Nephilim

             Then human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.  Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.  The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. (Genesis6:1-8)

 

Quick side note on the Nephilim. They are a popular subject for speculation among some writers, a sort of Christian vampire or werewolf about which they may wax speculative. Some think they were somehow the offspring of angels/demons and men. The term Nephilim  means “Fallen Ones. The Hebrew word translated hero above is Gibbur. It refers to someone mighty or who prevails. Renown only means that they were famous, possibly “larger than life.” One source I read made the clear assumption that Scripture treats them as positive, but there is nothing in the terms that makes “good” necessary or even possible. A more “scholarly” idea is that they are the offspring of the sons (descendants) of Shem and descendants (daughters) of Cain. They’re mentioned as being around in Numbers 13:13, as the descendants of Anak, who were giants.

Who or what were they? We do not know. I tend to believe they were a moral/social class rather than a biological class, but that’s as much speculation as the other.  Since Scripture goes on to say that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. That must include the inclinations of the thoughts of the Nephilim.

And God’s response to this was regret. God, who knew all this from before the creation of the world and who is supposed to be love and perfect… regretted making man. For some people, this proves He is not perfect, or all-knowing, or all-powerful, or good. One of the reasons for this is that they read that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time, but they picture the people of that time as primitive hunter-gatherers, harmless, just going about their lives, not harming anyone.

Let me put this in a little perspective. If the genealogies are correct, from the time of Adam and Eve to the flood is 1656 years. If you go back 1656 years from 2025, you end up in 369 AD. Constatine died in 337. There have been a number of empires, wars, and huge changes in technology since 369 AD. While that doesn’t mean that the people at the time of the flood absolutely and positively were as advanced as we are in the same way that we are, there is no reason to assume that humanity was made up of primitive hunter-gatherers, harmless, just going about their lives, not harming anyone. Instead, consider the possibility that the world was in at least as bad a shape as it is today - or even significantly worse. Have you read any dystopian fiction?

God could have been (was!) justified in His regret. Most of us face times of regret. One might regret having had children, or a pet, or a job. That doesn’t mean we consider it wrong to have children, pets, or jobs or that we get rid of them.. God’s regretting having created man doesn’t change His plan. It seems to me no different from Jesus’ prayer time in Gethsemane. In my own, very limited way, I understand this regret, because when I am making something, I’ve learned to expect a time when I say, “Yuck! Why did I start this? Who am I kidding? It’s terrible!” I may take the thing apart, but I salvage what I can and start over.

Flooding the world could have been the only way to save any part of the world. Climate change folks promise us that if we don’t do what they say right now, the world is doomed. What if that’s where things were when God decided to save Noah and his family?