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Numbers 13:33 – The Nephilim and The Anakites?
by Dr. D ~
Q: Numbers 13:33 seems to indicate that at least some of the Nephilim may have survived the flood and the Anakites were their descendents?
A: The report of these ten leaders was so wrong on so many levels, about so many facts, and was so given to so much exaggeration, that their statement about the Anakites as being descendents of Nephilim can not be trusted. The Anakites could have been men of large stature and merely reminded the Israelites of the past stories about the Nephilim. While Moses does not specifically contradict this part of the report. One has to wonder if God would have allowed some of the Nephilim to survive when he specifically brought the flood to eliminate them?
Gen. 7: 23 clearly teaches that this is not the case; that all mankind, all animals, and all birds were wiped out, except for Noah and those with him in the Ark.
October 12th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
If the Nephilim were eliminated in the flood, how would you explain Goliath and his brothers?
October 12th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Good question Jim. I believe as do most Bible scholars that those referred to as ‘The Nephilim’ in Genesis parished in the flood as Gen.7:23 clearly indicates.
If you accept Gen.7:23 as truth then the only logical conclusion is that Goliath and his brothers were just very large humans and different than the legendary Nephilim of Genesis even though they assumed the name and legend.
January 20th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
I do believe Gen 7:23, wholeheartedly! The explanation is found in Gen. 6:4, “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that…” The “after that” is a reference to after “those days” which are the days before the flood. So whatever happened before the flood to produce the giants, also happened “after” the flood (but maybe not to the same extent). If this view is correct, it honors the truth of every verse and allows for giants before and after the flood; every being on earth dying in the flood, and giants reappearing after the flood. But it disproves the idea that the sons of God are the sons of Seth and the daughters of men were from Cain, since all of Cain’s decendants died in the flood. Why is it so hard to believe that a spiritual being can reproduce? The Bible does not say the “angels in heaven” cannot marry, it just says they don’t. Matt. 22:30 “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.” It seems that it is a matter of choice for an angel to do the will of God. What about Jude 1:6, the angels that left their first estate? Could they have made a different choice? And, because of such, they are not “in heaven” anymore? Let me add this thought that I have had for some time now. I am sure you are familiar with Heb. 2:7. What made Jesus a “little lower than the angels”? Could it be that he took on blood, and therefore, mortality? Because before the incarnation, he was called “the angel of the LORD” and could take on a body (remember the wrestling match with Jacob). After the resurrection, he has a glorified body (without blood). What I am getting at is that angels can manifest themselves in bodies (remember Lot’s encounter with angels — two men). But what if evil angels can take blood (i.e. satanic blood sacrifices) and then render themselves capable of cohabitating with humans. At the same time, they become mortal and can die (as in a flood). If you know your Bible, I am sure a whole bunch of verses are coming to mind to tie this all together. Let the Bible be true and every man a liar! I don’t believe that those giants were just very large humans. Why wasn’t Ishmael a giant? Was Hagar a daughter of Seth?
January 25th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
I was just reading something in regards to people with Rh negative blood. It said that Jesus had Rh negative blood and so did the Watcher Angels – if the Watcher Angels made children with human women creating the Nephilim, could I be a Nephilim since I am RH negative? I hope they were all wiped out because I am truly scared of not being able to go to heaven… I am not a bad person. I may not be the best person, but I do try to be good. I could never knowingly cause anyone pain or suffering and I tend to help people wherever I go.
Any ideas on this?
January 25th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Charlotte,
There is nothing in the Bible about Jesus or the angels having RH negative blood. I don’t know what you read but it is simply not true. There is no possible documentation on this.
Regardless, no one is kept out of heaven due to a blood factor, according to the Bible ( John 14:6 ) no one comes to the Father (in heaven) except through Jesus–he is the only way, folks are kept out of heaven because of unbelief in the the Lord Jesus Christ–do you have faith in Jesus?
Are you good enough to get into heaven? –no one gets into heaven on the basis of their own deeds no matter how good they are according to the Bible—Ephesians 2:8-9:
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Charlotte, if you want to be sure that you are going to heaven, pray to God right now that you would like to receive his free gift of eternal life that comes through faith in his Son Jesus. According to John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Also Romans 6:23:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
You can be sure of eternal life if you accept God’s gift to you–Jesus as your savior–the one who can save you eternally, who died on the cross for the sins and bad deeds of every human who ever lived including you. Ask for his forgiveness and his cleansing for every bad thing you every did and will ever do.
Then ask that he would give you his Holy Spirit to take away your fear and give you peace and lead you daily to have a better life closer to God and his Son Jesus.
Charlotte if you want to go to heaven for sure and no longer have fear about it –pray to God like this:
“Father God, I know that I have made mistakes and have broken your laws. Please forgive me, I would like to accept your gift of eternal life that comes only through your Son Jesus Christ.
I understand and believe that your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayers. If my belief is weak, strengthen me now that I may have faith and assurance in You and Your Son.
I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send your Holy Spirit to take away my fear and help me live a better life from now on closer to You. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”
January 26th, 2009 at 12:10 am
Charlotte,
If you were a “nephilim” let me assure you, you would not be concerned with going to heaven (Jude 8-10). The fact that you fear going to hell is proof enough that you are totally human, but in need of Biblical salvation (Jude 22-23). Also, I’m pretty sure you are not a giant!
What Dr. D said about not being able to earn heaven is absolutely true. Salvation is a free gift (Rom 5:15). Every human is born with the wrong blood type anyway…it comes from Adam. That is what made our Lord Jesus Christ so unique! He was born of a virgin so he had his Father’s blood (Acts 20:28).
So if a person doesn’t have to earn salvation because it is given as a free gift, then why don’t more people find eternal life? The problem is getting to the place in your life where you can receive the gospel and “obey from the heart that form of doctrine.” (Rom 6:17).
Charlotte, the obedience called for is to believe on Jesus Christ and him alone as your means of salvation. To do that you first have to come to place where you recognize, accept, and confess that the very best that you can ever do is simply not good enough. This is the point of repentance. It is agreeing with God that at your best you deserve an eternal death in hell fire. When you allow the Holy Ghost to convict you of your sin, you will be able to repent not only of what you have done in your life, but also of what you are by nature…a sinner. Then you can receive salvation as a gift because you will know in your heart that you do not deserve it in any way whatsoever.
This is not an easy thing for most people to do. The older you get the more you learn to justify yourself. That is why we talk about child-like faith in what God said: about your sin, your condition, and the only remedy.
The bottom line Charlotte is that, like Dr. D said, you don’t have to doubt about you are going to heaven. You can know for sure (I John 5:13). But you have to come to realize that by God’s standards you are not a good person (Rom 3:10). God’s standard is Jesus Christ. Do you think you measure up to him? When you say you are not a bad person, who are you comparing yourself to? In God’s court you would be saying that you are just as good as Jesus Christ because if you are not a bad person then you are a good person…
Charlotte if you understand everything we have written to you, why don’t you get on your knees this very moment and call on God to save your soul tonight! Just pray to him the best way you know how and ask him to save you by his grace, to forgive you of your sins by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. If you got a glimpse of your unrighteousness and of God’s goodness, then act now. God will save you and make you a new creature in Christ.
March 26th, 2009 at 10:08 am
I’m interested in sources other than the Bible (not that I don’t believe its every word) and apocryphal books that mention the Rephaites, Anakites or Nephilim.
I’ve just read a Spanish book by the author Matilde Asensi that tells of Yatiri indians in Peru (wiped out with the conquistadors) who had legends of giants living together with normal humans about 10,000-6,000 years ago.
Could anyone give me information on non-Christian sources that speak of giants?
Thanks!
July 27th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
the book of enoch mentions the nephlium
December 19th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Genesis 7:24 clearly says “face of the earth” not underground were the Nephilum live.If you read more closely you will discover the Nephilum were “in the earth at that time and after”In clearly, not on the face.Sorry to blow your ideas out of the water but they are still here right now.The Nephilum bloodline continues and will spawn the seed of antichrist.Scarry huh.The tares dont want you to know this and have tried to hide it for thousands of years.
March 8th, 2010 at 7:14 pm
@William: could you explain more clearly how you come to the conclusion that the Nephilim were underground? I suppose some translations have used the preposition “in” versus “on the earth”, but I think the idea here was to show that they existed, and not to highlight that they lived underground.
Could you share verses in the bible that point to the antichrist coming from the Nephilim?
March 9th, 2010 at 4:05 am
hey to all that let their minds wonder about giants,mediums,witches, people who talk to the dead,etc. what is this to be concerned or worry about it? when you put ypur faith in god you dont need to worry about these things! in heaven if you even care any more the creator i feel will reveal it to you! live life , spread the good news when ever or where ever you can, love your god with as much strength as you can. we as followers are blessed as the jews we are all one under heaven and should stand strong in our faith and not allow doubt. follow god and love all, and he will give you the answers that are needed for the time.
September 14th, 2011 at 12:48 pm
This is for the answer on micheal…lord flooded the earth and it states that the niphilim was here after….. well baalzebub is the lord of the skys and they say he is responsible forr everything that goes on in the skys… he is on guard when the niphilim pass by…and the niphilim come every 3600 yrs….and the time line adds up…moses sent spies into canaan 1500 bc.give or take… Do the math..2012 plus 1500 …give or take….bout time uhhh…..check out zacharia sitchin theary
September 14th, 2011 at 11:14 pm
Craig,
There is no reference in the Bible that supports or indicates that “…the niphilim come every 3600 yrs”.
Sorry but I am not interested in any extra-Biblical notions or theories.
October 8th, 2011 at 3:12 am
I agree with Michael – I believe that everyone except for Noah and his immediate family were wiped out in the flood. However, this would not stop the ‘sons of God’ continuing what they were doing. I’ll admit that it is ambiguous as to what the Sons of God refers to, however to me it is a reference to angels. These angels would also get up to mischief after the flood.
There are some legends which say that certain Nephilim (such as Og) survived the flood through various means, though these (while interesting) seem to be just fanciful tales. The presence of such giants in the Old Testament is interesting nonetheless, it has always been of particular interest to me.
November 10th, 2011 at 12:47 pm
You are wrong. Some of the Nephilim did survive the flood and it does say that. Dont contradict the bible and put what you think when it clearly says that they saw the Nephilim in the land and that they were giants. And if thats what it says dont say other wise because you are wrong and the bible is right. If you dont believe this then what is the point of reading the bible if you dont believe what you read.
November 10th, 2011 at 10:57 pm
Sorry, it is the false testimony of the 10 men in Num. 13:33 that contradicts the Bible. Gen. 7:23 clearly states that all living things were wiped out by the flood and only Noah and those with him survived.
Because the people accepted their false testimony Israel was sentenced to travel in the desert until all that generation died. All except the Two -Caleb and Joshua that disputed the claims of the 10. It is that false testimony that you want to accept instead of the clear teaching of Gen 7:23? Both cannot be true–either all living things were wiped out like Genesis 7:23 indicates or some Nephilim survived like the 10 false brethren claimed.
I have no vested interest in whether the Nephilim survived or not. I am only interested in the clear teaching of the scriptures and the testimony of 10 false brethren cannot overturn Genesis 7:23 as far as I am concerned.
December 18th, 2011 at 1:26 am
Genesis 6 clearly says in those days and after the flood giants walked the earth as offspring of sons of god mating with daughters of men
December 18th, 2011 at 7:38 pm
Sorry Will, Genesis 6 says that it happened before the flood and was one of the reasons given for it. The Flood doesn’t begin till Genesis 7.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:31 pm
I think you need to understand that people have a habit of associating things together that while they look similar, are not related at all. Keep in mind that their was a young man from Alton, IL named Robert Wadlow who was in the nine foot range and is the tallest man ever in scientific recorded History. He was not however, a descendant of Nephilem, He had a defective pituitary gland which caused him to not stop growing. Their are several cases of this in our current history. Another was Andre “the Giant”. When the 10 spies related their story they were fearful. I’ve seen people who were scared try to relate their story and they are really exaggerated. If you read the account of the twelve spies, don’t cherry pick scripture and assume that you are understanding the contents. As the gentleman above mentioned, Joshua and Caleb had a completely different story to relate on what they saw. Another scenario would be to consider the genetics of Scandinavians who are naturally tall to the Asians. The average in heights is way different. You have to keep scriptures within the confined context of the story written. This is what causes so many misunderstandings.
January 25th, 2012 at 9:21 pm
I would lke to say that we need to study the scriptures better before we make a comment. someone said Cain was before the flood. I would suggest you read
Gen. 10:1. Only eight people intered the ark, Noah, Mrs Noah, his sons Japheth
Shem Ham no in that order, never the less those three and their wifes for a grand total of eight. There was no Cain at this time for Cain is the grandson of Noah. There were not grand children at this time. See michael,s listing of Jan.
26, 2009 above
January 25th, 2012 at 11:44 pm
john,
You are right in saying only 8 people entered the ark and survived the flood.
However, the Cain referenced was the son of Adam and Eve and definitely lived a long time before the generation of the flood and not after. Indeed check the genealogies in Genesis 10 and you will see that Noah did not have a grandson named Cain. He did however have one named Canaan who was the son of Ham.
April 16th, 2012 at 11:07 am
Could it be that the decendants of Anak who come from the Nephilim (Numbers 13:33) are decendant from one of the wives of Noah’s sons? Just an idea…
April 16th, 2012 at 7:52 pm
Certainly. All humanity are descendents from one or another of the wives of Noah’s sons.
April 17th, 2012 at 11:30 am
So is it possible that that is how “the Nephilim” survived the flood?
April 17th, 2012 at 10:05 pm
No. The giants that the 10 false brethren saw were descendents of Noah and his sons and their wives for sure -everyone is. However they were wrong when they called them Nephilim.
Genesis 7:23 says that all living things were wiped out except Noah and his family -none of which were Nephilim. Destruction of the Nephilim is one of the reasons for the flood in the first place. I am only saying that all humanity are descendents of Noah and his sons and their wives. The testimony of the 10 false brethren was wrong -see the previous comments. Otherwise God Failed and Genesis 7:23 is incorrect.
April 18th, 2012 at 11:51 am
Okay I can see that. I had just assumed that in Numbers 13:33, when the 10 false brethren said that they saw the Nephilim there, the parenthesis (the decendants of Anak come from the Nephilim) implies to the reader and not to Moses and the Israelites who likely knew of the “rumor” that the Anak are decendants of the Nephilim.
April 18th, 2012 at 12:05 pm
Also, how do we know the geneology of Noah’s son’s wives? How can we know for sure that they are not descents of the Nephilim. Is there any scripture to support that? Genesis 6:4 indicates that the Nephilim were “heores of old, men of renown” and it goes on to say in Genesis 6:5 that God saw how great the wickedness of the HUMAN RACE had become on earth and so He regretted “that he had made human beings on earth”. Which is why he said, ” I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created…for I regret that I have made them.” (Gen. 6:5-7). I don’t see where it says the “Nephilim” is one of the reason’s for the flood in the first place. It seems that the Nephilim were “men” too.
April 18th, 2012 at 12:14 pm
Oh and God was not happy with the human race so he wanted to destroy them, but he did save Noah and his family who were human. How do we know that he did not do the same with the flawed Nephilim? If the Nephilim were human than God could have saved one of them as well, if they were not human then the flood was not because of them.
May 9th, 2012 at 12:24 am
JJ,
The parenthesis was added by the English translators and is not in the original Hebrew.
2 elders- Joshua and Caleb saw no problems at all in going into the land while 10 were fearful and ultimately as a last resort in their report appealed to the supposed existence of legendary Nephilim in Hebron as an excuse not to go into Canaan.
It is always good to read the entire context rather than just a verse. The story begins in Numbers 13:1 and continues through the entire chapter. In the end God wipes out the 10 evil elders for their false report but blesses 2 -Joshua and Caleb who gave the good report. Which report is more likely to have been the truth? I believe that it is quite obvious.
If you do a complete study of related passages it is even more clear who was telling the truth. Later Caleb takes his tribe into Hebron and defeats the 3 sons of Anak (Judges 1:20). Now who was Anak? Was he really a Nephilim? Hardly. He was a descendent of Arba (Joshua 15:13) and in an earlier generation- Abraham and Sarah lived near Hebron and the people of Arba and he buried his wife Sarah there. There is no mention of the Nephilim at that time in fact the Hitties were in charge of the area and if the people of Arba were actually Nephilim (who were an evil legendary race) it is very unlikely that Abraham would have buried Sarah there (Genesis 23) and certainly they would not have been subject to the Hittite rulers.
More scriptural reasons to believe that the Nephilim reference in the report of the 10 was false and probably an exaggeration:
Anak is mentioned in the Bible 7 times. The only reference citing a possible connection of him and his family to the Nephilim is in the false report (Num. 13:33). Anak’s forefather Arba is found 5 times in the scriptures and he is called the ‘greatest of the Anakites’ but there is no reference to him as a Nephilim. The city of Hebron is referenced 76 times and the older name Kiriath Arba ( Named after Arba -Anaks forefather) is mentioned 11 times but no reference to any Nephilim living there except also in the false report. If there were really legendary Nephilim living there I would think that it would have been important enough to be referenced in at least some of those passages.
*More to come
May 12th, 2012 at 11:50 pm
JJ,
First of all their very name indicates that they were part of the wickedness problem that God was addressing through the flood. ‘Nephilim’ means ‘Fallen ones’ in Hebrew and many believe that Gen. 6:2-4 indicates they were the progeny of fallen angels-Sons of God (Demons) and human women so it is extremely doubtful that any of the wives of Noah’s sons were part of that evil race of humans.
It is that very distortion of creation that many Bible scholars believe actually led to the destruction of all humanity except Noah’s extended family of 8.
Here’s a link to my related article on Genesis 6:2-4:
Gen. 6:2-4: Who Are ‘The Sons of God’ and ‘The Nephilim’?
May 13th, 2012 at 12:01 am
JJ,
Again, it makes absolutely no sense that any one of the evil Nephilim race of humans would have beeen saved as part of Noah’s family if God wanted to start over with a clean slate.