Numbers 13 is that story I used to hear as a kid about how these men explored the promised land and then everyone but two came back and said they were afraid of the giants and the fortified cities. I also remember seeing an illustration in a kids Bible Stories book where they were the size of grasshoppers compared to them. Awesome. Creepy. Anyway.
God tells Moses to have someone from each tribe go into the land "which I am giving" to the Israelites. Not the land that He "will give." Suggests that this land gift was a process that was currently underway. It wasn't quite theirs yet, but it was essentially a done deal. Anyway, someone from each tribe (except the Levites, a'course) is picked to go into the land and explore it. One of them was Joshua, the son of Nun, who was helping Moses out with whatever, and had already been a military leader.
They had very clear instructions. To see if the people were strong or week, few or many. If the land was good or bad. If the towns were fortified. If the soil was fertile or poor. Trees or not. Bring back some of the fruit of the land while you're at it. You know. All the stuff you want to know before you move to a new place.
They checked out the Desert of Zin, Rehob, Lebo Hamath, Hebron, to Kadesh, and back. They saw the land where the descendents of Anak lived...giants. These are revealed to be the Nephilim, who were first mentioned around the fall of man in Genesis 6 I believe. More on the Nephilim here. Probably in giant cities. I wonder how giant, though. Because as a kid, you hear about giants, and you think about like Jack and the Beanstalk, or King Kong, where if you get picked up by one of them, you're like the size of his finger, and he holds you like a banana. But the reality is, maybe they were only like the size of Yao Ming or something. Which is freakishly tall, but not monstrously tall. I don't know.
The people weren't the only thing that was bigger out there. It took two people to carry a cluster of grapes back to the Israelites. Maybe the grapes were like the size of apples.
When the explorers got back, they told Moses that the land flowed with milk and honey, but that the people were huge as well as their cities. The people probably freaked out and were yelling, so Caleb gets up and tells them to be quiet, and that they can go take possession of the land, and should do so immediately. I love Caleb, he was like, balls out. "Lets go take the land!" But he gets lassoed back to "reality" by the other guys he was with. "They are stronger than we are." Which was probably true. But God was capable of providing awesome military victory to his people, like when Abram got all rowdy and when Joshua fought the Amalekites. This wasn't too long ago, since Joshua was one of the men who went in to explore Canaan.
So these explorers who were scared went in among the people, and denounced this land as well as the plan. I'm sure God was real happy with this attitude, because the fear and the distrust was not brought to him, rather to the people. We'll see what happens. After all, this promised land was promised to them, so was God also promising them defeat at the hands of the Hittites, Jebusites and the Amalekites?
Showing posts with label Nephilim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nephilim. Show all posts
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Ge. 6: The Nephilim, and Only Evil, All the Time.
So by the time we get to Noah, after only ten generations, we have some beautiful daughters. So beautiful in fact that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful. They married whichever ones they wanted.
Although we are called the sons of God, there is a distinction drawn here, revealing that there is something different about these sons of God. This behavior is evidently displeasing to God, as he says, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal, his days will be a hundred and twenty years."
From this I gather that these "sons of God" are immortal. What good would it be for immortals to commit to and procreate with mere mortals? God knew this wasn't good for the bride to be drawn into a relationship that was only going to be permanent to them, and require only a temporary commitment for ... what I'm guessing at this point are angels. It is simply unequal. Probably to grease the wheels a little to put an end to this practice, God shortens life expectancy dramatically to 120 years. 12 sets of 10.
My second thought is that when God says man is mortal, it seems to be a reminder than man is also fallen. These "sons of God," being immortal, are apparently not fallen...not given to a sin nature. So perhaps God wanted to also protect the "sons of God."
The children of these sons of God and daughters of man were called the Nephilim. The Bible says they were "the heroes of old, men of renown." An immortal nature, although diluted by mortal daughters of man, endowed (maybe the wrong word here, deal with it) the Nephilim to a point in which they displayed super strength and shapeshifting and flying and time travel and accomplishments, which would appear to regular joe's to be godlike. I don't know what these accomplishments specifically were, but I can wonder.
Apparently, an incorruptible nature wasn't hereditary for the Nephilim, as the word goes on to say about man that "every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." I have already read dozens of amazing things in only a few short chapters, but I don't see exaggeration. The above statement is pretty damning. There was nobody helping old ladies cross the ... cave? Nobody teaching their kids about right and wrong? No love?
What God created with such beauty and intimacy has completely turned against him. The Bible said God was grieved, was sorry, that His heart was pained. Emotional passage here. Because of this, God decides to wipe out everyone and every living creature that moves along the ground and in the air (not the sea, apparently...would God drown fish?). God is grieved that He created them. He created them, and He can certainly end them.
At first glance, it seems pretty capricious of God to do this. Just wipe the slate clean everytime someone gets out of line? So the nature of God in this instance comes down to a couple of options. Either He failed at His creation, and is given to a sort of dictatorial whimsy of annihilating mankind, or He simply does not tolerate sin. He is separate from sin, and would that mankind be separate from sin as well. I sure hope it is the latter. And does God's wiping mankind from the face of the earth at this point equate to Him putting man out of his misery as he suffers from a terminal sin nature?
There was apparently one man who didn't fit in with the rest of humanity ("humanity" used loosely). And that is Noah.
The NIV says Noah was righteous, blameless among the people of his time. He "walked with God," as did Enoch back in chapter five. It seems that those who "walk with God" are preserved and protected from horrible fates, such as death, and the extermination of man. I want to walk with God....anyway. Noah isn't one of the aforementioned "sons of God." His genealogy is pretty specifically spelled out. It doesn't say Noah is perfect, but he was righteous enough.
God informs Noah that he is pwning the rest of mankind, and that He has chosen Noah to continue humanity. What an amazing responsibility. Granted, although we are a mere 10 generations into humanity, its still about 1600 years. How the earth must have populated by that time. If God, with whom you already have a close relationship, tells you he is saving you and yours only, thats pretty humbling.
How will he preserve Noah? Giant boat.
Bible says it will be 450 feet long (one and a half football fields), 75 feet wide (About 3/4 the length of a basketball court) and 45 feet high (almost a five-story building). So God gives all these instructions to Noah, and then reveals that he will send a flood.
What I find most interesting is that God reveals the way to escape, before he reveals exactly what the coming tribulation is going to be. And after that, God reveals why Noah has to build this gigantic vessel for him, his wife, his sons, and his sons wives. Because Noah, his wife, his sons, and his sons wives aren't going to be the only ones on the ark. No. They are going to have roommates. Two of all living creatures, male and female. I don't know if Noah was any kind of a herder, or if he had a particular skill with animals. We'll find out.
Noah did everything just as God commanded him. I would too.
Questions for God:
1. What were the Nephilim like?
2. Who were you protecting more with the shortened lifespan?
3. Were the men you created on other planets as rebellious as us?
Although we are called the sons of God, there is a distinction drawn here, revealing that there is something different about these sons of God. This behavior is evidently displeasing to God, as he says, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal, his days will be a hundred and twenty years."
From this I gather that these "sons of God" are immortal. What good would it be for immortals to commit to and procreate with mere mortals? God knew this wasn't good for the bride to be drawn into a relationship that was only going to be permanent to them, and require only a temporary commitment for ... what I'm guessing at this point are angels. It is simply unequal. Probably to grease the wheels a little to put an end to this practice, God shortens life expectancy dramatically to 120 years. 12 sets of 10.
My second thought is that when God says man is mortal, it seems to be a reminder than man is also fallen. These "sons of God," being immortal, are apparently not fallen...not given to a sin nature. So perhaps God wanted to also protect the "sons of God."
The children of these sons of God and daughters of man were called the Nephilim. The Bible says they were "the heroes of old, men of renown." An immortal nature, although diluted by mortal daughters of man, endowed (maybe the wrong word here, deal with it) the Nephilim to a point in which they displayed super strength and shapeshifting and flying and time travel and accomplishments, which would appear to regular joe's to be godlike. I don't know what these accomplishments specifically were, but I can wonder.
Apparently, an incorruptible nature wasn't hereditary for the Nephilim, as the word goes on to say about man that "every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." I have already read dozens of amazing things in only a few short chapters, but I don't see exaggeration. The above statement is pretty damning. There was nobody helping old ladies cross the ... cave? Nobody teaching their kids about right and wrong? No love?
What God created with such beauty and intimacy has completely turned against him. The Bible said God was grieved, was sorry, that His heart was pained. Emotional passage here. Because of this, God decides to wipe out everyone and every living creature that moves along the ground and in the air (not the sea, apparently...would God drown fish?). God is grieved that He created them. He created them, and He can certainly end them.
At first glance, it seems pretty capricious of God to do this. Just wipe the slate clean everytime someone gets out of line? So the nature of God in this instance comes down to a couple of options. Either He failed at His creation, and is given to a sort of dictatorial whimsy of annihilating mankind, or He simply does not tolerate sin. He is separate from sin, and would that mankind be separate from sin as well. I sure hope it is the latter. And does God's wiping mankind from the face of the earth at this point equate to Him putting man out of his misery as he suffers from a terminal sin nature?
There was apparently one man who didn't fit in with the rest of humanity ("humanity" used loosely). And that is Noah.
The NIV says Noah was righteous, blameless among the people of his time. He "walked with God," as did Enoch back in chapter five. It seems that those who "walk with God" are preserved and protected from horrible fates, such as death, and the extermination of man. I want to walk with God....anyway. Noah isn't one of the aforementioned "sons of God." His genealogy is pretty specifically spelled out. It doesn't say Noah is perfect, but he was righteous enough.
God informs Noah that he is pwning the rest of mankind, and that He has chosen Noah to continue humanity. What an amazing responsibility. Granted, although we are a mere 10 generations into humanity, its still about 1600 years. How the earth must have populated by that time. If God, with whom you already have a close relationship, tells you he is saving you and yours only, thats pretty humbling.
How will he preserve Noah? Giant boat.
Bible says it will be 450 feet long (one and a half football fields), 75 feet wide (About 3/4 the length of a basketball court) and 45 feet high (almost a five-story building). So God gives all these instructions to Noah, and then reveals that he will send a flood.
What I find most interesting is that God reveals the way to escape, before he reveals exactly what the coming tribulation is going to be. And after that, God reveals why Noah has to build this gigantic vessel for him, his wife, his sons, and his sons wives. Because Noah, his wife, his sons, and his sons wives aren't going to be the only ones on the ark. No. They are going to have roommates. Two of all living creatures, male and female. I don't know if Noah was any kind of a herder, or if he had a particular skill with animals. We'll find out.
Noah did everything just as God commanded him. I would too.
Questions for God:
1. What were the Nephilim like?
2. Who were you protecting more with the shortened lifespan?
3. Were the men you created on other planets as rebellious as us?
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