Proofs that Giants Were the Sons of Angels:
1. The fact that giants have lived on earth is clearly stated in Scripture. The Hebrew nephil (OT:5303) means “giant” or “tyrant” (Genesis 6:4; Numbers 13:33). The men of Israel were as grasshoppers compared to them (Numbers 13:33). The Hebrew gibbowr (OT:1368) is also translated “giant,” meaning powerful, giant, mighty, or strong man (Job 16:14). To say these original words refer to their degree of wickedness instead of bodily size is a mistake.
The Anakims were a great and tall people (Deut. 1:28; Deut. 2:10-11,21; Deut. 9:2; Joshua 11:21-22; Joshua 14:12-14). Anak himself was a giant (Numbers 13:33). If all Anakims were as big, we can be assured other giants were also. The land of Ammon was “a land of giants,” for “giants dwelt therein in old time” (Deut. 2:19-20). The Emims were also “great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims” (Deut. 2:10-11). The same was said of the Zamzummims who formerly inhabited the land of Ammon (Deut. 2:19-21). Og, king of Bashan, is described as a giant whose iron bedstead was thirteen and a half feet long, and six feet wide. This is not a measurement of wickedness, but of a material bed for a giant body measuring nearly thirteen feet tall (Deut. 3:11; Joshua 12:4; Joshua 13:12). Bashan is called “the land of the giants” (Deut. 3:13).
A “valley of the giants” is mentioned in Joshua 15:8; Joshua 18:16. This is the valley of Rephaim, the name of another branch of the giant races mentioned in Scripture (Genesis 14:5; Genesis 15:20; 2 Samuel 5:18,22; 2 Samuel 23:13; 1 Chron. 11:15; 1 Chron. 14:9; Isaiah 17:5). The Rephaims were well-known giants, but unfortunately, instead of retaining their proper name in Scripture, the translators used dead (Job 26:5; Psalm 88:10; Proverbs 2:18; Proverbs 9:18; Proverbs 21:16; Isaiah 14:8; Isaiah 26:19); and deceased (Isaiah 26:14). It should have been a proper name in all these places, as it is ten times otherwise. See notes on these passages which prove that giant bodies are referred to instead of great wickedness.
Rephaim is translated “giant” in Deut. 2:11,20; Deut. 3:11,13; Joshua 12:4; Joshua 13:12; Joshua 15:8; Joshua 18:16; 2 Samuel 21:16,18,20,22; 1 Chron. 20:4,6,8. The phrase “remnant of the giants” in Deut. 3:11; Joshua 12:4; Joshua 13:12 should be “remnant of the Rephaims,” because there were many nations of giants other than the Rephaims who filled the whole country trying to contest God’s claim on the promised land. They are listed as Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaims, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, Jebusites, Hivites, Anakims, Emims, Horims, Avims, Zamzummims, Caphtorims, and Nephilims (Genesis 6:4; Genesis 14:5-6; Genesis 15:19-21; Exodus 3:8,17; Exodus 23:23; Deut. 2:10-12,20-23; Deut. 3:11-13; Deut. 7:1; Deut. 20:17; Joshua 12:4-8; Joshua 13:3; Joshua 15:8; Joshua 17:15; Joshua 18:16). Og was of the remnant of Rephaims, not the remnant of all other giant nations (Deut. 3:11; Joshua 12:4; Joshua 13:12).
All these giant nations came from a union of the sons of God (fallen angels) and daughters of men after the flood. Beings of great stature, some of them even had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot and carried spears weighing from 10 to 25 pounds (2 Samuel 21:16-22; 1 Chron. 20:4-8). Goliath, whom David slew, wore a coat of armor weighing 196 pounds and was nine feet and nine inches tall (1 Samuel 17:4-6). The pyramids of Egypt, the giant cities of Bashan and other huge monuments of construction may remain a mystery until they are accepted as the result of the labor and skill of giants.
The revelation we have of giants in Scripture gives us a true picture of what Greek mythology tries in vain to give. Mythology is but the outgrowth of traditions, memories, and legends telling of the acts of supernatural fathers and their giant offspring-the perversion and corruption in transmission of actual facts concerning these mighty beings. The fact that giants were partly of supernatural origin made it easy for human beings to regard them as gods.
2. The fact that the Rephaim have no resurrection (Isaiah 26:14) proves the reality of giants and that they were not ordinary men. All ordinary men are to be resurrected (John 5:28-29); therefore, giants must be a different class from pure Adamites. Isaiah makes it clear that the dead (Hebrew: Rephaiym (OT:7497)) are now in hell (Isaiah 14:9). Solomon confirms this in Proverbs 2:18; Proverbs 9:18; Proverbs 21:16 where the Hebrew word for dead is Rephaim. See notes, Isaiah 26:14,19.
3. The fact that giants came only from a union of sons of God and daughters of men proves that their fathers were not ordinary men of Adamite stock. No such monstrosities have been produced from the union of any ordinary man and woman, regardless of the righteousness of the father or the wickedness of the mother. Many converted men who are sons of God in the sense of adoption and righteousness through Christ have been married to unconverted women, and no offspring the size of Biblical giants has ever resulted from these unions. If, as some teach, giants were born of such unions both before and after the flood, then why do not such marriages produce that kind of offspring today? Why did this happen in every case then and never today?
4. God’s law of reproduction from the beginning has been everything after its own kind. It was not possible then that giants could be produced by men and women of ordinary size (Genesis 1:11-12,21,24-25; Genesis 8:19). It took a supernatural element, the purpose and power of Satan and his angels, to make human offspring of such proportion. After giants came into being, they then produced others of like size instead of ordinary sized men (Numbers 13:33; 2 Samuel 21:16,18,20,22; 1 Chron. 20:4-8).
5. Not only is it unscriptural but unhistorical to teach that giants came from the union of ordinary men and women. The great question has been: Where did giants get their start? Genesis 6:4 makes it clear-from a union of the sons of God and daughters of men. If the sons of God were ordinary men in the same sense that the daughters of men were ordinary women, then we must conclude four things:
(1) Ungodly women have the power to produce such monsters if married to godly men.
(2) Godly men have the power to produce giants when married to ungodly women.
(3) A mixture of godliness and wickedness produces giants.
(4) Extreme wickedness on the part of either parent will produce giant offspring.
All four conclusions are wrong, however, as proven every day by the ordinary offspring of wicked and godly parents. Thus, the theory that giants came from the marriage of Seth’s sons with Cain’s daughters is disproved.
6. The sons of God could not have been the sons of Seth or other godly men for the following seven reasons:
(1) There were no men godly enough to be saved during the Antediluvian Age except Abel (Genesis 4:4; Hebrews 11:4), Enoch (Genesis 5:21-24; Hebrews 11:5), and Noah (Genesis 6:8; Genesis 7:1; Hebrews 11:7), as far as Scripture is concerned. Shall we conclude that these three men were the sons of God who married the daughters of Cain and produced races of giants in the earth in those days before the flood (Genesis 6:4)? We have no record of any marriage or offspring of Abel before he was murdered. Regarding Enoch, are we to believe that Methuselah and his other children were the giants? Are we to believe that Noah’s three sons-Shem, Ham, and Japheth-were giants? If so, where is our authority for this? Had this been true, there would have been nothing on earth after the flood but giants, for by Noah’s children the whole earth was replenished (Genesis 10). That would cause another unsolved mystery-how giants became ordinary sized men again.
(2) The time of the marriages of the sons of God disproves the theory that they were the sons of Seth. Marriages of Seth’s sons could not have taken place during the first 325 years. He had only one son of marriageable age up to that time (Genesis 5:1-8) and he (Enos) was not godly (see The Line of Seth). To say there were no such marriages before Enos contradicts Genesis 6:1-2 which shows that sons of God married daughters of men when they began to be born. Shall we conclude that daughters were not born in the first 325 years? If so, where did Cain, Seth and others get their wives?
Furthermore, such marriages between godly sons and ungodly daughters could not have been during the last 600 years before the flood, because Noah was the only son of God by righteousness during this time (Genesis 6:8-9; Genesis 7:1; 2 Peter 2:4-5). His sons were preserved in the ark because of being pure Adamite stock, not because of personal righteousness. The above facts then limit these marriages to the 731 years between the first 325 years and the last 600 of the Antediluvian Age, whereas sons of God actually married daughters of men throughout the entire 1,656 years of that age. Genesis 6:1-2 makes it clear that this happened “when men began to multiply on the face of the earth.”
(3) Genesis 6:4 teaches that there were giants on the earth “in those days” (before the flood), “and also after that” (after those days which were before the flood), as a result of the sons of God marrying the daughters of men. If the sons of God were the sons of Seth, we can account for them “after that” (after the flood), for the line of Seth was continued through Noah. But with the daughters of Cain (supposed by some to be the daughters of men) the story is different. Cain’s line perished in the flood, which means there were no daughters of Cain after the flood for sons of God to marry.
(4) The Bible gives us no reason to believe that the statement “the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair” should be limited to Cain’s daughters. Thousands of families from the many branches of the race both before and after the flood had daughters too. In the 1,656 years before the flood (which is the period in which Seth and Cain lived), there must have been from 150 million to 500 million people. It is unbelievable that so many as half of these were godly and half ungodly; and we know that they were not limited to two lines-the line of Seth and the line of Cain. Regarding Seth’s daughters we have reason to believe that they were as fair as the daughters of Cain-beautiful enough to attract men as husbands for themselves. The line of Seth alone survived the flood, so we know this is true. Genesis 6:1-2 therefore, cannot be said to refer only to the daughters of Cain; and the term “daughters of men” cannot be limited to the daughters of Cain.
(5) The very expressions “sons of God” and “daughters of men” indicate two different kinds-one the product of God, the other the product of man. Seth was not God, so why call the sons of God the sons of Seth?
(6) It is a matter of record that Seth’s children were as ungodly as Cain’s. The firstborn of Seth even started idolatry, as proven in The Line of Seth.
(7) With the exception of Noah and his family all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth before the flood (Genesis 6:12), which means the entire race (besides Noah’s family) had become a mixture of fallen angels and men, or giants. Only Noah and his family had kept their lineage pure from Adam, which is really why they were saved in the ark. They were the only ones capable of giving the race a new, clean start after the flood. It is said of Noah that he was a just man and perfect in his generations (Genesis 6:9). The Hebrew for “perfect” is tamiym (OT:8549), which means without blemish. It is the technical word for physical perfection, not moral perfection. It is so used of the sacrificial animals of the Old Testament which had to be of pure stock and without blemish (Exodus 12:5; Exodus 29:1; Leviticus 1:3; Leviticus 3:1-6; Leviticus 4:3,23-32; Leviticus 5:15-18; Leviticus 6:6; Leviticus 9:2-3; Ezekiel 43:22-25; Ezekiel 45:18-23), without spot (Numbers 19:2; Numbers 28:3-11; Numbers 29:17,26), and undefiled (Psalm 119:1). Used of Noah, this word means that he and his sons were the only pure Adamites left, and for such purity, they (regardless of their position in personal holiness) were all preserved in the ark.
Proofs that the Sons of God Were Angels:
Since the sons of God in Genesis 6 cannot be the sons of Seth or the offspring of godly men and ungodly women, they must be fallen angels. This is clear from many scriptures:
1. The expression “sons of God” is found only five times in the Old Testament and every time it is used of angels (Genesis 6:1-4; Job 1:6; Job 2:1; Job 38:7). It is indisputable that the passages in Job refer to angels. Daniel 3:25,28 calls an angel “the son of God.” Is it not possible then, that the sons of God of Genesis 6 could be angels?
2. Some translations (the Septuagint, Moffatt, and others) read, “angels of God” in Genesis 6:1-4, which is the only idea that harmonizes with this passage and many other.
3. Josephus says, “many angels of God accompanied with women, and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers of all that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their own strength … these men did what resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians call giants” (Antiquities, Book 1, 3:1). Again he says, “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” (Antiquities, Book 5, 2:3).
4. The Ante-Nicene Fathers also refer to angels as falling “into impure love of virgins, and were subjugated by the flesh. Of these lovers of virgins, therefore, were begotten those who are called giants” (vol. 2, p. 142; vol. 8, p. 85, 273). Justyn Martyr (A.D. 110-165) says, “But the angels transgressed … were captivated by love of women, and begat children” (vol. 2, p. 190). Methodius (A.D. 260-312) says, “the devil was insolent … as also those (angels) who were enamoured of fleshly charms, and had illicit intercourse with the daughters of men” (vol. 6, p. 370).
5. Both testaments teach that some angels committed sexual sins and lived contrary to nature. Genesis 6:1-4 gives the history of such sinning. 2 Peter 2:4-5 says that angels sinned before the flood and were cast down to hell to be reserved until judgment. It doesn’t reveal the sin as fornication, but Jude 1:6-7 does, saying, “the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah , and the cities about them in like manner (as did the angels), giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” If Sodom, Gomorrah and other cities lived contrary to nature and committed fornication, as the angels did, then it is clear that the sin of angels was fornication. According to Genesis 6, this sexual sin was committed with “daughters of men.” See notes on 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6-7.
6. The one scripture used to teach that angels are sexless (Matthew 22:30) doesn’t say they are. It states that “in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.” The purpose of this verse is to show that resurrected men and women do not marry to keep their kind in existence. In the resurrected state they live forever, but not as sexless beings. The Bible teaches that every person will continue bodily as he was born, throughout eternity. Paul said that everyone will have his own body in the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:35-38). Both males and females will be resurrected as such, though their bodies will be changed from mortality to immortality (1 Cor. 15:35-54). There is nothing in the resurrection to uncreate men and women. Christ remained a man after His resurrection and so will all other males.
Throughout Scripture angels are spoken of as men. No female angels are on record. It is logical to say then that the female was created specifically to keep the human race in existence; and that all angels were created males, inasmuch as their kind exists without reproduction. Angels were created innumerable to start with (Hebrews 12:22), whereas humanity began with one pair, Adam and Eve, who were commanded to reproduce and make multitudes. That angels have tangible spirit bodies, appear as men, and perform acts surpassing those of the human male is clear from many passages. See note, Hebrews 13:2.
When Jude states that some angels “kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation” (Jude 1:6), he makes it understandable how a sexual sin could be accomplished by them. The Greek word for “habitation” is oiketerion (NT:3613). It is used only twice in Scripture: of the bodies of men being changed to spiritual bodies (2 Cor. 5:2), and the angels having a bodily change, or at least a lowering of themselves in some way (Jude 1:6-7). Thus, the New Testament helps explain the history of the Old Testament
7. There are two classes of fallen angels-those loose with Satan who will be cast down to earth during the future tribulation (Rev. 12:7-12), and those who are now bound in hell for committing fornication (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6-7). Had the ones in hell not committed the additional sin of fornication, they would still be loose with the others to help Satan in the future. Their confinement proves they committed a sin besides that of original rebellion with Satan. That it was sexual sin is clear from 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 1:6-7, which identifies this class of fallen angels as the sons of God of Genesis 6:1-4.
8. In 1 Peter 3:19-20 we see that Christ “went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing.” Who are these spirits in prison, if not the confined angels who at one time lived contrary to their nature-in sin with the daughters of men (Genesis 6:1-4)? We read “Who maketh his angels spirits” (Psalm 104:4; Hebrews 1:13-14). If angels are spirits, we conclude that the imprisoned spirits Christ preached to were angels and the sons of God referred to in Genesis 6, especially since they “were disobedient … in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing.” The very purpose of Noah’s flood was to destroy the giant offspring of these angels known as the sons of God who “came in unto the daughters of men.” See Ten Proofs Spirits Are Angels.
The Purpose of Satan in Producing Giants:
It was the purpose of Satan and his fallen angels to corrupt the human race and thereby do away with pure Adamite stock through whom the Seed of the woman should come. This would avert their own doom and make it possible for Satan and his kingdom to keep control of the earth indefinitely. It was said to Adam and Eve that the Seed of the woman would defeat Satan and restore man’s dominion (Genesis 3:15). The only way for Satan to avoid this predicted defeat was to corrupt the pure Adamite line so that the coming of the Seed of the woman into the world would be made impossible. This he tried to accomplish by sending fallen angels to marry the daughters of men (Genesis 6:1-4), thus producing the giant nations through them.
There are two episodes with fallen angels taught in Genesis 6:4. There were giants in the earth “in those days (before the flood), and also after that (after the flood), when the sons of God (fallen angels) came in unto the daughters of men (any daughters of men-Cain, Seth and others), and they bare children to them (to the angels).”
Satan almost succeeded in his plan during the first episode, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth; of all the multitudes Noah and his sons were the only pure Adamites left to be preserved by the ark (Genesis 6:8-13; 1 Peter 3:19-20). The main object of the flood was to do away with this Satanic corruption, destroy the giants, and preserve the pure Adamite line, thus guaranteeing of the coming of the Seed of the woman, as God planned.
Being defeated before the flood didn’t stop Satan from making a further attempt to prevent the coming of the Redeemer who would be his final downfall. It was now to his advantage that God had promised never to send another universal flood upon the earth. Satan therefore reasoned that he should make a second attempt to do away with the Adamite line. If he came within “eight souls” of doing it before the flood, his opportunities were now even greater with the promise that there would be no such flood. This is the reason the second group of fallen angels married the daughters of men. Again the unions produced giants whose races occupied the land of promise-where the Seed should be born-in advance of Abraham. Limited by His promise of no flood, God had to destroy the giants another way. This explains why He commanded Israel to kill every one of them, even to the last man, woman and child. It also explains why He destroyed all the men, women and children besides Noah and his family, at the time of the flood it answers the skeptics’ question regarding why children were taken away with adults in the flood. God had to end this corruption entirely to fulfill His eternal plan and give the world its promised Redeemer. The Redeemer has come now, so Satan is reserving his forces for a last stand at the second coming of Christ.
Thus, it is clear from Scripture that there were giants in the earth both before and after the flood and that they came from a union of fallen angels and the daughters of men.
The days of Noah before the flood. There were giants “in those days” and “also after that,” i.e., after the flood.
This verse reveals three facts:
1. Fallen angels married earthly women twice-before and after Noah’s flood
2. Both times these angels fathered children by the women.
3. All those children were giants.
Not the daughters of Cain as supposed, for no daughters of Cain could be on this side of the flood. They were all killed by the flood (Genesis 6:18; Genesis 7:7; Genesis 8:18; Genesis 9:1; 1 Peter 3:20).
Women had children by both fallen angels and men. It wasn’t necessary to emphasize children by men, but having children by angels was significant (Genesis 6:4; Jude 1:6-7). Because of this sin “it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth” (Genesis 6:1-6).
Hebrew: shem (OT:8034), men of name, honor, and authority (Numbers 16:2; Ezekiel 16:14-15; Ezekiel 34:29; Ezekiel 39:13; Daniel 9:15). The giants became the heroes of Greek mythology as Biblical truth became corrupted by transmission. See Giants and the Sons of God.
Divine inspection and dissatisfaction. God learns true conditions the same as man (Genesis 6:5-6; Genesis 7:1; Genesis 11:5; Genesis 18:21; Genesis 22:12; Genesis 29:31; Exodus 3:4; Deut. 32:19; 2 Kings 14:26; 2 Chron. 12:7; Isaiah 59:15-16; Jonah 3:10). Compare the same statements regarding men in Genesis 3:6; Genesis 8:8; and Genesis 37:14.
Hebrew: ra (OT:7451), bad, evil, wicked (Genesis 6:5; Genesis 39:9; Deut. 13:11; Deut. 17:2; Judges 20:3,12).
Hebrew: rab (OT:7227), abundant, full, exceedingly (cp. Genesis 13:16; Genesis 18:20; 1 Samuel 12:17).
Hebrew: yetser (OT:3336), concept, purpose, desire (Genesis 8:21; Deut. 31:21).
Hebrew: nacham (OT:5162), to sigh, breathe heavily, and be sorry in the literal sense (Exodus 32:14; Judges 2:18; 1 Samuel 15:35; 2 Samuel 24:16; Psalm 106:45).
God is capable of all feelings, emotions, and right desires, as we are. See note, John 4:24.
The 6th prophecy in Genesis (Genesis 6:7, fulfilled). Next, Genesis 6:13. This is the first prophecy of the flood.
The divine purpose stated. God now decided to destroy what He had created (Romans 9:11-33).
Hebrew: chen (OT:2580), favor, grace. Translated grace 38 times in the Old Testament, proving that grace is not just a New Testament doctrine. Only the fullness of grace came by Christ (John 1:17; 1 Peter 1:10-12). See Genesis 19:19; Exodus 33:12-17; Exodus 34:9; Psalm 84:11; Proverbs 3:34; Jeremiah 31:2; Zech.12:10.