by Patrick Cooke
Posted: 15:05 April 30, 2007
One of the more prominent topics in the “alien agenda” debate is a common connection to the “fallen angels“, the Nephilim, of the Bible. This concept has become so entrenched in common belief that few ever ask who these fallen ones are. With very little research, this entire concept collapses under the weight of simple truth found in scripture. There are angels that “fell” or, were actually forced from “heaven” in the Bible, but they were not the angels of Noah’s Flood; and they didn’t fall from the kind of heaven most believe they did.
Who are the Nephilim?
It is not easy to find the origins of the commonly accepted belief about who the “fallen angels” were, but it certainly is related to an oft-repeated mistranslation of a simple Hebrew word. For decades many theorists have referred to the word, often written as Nephilim, as the angels who fell from grace after they mated with women, just prior to the Flood. The actual Hebrew word appearing is “nphiyl”, pronounced nef-eel’ and has a very different meaning.
Any Hebrew Lexicon, (dictionary) will show the meaning of the word “nphiyl, or nphil” is: properly, a feller, i.e. a bully or tyrant. It is generally referred to from the verse, Genesis 6:4, “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God 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.” The word nphiyl is the Hebrew word translated into “giants”. For this research paper we will use the common word Nephilim.
The first part of this verse is a pronouncement that beings called “giants” were on the Earth, while the second part explains how they came into existence; by the mating of angels with women. Here, is where a very important distinction gets blurred; the giants, or Nephilim, are not the sons of God, the angels, who mated with women, but the offspring of that disastrous union.
We find many incorrect interpretations of the Hebrew word Nephilim from many sources claiming it means: “those who fell from the sky, heaven, or the stars”, or “fallen ones”. If there be any doubt about the true meaning of the original word Nephilim in the Bible we only need to go to the very next time that word is used in the Bible:
“And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” (Numbers 13 33)