You Can't Judge Me!

          

          

              The day had come when all the nations were to be judged.  One by one, God heard the testimony of all those on the earth, the living and the dead,  and one by one He began to separate them onto His right and onto His left.  At the sight of this many who had suffered much began to take exception to the fact that anyone could judge them having not experienced the same hardships from which they were cast.  They shouted out to each other “How can a God who lives outside the presence of sin even begin to judge we who are encircled by evildoers day and night?” and “Living in such a place of privilege without pain and without tears, how can He presume to sit as a magistrate condemning those with circumstances He cannot even pretend to understand?”  Having sufficiently rallied themselves against God, they requested that the act of separation cease and that the Almighty lend them an ear to make their case against Him.  Gracefully and without fear of any judgment, our Father granted His accusers a moment to let themselves be heard.  One by one they came from the ends of the earth accusing the Lord and saying, “How do you know that You would not have acted in the same way as we have if faced with the same intolerance and injustices, and how do You know that we SHOULD be without sin when you are not weak like we are?” 

An African American man, having been buried since the 1960’s came before Him with rope marks still imprinted on his neck saying, “I was killed for no other reason than that I was hated due to ignorance.  I did nothing wrong and yet I was convicted in front of a prejudiced jury who wanted nothing more than the blood of someone who made them uncomfortable and they did not understand.  How then can You judge me since You know nothing of such things?”  

A victim of the Nazi holocaust next approached the throne with the tattooed reminders of her previous life.  She looked towards God’s patient eyes and said, “Look at these scars.  Have I not already been judged?  My suffering and death were given to me solely because a country and its leaders were afraid of my beliefs.  How then can You judge me since You know nothing of this kind of persecution?”

Each person approaching the throne had a new accusation for the Lord.  Each doubted God’s ability to understand since He had never had to endure suffering, pain, persecution or sorrow while sitting upon His throne enjoying the praises of the angels.  God waited compassionately for each person and each charge to be completely exhausted.  Upon there completion God asked the nations, “What then would be your judgment upon Me?”  The many nations and each of the nation’s many accusers deliberated for some time so that they could return an answer to the Lord that would relegate Him to tears and humble Him to the point that He might have no grounds for unjustly passing judgment on the children of the earth who had already been through so much.  Finally, they had reached a conclusion and were ready to bring their judgment against the Almighty.  As a delegation they decided that He should be made to endure all that they had endured so that He would understand.  They decided He should be made a man like them and placed on the earth to suffer that He might be qualified before being permitted to indict anyone of any charges.  Each accuser would be given the opportunity to place their own sorrows upon Him to make sure that he would have the opportunity to understand their point of view.

The hanged African American man said, “Let Him be convicted before a prejudiced jury who wants nothing more than the blood of a man who makes them uncomfortable and let Him be killed for no other reason than that he was hated due to the ignorance of others.”

The holocaust victim said, “Let Him show the scars of this judgment as permanent as tattoos and let Him be persecuted by a country who was afraid of what He believes.”

A man in a business suit said, “Let Him feel the pressures of having so many mouths to feed and yet have such limited resources.  He will surely not have time for His family or time for spiritual things when faced with such a challenge.  Only then let Him judge me.”

An Ethiopian woman said, “Let Him suffer hunger so that you can count His bones and let his thirst be so great that his tongue sticks to His jaw.”

Next, a man in prison clothes said, “Because I was executed of a crime I did not commit, let the iniquities of another be placed upon His head and let Him pay the price for their sins even though He has done no wrong.”

A pregnant teenager said, “Let Him know what it feels like to be pierced by the hypocritical glances of many accusers who judge Him to be a sinner but don’t understand the whole story.”

A leprous man came giving judgment saying, “Let Him suffer the rejection of men, being despised as one from whom men hide their faces.”

A woman who had long suffered from depression said, “Let Him know what it feels like to be all alone with no one left to show you compassion.” 

His next litigant was a frail creature suffering from anorexia and bulimia.  She said to the jury, “Let Him know what it is like to have no desirable form or beauty.” 

Then a figure in funeral clothes approached the throne saying, “Because I have been widowed, let Him know what it feels like to be abandoned by His bride and left to suffer the biggest challenge of His life with no one to support Him.”

His next tear-filled challenger was a young man with fresh wounds who came saying, “Let Him know what it feels like to be betrayed by the closest of His friends.”

A long-suffering mother came and said, “Let Him be filled with tears over the insubordination and defiance of the children whom He loves so much He would be willing to die for.  Let Him see their wayward direction, plead with them to listen to wisdom, and then stand by watching them continue in their hard-heartedness.”

Approaching next was a fatherless child who said, “Let Him suffer with the absence of the support of His father.”

A heartbroken lover said in His presence, “Let Him feel the devastation of love lost so great that His heart is like wax melted within His chest.”

An overworked mother said, “Let Him feel the stress of everyone wanting something from you all the time and never bothering to ask ‘How are you doing?’”

A homeless man came forward and hurled out, “Let Him know what it is like to spend the night in the freezing cold because you have no place else to lay your head.”

On and on the prosecution littered a barrage of indictments against Him; each rendering their own form of justice making sure that every possible form of suffering would be dished out so that He might more clearly understand what it is we suffer in the deficiency of this cruel kingdom.  Surely He would not even be able to stand against the measure of His own judgment, and in so realizing this He might then render a favorable judgment on them due to the extenuating circumstances that led them to never be able to surrender to Him.  When the judgment of the nations had been completed, the Lord then opened His mouth to answer the accusers:

To African American man He replied, “Was I not convicted before a prejudiced jury and killed for no other reason than that I was hated?”

To victim of the holocaust He said, “And do I not also have the permanent scars of the judgment of my countymen?”

Answering each in turn, He said to the businessman:   “Did I not feed thousands with a few loaves, and find time for prayer despite being pressed on all sides?”

To the Ethiopian, “Did I not suffer on the cross such that one could even count my bones?  Did I not also thirst but then was only given sour wine?” 

To the prisoner, “Was I not also a prisoner executed of a crime I did not commit?  Were not the iniquities of the entire world placed upon Me even though I did no wrong?”

To the pregnant teen, “Have I not also been pierced and have I not also been counted among sinners being made to endure unspoken judgments?”

To the leper, “Was I not the rejected cornerstone?”

To the depressed, “Was I not alone when my sheep were scattered?” 

To the anorexic bulimic, “Was I not voluntarily made common and without majesty?”

To the widow, “Have I not been abandoned continuously and unceremoniously by the bride I came to serve?”

To the betrayed, “Do you not believe I understand what it is like to have a close friend do the unthinkable against me?”

To the long-suffering,  “Have I not also spoken ‘O Jerusalem… how often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing?’”

To the fatherless, “I too cried out to My Father, ’why have You forsaken Me?’”

To the heartbroken, “Do I not also know the pain of a broken heart?  While yours suffers and will be healed, Mine has even exploded inside my chest.”

To the overworked, “I have only known service and when have others ever asked Me how I am doing?”

To the homeless, “Do you not remember that ‘the Son of Man has no place to lay His head?’”

To each He answered in like manner, giving a sympathetic but challenging response for every accusation.  Finally, with one fell swoop He stated to all, “You have accused Me of these things because you have not known My Son who is in Me and I in Him.  If you would have known Him, you would have known that I have suffered not only these things but so much more.  You would understand that though I would have been justified to judge you without doing so, I also suffered so that I would be blameless before any accusation.  It is because you have chosen to be blinded by your own sufferings instead of acknowledging the saving power of the death, burial, and resurrection of my Son, Jesus Christ, that you have now been condemned.  For had you been able to see past yourselves you would have found sanctuary in knowing there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  Go now and find your home in the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Putting their heads down they knew that He was right.  They had heard the stories and were now reminded of the messages they had rejected from their parents, friends, pastors, and co-workers. He had endured these things and He had in fact endured even greater.  Laying down their scepters at the feet of the Savior, they exchanged them for shackles and began to march.  As they walked in file away from the Light, they realized how they had used their circumstances to try to justify their lives.  They remembered how they felt somehow prepared with the armory of these accusations if in fact there was a God that they would have to stand before.  How silly those arguments now seemed in response to an Almighty, All-knowing, Star-breathing Creator whose judgment comes out of the heavens, not from the perspective of the throne but from the cross.   

In Refusal of Choice

Nature bleeds in radiant glory

Deposits of gleaming tint.

It’s found in the lily’s hiding spot

Down where the river grows bent.

It’s seen across the evening sky

Bookmarking the day’s at end.

Fear not when blending richness departs

In morning it comes again.

It lies, as well, in tendering heart

Of beauty’s perfecting eyes,

As she longs that she may never leave,

Yet must for winged time flies.

It stands in nuance of mountain’s pools;

Its innocence safe from sound.

So undisturbed is its purity

Touching to comfort dry ground.

It last with strength of comradery,

The forest, its view, shows cast.

The power of the aspen or pine,

A few that provide the vast.

Colors serve as God’s divine polish.

We relish their every hue.

How quite demeaning to choose the best?

The question I bring to you.

The Blank in ____Moses' Name

Exodus 2:10 The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son.  And she named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

                There is some misunderstanding within the Christian community (and potentially other faiths) with regard to how or why Moses got his name.  I know this sounds like a really boring reason to blog but please stay with me because I think you will see that the truth behind it reveals something really incredible and Marvel comic awesome about God and His intentions for Moses.  Give me at least a few paragraphs before you move on…  Of course now that you are committed, I have decided to do the rest of the blog in one solid paragraph.

                Most of the confusion comes from the verse in Exodus itself.  Not that the verse causes confusion but it was originally written in Hebrew and we miss some of the subtlety now that Moses' name has been transliterated through Latin and then to English.  I won’t go into all the details (because that part is pretty boring) but suffice it to say that the name “Moses” does not mean “to draw out of the water” like the verse seems to say, but the Egyptian name “Mosheh” (Moses) sounds like the Hebrew word “mashah” which means “to draw out.”  It would be like if I named my son “Juan” because he was my first child… get it?  My first Juan?  As in, my second child would be named “Tu?”  Nevermind.  Anyway, Moses’ name sounds like a Hebrew word that means “to draw out” but it does not actually mean "to draw out" because his name is not a Hebrew name.  His name is an Egyptian name.  So what does “Moses” mean in Egyptian?  I am glad you asked. 

                In the Egyptian language, “Moses” means “is born.”  As simple as that.  Moses= is born.  So why is that significant?  Wow, you are asking great questions today.  That is significant because among the pharaohs they would often name themselves and their children using “moses” as a suffix.  Perhaps you have heard of Rameses?  Knowing what you know now about the Egyptian language can you figure out what his name means?  Rameses means “Ra” (Egyptians god of the sun) “is born.”  “Thutmose” means “Thoth” (Egyptian god of wisdom) “is born.”  “Ahmoses” means “Iah” (Egyptian moon god) “is born.”  So Moses is just the suffix of a name.  Poor Moses, he never got the rest of his name.  Can you imagine your name just being "is born?"  It would be like someone's favorite color being manila.  He was only ever half named; that must be why he had such temper.  But God loves naming things, so it would seem very fit that He Himself would give Moses a name or at the very least change Moses’ name so that he didn’t have to go all over the desert with this sorry Egyptian label.  Kids would probably pick on him and stuff.  Well maybe God did give him a new name and we just missed it.  As promised, this is where it gets interesting.

                In Exodus 3:13-14 God is speaking to Moses at the burning bush and discussing all that this mission entails.  Moses, ever questioning, says he is worried because as he goes to the sons of Israel and tells them that the God of their fathers sent him, they are likely to ask, “What is His name?”  God never flinches and tells Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”  It is from these words “I AM” that the Hebrew people constructed the name of God now pronounced Yahweh.  Did you see what just happened there?  God just gave Moses a new name.  He filled in the blank for Moses and gave a prefix to his suffix.  Did you miss it?  And it is important that God changed it just as He was commissioning Moses to go and set His people free from the Egyptian pharaohs and all of their gods.  Let me help you out with it if you are still not able to see it.

                From now on, whenever Moses was asked his name he would reply, “I AM Moses.”  God filled in his little blank and put His own covenant making name in there.  He is not “Ra”moses, or “Thut”moses, but rather he is “Yahweh”moses and more powerful than any Egyptian pharaoh or their made up gods.   Kids won’t be making fun of him now!  All of this and he is only a type of the Messiah to come.  The Messiah will be the true Moses because in Him the full meaning of “I AM Moses” becomes “Yahweh is born.”  Read that last line one more time just in case you missed it.  I told you it would be worth it if you hung on for a minute!  So whenever you go out there and no matter what opposing force you stand before, when they say “Who are you?”  You put your hands on your hips, puff out your chest and belt out “I AM Franklin!”  Or “I AM Lucy!” and watch the cohorts draw back and fall to the ground just as they did when Jesus invoked the same name before He allowed them to put Him on the cross (John 18:4-6).  Even if your name is Ruchibard you have a fabulous banner if only you say boldly, “I AM Ruchibard!”  Go get’em today Ruchibard, you serve an awesome God, and He gave you a name.

Explain Yourself

As I look over the lives of the faithful followers of God it becomes apparent that there are certain characteristics that stand out as fundamental.  One in particular seems to be at the core: they live lives that demand an explanation.  Whether it was Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego quizzed by the disbelief of the Babylonian king who asked, “What god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?” (Daniel 3:15). Whether it be Esther who braved political incorrectness and even a death sentence to save her people which shocked Ahasuerus into asking, “What is troubling you, Queen Esther?  And what is your request?” (Esther 5:3) or whether it be Paul who, even though he faced impending death, refused prophetic advice and the petitions of confused locals travelling to Jerusalem in spite of good reason to stay (Acts 21:10-14).  These men and women of faith were constantly in the throes of danger, yet they persisted in living lives that left people stunned in their wake.

                A shepherd boy defeated a giant warrior, a murderer overcame the Egyptian army, a stubborn fisherman refused to stop speaking in the name of his teacher.  Over and over again the Biblical greats did the impossible because they had one binding character trait: faith.  There is one other common feature I forgot to mention, however: these were common folks like you and me.  Yes, David was a king but he was born a shepherd.  Yes, Esther was a queen but that was due to her favorable looks and by no means her lineage.  Yes, Moses was raised a prince but he was an outcast in the desert when faith appeared.  The principle is this: it doesn’t matter if you are royal or common.  The overriding evidence points to the fact that God is looking towards our hearts and not our bloodlines.  He is looking towards our potential and not our titles.  He is looking at our opportunities and not our religious clout.

                Sometimes I feel like we fail to have faith because people will say to us, “Why are you doing that?”  “Don’t you know that is just a pipe dream?” “Don’t you realize that what you believe is impossible?” “Why now?” “Why her?” “Why not?”  So what?  That is a good thing.  It sets you apart and forces you to have to answer a few of their questions.  Where there are questions, we as Christians have an awesome opportunity to give answers.  Very rarely is evangelism so easy.   Seldom would someone want you to walk up to them cold and start telling them about your “Lord and Savior” but when they ask, they are opening a door.  To their surprise they have walked right in to your testimony.  But how will they ask if you are not doing the ask-worthy?  Why would they ask if you behave just like them?  Why would they notice if you were swimming downstream with the rest?

                Do something today that makes people ask you “Why?”  Then be prepared to let them know you are standing on the shoulders of giants as you walk in the faith that God makes available to all of His children; royal and common.  If you are not living a life that others question, are you really living on faith at all?  And if you are not living on faith, are you really so different from the rest of the world? 

                You are unique and awesome and wonderful and incredible.  Go be that today and see if others don’t ask how you do it.  If that doesn’t get anybody to enquire… I guess you could just get a neck tattoo or something.

Perceptions

A hunted find;

A fevered cold;

An evil kind;

The secret told;

How odd the mind which couples the two,

My perceptions say these are far and few.

A door that’s locked;

A snake that’s coiled;

A pistol cocked;

And water boiled;

How odd the mind to feel them a tease,

My perceptions say not to fool with these.

The winter dead;

The desert bare;

The young one’s head;

And stagnant air;

How odd the mind where not essential,

My perceptions say these have potential.

Color of skin;

Fam’ly of birth;

Past numbered sins;

Dollars you’re worth;

How odd the mind upholding such clatter,

My perceptions say these shouldn’t matter. 

Other Religions Honor Jesus Too, Right?

John 5:23 “so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father.  He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”  In John 5:23 we are called to honor the Son just as we honor the Father.  Don’t the Muslim, Jehovah’s Witness, and Mormon communities also honor Jesus?

No.  Do we not honor the Father in a more privileged way than we would honor anyone else?  In 1 Peter 3:7 God calls us to honor our wives but don’t we honor the Father with more privilege than our wives?  Despite Exodus 20:12 would it not be blasphemous for us to honor the Father equally or on the same plain as our mother?  Does God not speak out against honoring anything as equivalent to Him in multiple places?  So why is it not permissible to honor our wives or anything else “even as…the Father” but it is just fine to honor the Son “even as…the Father.”  Isn’t the point that we honor no one “even as” we honor God?  To do so would be a violation of even the foundational 10 commandments which mandate we have no other gods, nor worship or serve them.  If I honor someone “even as” I honor God like John 5:23 makes imperative, then I would have to honor them with worship and service because that is a critical part of how I honor God.  Now I am being called in John 5:23 to the honor the Son “even as” the Father which means I must worship Him, serve Him, praise Him, pray to Him, be obedient to Him, know Him, etc.  To do anything less would mean I am not honoring Him “even as” the Father. 

Muslim’s, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Mormon’s (among others) do not honor the Son “even as” the Father but only give to Him a special note in the appendix by comparison.  It is certainly not my attempt to slander any other religion but it is my obligation to be sure we, as Christians, understand that those faiths are not the same and do not worship the same God/god.  It is also my privilege to keep them from a blindness that would permit them to see their handling of Christ as honorable.  As an example let me use the following analogy: Barack Obama was formerly a senator from the state of Illinois.  He was subsequently elected as the President of the United States of America for two terms.  If I were to approach him now, with proper Homeland Security clearance of course, and greet him saying, “Good morning Senator Obama” I would be attempting to honor him, but not giving him due credit and appreciation of his real value.  In fact my omission of his full achievement and status would indicate about myself that I did not know him at all and could even be disrespectful due to the fact that I did not acknowledge his presidency.  In much the same way, and don’t take the analogy too far, recognizing Jesus as a prophet, the Messiah, or possibly even as the Son of God (although I would argue this statement is a concession of His deity) still falls short of His divine nature.  In fact God says calling Him by any name at all falls short of His true value because He has been given the name above all names.  Chairperson Obama, Dr. Obama, Mayor Obama and Mr. Obama sir might all be noble titles but there is none as noble as President Obama; save for maybe “daddy.” 

This is an excerpt from my book entitled “Logikos: A Comprehensive Reference to The Biblical Evidence of the Trinity and the Deity of Christ.”  If you enjoyed what you read and would like to contribute to my self-publishing efforts please feel free to follow the link below:

https://www.gofundme.com/book-on-trinity-deity-of-christ

What is Your Ministry Area?

Peter 4:10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

                As a Christian you are probably enamored by the idea of working for the Lord, serving Him daily, and maybe even surrendering your whole life to His desires.  There is an entrancing and romantic ideal around the whole concept.  Don’t get me wrong, I think that is awesome!  In fact, I think that is a core desire that God Himself has placed inside of each one of His children.  It motivates you to honor Him with your service and to share the love, forgiveness, hope, grace, fulfillment that God has so graciously given to you.  It causes you not to forget His sacrifice and to long for being a living vessel of the Gospel message.  The problem with this is, you probably already are but are diminishing the work God has carved out for you while revering only the work God has assigned to others.  Let me explain.

                If I were to ask you, “What is your ministry area?” you would likely give me a list of churchy duties and religious aspirations.  Or conversely, you might shy away from the question completely and say, “I am not a preacher and I don’t really feel called to be a missionary.”  In an effort to keep this short, let me cut to the chase and say, in either answer you would not have answered my question at all.  Those things comprise about 0.01% of the ministry areas to which God has called His people.  Don’t let me offend any pastors but I think you would all agree that there is an average of 1 pastor to 100 members of the congregation.  Surely that does not mean that 99% of the church is not in ministry.  I believe we are missing the mark on this.

                So what is a ministry area?  A ministry area is simply finding the place where you can best honor God by serving in areas which combine the things you are passionate about with the people for which God has given you great compassion.  Put another way, it is the intersection where your gifts, talents and abilities collide with the population for which God has uniquely created your heart to bleed.  And yes, a pastor has the gift for preaching and his heart bleeds to shepherd flocks of God’s children, but that is not the only ministry area God has made available.  Yes, a missionary is gifted with empathy and dedication while having a fearless passion to spread the Gospel to those who have never heard, but aren’t there more options?  Is God not a “manifold” God? 

                I would like to propose that many (if not most) of you are currently serving in your ministry area as we speak.  Unfortunately, you may not be honoring God with it because you think it less than honorable, mundane or ordinary.  You don’t have the starched collar, you haven’t warn a robe since your graduation, no colorful linens, and the only special hat you have has a fish hook on the bill and smells like catfish bait.  But Paul warned us against these demeaning thoughts.  1 Corinthians 12:17-18 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be?  If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?  But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.  He even goes on in this passage to exclaim that on those members which we have deemed to have less honor, we are instead to bestow a more abundant honor.  In other words, Paul understood that a church filled with 100 pastors and no flock was worthless, but rather a church should be filled with 100 ministers while only 1 pastor.

                An elementary school teacher has gifts, talents and abilities geared towards teaching, educating and motivating.  Likewise she also has a passion to shape young, beautiful, clean slated minds.  She does so for the glory of God by ensuring her motives are not just to get through the day but rather to invest her resources in being loving and patient while instructing our youth in such core values as treating each other with respect, discipline, self-worth and a desire for growth.  She is serving God valiantly within her ministry area!  Although she may not have the title of a vocational minister, she is thriving right where God has planted her.

                A business man has gifts, talents and abilities such as leadership and administration.  He also feels compassion for young business owners who are struggling in many of the areas where he found himself lost and hopeless in previous years.  He works diligently within this ministry area to honor God by mentoring other professionals and training business men and women how to treat their customers with respect, honor their employees, run their business according to a high level of integrity and ethics, and even by showing grace where sometimes wrath seems the just solution.  God is well honored in his ministry and this man doesn’t even wear a cross necklace.

                A cashier at the local “buy-it-all-in-one-place” store struggles to figure out how she is going to afford $10,000 a semester to go to seminary.  But she must find a way because she wants desperately to be able to serve the Lord as a profession so she can do it 40+ hours a week instead of just being a greeter at church on Sunday mornings.  Meanwhile she patiently assists the elderly man who insists on writing a check for his groceries.  With 7 scorned shoppers glaring at him, our dutiful cashier calls for a manager to come by and assist with the transaction.  (Aside: Come on, it is 2017 people!!! You are still writing checks?)  While they wait, the man converses with the young cashier and she is able to brighten his day by asking to see pictures of his grandchildren.  Later she tells a little girl how beautiful she looks in her new dress, she smiles at someone who hasn’t been noticed since he can remember, she works a little over so that a co-worker can take a longer break, and she prays as each man, women and child goes through her lane.  But at the end of the day she takes of her smock, kicks up her feet and sighs, “When oh Lord are you going to put me into service for Your glory?”  Can’t you see that she has missed it?  He has already commissioned her yet she is seeking to abandon her post so that she can go to school and “finally serve the Lord in ministry.”  Wait!  

                Let me encourage you, bloom where you are planted.  If God calls you somewhere else, then go.  But don’t abandon your post because you think you are not serving Him there.  What are your gifts?  Who are you passionate for?   How can you do that to glorify your Savior? 

                Do you make people feel good about themselves and work in retail?  How can you use both of these pieces to honor the Lord?  Do you make people laugh and enjoy being around students?  How can you use those two things together to glorify God?  Do you love snow skiing and have compassion for the underprivileged?  How can you use that to glorify God?  Do you love to read and enjoy spending time with the elderly?  Do you not see your ministry area there?  Do you not see that God has uniquely cut you to reach these people with your talents and that a missionary might not be the adequate choice?

                Perhaps your ministry area may is not even about people but rather places and/or things.  If your passion is animals, honor God by using your gifts to defend and care for the rest of His creation.  If your passion is your home town, glorify the Lord by restoring historic buildings or pouring yourself into the politics that make a town great.  If you have a great nostalgia for your local YMCA and gifts of organization, make your YMCA the crown of the neighborhood with programs benefitting the five block radius surrounding your home.  These are tremendous ministries but require men and women who identify themselves as ministers and take up the responsibility of a beating heart longing to honor the Lord and dedicated to being a part of something bigger than just existing. 

                Do you know your ministry area?  Are you content with serving God where you are planted or do you think you just happened there by chance?  God is, in fact, manifold and has given all His children great gifts; world-changing gifts such as a great smile, patience, eyes of wonder, mechanical prowess, fixing clogged sinks or even growing tomatoes.  Use those gifts to serve someone who needs them.  The faithful servant of God does not long to be a hand when God’s people need a toe, but also refuses to be a toe if God has created him/her to be a heart.  Pray, seek and then go serve.  Whatever you do, do it with excellence and you will bring a smile to the face of God.       

Who Were the Nephilim?

                       

                 Before we get started, let me assure you that I will give you no concluding answer.  My desire is only to present as much information as is possible from what is in the Bible.  Many extra-biblical texts have additional information that might provide some insight to this question, however, because it is not the Word of God it might (and most likely will) produce more confusion on the subject than it would provide clarity.  For that reason, I have intentionally not referenced any of that material so that my insight is clear and comes only from what is stated in the Bible.  I will throw out a few hypothetical ideas in the process that others have used but which take great leaps, however I will only use the model of the Bible from which to leap.  Again, the Bible does not offer sufficient information on this subject to take us from hypothesis to fact and so we are going to just have to be content with concluding that it may well remain a mystery.  All that said, here is what I could find.

                The question of the Nephilim comes from one obscure passage in the Bible; some will say it is in two passages but I will argue the validity of the second later in this essay.  That single true passage referring to the Nephilim is from Genesis chapter 6.  The name “Nephilim” is mentioned in verse 4, but beginning in verse 1 the passage accounts that man was multiplying on the face of the earth and the “sons of God” saw that the “daughters of men” were beautiful and so they took them for wives.  Verse 4 then reads:  “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them.  Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”  After this time either the wickedness on the earth increased exceedingly, or else God just grew weary of the gradual increase in the wickedness.  Either way, it was at this time that God decided to flood the earth. 

                Okay, so you know what I know.  What do we make of this?  As I mentioned, there is one other passage that makes reference to the Nephilim in Numbers 13:33 but I don’t think we can place much faith in this passage since it is the babbling of a bunch of faithless spies that were embellishing the story of what they saw in the land of Canaan.  Could they have seen Nephilim?  I will argue this, but I suppose it is possible.  More likely they just wanted to convince Moses not to take the chance and risk their lives since they did likely see the “sons of Anak” who legendary for being very large, if not giants, and falsely referred to them as “Nephilim” to give their case some mythological weight.  If you will assume with me that it is too risky to base anything on this passage from Numbers, then we have to focus solely on Genesis 6:4 which again reveals almost nothing. 

                Let me do this.  Let’s separate out what we know with absolute fact, what is most likely true, and what cannot faithfully be seen as any more than speculation.                                                                                                                                               

ABSOLUTELY FACT:                         

·         The Nephilim were real:

If it is in the Bible then it actually happened; so I believe.  The intent of this paper is not to go into the reliability of Scripture, but suffice it to say that the Bible speaks Truth alone.  The Bible says they existed and so they did.

·         The account of the Nephilim is relevant: 

For some reason God made sure this account was revealed in Scripture.  With so many mysteries in the Bible, the fact that the Nephilim are something about which God chose to show an account is noteworthy.  If God speaks about it then it is with a purpose and mine is only to try to find out why.

·         They were on the earth in those days:

Genesis 6:4 begins by saying “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days.”  Those days being the days of Noah and during the time when the sons of God were coming in to the daughters of men and bearing children.

·         They were on the earth “afterward” too: 

Genesis 6:4 continues to say “and also afterward.”  When is the afterward?  That will have to fall under the speculation portion of this exercise.  All we know for sure is that it was after “those days.”         

                                                                                                               

MOST LIKELY TRUE:

·        They were wicked:                                                                                                                                        

Genesis 6:5 says “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”  Verse 12 says that “God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.”  So why is this statement not absolute fact if the Bible says so in two places?  Because, however likely, that stance is assuming that the Nephilim were men (vs. 5) and/or that they were flesh (vs. 12).  Unfortunately the Bible gives them a name and does not precisely explain what/who they are.  Without knowing what Nephilim are other than a title, we could substitute anything in its place because there is nothing more said; it is just an assumption.  What if the Nephilim are dinosaurs and instead it read “The Tyrannosaurus Rex were on the earth in those days?”  Then they would not be men and therefore not necessarily wicked, right?  What if the Nephilim are spiritual beings and instead it read “The Archangels were on the earth in those days?”  They would not be flesh, right?  And it would be hard to categorize them as evil if we don’t know if they are flesh, spirit or water based paints.  The account in Genesis is not defining that they were anything except present.  They could have been hot air balloons for all we know.  For that reason, I put this as most likely true.  It is not likely they were hot air balloons or water based paints or dinosaurs but we can’t rule it out given the text we have.  Most will then say, “But it does says they are the offspring of the daughters of men and sons of God.”  For my comments to that statement, see the next section.

·         They are the offspring of the sons of God and the daughters of men:

If Genesis 6:2 and Genesis 6:4 both say that these two united to form the Nephilim, why is that not under the absolutely factual section?  Because with the way it is written it is conceivable that this is just a comment that is unassociated with the Nephilim.  Genesis 6:2 says that the sons of God saw the daughters of men and saw that they were beautiful so they took them as wives.  Is it 100% necessary that this is referring to the Nephilim?  It is contextually likely, but the Nephilim are not mentioned here and are not mentioned for two more verses.  Perhaps this is an unrelated statement like if I were to say, “My parents got married in high school.  Gerald Ford was president in those days.”  Certainly I am not insinuating that President Ford had anything to do with their marriage?  And I am definitely not saying that Gerald Ford was a product of their marriage.  Verse 4 simply says that the Nephilim were present during the time that the sons of God were going into the daughters of men, doesn’t it?  It does not definitively say, “The Nephilim are the offspring between the sons of God and the daughters of men.”  It only says that the Nephilim were on the earth during this time.  Yao Ming is “on the earth” right now but that does not make me 7 feet tall.  I know this is unlikely, but if we can’t say it definitively then we have to keep it out of the facts section.  If you lie with a dog, you will most likely get fleas but you will not find that equation written in any scientific law books. 

·         They were mighty men who were of old, men of renown:

Yes, Genesis 6:4 makes this statement definitively, but based on the previous argument, if we are not 100% sure that the offspring of the sons of God and daughters of men are the same as the Nephilim then there could be two different things being described here.  If so, which ones are the mighty men of old, men of renown?  It could be that there are the Nephilim and then there are also the offspring of the sons of God and daughters of men which were mighty men.  I know it is unlikely, but it is conceivable.

SPECULATION:

They were giants:

Nothing in all of chapter 6 makes any allusion to the fact that they are giants.  The name “Nephilim” does not mean giant or big or anything like that.  The description as “mighty men” literally comes from the Hebrew word “gibbor” which simply means “man.”  Granted, this usage of “man” is usually used to represent a warrior or someone who is strong but that is a big leap for us to from “warrior” to “giants.”  I know lots of warriors that were not giants, some who were not even mighty?  Was Spartacus a giant?  Did he have political clout?  What about Napoleon; was he tall and strong?  Was William Wallace 9 feet tall?  Alexander the Great?  This is speculation and most of it comes from the association we see in the previously mentioned use of Nephilim in connection with the sons of Anak in Numbers 13:32-33.  Remember, however, that this is the ramblings of scared men running in fear from what they think they saw.  Numbers 13:33 even says as much when is says “we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”  In otherwords, they had a small view of themselves and so they were small in the eyes of these creatures.  Verse 32 even says that they saw men of great size, but verse 33 says “There also we saw the Nephilim…”  The Nephilim are not even necessarily included among the men of great size in that passage because it says the Nephilim were there in addition to the giants: “There also.”  Verse 33 does say that the sons of Anak are a part of the Nephilim but based on what are the men in this story basing that statement?  Folklore?  Understand that I am not questioning what the Bible says, I am saying that this is a narration of what scared men said as they lied to Moses to prevent him from attacking the sons of Anak who were apparently very large and terrorized the valley.  Because of that it is difficult to take any factual information from this verse.  This still does not even prove that the Nephilim were flesh because they seem only mythical and used to evoke fear in God’s people where there should be no fear at all.  Next I will describe what we know about the sons of Anak and some other possible (speculative) reasons why they may be a part of the Nephilim as Numbers 13 says.

 The sons of Anak were a part of the Nephilim:

This is speculation despite this statement being made in Numbers 13:33 where the men returning from scouting the land of Canaan tell Moses “There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”  Not to belabor this point, but these men were scared and were not even allowed to enter the promised land because of their lack of faith.  It is factual that the sons of Anak lived in the promised land and that they were very large (we will get to that in a moment) but there are no details or implications that they are associated with the Nephilim at all except through these faithless men’s testimonies of what they believe they saw.  It is a flippant word spoken by desperate men.  It may well be true but it could just as easily be false.  As I indicated in the previous point, their vision was not even reliable as Numbers 13:33 states “we became like grasshoppers in our sight, and so we were in their sight.”  In other words, they were not actually small in the sight of the Nephilim until they became (or believed they became) small in their own eyes.  Picture someone cowering in fear when they stand before a mighty warrior.  This person may well be a mighty warrior himself but when he thinks himself to be small (faithless), he reveals himself to be small in the eyes of the mighty warrior as well.  That seems to be what this account represents.  They were not actually small, they believed themselves to be small and revealed their cowardice.  The sons of Anak are certainly intimidating but it seems like they were throwing in the name “Nephilim” just as an exaggeration to invoke both physical fear and fear of the unknown.  I see no definitive evidence that the Nephilim were actually in the land of Canaan.

So who were the sons of Anak?  I will go into great detail about the existence of giants and the sons of Anak later as an addition to this question of the Nephilim, but the sons of Anak were specifically three Canaanite men.  They were grandchildren of Arba and sons of Anak.  Their names were Ahimen, Talmai and Sheshai (Numbers 13:22, Joshua 15:13-14, Judges 1:10) and they were said to be great and tall.  Their descendants were also said to be great, tall and numerous (Deut. 2:10-11, Deut. 2:20-21, Deut. 9:2).  When Joshua utterly destroyed them in Canaan, they were pushed into Philistia where they are said to have a remnant in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod (Joshua 11:21-22).  It is likely that the famous giant Goliath who the Bible claims to be 6 cubits (approximately 9.5 feet) tall was descended from these sons of Anak who were pushed into Gath (1 Samuel 17:4).  There large size and the terror that they instilled in their enemies is well documented but it also seems most likely that they were completely destroyed.

The Nephilim still exist:

As I mentioned above, and as I will go into detail later, the giant people groups are most likely wiped out.  However, we are not certain that the Nephilim were giants.  We are not even sure that they are people.  We are not even sure they are flesh.  If we don’t really know what they are it is hard to prove that they exist.  That said, it is hard to prove they don’t.  The Bible says in Genesis 6:4 “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward…”  How long afterward?  It just isn’t clear which is why they are under the topic of speculation.  If we associate them with the civilization of giants, then they have most likely become extinct.  I would reasonably say that by the time Moses authored the book of Genesis, the Nephilim were not likely in existence.  See also the question below regarding if they were killed in the flood. 

One major issue:  Genesis 6:4 says they existed “in those days and also afterward.”   That is strange language if they continued to exist on the earth until the time of Moses.  You would expect that if they persisted to be on the earth that Moses would have said they were “on the earth in those days and until now.”  However, he did not.  Fragile proof, but it seems the most reasonable to me.  Multiple places in the writing of Moses we see him refer to things that have been and still are.  Never does he say anything similar to Genesis 6:4 to imply that something is still around.  See Genesis 19:37 “The firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day.”   See also Genesis 19:38, Genesis 26:33, Genesis 32:32, Genesis 35:20, Deut. 3:14, Deut. 29:28, Deut. 34:6 among others.  It is speculation but Moses’ wording does not seem to account that they still exist unless Moses was not sure… in which case, Genesis would hardly seem inspired by an all knowing God.

The Nephilim died in the flood:

See the argument under “They still exist” before continuing here.  I don’t mean to have the same conversation twice but due to the way Genesis 6:4 is written, it is likely that the Nephilim were not around when Moses wrote Genesis.  However, Genesis 6:4 does say that they were “on the earth in those days, and also afterward.”   The “and also afterward” part gives us cause for thought.  I suppose that one could say that they existed in those day and even right up until the flood but that is such a short time period.  Genesis 6:4 says “in those days” which is an indefinite period which could cover an entire lifetime and Noah lived to be 950 years old.  I would find it hard to believe that “in those days” only encompassed the time from when Noah became a father at 500 years old (Genesis 5:32) and until he built the ark when he was 600 (Genesis 7:6).  Then somehow “and also afterwards” only encompasses the time from when Noah built the ark until the rain started falling.  That just doesn’t seem very logical. 

Although I cannot explain what “and also afterward” means, I also know that only eight people survived that flood and they were not Nephilim.  So how could they exist afterwards?  Perhaps in their hot air balloon?  Perhaps, like I said previously, they are not flesh; not mankind but other than mankind.  Or unless the sons of God interacted with the daughters of men again after the flood and it is not accounted for except for in the “and also afterwards” statement of Genesis 6:4.  Strange thought, right?  But how can it be explained otherwise?

So let’s begin to search a little more into what we know, don’t know, and kind of know to see if there are enough connections that we might be able to draw any confident conclusions that could make sense without getting too far outside of what the Bible conveys. 

It would be good at this time to look into the etymology of the word Nephilim.  The Hebrew word “nphl” means “to fall” and adding the suffix “im” just makes it a people rather than a person.  For instance Anakim are the people described as the descendants of Anak.  Nephilim are then the people of “nphl” which means “fall.”  Therefore the Nephilim are believed to be “fallen people.”  Many people hypothesize that the Nephilim are a race generated when fallen angels (sons of God) impregnated the human race (daughters of men).  That is a huge leap for many reasons, to be discussed later, and I don’t think it is necessary to take such a leap.  For one, there are various other possible translations of this word.  “Fallen people” assumes that Nephilim is actually from the derivative verb “nphl.”  The root of this word as well as its interpretation is actually quite dubious.  Many also theorize that is comes from the causative stem rather than the verb.  That would lead to interpret the word Nephilim as “ones who cause others to fall.”  Still others see it as “violent men” or “ones who fall upon their enemies.”  However you see it, I don’t believe it necessary to associate it with fallen angels.  Certainly a wicked people that slays its enemies with its great size and has evil in its heart continually could also be considered a “fallen people” without them quite literally having been cast down from heaven.  God was, in fact, going to wipe them out because of their fallenness.  Most often, the simplest explanation is superior to the most mysterious but it is the mysterious that tickles our ears the most. 

So what is all of this about the sons of God and the daughters of men?  Well, good question.  I have heard many different explanations of this and, honestly, I am not content with any of them.  This might just have to remain cryptic as well but let’s discuss some possibilities for kicks.

·         I have heard the theory that the “sons of God” are really kings or royalty and the “daughters of men” are the common folk.  Combining the noble blood and intelligence of royalty with the strong hands and backs of the common people would produce a line of men that were mighty and wise.  You buying that one?  It is just a theory, but I don’t see that it is a very good one. 

·         I have also heard that the “sons of God” represent the descendants of Seth (the good son of Adam, see Genesis 4:25-26) and the “daughters of men” represent the descendants of Cain (the evil son of Adam).  This makes a lot of sense but why would that create a mighty people of renown?  I guess I don’t have much else to say about this one.  I like where it is going but I don’t see how 1+1=4.  Also, the descendants of Seth were just as wicked as the descendants of Cain because God was going to wipe out the whole planet.  So why would He refer to a race of wicked people doomed for eradication as the “sons of God?” 

·         I have also heard that the “sons of God” represent angels or fallen angels while the “daughters of men” literally represent…umm… daughters of men.  Not much stretch on the daughters of men part but a pole vaulting leap when representing the sons of God.  It is still interesting and would explain a lot of things.  Like, for instance, how they became mighty men.  I would imagine that an angel (living in such close proximity to the power of God) mixing with a man (created in the image of God) with a healthy dose of disgruntled postal worker rage might well make for some sort of different hybrid creature.  If they were fallen angels, it would explain why the wickedness on the earth seems to have exploded during this time.  But it also raises more questions. 

Is it possible for a spiritual being to manifest itself somehow as flesh and bear children?  Wow, I wouldn’t think so; manifest, maybe; possess, definitely; but definitely not create.  We see God (Spirit) manifest Himself as Jesus Christ (Matthew 1).  We see a pre-incarnate son of God in the person of Melchizedek (Genesis 14, Hebrews 5).  We see angels in the form of men in several places throughout Scripture.  God even says in Hebrews 13:2 that we can unknowingly entertain or care for angels, presumably because they look like men.  We see one example of this in Genesis 18 when the birth of Isaac is promised to Abraham and Sarah.  We even see how God used an angel to block the path of Balaam and then God opens the mouth of Balaam’s donkey (Numbers 22:28), but these examples all seem to be through the power of God and not out of the will of the angels.  In each of these instances (and many, many more) God is being represented by these angels, and never do we see the angels just coming down to mess with people.  In fact, the rest of Scripture seems to hold that these fallen angels or demons (assuming fallen angels and demons are the same) need our flesh in order to manipulate anything physical.  For instance, the demoniacs in the New Testament live within man’s flesh and manipulate it onto fires, into convulsions, etc. but never exist within themselves.  The unclean spirits in Mark 5:12-13 are removed from the man and they request to enter into swine presumably because they needed a home.  The same story in Luke 8 accounts that many demons had entered into Legion.  We see in Luke 22:3 and John 13:27 that even Satan himself enters into Judas but does not actually become a man he just enters one.  In other words, if a fallen angel manipulated a man to have sex with a woman…an evil child giant would not be the offspring.  They would simply have a child; born out of the evil intentions of Satan for sure but ultimately just a man and woman getting pregnant.  No miraculous implantation of spiritual power converging in this relationship, just sex.  If it were that easy, any wicked or possessed man who has sex with a woman would again sprout a race of Nephilim if this were true.  I guess that is where the argument loses weight for me. 

Also, are not angels sexless and without marriage?  In Mark 12:25 Jesus says “For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.”  And besides, even if these spirits could somehow have children with flesh women, last I checked if you breed a dog with a cat it doesn’t work.  So neither would a spirit exchange DNA with a woman.  It would be much like trying to eat a hologram of a pizza.  It seems to me that the only One who can make someone into flesh is the One who can create flesh.  Neither Satan nor any other fallen angel can do that.

 It raises another question too.  If, as Revelations 12:9 stipulates, Satan and his angels were cast down all together to the earth before or during the days of the garden of Eden, why all of the sudden did they start having sex with women in the days of Noah?  We are talking about 1500 years by most estimates!  For 1500 years there wasn’t one attractive woman born and then all of the sudden they were all total hotties? 

A third question for me is, is it really even very prevalent to call angels “sons of God?”  By my count mankind is referred to as sons of God on 13 occasions in 9 different books of the Bible (Deut. 14:1, Isaiah 43:6, Hosea 1:10, Hosea 11:1, Matthew 5:9, Luke 3:38, Luke 20:36, Romans 8:14, Romans 8:19, Galatians 3:26, Galatians 4:6, 1 John 3:1-2, 1 John 3:10).  Not only that, but Jesus continually speaks of God as our Father.  Compare that to the fact that angels are referred to as “sons of God” in only one book in the Bible.  Job makes this reference in 1:6, 2:1, and 38:7.  Rather obscure by comparison. 

This is a great attempt to answer the question of who these “sons of God” and “daughters of men” are, but it is just not the end of the question for me and leaves a lot to be desired in the way of solid answers.     

·         Whoever they were, their intermarriages seem to have made God very angry because it was at this point that God felt the camel’s back had been broken.  In Genesis 6:3 He reduced man’s allotted time to 120 years of life.  Then when they bore children (verse 4), He declared in verses 5-7 that they were wicked and He was going to blot them out.  But does it really say that?  Verse 2 just says they married each other, and then in a different sentence God says man’s weakness is his flesh and the Spirit will sustain him no longer than 120 years.  It doesn’t say that God was mad at them although context may suggest it.   

So were there really giants in those days?  Absolutely, the answer is “yes!”  We see several different references to giants and even certain measurements.  The Bible makes many references to giant peoples such as the sons of Anak, the Anakims (same as sons of Anak), the Emim, the Zamzummin, the Zuzim (probably the same as the Zamzummin), and the Rephaim.  Let me share some details on each of these below.

I have briefly discussed the sons of Anak (or Anakim= people of Anak) earlier but let me add some detail here (Anak= H6061, Anakim= H6062). The godfather, if you will, of this people group is a Canaanite named Arba who was said to be the greatest of the Anakim (see Joshua 14:15).  Arba was the father of Anak (see Joshua 15:13-14) which could mean he literally impregnated Anak’s mother or it could be taken more figuratively as we would called Abraham the father of the Jewish people.  Arba was the namesake for a city named Kiriath-arba which was later named Hebron and inherited by Caleb in the land of Judah when the Israelites divvied up the holy land after its conquest.  Kiriath-arba literally translates the “city of 4 giants” (H7153) and is also associated with Mamre which is where Abraham built and alter to the Lord and later the Lord made is great covenant with Abraham.  Arba eventually beget Anak who had three sons named Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai (Numbers 13:22).  These were literally the sons of Anak and figuratively those who descended from these men are included as sons and/or descendants.  It was these three specifically that Caleb drove out of Hebron or Kiriath-arba (Joshua 15:14, Judges 1:10, Judges 1:20).  These sons of Anak or Anakim were said to be great and tall “of whom you have heard, who can stand before them?” (Deuteronomy 9:2).  In other places, other people groups are said to be “like the sons of Anak” in that they are great, tall, and numerous (Deuteronomy 1:28, Deuteronomy 2:10-11, Deuteronomy 2:20-21).  Joshua 11:21-22 says that Joshua utterly destroyed the Anakim but some remained in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod which are cities in Palestine.  You might remember that Goliath was from Gath.  The Deuteronomy 9:2 passage is written before Caleb was said to have struck the 3 sons of Anak so it is possible that these three came back to Hebron but certainly most retreated to Palestine.       

The Emim (H368) are mentioned in just two places in the Bible and the word means literally “terrors.”  In Genesis 14:5, Chedorlaomer (king of Elam) defeated the Rephaim, Zuzim and Emim.  The significance of this defeat is that all three of these groups are associated with giants in other passages of Scripture.  In Deuteronomy 2:10-11 says that the Emim were as great, numerous and tall as the Anakim.  It continues to say that “like the Anakim” they were regarded as Rephaim (giants).  This verse continues on to say that they were called Emim by the Moabites (decendants of Lot).

There was the Zamzummin (H2157), which are also called the Zuzim (H2104) which are also mentioned in only two places in the Bible.  The word Zamzummin literally means “intriguing” and comes from a root word that means to “plot an evil plan.”  The word Zuzim means “prominent” or “full breasted.”  As previously cited, Genesis 14:5 indicates that Chedorlaomer defeated this tribe of people as well as other groups associated with giants such as the Emim and Rephaim.  Deuteronomy 2:20-21 lets us know that the Zamzummin were great, numerous, and tall like the Anakim.  Additionally, Deuteronomy 2:20-21 describes how the Ammonites (also descendants of Lot) used to refer to the Rephaim (giants) as Zamzummin.  It seems as if the two sons of Lot, Moab and Ammon, called the giant peoples in their land Emim and Zamzummin respectively.  The Zamzummin are said to have been destroyed before the Lord and their land given to the Ammonites.

Lastly, we see the people group we have been referring to throughout this discussion.  The Rephaim (H7497) over twenty times in the Old Testament and the word “rapha” literally means “giant.”  Remember that the suffix “im” just means it is a people.  Just as the Anakim were the people of Anak, so the Rephaim are the “giant people” or “people of giants.”  Deuteronomy 2:11 speaks of the Emim being “giant” (Rapha) like the Anakim.  Deuteronomy 2:20 says that this land full of great and tall people was called the land of the Rephaim.  Deuteronomy 3:11 describes how Og, the king of Bashan, was the last of the Rephaim.  It further depicts that his bed was 9 cubits long and 4 cubits wide.  That is approximately 13.5 feet long and 6 feet wide if you are wondering.  Not much is known of Bashan except that it was in Palestine (remember that the sons of Anak had been driven to Palestine by Joshua in Joshua 11:21-22).  Joshua 12:4 also indicates that Og was descended from the Rephaim while Joshua 13:12 says Og was the only remaining Rephaim because Moses (via Joshua) had struck and dispossessed them.  2 Samuel 21:16 says that Ishbibenob (a Philistine) was a descendant from the giants (H7498, also= rapha- giant) and was struck down by Abishai who was one of David’s mighty men.  2 Samuel 21:18 describes how the Philistine Saph was among the descendants of the giant (H7498) and was killed by Sibbecai, another of David’s mighty men.  2 Samuel 21:19-21 describes how one of David’s mighty men named Elhanan killed Goliath (actually the brother of Goliath as is clarified in 1 Chronicles 20:5) and another man named Jonathan killed a six-toed, six-fingered giant (H7498) and that these men were Gittites (from Gath) which was one of the places where the sons of Anak had remained according to Joshua 11:21-22.  2 Samuel 21:22 says that these four (Ishbibenob, Saph, Goliath’s brother, and Mr. Six Fingers) were born to the giant (H7498) in Gath and killed by David and his servants.  1 Chronicles depicts the same instances when it records in 1 Chronicles 20:4 that Sibbecai killed Sippai (a derivative of Saph) who had descended from the giant (H7498).  1 Chronicles 20:5-8 again concurs that Lahmi (Goliath’s brother) and the other 3 giants (H7498) were killed by David and his mighty men.  The Bible does not record how tall these men were but 1 Samuel 17:4 records Goliaths height to be 6 cubits and a span which would be approximately 9.5 feet tall.  I think by any measure this would be considered a giant.  In addition to these specific references to men or people, the Bible also uses the word “Rephaim” to describe a valley of giants in Joshua 15:8, Joshua 18:16, 2 Samuel 5:18, 2 Samuel 23:13, 1 Chronicles 11:!5, 1 Chronicles 14:9, and Isaiah 17:5.

       So that is about it.  Like I said, I am not providing any definitive answers here; that was not the attempt.  There simply is no definitive answer revealed within the Bible and any speculation beyond this would be foolish (Romans 1:21, 2 Corinthians 10:5, 1 Timothy 1:3-4, 2 Timothy 2:23).  There are many books and many websites that drone on and on about this topic, but there simply is nothing but speculation beyond what we have discussed.  Everything else starts to get into the “I am starting my own cult” genre.  I think it is reasonable to say this in conclusion:

There was a real creature group called the Nephilim and their inclusion in the Bible is relevant.  They were on the earth in the days before God declared to Noah that He was going to destroy the earth with a flood, and also after God declared He was going to destroy the earth with a flood.  They were likely the wicked and mighty offspring of the sons of God and the daughters of men.  They may or may not have been giants, they may or may not have been destroyed in the flood, they may or may not have been present in the promised land when it was scouted, and they may or may not still exist.  Regardless of this, the presence of giants is persistent throughout the Bible and in several local cultures in and around the holy land.         

You may say that this is a week’s worth of research and study down the drain to come up with such an anti-climactic conclusion but anything that gets you to study the Bible is of great value in my mind.