Shortly before we are introduced to the story of Noah, Moses identified a time when “giants” were on the earth, and based upon their brief description, they were less than moral, upstanding citizens of the civilization at that time.  To the contrary, they are referred to as the worst of the worst.

Gen. 6:1–“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,  ² That the sons of the Elohim saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.  ³ And Yahweh said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.  ⁴ There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of the Elohim came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.  ⁵ And Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  ⁶ And it repented Yahweh that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.  ⁷ And Yahweh said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.”

This brief passage contains a great deal of information that is completely unknown to  modern man.  Who are the “sons of Elohim” in verses 2 and 4?  Is this just another expression for “man”, who Elohim created in his image?  Or, are these people some other identified group?  Were they actually “giants”, as verse 4 says?  Or does the word “giant” mean something different than our modern Bibles read today?  Here are a few other translations of how the word “giants” is rendered.

AMPLIFIED BIBLE

^“There Nephilim (men of stature, notorious men) on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of Elohim lived with the daughters of men, and they gave birth to their children. These were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown (great reputation, fame).”

Immediately, we see that these men were notorious and had a great reputation.  But it does not say that they were “large”, as our modern understanding of the word “giant” conveys.  But, whatever they were known for, it must not have been good.

CONCORDANT LITERAL BIBLE

“Now the distinguished [ones] come to be in the earth in those days, and, moreover, afterward, coming are those who are sons of the elohim to the daughters of the human, and they bear for them.”

The word “distinguised” carries a higher recognition than just having a great reputation.  And since they “came to the earth” (were not born on the earth), they obviously came from somewhere else.  If they didn’t come from earth, then…they could not have been human.  But didn’t the passage above say that they had children with the daughters of men?  Who could do this except other human men??

YOUNGS LITERAL TRANSLATION

“The fallen ones were in the earth in those days, and even afterwards when sons of Elohim come in unto daughters of men, and they have borne to them — they [are] the heroes, who, from of old, [are] the men of name.”

Fallen ones?  Of old?  Does the Bible identify exactly how old these people were and where they could have fallen from?  Here’s the first hint–

Job 4:18–“Behold, he [Elohim] put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:”

A better rendering of this verse would transliterate the word “folly” with “error”.  What error did Elohim refer to here in Job?  How about THIS big error?

Rev 12:7–“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and HIS ANGELS,  ⁸ And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.  [So where did they go?] ⁹ And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and HIS ANGELS WERE CAST OUT WITH HIM.”

Satan’s evil angels, who erred BIG time when they fought against Elohim in heaven, FELL down to earth [a.k.a.: fallen ones] and they decided to hook up with the daughters of men who were fair [Gen. 2:2 above], resulting in man’s thoughts becoming only evil continually.

The beings who were described in Gen. 6 are not human being at all.  They are SPIRIT beings that decided to wreak havoc on earth by having children with human women.  You think this is a stretch?  Consider this.

Later in Genesis, both Abraham and Lot are visited by spirit beings who were sent by Yahweh in heaven.  In each instance, those spirit beings looked human, acted human and even dined like human beings do.

Gen 18:4–“Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:  ⁵ And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.  ⁶ And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.  ⁷ And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it.”  ⁸ And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and THEY DID EAT.”

Gen 19:1–“And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;  ² And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.  ³ And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and THEY DID EAT.”

In each circumstance with Abraham and Lot, the visitors are clearly identified as angels, or spirit beings, but in every outward look and mannerism, they appeared and acted like human beings.

Since this was the case, any angelic being, whether good or bad [Satan’s angels] were capable of performing every deed that humans were capable of…including SEX.  And that is exactly what they did.

Here’s Gen. 6:4 once again, with inserts.

Gen 6:4–“There were giants [men of stature, distinguished, notorious ones] in the earth in those days; and also after that [they were on earth before the flood and afterward in Sodom and Gomorrah], when the sons of Elohim [literally]–they came [fell] to earth [involuntarily, after their defeat fighting against Yahweh in heaven, from their formerly heavenly domain] came in unto the daughters of men [had sex with them], and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old [verrry old, which predated the time of creation!], men of renown [I’ll say.  Everybody knows about Satan’s failed attempt to win a battle against Yahweh.  If THAT doesn’t make one “renown”, then nothing ever will.]

If you’re still not convinced that this is the correct explanation of the giants in Gen. 6, we can get further validation, found in the New Testament, from none other than the 1/2 brother of Yahshua himself–the book of Jude, who cited specifically the beings of Sodom and Gomorrah.  And he did not identify them as human.

Jude 6-7–“And the ANGELS which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.  ⁷ Even as Sodom and Gomorrhah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

Here, Jude has identified who the “giants” were in the book of Genesis.  They were spirit beings, or evil angels, who fought along side with Satan in their attempt to become greater than Yahweh, but they came down to earth and took on a human form.  But Jude’s narrative is even worse than that.  These evil beings didn’t just morph into a human form in order to have sex with human daughters of men.  Re-read verse 6 again.

They LEFT their OWN HABITATION.  In other words, they INHABITED OTHER HUMAN BODIES.  It is because of THIS demon possession that the behavior of the citizens on earth pre-flood and post-flood (a.k.a.: Sodom and Gomorrah) became so corrupt and immoral.

And it is because of THIS activity that these evil spirits have their fate sealed with everlasting chains and darkness and will be cast in eternal fire from the judgement of the great day to come.

One final note: The word “giant” in Gen. 6 is the Hebrew word “enphlim”.  Later, when we are introduced to an actual human “GIANT” in the story of David and Goliath, we find the Hebrew word “rapha”.  In that sense, Goliath was actually a very large human being, described here:

1 Sam 17:4–“And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.“

A cubit of measurement was approx. 22″ long.  So, six cubits would have been about 11 feet tall.  But Goliath was slightly larger than that, because he was six cubits AND a span, which means he was even taller than 11 feet.  But notice what scripture does NOT say about Goliath.

He is not identified as a man of stature, a distinguished one, a notorious one or that he kept not his first estate.  At no time was Goliath ever a spirit being who fell to earth to do his evil deeds.

When you read the Bible, not every rendering of an English word is identical in every passage it’s found in.  Only Goliath was a physical giant.  The others were no bigger than the other humans of their time.

But it’s those former evil beings that we have to be aware of, because they’ve spent the entire previous 6,000 years inhabiting human after human after human…and they’re still around today doing the same thing.

It’s just not like they portray it in the movies.