The idea that the nephilim or giants were the offspring of the fallen host and human females was not unique to Judaism.
This understanding was likely behind the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythologies, as well as those of India and the near east.
All these beliefs resulted not as mere inventions of fertile human imagination, but as a corruption of antediluvian truths which were distorted as their origin was forgotten over time.
Take, for example, the legend of the Titans. In Greek mythology, the Titans were a family of giant gods who were the offspring of Uranus (heaven) and Gaea (earth).
The most famous of the Titans was Cronus, who killed his father. Cronus later led the Titans in their losing war against Zeus and the Olympian gods.
After their defeat, the Titans were imprisoned in a section of the underworld called Tartarus.
In his second epistle, the apostle Peter uses part of this Greek myth to explain the fate of some of the fallen angels. He states that for their sins, these angels had been tartarosas,
which The NKJV Greek English Interlinear New Testament translates literally as "confining them to Tartarus" (also known in the Bible as "the Abyss").
II PETER 2:4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell [tartarosas] and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; (NKJV)
This is the same Tartarus where Greek mythology says the Titans were imprisoned.
It's highly unlikely that Peter would have used such an analogy if this pagan legend wasn't based on at least some grain of truth which his readers would have knowledge of.
The idea that evil angels mated with human women and had offspring (the nephilim) appears far-fetched to us in this modern era, but it seems to have been widely accepted as fact in the ancient world.
http://www.aristotle.net/~bhuie/gen6sons.htm more of above^
The final point of evidence for the angel view of Genesis 6 is the reference to the giants or Nephilim in verse 4: "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days--and also afterward--when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown."
Since this verse specifically refers to the "heroes of old," what would be more probable than that this is the origin of those stories of half- human-half- divine figures present in virtually all ancient mythologies?
The stories of Homer and other writers would be embellished, of course, but they probably reflect memories of these ancient outstanding figures of the pre-Flood period.
Were the Nephilim the gods of Greek Mythology?
Something similar might have happened to Atlantis. According to Plato's account, the inhabitants of Atlantis were Titans.(noahs day i bet)
The Greeks stated that the Titans, or giants, were half god and half man -- products of unions between gods and earth women.
Atlantis was destroyed and with it the Titans who were trying to take over the world.
The New Testament also makes it clear that evil spirits can take control human bodies, sometimes imparting super-human strength (Mark 5:3-4) and even psychic abilities (Acts 16:16).
Some people wonder, therefore, if the ancient Greek myths may well refer to the exploits of these Nephilim in the pre-Flood world-- beings described in the Genesis account above as
heroes and men of reknown.
Can we find any justification for this view elsewhere in the Bible. Or is it as some claim the story of Greek mythology, where we have legends of titans, the gods of Mt. Olympus
(Hercules, Achelles) coming down and intermarrying with humans having hybrids, half human and god. What we find is that this is not limited to only the Greek and Roman cultures,
almost all ancient civilizations have legends and myths of visitations from the sky. Are these only folklore or are these legends distortions of what really occurred?
We have the same for the flood accounts so it is very possible they are distortions of the true account.
The
Nephilim, or
Giants of Gen. 6,
If these
Nephilim, and their branch of Rephaim, were
... the explanation of the origin of the
Greek mythology.
... http://www.angelfire.com/nv/TheOliveBranch/append25.html
The Nephilim, or "Giants" Gen. 6.4
Giants =
Nephilim,Renown. Heb. the men of name. The “heroes” of the
Greek mythology.
... http://www.geocities.com/fdocch/nephilim.htm
Giants in the Middle East,
... The
Nephilim were on the earth in
... mythology developed 'the Titans' (
giants, partly superhuman).
Greek mythology (Hesiod, Pseudo-Apollodorus) recalls such beings
... http://www.stevequayle.com/Giants/Mid.East/Giants.Mid.East11.html
The Fallen Angels and Heros of Mythology.. of the angels with women , = BNOTH-HA-ADAM, sprang the
Nephilim, called in
... 9.-BNE-HA-ELOHIM = worshippers of
false gods - , Aqu., making Bne = "servants."
http://www.amcbryan.btinternet.co.uk/intro-etc.pdf
THE SIN OF THE FALLEN ANGELS
angels sexual sin... Were the
Nephilim the
gods of Greek
... http://www.creationfoundation.co.uk/j4.htm
http://www.raidersnewsupdate.com/booksnew.htm Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite and other ancient "gods" were actually fallen angels !!
http://groups.msn.com/UFOsTheHiddenTruth/ufofallen7.msnw MYTHOLOGY SECTION # 1 -- mars rebell TITANS, CRONOS, HERCULES --APOLLYON --SON OF PERDITION ,GREEK MYTH, BIG LIE STARDWELLERS --SUMMERIANS --RAPHAIM GIANTS --INCUBUS SUCCUBUS ---GIANTS IN WICKEDNESS --NEPHILIM -- NO RESURRECTION !!!!!!!!!
Greek mythology, where we have legends of titans, the gods of Mt. Olympus (Hercules, Achelles) coming down and intermarrying with humans having hybrids, half human and god.
What we find is that this is not limited to only the Greek and Roman cultures, almost all ancient civilizations have legends and myths of visitations from the sky.
Are these only folklore or are these legends distortions of what really occurred? We have the same for the flood accounts so it is very possible they are distortions of the true account.
The "Giants" of Mythology and Early History http://www.hope-of-israel.org/giants.htm
These mighty "giants" of old were the source and origin of the Greek legends of gods coming down from heaven and marrying women, having incestuous and adulterous relationships, "Cyclops," and other "Titans" and giants. They may also explain the difficulties engineers have had in explaining the construction of the great pyramid and the movement of the massive blocks of stone weighing hundreds of tons! Says the
Companion Bible:
"If these Nephilim . . . were associated with Egypt, we have an explanation of the problem which has for ages perplexed all engineers, as to how those huge stones and monuments were brought together. . . .
"Moreover, we have in these mighty men, the 'men of renown,' the explanation of the origin of the Greek mythology. That mythology was no mere invention of the human brain, but it grew out of the traditions, and memories, and legends of the doings of that mighty race of beings; and was gradually evolved out of the 'heroes' of Gen.6:4. The fact that they were supernatural in their origin formed an easy step to their being regarded as the demi-gods of the Greeks" (appendix 25).
The Companion Bible adds:
"Thus the Babylonian 'Creation Tablets,' the Egyptian 'Book of the Dead,' the Greek mythology, and heathen Cosmogonies, which by some are set on an equality with Scripture, or by others adduced in support of it, are all the corruption and perversion of primitive truths, distorted in proportion as their origin was forgotten, and their memories faded away" (Companion Bible, appendix 25).
The Encyclopedia Britannica, eleventh edition, provides more insight into the giants of old. Although the editors of the Britannica did not endorse the idea of real "giants" as having lived in the past, they put together a very interesting description of a theme which runs throughout ancient times -- that of real living giants. Notice:
"When reading in Homer of 'the Cyclopes and the wild tribes of the Giants,' or of Odysseus in the cave of Polyphemus (Homer, Odyss. vii, 206; ix), we seem to come into view of dim traditions, exaggerated [sic] through the mist of ages, of Pre-Hellenic barbarians, godless, cannibal, skin-clothed, hurling huge stones in their rude warfare. Giant-legends of this class are common in Europe and Asia, where the big and stupid giants would seem to have been barbaric tribes exaggerated [sic] into monsters in the legends of those who dispossessed and slew them. In early times it was usual for cities to have their legends of giants. Thus London had Gog and Magog, whose effigies (14 ft. high) still stand in the Guildhall; Antwerp had her Antigonus, 40 ft. high; Douai had Gayant, 22 ft. high, and so on" (v.11, p.926).
The Roman historian Pliny relates that an Arabian, Gabbarus, was about 9 and one half feet tall, and he also mentions a Posio and Secundila who were half a foot taller. Why should this seem so strange or unbelievable to moderns? The Scriptures tell us that David slew Goliath (whose name means "an exile"), a famous giant of the city of Gath, who was probably descended from the ancient Rephaim, of whom a remnant took refuge among the Philistines (Deut.2:20-21; II Sam.21:22). Goliath's height was "six cubits and a span," making him 9 feet and 9 inches tall!
Possible footprints of ancient gigantic men have been found in places like the Paluxy riverbed in eastern Texas. A tooth weighing 4 and three quarters pounds, and a thigh bone 17 feet long were found in New England in 1712, and were at that time thought to be evidence of the existence of ancient men of prodigious size in the antediluvian world. Giants in the streets of Basel, supporting the arms of Lucerne, seem to have originated from fossil bones found in 1577. Examined by the physician Felix Plater, they were pronounced as having belonged to a giant some 16 or 19 feet high.
According to ancient English history, the giant effigies (dating from 1708 and replacing those destroyed in the Great Fire of London) of Gog and Magog in Guildhall were the survivors of a race of giants. Says the Recuyell des histoires de Troye, Brute [Brutus] and his companions, when they fled ancient Troy, sailed through the Mediterranean, and up the coast of Europe, eventually invading England. "Gog and Magog" were among a race of giants they encountered. After the giants were defeated, these two were brought to London (Troy-novant or "New Troy") and compelled to officiate as porters at the gate of the royal palace. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Goemot or Goemagzot (either corrupted from or into "Gog and Magog") was a giant, who, along with his brother Corineus, tyrannized in the western horn of England until slain by foreign invaders ("Gog," Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition, vol.12. p.190).
The Jewish historian Josephus, writing of the time of the Exodus and conquest of Canaan, tells us further:
"There were till then left the RACE OF GIANTS, who had bodies so large, and countenances so entirely different from other men, that they were surprising to the sight, and terrible to the hearing. The bones of these men are still shown to this very day, unlike to any credible relations of other men" (Ant., V,ii,3).
Josephus relates that remnants of the race of giants still lived in David's day, about 1000 years before Christ. After one particular battle when king David made war against the Philistines, putting them to flight, he was tired and left alone, and one of the enemy saw him, "whose name was Achmon, the son of Araph; he was one of the sons of the giants. He had a spear, the handle of which weighed three hundred shekels, and a breastplate of chain-work, and a sword. He turned back, and ran violently to slay [David] their enemy's king, for he was quite tired out with labour; but Abishai, Joab's brother, appeared on the sudden, and protected the king with his shield, as he lay down, and slew the enemy" (Ant., VII, xii,1). The handle or staff of this giant's spear weighed about 75 pounds!
"where did those old myths come from?"
Zeus mated with a human and created Hercules, a mighty man, a man of renown.
That is a perfect parallel for the events of Genesis 6; angels (in the form of man; show me in the Bible where they are not in the appearance of men--until then, I accept that they always are) mate with humans, and mighty children are born. The angels are worshipped as gods, and the offspring as "demigods."
That story gets passed on generation to generation, and eventually you have a whole mythological religion based upon the actual events preceding the flood.
Remember: Just because man cannot procreate with animals does not mean angels cannot procreate with men. The Bible never, ever, not on a single page forbids it.
Again, no other explanation of Genesis 6 comes close to explaining that passage and all related passages. The "sons of God" must be fallen angels; if not, then the passage (and related passages) make no sense.
