughters of the Adam, and they bore children unto them. They were the mighty ones of Eternity — the People of the shem.” Nefilim stems from the Semitic root NFL, “to be cast down.”[8] The first line of Genesis 6:4 means Those who were cast down were upon the Earth. They were the fallen angels!"
(http://www.alchemylab.com/origins_of_alchemy.htm)
"The exact term "sons of God" (B'nai haElohim in Hebrew) used in Genesis 6:1-4, is used also in Job 1:6, 2:1 & 38:7 always referring to angels. Unfortunately, many competent Bible scholars of today still believe the "sons of God" are of human lineage. This is simply because it has been taught in seminaries for centuries, thanks to the deceptive and radically unsound doctrinal shift introduced by the church at this point in history."(http://www.alienresistance.org/bibleabductions.htm)
"The Sons of Seth Heresy
Beginning around 400 A.D., portions of the church began to take an unusual stand against the angelic interpretation of Genesis 6. Rather than teaching what the text clearly says (especially when examined in Hebrew, below), and what had been the Orthodox Jewish and early Christian view for all time previous, the idea was introduced that this passage "really" referred to the lineages of Cain and Seth, the surviving sons of Adam. They said it simply means that the "rebellious" lines of Cain were marrying the "faithful" descendants of Seth. The unfounded presumption of this theory is that ALL of Seth's descendants were godly, while ALL of Cain's were rebellious. While a sketchy pattern can be drawn from Genesis, it is really a ridiculous injustice to the concept of free will and of God's dealing with individuals to dogmaticly hold to this position. It further implies that Sethites were somehow immune to the effects of the Fall itself."
(http://www.alienresistance.org/sons_of_seth.htm)
A Third View on This Ancient HistoryAs concerning giants, the Urantia Book does not state that there were the traditional giants as we have come to understand the ancient records. However, it does say that there were Nephilim and that these Nephilim were a result of the mating of the rebel 100 with indigenous humans. These Nephilim are the Nodite race. This is similar to the alternate view above where there was a celestial and human blending but the results are not necessarily giants. As for the menacing attitude of giants, the Nodites were well known for their belligerent behavior.
"The postrebellion era on Urantia witnessed many unusual happenings. A great civilization - the culture of Dalamatia - was going to pieces. "The Nephilim (Nodites) were on earth in those days, and when these sons of the gods went in to the daughters of men and they bore to them, their children were the 'mighty men of old,' the 'men of renown.'" While hardly "sons of the gods," the staff and their descendants were so regarded by the evolutionary mortals of these distant days; even their stature came to be magnified by tradition. This, then, is the origin of the well-nigh universal folk tale of the gods who came down to earth and there with the daughters of men begat an ancient race of heros. And all this legend became further confused with the race mixtures of the later appearing Adamites in the second garden." (Urantia Book p. 856)
So the first half of the legend is true. There were progeny from the union between the Watchers and indigenous humans. The second part of referring to the huge size seems to have its origin in the confusion with the Adamites who were, as archaeologists would term it, "extremely tall people." This reference to extremely tall people is a result of graves containing such. So the second part is true as well but it does not refer to the giants of legend but to the tall ones from the Garden of Eden. The Adamites from the second Garden did move out into the world of early man. They were biological uplifters to help improve the health and well being of the surrounding peoples. They were also teachers of Edenic civilization. The Nodites had also moved out much earlier into the surrounding lands and with the intermingling of Adamic, Nodite and indigenous people the Andite race emerged.
Extremely Tall People
"In the late 1980's a group of British archaeologists might have uncovered skeletal evidence for giants in Jordan. At the site of Tel es-Sa'idiyeh, archaeologist Jonathan Tubb and a team from the British Museum unearthed the remains of some extremely tall people...While the Bible states that Goliath's height was six cubits and a span, the other ancient texts disagree. The Septuagint, the Dead Sea Scrolls and Josephus all agree that Goliath was merely four cubits and a span, which lowers his height to a more manageable seven feet or so...While this does not make him a giant, a claim the Bible never makes of Goliath, it does make him a very tall individual in a day when the average height was significantly less than it is today."
(http://www.amazon.com/Footsteps-Goliath-Various/product-reviews/B000BK7XIG)
"Og, the king of Bashan, is depicted in the Bible, the midrash in the Tannaitic period and by Josephus as a giant of realistic dimensions. In the Amoraic exegeses he became a figure of monstrous proportions, possibly under the influence of views that appear in the Apocrypha. One expansion of his image was already delivered in the name of palestinian Amoraim, but it is linked to the dimension of time. This stretching could also have sparked the fertile midrashic imagination for the physical stretching of his body."
(http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15682944 KOSMAN Admiel, University of Potsdam, Abraham Geiger College, ETATS-UNIS)
The Bible
At the time of authoring, the Biblical passing of the giants had already happened. Although writing had been around for some time the Hebrews did not start writing until 900 BC and they were writing in the language of the Philistines from whom Goliath supposedly descended. Tales of giants were already folk lore at the beginning of the writing the Bible. When Ptolemy had the Septuagint created the name Nephilim was written as "gigantes" which simply meant "earth born" and Nephilim from the Hebrew naphal (to fall), means fallen or fallen ones. Neither of these terms means giants and strangely both are true. But somehow this legend of giants became incorporated into the Bible complete with names, size and a genealogy. It is possible that Og, Goliath, and Arba were real people just not with the superhuman height and strength attributed to them.
"The Hebrews had no written language in general usage for a long time after they reached Palestine. They learned the use of an alphabet from the neighboring Philistines, who were political refugees from the higher civilization of Crete." (Urantia Book p. 838)
Six Fingers
The giants were supposed to have six fingers. This is known today as a condition called polydactyly. There are six fingered people today. In some cases this extra digit is fully formed and functional. Having six fingers is not exclusive to the giants.
Argob
The Rev J.L. Porter has written much about Argob including details on its architecture. One convincing fact for me about Argob was that the stone doors at Argob were constructed with a ball and socket hinge. This hinge has been discovered at Hazor from a Canaanite temple confirming that in ancient times hinges were constructed this way. The description of tunnels under Argob does not seem out of place either considering ancient tunnels have been in many places including South America. Cyclopean construction at Argob - almost expected. In his book, The Ruins of Bible Cities 1886, Ebenezer Davies states in Jerash Jorden an example of this type of construction is visible. Jerash is perhaps one of the most amazing examples of Roman building you can visit today. Porter also did a good job of the general description of the lava beds which was described in the same way by other authors. Porter was not the first to visit Argob. Cyril Graham reported the same thing - great cities built by giants before Porter did. Burckhardt visited Argob even before Graham. It was at this time that archaeologists were investigating what we term the Holy Land to find and confirm evidence of references from the Bible.
The location of the sixty cities is not on the volcanic tract but rather west of it. The map to the left shows the location of some of the cities mentioned by Porter. On this map Edrei is shown which today is known as Dar'a the Biblical capitol of King Og. Ashteroth Karnaim to the northwest is where Chedorlaomer defeated the Nephilim in his first battle. These are the cities that those early archaeologists visited at the turn of the century. The descriptions of the appearance of these cities by these early adventurers can be appreciated in Bosra which has a large Roman amphitheater but more importantly an "old city". You can still see the colonnaded avenue leading to the Roman bath just in front of the amphitheater. This may be the closest to how it looked a century ago when Porter, Graham, Burckhardt and others visited these cities. The ruins are spread throughout several cities. Below are five examples of Roman ruins. Both images to the left are clickable.
The story of the sixty cities of the giants may be exotic and romantic but sadly not true. There is no evidence for these cities and the location of Argob for some historians is in doubt. Even the illustration above from Porter's work shows a room built of average size blocks. The photos to the left are typical and are from A Visit to Bashan and Argob by Algernon Heber-Percy, 1895. Algernon visited the cities of Porter's travels and found no ancient giant architecture but found much we call Greco-Roman. The first photo to the left is the ruins from 'Ayun. The next one is of a pair of stone doors, neither are megalithic. John Lewis Burckhardt in 1812 published a book titled Travels in Syria and the Holy Land and in it he also details Greco-Roman ruins but nothing of ancient giant buildings. Despite the detailed descriptions and dimensions from Porter and Graham there is nothing to back it up. This brings up the fundamental question of were they telling the truth or simply unaware of what they were actually looking at? I think it probably is a combination of seeing what you want to see with embellishment. Finally, it has been over a century since these early explorers and still no one has found the giant cities of Argob. For myself, I wanted to believe Porter and Graham but after reexamining the evidence my conclusion is that there are no giant cities. Before reconstructing this page I wrote about the reality of the giant cities and believed it was true. Porter after all gave an eyewitness account that there was giant architecture. I took him at his word. But since there were no giants there could not be giant cities and in the end I could not find a shred of evidence for it. I was led astray like so many others.
"The identification of Argob, a region of the kingdom of Og, is a matter of much difficulty. It has been equated on philological grounds to the Lejā. But these arguments have been shown to be shaky if not baseless, and the identification is now generally abandoned. The confidence with which the great cities of Og were identified with the extensive remains of ancient sites in the Lejā and Hauran has also been shown to be without justification. All the so-called "giant cities of Bashan" without exception are now known to be Greco-Roman, not earlier than the time of Herod, and, though in themselves of very high architectural and historical interest, have no connexion whatever with the more ancient periods. No tangible traces of Og and his people, or even of their Israelite supplanters, have yet been found.
This fact somewhat weakens the various identifications that have been proposed for the cities of Bashan enumerated by name. Edrei for example is identified with Ed-Dera‛a. This is perhaps the most satisfactory comparison, for besides the Greco-Roman remains there is an extensive subterranean city of unknown date, which may be of great antiquity, though even this is still sub judice. The other identifications that have commanded most acceptance are as follows: - Ashteroth Karnaim, also called Ashtaroth and (Josh. xxi. 27) Be-eshterah, has been identified with Busrah (Bostra), where are very important Herodian ruins, but there is no tangible evidence yet adduced that the history of this site is of so remote antiquity. From the similarity of the names, it has also been sought at Tell Ashari and Tell ‛Ashtera. The true site can be determined, if at all; by excavation only; identifications based on mere outward similarity of names have always been fruitful sources of error. Salecah is perhaps less doubtful; it is a remarkable name, and a ruin similarly styled, Salkhat, is to be seen in the Hauran. It is inhabited by Druses. Another town in eastern Manasseh, namely Kenath, has been identified by Porter with Kanawat, which may be correct."
(http://chestofbooks.com/reference/Encyclopedia-Britannica-2/Bashan.html)
(http://www.semjaaza.com/thewatcher.html)
"The books of Enoch, expunged from the set of canonical sacred books by the Christian Church in the 4th century AD, were previously accepted and generally greatly estimated by the Church fathers (they are even now part of the Canon of the Ethiopian church). These books in their present version are dated usually at the second century BC. It is likely that such a date just refers to the surviving versions, where an ancient obsolete language was modernized. They were indeed considered, e.g. by St Augustin, as works of "hoary antiquity" and they do in fact deal with prediluvian events, about which only intriguing hints may be found in Genesis. That several texts dealing with very ancient events were once in circulation to be later completely lost, also follows from references in the Pentateuch to vanished books, e.g. The wars of Jahweh."
(http://itis.volta.alessandria.it/episteme/ep7/ep7-eden.htm)And no, the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD did not exclude the apocrypha such as the Book of Enoch from the Bible. It was banned at the Council of Laodicea (364 AD) along with forty two others which includes The First and Second Book of Adam and Eve.
The two names which we are most familiar for the "rebel" angels are the Watchers and the Anunnaki. Watchers is the Biblical name and Anunnaki is the Sumerian name. The rebellion of these so-called angels is because of Lucifer also known by his ancient name Azazel. All of this mysterious and contested history begins with Lucifer's egotistical pride and his puny attempt (at least on a cosmic scale) to raise himself above God. And as it has been said, "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall". KJV And so this very ancient saga as it has been written begins with celestials coming to this planet, become enamored with the women and by having sex with them beget their sons and daughters, the Nephilim believed to be giants. As a side note, the infamy of the Nephilim is the purported reason for the flood, which according to some theologians was 120 years after the fall.
In researching the Genesis quote above, I have not found anything relating the 120 year life span in regards to the Watchers. This 120 years I believe is the statement that they, the Watchers, had now become mortal. In Genesis 5:5 Adam lives 930 years. Noah's father Lamech lived 777 years. Both lived before the flood. But Abraham lived 175 years and his wife Sarah lived 127 years after the flood so the date could not have referred to humans. Scholars explain the figure of 120 years as referring to the time for the coming of the flood (also given time for repentance) but this in my opinion does not address scripture: "My Spirit will not contend with man forever...". My interpretation is that since these beings could have lived forever, this new life span marks that they have been reduced to mortal men as a result of their transgressions. It is because the Watchers became mortals that precipitated the decision to mate and thus increase their numbers. The result being the Nephilim. So I think this reference is about life span and not time frame. As a Urantia Book reader I know the time frame from the fall of the Watchers to the Sumerian flood is not 120 years, it is a chasm of time. Therefore the only thing left is the mortality of the Watchers. "And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood waters was upon the earth." Genesis 7:6. He was nine hundred and fifty years when he died. So Noah lived even longer than Abraham. No matter how you look at it, the Watchers and the Nephilim are a problem for the religious scholars. And as a final note: this explanation does not conflict with scripture; it makes very good sense based on the inclusion "for he is [now] mortal."
The Traditional and Primary View of Giants (Nephilim)"These giants are often mentioned in the early books of the Old Testament until the last of them were finally killed off. The word nephilim only appears twice in the Old Testament (Gen 6:4; Num. 13:33), but these giants are also referred to as gibbor (Gen 6:4; Num. 13:33; Job 16:14) and rephaim when they reappear in a more limited fashion after the flood (Gen. 14:5; 15:20; Deu. 2:11, 20; 3:11, 13; Jos. 12:4; 13:12; 15:8; 17:15; 18:16; II Sam. 5:18, 22; 21:16, 18, 20, 22; 23:13; I Chr. 11:15; 14:9; 20:4, 6, 8; Isa. 17:5; 26:14). They were known by the proper names of Rephaim, Emim, Anakim, and Zamzummim."
Bryan T. Huie
(http://www.aristotle.net/~bhuie/gen6sons.htm)
The Greek term giants also referred to the titans of their mythology. The titans were partly terrestrial and partly celestial. They rebelled against their father Uranus but were defeated by Zeus and thrown into Tartarus. This is the story of the fallen.
"The B'nai Elohim is a term that refers to angels. It occurs four times in the Old Testament (2) and is rendered "Angels of God" in the ancient Septuagint translation. (3) The intrusion of certain angels into the human family resulted in unnatural offspring termed Nephilim, which derives from the Hebrew naphal (to fall), or the Fallen Ones. (The Greek Septuagint renders this term gigantes, which actually means "earth-born." This is often misunderstood to mean "giants"[emphasis added]---which they also happen to have been, incidentally.)"
(http://www.ldolphin.org/noahdays.html)
"Giants -
(1.) Heb. nephilim, meaning "violent" or "causing to fall" (Gen. 6:4). These were the violent tyrants of those days, those who fell upon others. The word may also be derived from a root signifying "wonder," and hence "monsters" or "prodigies." In Num. 13:33 this name is given to a Canaanitish tribe, a race of large stature, "the sons of Anak." The Revised Version, in these passages, simply transliterates the original, and reads "Nephilim."
(2.) Heb. rephaim, a race of giants (Deut. 3:11) who lived on the east of Jordan, from whom Og was descended. They were probably the original inhabitants of the land before the immigration of the Canaanites. They were conquered by Chedorlaomer (Gen. 14:5), and their territories were promised as a possession to Abraham (15:20). The Anakim, Zuzim, and Emim were branches of this stock.
(3.) Heb. 'Anakim (Deut. 2:10, 11, 21; Josh. 11:21, 22; 14:12, 15; called "sons of Anak," Num. 13:33; "children of Anak," 13:22; Josh. 15:14), a nomad race of giants descended from Arba (Josh. 14:15), the father of Anak, that dwelt in the south of Palestine near Hebron (Gen. 23:2; Josh. 15:13). They were a Cushite tribe of the same race as the Philistines and the Egyptian shepherd kings. David on several occasions encountered them (2 Sam. 21:15-22). From this race sprung Goliath (1 Sam. 1 Chr. 11:9-47; 29:24.) The band of six hundred whom David gathered around him when he was a fugitive were so designated. They were divided into three divisions of two hundred each, and thirty divisions of twenty each. The captians of the thirty divisions were called "the thirty," the captains of the two hundred "the three," and the captain over the whole was called "chief among the captains" (2 Sam. 23:8). The sons born of the marriages mentioned in Gen. 6:4 are also called by this Hebrew name."
(http://www.biblelearn.com/east1474.htm)
"It is significant, however, that the Genesis Apocryphon mentions the Nephilim, and makes reference to the "sons of God" and the "daughters of men" introduced in Genesis 6. The Apocryphon also elaborates considerably on the succinct statements found in the Bible, and provides valuable insights into the way these ancient stories were interpreted by the ancient Jews.
The copy of the Genesis Apocryphon discovered at Qumran dates back to the 2nd century B.C., but it was obviously based on much older sources. When discovered in 1947, it had been much mutilated from the ravages of time and humidity. The sheets had become so badly stuck together that years passed before the text was deciphered and made known. When scholars finally made public its content, the document confirmed that celestial beings from the skies had landed on planet Earth. More than that, it told how these beings had mated with Earth-women and had begat giants".
(http://www.mt.net/~watcher/enoch5.html)
"The Apocryphal books tell us this: Originally the angels, or Sons of God, all surveyed the world and its beings from on high, and among the were those called the Grigori or Watchers. "The Watchers" can be translated with several shades of meaning, and depending on the translator means "observers" or "sentinels, sleepless ones"; whether they are vigilant or simply curious, they watch. Some texts say they were tempted by the beauty of human women ("the Sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair..."), while others grant them a compassionate Promethean urge to guide and teach or a touching desire for family and companionship; there were, we're told, no female Watchers. Whatever their motive, two hundred of the Watchers, led by the great angel Semjaza-Azazel, defied divine direction, descended to Earth and took a personal hand in humankind's education. Crafts and sciences, arts and letters, and the many skills of magic - all of which are described as "secrets...made in heaven", intended only for the Celestials to know - were shared with our distant ancestors. "And Azazel taught men to make swords and daggers and shields and breastplates ...bracelets, and ornaments, and the metals of the earth, and the art of making up the eyes and beautifying the eyelids (...angels invent eye shadow...) ...Amezarak taught all those who cast spells and cut roots; Armaros the release of charms, spells, and magical skills; Baraqiel, astrology...Asradel, the path of the moon...Penemue: this one showed the sons of men the bitter and the sweet; he taught men the art of writing with ink and paper, and through this many have gone astray." Even reproductive choice was granted: "Kasdeyae: this one showed the sons of men the blows which attack the embryo in the womb so that it miscarries."
The Apocrypha claim the disembodied Nephilim are the origin of demons, and accuse them of many crimes. Jubilees places the blame for the Flood squarely upon the fornication of the Watchers and the iniquity and bloodshed of the Nephilim...Noah, petitioning God to "let not wicked spirits rule over [my grandchildren] and destroy them", adds, "Thou knowest what thy Watchers, the fathers of these spirits, did in my day..." making it clear that the demonic spirits and the Nephilim are considered one and the same."
Paula O'Keefe (www.spookhouse.net/angelynx/nephilim/tiamat.html)
Argob"Argob's Sixty Cities of the Giants
Deuteronomy 3:4 states that the Argob, which Jair seized from the giant King Og, contained sixty cities built by the huge Rephaim. To those who never saw it, it seemed incredible that an oval-shaped district only twenty-two miles long and fourteen wide could accommodate that many cities. But archaeologists and other travelers to that region can still vouch for it. For the ruins, even after all these centuries, not only remain, but, in fact, still stand in a great state of preservation. "The streets," observes Cyril Graham, "are perfect, the walls perfect, and, what seems more astonishing, the stone doors are still hanging on their hinges. . . . Some of these gates are large enough to admit of a camel passing through them, and the doors are of proportionate dimensions, some of the stones of which they are formed being eighteen inches in thickness. The roofs also are formed of huge stone slabs resting on the massive walls. All betoken the workmanship of a race endowed with powers far exceeding those of ordinary men; and [all] give credibility to the supposition that we have in them the dwellings of the giant race that occupied that district before it was invaded by the Israelites. We could not help being impressed with the belief that had we never known anything of the early portion of Scripture history before visiting this country, we should have been forced to the conclusion that its original inhabitants, the people who had constructed those cities, were not only a powerful and mighty nation, but individuals of greater strength than ourselves."
Continues Graham: "When we find one after another, great stone cities, walled and unwalled, with stone gates, and so crowded together that it becomes almost a matter of wonder how all the people could have lived in so small a place; when we see houses built of such huge and massive stones that no force which can be brought against them in that country could ever batter them down; when we find rooms in these houses so large and lofty that many of them would be considered fine rooms in a palace in Europe; and, lastly, when we find some of these towns bearing the very names which cities in that very country bore before the Israelites came out of Egypt, I think we cannot help feeling the strongest conviction that we have before us the cities of the Rephaim of which we read in the Book of Deuteronomy."26 "
(http://www.stevequayle.com/Giants/Mid.East/Giants.Mid.East2.html)
Porter's description of some of the houses in Hit, a town just north east of Argob. "The streets were narrow and irregular, and thus widely different from those laid out in many other cities in this land by Roman architects. A large portion of the town is ruinous; but some of the very oldest houses are still perfect. They are simple and massive in style, containing only one story, and generally two or three large rooms opening on an enclosed court. The walls are built of large stones roughly hewn, though closely jointed, and laid without cement. "( J.L. Porter Giant Cities of Bashan and Syria's Holy Places in 1866 p. 32)
In the town of Hebran: "But the simple, massive, primeval houses were to us objects of greater attention. Many of them are perfect, and in them the modern inhabitants find ample and comfortable accommodation. The stone doors appeared even more massive than those of Kerioth; and we found the walls of the houses in some instances more than seven feet thick. Hebran must have been one of the most ancient cities of Bashan." ( J.L. Porter Giant Cities of Bashan and Syria's Holy Places in 1866 p. 88)
William McClure Thomson: "The existing ruins are nearly four miles in circumference, and although many of the houses and other edifices in their present condition are of an age comparatively modern, yet they were erected on foundations and out of materials far more ancient. Most of the present inhabitants reside in the vaults of old structures which may fairly be said to be underground, so great is the accumulation above them of debris of ruined buildings. To reach them one has to descend as into subterranean courts and caverns."
( William McClure Thomson The Land and the Book or Biblical Illustrations drawn from the Manners and Customs, the Scenes and Scenery, of the Holy Land 1880 p. 461)
( William McClure Thomson The Land and the Book or Biblical Illustrations drawn from the Manners and Customs, the Scenes and Scenery, of the Holy Land 1880 p. 461)
Gilgal RefaimAnother archaeological site is a construction of concentric stone circles and reputedly built by giants. "The Circle of the Giants - Gilgal Refaim. 5200-year-old monument believed by some to have been built by the biblical giants, also called Nephilim." "The fact remains that Israeli archaeologists are totally mystified by the Gilgal Refaim. No other complex built in the Middle East resembles it and it predates the pyramids by over 500 years. The indigenous nomads of the time did not engage in this kind of megalith building, so outsiders were probably the builders. According to the Bible, the only outsiders living on the Golan Heights back then were giants. "
(http://www.mt.net/~watcher/chamishgiants.html Copyright © 1999 by Barry Chamish)
"The picture above is of the Gilgal Refaim (The Circle Of The Refaim) in Israel. It is said to have been built by those same people that Goliath descended from. In the late 1980's a group of British archaeologists may have uncovered skeletal evidence for giants in Jordan. At the site of Tel es-Sa'idiyeh, archaeologist Jonathan Tubb and a team from the British Museum unearthed the remains of some extremely tall people."
(http://liberalcommonsense.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_liberalcommonsense_archive.html)
The above quote is from a very good blog. You will find it listed under Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Baalbek"According to an Arabic manuscript found at Baalbek and quoted by Alouf in his informative History of Baalbek "after the flood, when Nimrod reigned over Lebanon, he sent giants to rebuild the fortress of Baalbek, which was so named in honour of Baal, the god of the Moabites and worshippers of the Sun."66 Local tradition even asserts that the Tower of Babel was actually located at Baalbek."
(http://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/Baalbek%20-%20Lebanons%20Sacred%20Fortress2.html)
The great platform at Baalbek is so old that it's origin is lost. The current temple ruins at the site were built by the Romans. The original platform may be from a pre-Phoenician culture. This platform is made up of megalithic stones precisely cut and placed to form a foundation for an ancient temple from the distant past. This ancient temple floor has three huge quarried stones each of them weigh about one thousand tons. They are called the Trilithon. These blocks show more erosion than the later Roman additions.Today we are at a lost to explain how ancient men cut and moved such huge behemoths. Roman engineers never moved anything so large. The people that lived near by the temple believed that the great stones were cut and assembled by Djenoun, a Nephilim.
Map of Chedorlaomer's march Chedorlaomer (At the time of Abraham)
For twelve years the kings of Canaan - most notably Sodom and Gomorrah - paid taxes to an Elamite king known as Chedorlaomer. They rebelled in the thirteenth year refusing to pay their tributes. In the fourteenth year Chedorloamer raised an army to march on them and enforce their servitude. The march would be about 800 miles one way. This campaign would continue to extend his control over an important trade route, the King's Highway, to Egypt through this part of Canaan. There is speculation that the five rebellious kings had an alliance with the giants. Both Ecclesiasticus (16:8-9) and the Book of Jubilees (20:5), confirm that giants lived in Sodom and Gomorrah with Birsha, king of Gomorrah, probably being a giant as well. It may be that both sides employed giants in their armies. If the alliance is true it would make sense that King Chedorlaomer and his three king allies would fight the Nephilim first as he would be at his freshest and greatest strength. Then fighting his way south engaged each tribe separately starting with the Rephaim at Ashtoroth-Karnaim in Geshur. Next were the Zuzim at Ham in Argob. His great army worked its way down the eastern side of the Jordan Valley to battle the Emim at Shaveh-Kiriathiam in Moab and the Horim in Seir. Again the Rephaim in southern Canaan at Hazazon-Tamar fought these armies but to no avail. Now on the west side of the Jordan Valley Chedorloamer turned his armies against the Amalekites and the Amorites who lived in Chatzatzon Tamar. To the north lay the gathered armies of the five kings. Chedorloamer defeats the five kings and takes their booty. But he also finds Lot, Abram's (Abraham) nephew, and takes him away as well. When Abram found out what had happened he perused the four armies and in a midnight raid rescued Lot and his family. There are several reasons why this moment is so important. First this is the first time Abram is called a Hebrew. This is a term used by a non-Israelite. It may refer to the fact that Abram was from "the other side of the river" but that is speculation. Second, The army of Chedorlaomer was a confederation of four kings and as best that can be comprehended they were from middle Anatolia (Hittite), the southern area of the Black Sea, Babylon and Elam (Persia - today Iran). The immense size of this army indicated the importance of the battle. But the third reason is the most important. According to the Bible Abram was instructed to go into Canaan and when he arrived scripture states "And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said Unto thy seed will I give this land..." (Gen 12:7 KJV). It was after this raid that Melchizedek made the covenant with him (Urantia Book 1020). In the Bible part of the covenant is the possession of land: "And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God" (Gen 17:8 KJV known as the Abrahamic covenant). As Urantia Book readers know, this is a pivotal point in history where there is an agreement that God does everything and man only needs to believe. This truth would later be stated by Jesus, "By faith alone are you saved." But Abraham never laid direct claim to the land of Canaan during his lifetime. After the birth of Isaac which fulfilled Melchizedek's promise is when Abram became Abraham. Most of this story of the battle can be found in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis.
After King David there is no mention of the Nephilim in the Holy Land. They are referred to as shades and the dead. Og was the last of the Rephiam according to the Bible. Today the Valley of the Rephiam is a part of Israel just south of Jerusalem by a few miles. It took some time to finally kill them off - around a thousand years from the times of Abraham to David.
The name Nephilim is of an uncertain origin. No one can say for sure what the etymology is. Most web sites concerning this subject say it is Hebrew from the Semetic root npl "to fall". I do not think it comes directly from Hebrew. I think it predates Hebrew and the language of Canaan. Actually the Canaanites and Hebrews spoke the same language (and shared some religious beliefs). It was a Semitic language and spoken by the Phoenicians and Philistines. So Nephilim in not an exclusively Hebrew word. To be even more specific Hebrew is a subgroup of the Canaanite language now extinct. Also, the Canaanites were writing before the Hebrews. It was after all the Phoenicians who invented the alphabet. So Nephilim moves over to Canaanite as a root word. Even the name Canaan is extremely ancient. But we can only go back to a Proto-Canaanite language before all is lost to the prehistoric. All references to the Nephilim have them as ancient and most likely very ancient. "These mighty men of old were the Gibborim or Gibbowrim. If we look at Green’s Interlinear Bible it says (reading the literal words): the giants were on the earth in days those and even afterwards when came in the sons of God (the word for God there ishaElohim, i.e. sons of the God) to the daughters of men (the word there is haAdam, i.e. the Adam) and they bore to them, they were heroes (the word for heroes ishaGibborim, i.e. the heroes) who existed from times ancient, the men of name or renown." (http://www.ccg.org/english/s/P154.html) The name Nephilim is probably a remnant of an even older language now lost. Nephilim most likely was always associated with fallen angels. Maybe not as the name Nephilim itself but certainty the name would be easily understood as it relates to what they were. The Nephilim are so old that they are sometimes referred to as the "aboriginal giants" of Canaan.
An Alternate Traditional View
The word nephilim has been mistranslated as 'giants' ever since Flavius Josephus translated it as such in his book, Antiquities of the Jews; ..."
(http://www.motherbedford.com/ANU01.htm)
The Greek word "Tartarus" (used here to denote the "darkness" where these specific angels are confined) was also the "underworld" where the Titans (hybrid man-gods) are being held, according to Greek mythology. These passages are the only time in scripture the word "Tartarus" (the Greek underworld) is used to refer to hell. Peter and Jude knew their audience, and they knew exactly what they were talking about.
In fact, the term "Giants" in the KJV is only rendered as such, because the Greek translation of the Old Testament (Septuagint) used the phrase "gigantis" in Genesis 6, which was the Greek word for the Titans of (ahem!) "myth," and is where the English word "giant" originally comes from, hence this rendering in the King James Version. All other modern translations remain faithful to the Hebrew root word "naphal," which means "to fall," or "fallen ones."
These angel-human hybrids of Genesis 6 are the factual basis for the "gods" of ancient cultures.
"Returning to Genesis chapter six, after the sons of God took human wives, verse four continues: “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became the mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” However the King James version erroneously translated the Hebrew term nefilim as “giants,” and shem as “renown.” If the original words are used the verse reads: “The Nefilim were upon the Earth, in those days and thereafter too, when the sons of the gods cohabitated with the daughters of the Adam, and they bore children unto them. They were the mighty ones of Eternity — the People of the shem.” Nefilim stems from the Semitic root NFL, “to be cast down.”[8] The first line of Genesis 6:4 means Those who were cast down were upon the Earth. They were the fallen angels!"
(http://www.alchemylab.com/origins_of_alchemy.htm)
"The exact term "sons of God" (B'nai haElohim in Hebrew) used in Genesis 6:1-4, is used also in Job 1:6, 2:1 & 38:7 always referring to angels. Unfortunately, many competent Bible scholars of today still believe the "sons of God" are of human lineage. This is simply because it has been taught in seminaries for centuries, thanks to the deceptive and radically unsound doctrinal shift introduced by the church at this point in history."(http://www.alienresistance.org/bibleabductions.htm)
"The Sons of Seth Heresy
Beginning around 400 A.D., portions of the church began to take an unusual stand against the angelic interpretation of Genesis 6. Rather than teaching what the text clearly says (especially when examined in Hebrew, below), and what had been the Orthodox Jewish and early Christian view for all time previous, the idea was introduced that this passage "really" referred to the lineages of Cain and Seth, the surviving sons of Adam. They said it simply means that the "rebellious" lines of Cain were marrying the "faithful" descendants of Seth. The unfounded presumption of this theory is that ALL of Seth's descendants were godly, while ALL of Cain's were rebellious. While a sketchy pattern can be drawn from Genesis, it is really a ridiculous injustice to the concept of free will and of God's dealing with individuals to dogmaticly hold to this position. It further implies that Sethites were somehow immune to the effects of the Fall itself."
(http://www.alienresistance.org/sons_of_seth.htm)
A Third View on This Ancient HistoryAs concerning giants, the Urantia Book does not state that there were the traditional giants as we have come to understand the ancient records. However, it does say that there were Nephilim and that these Nephilim were a result of the mating of the rebel 100 with indigenous humans. These Nephilim are the Nodite race. This is similar to the alternate view above where there was a celestial and human blending but the results are not necessarily giants. As for the menacing attitude of giants, the Nodites were well known for their belligerent behavior.
"The postrebellion era on Urantia witnessed many unusual happenings. A great civilization - the culture of Dalamatia - was going to pieces. "The Nephilim (Nodites) were on earth in those days, and when these sons of the gods went in to the daughters of men and they bore to them, their children were the 'mighty men of old,' the 'men of renown.'" While hardly "sons of the gods," the staff and their descendants were so regarded by the evolutionary mortals of these distant days; even their stature came to be magnified by tradition. This, then, is the origin of the well-nigh universal folk tale of the gods who came down to earth and there with the daughters of men begat an ancient race of heros. And all this legend became further confused with the race mixtures of the later appearing Adamites in the second garden." (Urantia Book p. 856)
So the first half of the legend is true. There were progeny from the union between the Watchers and indigenous humans. The second part of referring to the huge size seems to have its origin in the confusion with the Adamites who were, as archaeologists would term it, "extremely tall people." This reference to extremely tall people is a result of graves containing such. So the second part is true as well but it does not refer to the giants of legend but to the tall ones from the Garden of Eden. The Adamites from the second Garden did move out into the world of early man. They were biological uplifters to help improve the health and well being of the surrounding peoples. They were also teachers of Edenic civilization. The Nodites had also moved out much earlier into the surrounding lands and with the intermingling of Adamic, Nodite and indigenous people the Andite race emerged.
Extremely Tall People"In the late 1980's a group of British archaeologists might have uncovered skeletal evidence for giants in Jordan. At the site of Tel es-Sa'idiyeh, archaeologist Jonathan Tubb and a team from the British Museum unearthed the remains of some extremely tall people...While the Bible states that Goliath's height was six cubits and a span, the other ancient texts disagree. The Septuagint, the Dead Sea Scrolls and Josephus all agree that Goliath was merely four cubits and a span, which lowers his height to a more manageable seven feet or so...While this does not make him a giant, a claim the Bible never makes of Goliath, it does make him a very tall individual in a day when the average height was significantly less than it is today."
(http://www.amazon.com/Footsteps-Goliath-Various/product-reviews/B000BK7XIG)
"Og, the king of Bashan, is depicted in the Bible, the midrash in the Tannaitic period and by Josephus as a giant of realistic dimensions. In the Amoraic exegeses he became a figure of monstrous proportions, possibly under the influence of views that appear in the Apocrypha. One expansion of his image was already delivered in the name of palestinian Amoraim, but it is linked to the dimension of time. This stretching could also have sparked the fertile midrashic imagination for the physical stretching of his body."
(http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15682944 KOSMAN Admiel, University of Potsdam, Abraham Geiger College, ETATS-UNIS)
The Bible
At the time of authoring, the Biblical passing of the giants had already happened. Although writing had been around for some time the Hebrews did not start writing until 900 BC and they were writing in the language of the Philistines from whom Goliath supposedly descended. Tales of giants were already folk lore at the beginning of the writing the Bible. When Ptolemy had the Septuagint created the name Nephilim was written as "gigantes" which simply meant "earth born" and Nephilim from the Hebrew naphal (to fall), means fallen or fallen ones. Neither of these terms means giants and strangely both are true. But somehow this legend of giants became incorporated into the Bible complete with names, size and a genealogy. It is possible that Og, Goliath, and Arba were real people just not with the superhuman height and strength attributed to them.
"The Hebrews had no written language in general usage for a long time after they reached Palestine. They learned the use of an alphabet from the neighboring Philistines, who were political refugees from the higher civilization of Crete." (Urantia Book p. 838)
Six Fingers
The giants were supposed to have six fingers. This is known today as a condition called polydactyly. There are six fingered people today. In some cases this extra digit is fully formed and functional. Having six fingers is not exclusive to the giants.
Argob
The Rev J.L. Porter has written much about Argob including details on its architecture. One convincing fact for me about Argob was that the stone doors at Argob were constructed with a ball and socket hinge. This hinge has been discovered at Hazor from a Canaanite temple confirming that in ancient times hinges were constructed this way. The description of tunnels under Argob does not seem out of place either considering ancient tunnels have been in many places including South America. Cyclopean construction at Argob - almost expected. In his book, The Ruins of Bible Cities 1886, Ebenezer Davies states in Jerash Jorden an example of this type of construction is visible. Jerash is perhaps one of the most amazing examples of Roman building you can visit today. Porter also did a good job of the general description of the lava beds which was described in the same way by other authors. Porter was not the first to visit Argob. Cyril Graham reported the same thing - great cities built by giants before Porter did. Burckhardt visited Argob even before Graham. It was at this time that archaeologists were investigating what we term the Holy Land to find and confirm evidence of references from the Bible.
The location of the sixty cities is not on the volcanic tract but rather west of it. The map to the left shows the location of some of the cities mentioned by Porter. On this map Edrei is shown which today is known as Dar'a the Biblical capitol of King Og. Ashteroth Karnaim to the northwest is where Chedorlaomer defeated the Nephilim in his first battle. These are the cities that those early archaeologists visited at the turn of the century. The descriptions of the appearance of these cities by these early adventurers can be appreciated in Bosra which has a large Roman amphitheater but more importantly an "old city". You can still see the colonnaded avenue leading to the Roman bath just in front of the amphitheater. This may be the closest to how it looked a century ago when Porter, Graham, Burckhardt and others visited these cities. The ruins are spread throughout several cities. Below are five examples of Roman ruins. Both images to the left are clickable.
What Townsend MacCoun has to say about the city of Kunawat (Qanawat) which is one of the cities of the Roman Decapolis is descriptive of some of the cities located between Argob and the Sea of Galilee: "Everyone who has visited Kunawat is amazed at the number and variety of the ruined buildings, castles, temples, churches, convents, theater, baths, palaces, reservoirs, underground apartments, costly tombs." (Page 42)
(The Holy Land in Geography and in History, Townsend MacCoun 1897)
(The Holy Land in Geography and in History, Townsend MacCoun 1897)
The story of the sixty cities of the giants may be exotic and romantic but sadly not true. There is no evidence for these cities and the location of Argob for some historians is in doubt. Even the illustration above from Porter's work shows a room built of average size blocks. The photos to the left are typical and are from A Visit to Bashan and Argob by Algernon Heber-Percy, 1895. Algernon visited the cities of Porter's travels and found no ancient giant architecture but found much we call Greco-Roman. The first photo to the left is the ruins from 'Ayun. The next one is of a pair of stone doors, neither are megalithic. John Lewis Burckhardt in 1812 published a book titled Travels in Syria and the Holy Land and in it he also details Greco-Roman ruins but nothing of ancient giant buildings. Despite the detailed descriptions and dimensions from Porter and Graham there is nothing to back it up. This brings up the fundamental question of were they telling the truth or simply unaware of what they were actually looking at? I think it probably is a combination of seeing what you want to see with embellishment. Finally, it has been over a century since these early explorers and still no one has found the giant cities of Argob. For myself, I wanted to believe Porter and Graham but after reexamining the evidence my conclusion is that there are no giant cities. Before reconstructing this page I wrote about the reality of the giant cities and believed it was true. Porter after all gave an eyewitness account that there was giant architecture. I took him at his word. But since there were no giants there could not be giant cities and in the end I could not find a shred of evidence for it. I was led astray like so many others. "The identification of Argob, a region of the kingdom of Og, is a matter of much difficulty. It has been equated on philological grounds to the Lejā. But these arguments have been shown to be shaky if not baseless, and the identification is now generally abandoned. The confidence with which the great cities of Og were identified with the extensive remains of ancient sites in the Lejā and Hauran has also been shown to be without justification. All the so-called "giant cities of Bashan" without exception are now known to be Greco-Roman, not earlier than the time of Herod, and, though in themselves of very high architectural and historical interest, have no connexion whatever with the more ancient periods. No tangible traces of Og and his people, or even of their Israelite supplanters, have yet been found.
This fact somewhat weakens the various identifications that have been proposed for the cities of Bashan enumerated by name. Edrei for example is identified with Ed-Dera‛a. This is perhaps the most satisfactory comparison, for besides the Greco-Roman remains there is an extensive subterranean city of unknown date, which may be of great antiquity, though even this is still sub judice. The other identifications that have commanded most acceptance are as follows: - Ashteroth Karnaim, also called Ashtaroth and (Josh. xxi. 27) Be-eshterah, has been identified with Busrah (Bostra), where are very important Herodian ruins, but there is no tangible evidence yet adduced that the history of this site is of so remote antiquity. From the similarity of the names, it has also been sought at Tell Ashari and Tell ‛Ashtera. The true site can be determined, if at all; by excavation only; identifications based on mere outward similarity of names have always been fruitful sources of error. Salecah is perhaps less doubtful; it is a remarkable name, and a ruin similarly styled, Salkhat, is to be seen in the Hauran. It is inhabited by Druses. Another town in eastern Manasseh, namely Kenath, has been identified by Porter with Kanawat, which may be correct."
(http://chestofbooks.com/reference/Encyclopedia-Britannica-2/Bashan.html)
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