And the Nephilim were in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of man and bare children unto them; the same being the mighty men of old, men of renown. Genesis 6:4
~X~
Apart from the above and a couple of other verses the bible is pretty quiet on the subject of the Nephilim & you have to go to apocraphal texts (mainly the famous Book Of Enoch) & estoric & mythical Jewish/Hebrew texts.
Its important to avoid Christian texts on the subject as most of them started apearing LONG into the AD era & are very confused, they will only muddy the waters for the reader.
~X~
Who Were The Nephilim?
The Nephilim were a group (or choir) of angels called The Gregori, or more commonly The Watchers, who gave into their desires and 'cohabited' with human women- becoming the fathers of the Giants. For this sin God sent Noah's flood to rid the world of the Giants and Nephilim (which implies that they were physical beings rather than 'traditional' spirit angels).
They are creditited with teaching humanity all of the 'forbidden knowledge' that we know. This seems to cover everything from how to use cosmetics, making weapons, waging war, the written word, magic, to various sexual perversions...
The Nephilim are discribed as having a very distinctive look; sharp featured, pale/white skin and hair and described as featherd, winged or 'wearing a cloak of feathers'.
In many of the storys about The Nephilim Gods punishment of them is to cast them into outer darkness, bound in chains of adamantine, until the final judgement.
Also God wasn't exactly successful in totaly wiping out the Giants; in one story Noah himself is the spanner in the works. He takes pity on a Giant called Og (who is named in the Bible) and alows the Giant and his family to hold onto the side of the arc.
This little detail explains why Giants appear a few more times in the early old testement. The most famous being Goliath, who is slain by David
~X~
Myth, Legend Or Truth?
Truth?
I doubt any but those who still believe that the Bible is the pure and unerdulterated 'Word Of God' woulbe foolish enought to believe that The Nephilim storys are the literal truth.
Legend?
A legend is a story which, although it may contain fantastical events or characters, is basicly based on a real event. A good example of a legend would be Homers Illiad. It is based on the real event of the Greek invasion of Troy and contains many historically provable characters. The event and broad strokes of the story told are probably acurate. What turns this into Legend is the inclusion of the Gods and details such as Acillies being indestructable (apart ftom the dodgy heel). The Nephilim storys contain none of this so no, not legend.
Myth?
As a myth is a fantastical story or idea that is usually used to describe or explain why a natural but, to that society, inexplicable event or thing happens (for example it used to be said that 'giants built Stonehenge for Merlin'. It's known that Stonehenge predates the supposed time of Arthur and Merlin by millennia. So that's just a story to explain how a great big circle of stones just happen to be stuck in the middle of nowhere)... The Nephilim are 'just' a myth.
A myth may or may not have a grain of truth at its heart. wether the Nephilim myth has such a grain of truth is debateable at best.
My personal theory on the subject is it's a garbled memory of the sudden influx, invasion or apperance of a new group in the region of the middle east long before the events described in Genesis.
Because of the very distinctive look of the Nephilim I'd say that it was either a tribe or group of people who'd be rougthly described as 'white Euopian', or possibly lead by a group of Shamen and /or warriors who used bird totems as their guides/standards.
This group may or may not have had advanced knowledge for the time and area but they definatly made an impression!
If it's just a myth what does it try to explain? Giantism, albinos, certain forms of insanity... quite a lot of unusual but noticable little things that while not very common happen often enough to be noticed. The Nephilim are almost a 'catch all' explanation for any unusual human trait or genetic mutation.
FURTHER READING:
The Book Of Enoch.
if poss get hold of a scollarly translation/university published copy. If you're going to trust the internet, down load a good few versions from different sites (avoiding ones that go on about, as an example, Atlantis, lizard men ruling the world...) and compare- there's a lot of dodgy copys out there.
From The Ashes Of Angels.
By Andrew collins
pub. Signet
Well reasearched and argued look into the origins of the Myth. I don't agree with everything he says but it's an interesting read.
~X~
Any one else out there interested in stuff like this? go to my message page or 'business card' and drop me a line.
