The Nephilim were a new people in an old country. It was still a union between Eden and Nod, but with the addition of a third class of people that became the high and mighty known as the “Nephilim.” It was not an overnight takeover, but a gradual development over many generations. It began when the sons of God decided to marry lustfully the beautiful daughters of men that God was completely left out (Genesis 6). These were the Sethites that married Nod-Canite women. Luxury and pleasure had replaced morals. Human achievements were praised above human decency and justice. These Children of mixed marriages became heroes and acclaimed geniuses in the world. Their names appeared in Canaan (Numbers 13:33) and in their skills in Egypt and among the Incas in South America. They took the royal places in the world as descendants of the gods. They became gods themselves in direct opposition to the Creator God. They set up images and idols to have their subjects bow to them. They built unto themselves monuments like hanging gardens, Pyramids, towers and temples.
The first Nephilim overreached their power when they took on God. Their sins alienated them from God. God’s Spirit stopped influencing them and sin shortened their lifespan. Everything these people did was wicked. They had no intentions to change. These people, with their sexual lust, had turned their world into a whorehouse. Everything they touched, they polluted. They lived unto themselves and mocked those that believed there was a God. They were the first to replace the Creator God with idols and pictures in their own image. To them, God was the product of human imagination. They knew that the weak needed a God to nurse them, so they offered themselves as gods that could provide instantly in turn for their loyalty and service. The Nephilim needed the weak to carry their burdens and sweep up after them. They used them like one uses cattle. Most of the people become bonded slaves and servants for life. They began a practice that this world has never been able to shake off. People in power have yet to stop manipulating the masses.
There was a man by the name of Noah who preached fairness and justice. He warned that their wickedness would cause the downfall of their civilization. In fact, God would destroy them with a flood. The Nephilim regarded Noah as a religious freak. Some even respected this just man and sought his counsel at times. Most of all, he became someone they could laugh at and have their sport with. These people were human rationalists. They used reason to hurt Noah and his family. Mocking words did more harm than a sword. When Noah began to proclaim God’s warning that He would punish these sinners and Noah began to build an enormously huge boat far away from a body of water, they regarded him as being irrational. It amused them that a man would spend a lifetime to build such a monstrosity.
During the building of the Ark, Noah had an audience to preach to. It was a time of grace for these people; only, they used it up in disbelief. We are not told how many times mischief was done to Noah’s project. Neither are we told how much ridicule his family endured? Very likely, these great minds left the old man alone and felt sorry for his foolish venture. At least it was a sight to behold when they passed by or had somewhere to go and compare a fool to them selves. Who in his right mind would try to sail on dry land? What wind could lift such sails when it could not lift one of their smallest huts? It would not be wind God would use, just water. The impossible was upon them; only its objective was hidden from the self-made superior minds. The fun-loving Nephilims kept on pocking holes into Noah’s faith while God was boarding the boat with those He had chosen. When they saw all these animals, that did not get along with each other move into the ark, they were a bit perplexed, but they showed no concern. When the rain began to fall and the doors of the huge boat closed, the merrymaking stopped. Suddenly, all the words the man of God had spoken began to rattle their memories. After forty days of heavy rain, they stopped ridiculing Noah and His God. The rain turned into a flood and wiped out the lands and population of Eden and Nod. Noah was given new instructions by God to start a new generation of believers. The Ark vanished during the split of the earth and the extent of the flood became a mystery. The fact that there were Nephilim in Canaan during Joshua’s days, suggests that the flood may have been local (Numbers 13:33). The idea that Nephilim genes were present in Noah may provide a partial answer. The Nephilim kings that reigned in different parts of the world did not endorse Noah’s God. They kept on building cities and kingdoms around their own divinized names.
Noah resumed building a new life with his family by building an altar and sacrificing some clean animals to God. There was a major change in the agreement regarding the ground. God removed the curse on the land and exempted the animals from being punished with men. The fear that was in God became Noah’s legitimate way to rule over man and beast. To a man was granted the legal power to take a life for a life. Prior to the Flood, man took the law over life into his own hands. Now God granted man that power. Henceforth, only the guilty would forfeit their life. Unfortunately, Noah himself would fail in assessing who was guilty when he cursed his grandson Canaan for his own indiscretion (Genesis 8-9). Noah’s influence on his children was puzzling. There is no indication that his sons followed in his footsteps. There is no mention of the “One God” in Shem, Ham, and Japheth until Abram (Abraham) moved to Canaan and met Melchizedeck a priest of the Most High God (Genesis 14:18-20). Abram had left a polytheistic society (Genesis 31:31-35). The mysterious origin of Melchizedeck may be linked to Noah’s grandson Canaan, son of Ham (Hebrews 7:1-17). Noteworthy, in the connection to Melchizedeck in Canaan, is the presence of the giants or the Nephilim also known as the Philistines (Numbers 13:31-33; Genesis 21:32-34). It is no surprise because Canaan’s father Ham, a son of a godly parent, had married one of the worldly women. Canaan, because of the curse of his grandfather, may have had the only fear of God in his heart. That is why the land of Canaan had a king-priest that believed in a “God most high.”
Stop and Think - Rev Dr. Daniel Kolke 