Giants in the Land

Giants in the land – Advanced Spiritual Warfare

D.P. Weary

March 2009

The Nephilim (Giants)

The nĕphiyl (Nephilim)

From Thayer’s Greek Lexicon

Genesis 6:4 NASB - 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.

The Nephilim were hybrid beings, part human, part fallen angel. They were men of great repute and fierce warriors and leaders. They corrupted the world in Noah’s day and also afterward in Lot’s day in Sodom and Gomorrah.

Jude 1:6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,
Jude 1:7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

Sodom and Gomorrah went after strange flesh, i.e. fallen angels.

Numbers 13:33 NASB - 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.

Caleb saw the Nephilim in the Promised Land in Moses’ day (the sons of Anak). These were very large people (giants) compared to Caleb.

The Rephaim or Giants (Rapha’)

The Rapha' (giants)

From Thayer’s Greek Lexicon

Deuteronomy 3:4 NASB - We captured all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

Og was an Amorite king. The Amorite kingdom was essentially the land occupied today by Syria, Iraq, and the western part of Iran (the land of the old Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian kingdoms). In other words, the land of the Rephaim (another name for Bashan) is today the land of the peoples that are determined to wipe Israel off the map. Interesting, to say the least.

Deuteronomy 3:10-11 NASB - all the cities of the plateau and all Gilead and all Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. (For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim.) Behold, his bedstead was an iron bedstead; it is in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. Its length was nine cubits and its width four cubits by ordinary cubit.)

Note here that Og king of Bashan is said to be the only one left of the remnant of the Rephaim or giants. However, we will soon find that “descendants of the Rephaim or giants” are in the world far after Og’s day. He was a giant of a man, maybe as much as 12 feet tall.

Deuteronomy 3:13 NASB - The rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, all the region of Argob (concerning all Bashan, it is called the land of Rephaim (Rapha).

The land of Bashan was called the land of Rephaim.

Joshua 13:12 NASB - all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei (he alone was left of the remnant of the Rephaim); for Moses struck them and dispossessed (yarash) them.

Yarash (dispossessed)

1) to seize, dispossess, take possession off, inherit, disinherit, occupy, impoverish, be an heir.

Moses seized the land of Og and took over their territory. It does not say that Moses killed Og and all of his people. We will soon find that the descendants of the giants will continue on and be found in David’s day.

1 Chronicles 20:4 NASB - Now it came about after this, that war broke out at Gezer with the Philistines; then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the giants, and they were subdued.

Here we find the descendants of the giants in David’s time among the Philistines.

1 Chronicles 20:5 And there was war with the Philistines again, and Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear {was} like a weaver's beam.

Again we find the descendants of the giants in the brother of Goliath the Gittite.

1 Chronicles 20:6 NASB - Again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of {great} stature who had twenty-four fingers and toes, six {fingers on each hand} and six {toes on each foot;} and he also was descended from the giants.

Here we see a descendant of the giants characterized by a genetic deformity.

1 Chronicles 20:8 NASB - These were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

There were descendants of the giants in Gath that David had to deal with.

2 Samuel 21:16 Then Ishbi-benob, who was among the descendants of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred {shekels} of bronze in weight, was girded with a new {sword,} and he intended to kill David.

2 Samuel 21:18 Now it came about after this that there was war again with the Philistines at Gob; then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was among the descendants of the giant.

Here we find the descendants of the giants again among the Philistines.

2 Samuel 21:20 There was war at Gath again, where there was a man of {great} stature who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also had been born to the giant.

2 Samuel 21:22 These four were born to the giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

The four Philistines killed by David’s men were born to a giant in Gath. These giants or Rephaim were people born of humans with a genetic defect tracing back to the Rephaim in Genesis 14.

Genesis 14:5 NASB - In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim and the Zuzim in Ham and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,

Genesis 15:20 NASB - and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim

Deuteronomy 2:11 NASB - Like the Anakim, they are also regarded as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim.

Deuteronomy 2:20 NASB - (It is also regarded as the land of the Rephaim, {for} Rephaim formerly lived in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin,

Here we find the Rephaim in Ashteroth-Karnaim, with the Hittites and the Perizzites, and the Anakim or Emim. The genetic contamination from the fallen angels has spread quite far into many tribal groups. These tribal areas and the land of the Philistines (Gaza today) are the very enemies of Israel and the Jews that surround then in our day. I wonder if the irrational hatred of the Jews by Muslims today comes from some residue of genetic contamination stemming back to the ancestors of the giants (Nephilim)?

The question that arises from these verses is, are the Nephilim, the Rephaim, and the giants just different names for the same hybrid humans, or are they different beings, all just being very tall? Let’s see if the New Testament can shed any light on this question.

New Testament references to fallen angels

Jude 1:6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day

In Jude we find references to fallen angels who are now kept in bonds under darkness for judgment.

Jude 1:7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire

Just as in Noah’s day, these fallen angels engaged in sexual sin and debauchery with humans resulting in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Jude 1:8 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.

Jude 1:9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"

This is a clear warning the dealing with fallen angels is a different proposition that dealing with demons. We don’t pronounce railings and judgments against them. It is the Lord’s authority that controls them and pronounces judgments against them.

2 Peter 2:4-6 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;

It is God (the Lord) that cast the fallen angels in Noah’s day into hell (Tartarus), to pits of darkness reserved for judgment.

and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and {if} He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing {them} to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly {lives} thereafter;

Again the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah is linked to the fallen angels.

2 Peter 2:10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in {its} corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties,

Note that the sin associated with the fallen angels deals with sexual perversion, lust of the flesh, great evil, and the producing of genetically defected human beings.

2 Peter 2:11 whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.

Note that even angels do not bring a reviling judgment against the fallen angels, including Satan.

Considering all of these verses taken together, it does appear that the Nephilim, the Rephaim, and the giants are all the result of fallen angel activity. They are genetically very large (9 to 12 feet tall), very fierce, very evil, and are often found involved in sexual perversion of one sort or another. They are beings born to human women, but beings with the DNA of fallen angels. Therefore they exhibit the character traits of fallen angels (and Satan). In the Old Testament, God either destroyed them or He commanded His people to destroy them. God destroyed the Nephilim in Noah’s day in the great flood. He (God) also destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire because of their great ungodliness (apparently a result of activity of fallen angels). Moses and his warriors did overcome and displace Og (the Rephaim) and his people from their land, but he did not completely destroy all of them. David had to content with them (the giants) from Goliath to the descendants of the giants that David’s men had to overcome. But again, David and his men did not completely wipe them out. Their stature does seem to decrease from Og (at about 12 feet tall judging by the size of his bed) to Goliath (thought to be about 9 feet tall), to the descendants of the giants that David’s men were able to overcome. What we can conclude is that the descendants of the giants were never totally wiped out. Further, since there has been fallen angelic activity on earth to this very day, the potential is there that their activity could still produce genetically altered evil humans.

Spiritual Warfare in These Last Days

What all of this is telling us is that the complexity and depth of our spiritual warfare in these last days has greatly increased. To some extent, the Church has learned to deal with demons. But, the issue of fallen angels among us and descendants of the giants as well, has not really been considered. There is no reason to believe that the genetic defect that produced the descendants of the giants in David’s day does not linger in some degree to this very day. Even worse, since we know we can entertain angels unawares today (Hebrews 13:2), what is to say they some of these angels are not fallen angels? If fallen angels are with us, appearing as humans, could they not once again produce offspring “as in the days of Noah”? Perhaps the Antichrist is a Nephilim or a descendant thereof? This could very well explain the extreme evil nature and demonic authority that has been the characteristic of the very evil world leaders from the kings of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome, to the more modern day evil leaders like Hitler and the other despots of our day including the coming Antichrist.

So, if the true Church, filled with the Spirit of God, is the restraining force (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7) in the world today that is keeping all this evil in check (to some degree), how are we to deal with this dimension of our spiritual warfare? We are cautioned to not pronounce railings and reviling judgments against these fallen angels and probably not against the genetically mutated humans they produce. Michael the archangel gave us the key. “The Lord rebuke you” were his words to Satan (Jude 1:9). It is the power of the cross and the Lord’s spilled blood that defeats Satan and his angels. The Lord has given us the right and authority to use His name in rebuking and holding back the forces of evil that are even now attempting to take over our world. But how we do this is the issue of the hour for the true Church.

To even dare enter this battle we must be fully covered by the armor of God. We must be fully equipped with, and trained in the use of all of the spiritual weapons that the Lord has given us in and by the Holy Spirit. Perhaps one of the most important is the gift of discernment. Unless we can discern our spiritual enemies, we are but lost children running threw a spiritual minefield.

Our greatest weapon in this battle against Satan and his angels and demons is prayer. But how often we pray amiss. If we find ourselves dealing with a fallen angel (in human form), or an “ancestor of the giants”, what should we do? “The Lord rebuke you” and hinder your activity, is the prayer we can pray. We can also stand against their works, exposing them as ungodly and evil. We can work to undue the deceptions that they weave. We can “preach the gospel of the Kingdom” and the good news of Christ’s salvation whenever and to whomever we can.

Until the Lord removes us from the earth at the Rapture, we have a job to do. We are to restrain evil and lawlessness. We are to call people out of “Babylon” and into His Kingdom (Revelation 18:4). We are to do Isaiah 61:1-3. We are to raise up “missiles” of prayer to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8) and his hordes and pull down his spiritual strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4).

We know that very evil and terrible times are coming upon this earth. When the true Church is removed, Satan and his hordes will be loosed to wreck unprecedented havoc on this earth. Then the Lord’s wrath will be unleashed and the 7 years of great tribulation will begin. Even now, many in the world are asking, “Is there any hope?” Only we, the true Church have the word of hope. There is a safe place. There is a hiding place in this coming world of chaos and terror. That hiding place is in Jesus and we must able and willing to tell the people about this “place” and how to get into it.

What this “safe place” is not is a place of total bliss and health and blessing in the physical world we now live in. In fact, the Lord told us that in this world we would have trouble (John 16:33). Yes, in His love and compassion for His children, God often does heal our wounds and sicknesses. He often does intervene for us in our difficult situations. But, sometimes He does not answer all of our prayers just exactly as we would like, and we do suffer through illnesses and distress and even death.

But, what we do know is that in the end, everything turns out great for those that know and love the Lord Jesus. There is coming a time when all of our diseases, illnesses, physical problems, mental and emotional problems, distresses, and all our problems are wiped away. It will come in the blink of an eye. It will come with the blast of the Last Trumpet and a shout of an archangel. When that shout comes, the dead in Christ will rise and be given new and imperishable bodies. Then we who are alive at the time will be transformed. Our perishable bodies will be changed into imperishable bodies. Then together with those that were resurrected from the dead, we will be caught up into the clouds to meet the Lord Jesus in the air to be with Him forever!

1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of {the} archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:51-53 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

1 Thessalonians 4:18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

“Therefore comfort one another with these words!” What an understatement! This – the hope of the Rapture and the completion of our salvation - is the hope we have to give to a world going crazy. This is the hope of glory that is the destiny of all who have made Jesus the Lord of their lives. This is our place of safely, our hiding place, our place of ultimate healing and wholeness. This “place” is Jesus!

We close with the Words of Jesus in His closing lines of His Great Book.

Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.

Revelation 22:20 He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

Revelation 22:21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.