The Book of Enoch, a pseudepigraphic work, provides extra-biblical details on the era that preceded the deluge. In its expository retelling of several events, the book offers an etiology for some, or perhaps all, evil spirits. Based upon Schodde's translation of the Ge‘ez (Ethiopic) documents, 1 En 15:8-12 reports the following:
This peculiar claim about wicked spirits originating from antediluvian giants as advanced by 1 Enoch is very intriguing; but is it scriptural? Can it be proven with the Tanach (Hebrew Bible)? It seems to be a fanciful, baseless concoction, yet there may be substance to it.
The giants of 1 En 15:8-12 refer to those famous beings from Gn 6:4 known as נְפִלִים nəp̄ilīm (= “Nephilim”). This is contextually obvious. Further, the Greek witness of 1 Enoch as found in Codex Panopolitanus provides several keys for exegesis within the LXX[i], namely the Greek equivalents to each Ge‘ez term. In 1 En 15:8a the Ge‘ez phrase ወይእዜኒ፡ ረዓይት፡ wäyʾzeni räʿayt (= “and now the giants”) is rendered into Greek as και νυν οι γιγαντες kai nun hoi gigantes (= “and now the giants”). Therefore it follows that ረዓይት räʿayt = γιγαντες gigantes, where both terms mean "giants." Moreover, when referring to the Nephilim of Gn 6:4, which 1 En 15:8-9 says originate from the Watchers in heaven, the LXX employs the term γίγαντες gigantes (= “giants”) with a definite article. This indicates that ancient scribes did not understand the Nephilim to be "fallen ones" as is often parroted. Rather, they were understood to be giants and not just any giants – but the giants, a specific and renowned group. So the giants of 1 En 15:8-12 are the Nephilim of Gn 6:4 or their descendants. But, outside of secondary and expository sources, what were the Nephilim according to the Tanach? Genesis 6:4 states,
The Nephilim had been in the earth in those days and afterwards when the sons of the divine came to the daughters of the human. And they bore to them those valiant ones which from old are the men of the reputation (or "name").
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הַנְּפִלִים הָיוּ בָאָרֶץ בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם וְגַם אַחֲרֵי־כֵן אֲשֶׁר יָבֹאוּ בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים אֶל־בְּנֹות הָאָדָם וְיָלְדוּ לָהֶם הֵמָּה הַגִּבֹּרִים אֲשֶׁר מֵעֹולָם אַנְשֵׁי הַשֵּׁם׃
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What "reputation" or "name" is this referring to? This passage affirms that prior to the deluge, and at some later point, the Nephilim were in the earth. Apparently, they are the progeny of an interbreeding that took place between celestial beings and the daughters of Adam (as discussed in another post). This is the reputation or name referred to in Gn 6:4 - the superhuman stock. Upon examining the Tanach, one finds only a single other reference to the Nephilim. In Nm 13:33 this noun נְפִלִים nəp̄īlîm, in both defective and plene form (נְפִילִים nəp̄îlîm), surfaces:
(v.32b) “And all of the people that we saw in its midst were men of measure. (v.33) And there we saw the Nephilim, sons of ʻAnaq from the Nephilim, and we were in their eyes as grasshoppers, even so we were in their eyes.”
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וְכָל־הָעָם אֲשֶׁר־רָאִינוּ בְתֹוכָהּ אַנְשֵׁי מִדֹּות׃ וְשָׁם רָאִינוּ אֶת־הַנְּפִילִים בְּנֵי עֲנָק מִן־הַנְּפִלִים וַנְּהִי בְעֵינֵינוּ כַּחֲגָבִים וְכֵן הָיִינוּ בְּעֵינֵיהֶם׃
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The ʻAnaqs (ʻănāq = “long neck”) are called “men of measure” (ʼanšē miḏdōṯ) indicating that they were of extreme size; they then are identified as being “from The Nephilim”. This confluence of descriptors provides the reader with characteristics of at least some נְפִלִים nəp̄īlîm -- that is, these specific ones are explicitly called “giants”. For by the partitive usage of the preposition מִן min (= “from”) we see that all sons of ʻAnaq are Nephilim, but not all Nephilim are sons of ʻAnaq. With that said, the probable etymology of the term נְפִלִים nəp̄īlîm is that it derives from the Aramaic noun נְפִיל nəp̄îl meaning “giant”.[ii] This, if true, means that all Nephilim are “giants” in agreement with LXX Gn 6:4. Given the data, the best deduction is that all Nephilim were giants.
Next, the account in Dt 2:10-11 recapitulates the foregoing details of the ʻAnaqs but this time with some variance:
The ʼEmim (Heb. = “Terrors”) formerly dwelled in it, a great people, many and tall as the ʻAnaqs. Rephaʼim they were reckoned, also as the ʻAnaqs, but The Moʼabites called them “ʼEmim”.
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הָאֵמִים לְפָנִים יָשְׁבוּ בָהּ עַם גָּדֹול וְרַב וָרָם כָּעֲנָקִים׃ רְפָאִים יֵחָשְׁבוּ אַף־הֵם כָּעֲנָקִים וְהַמֹּאָבִים יִקְרְאוּ לָהֶם אֵמִים׃
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The people called “terrors” (ʼEmim) are likened to the “long necks” (ʻAnaqs) which are “men of measure” and “Nephilim” (Nm 13:32b-33). But here, instead of being likened to Nephilim as in Nm 13:32-33, the ʻAnaqs as well as the ʼEmim (and Zamzummim in Dt 2:20-22) are called רְפָאִים rəp̄āʼîm (“Rephaʼim”).[iii] Deriving from the root רפא rpʼ meaning “weak”, “feeble”, or even “heal”, the name suggests that they were “terrible ones” instilling “fear” and “weakening” others; the term certainly denotes “giants” (cf. 1 Chr 20:4-6, “son(s) of the רָפָא rāp̄āʼ”). Like Nephilim, Rephaʼim were not only legendary for their size but also for having existed from ancient times. The LXX scribes which translated נְפִילִים nəp̄îlîm as γίγαντες gigantes (cf. Gn 6:4 & Nm 13:33), also rendered רְפָאִים rəp̄āʼîm into Greek as γίγαντες gigantes (cf. Gn 14:5 & Jo 12:4). Since scripture tells us that the ʻAnaqs were Nephilim (Nm 13:32-33) but also Rephaʼim (Dt 2:10-11), and in light of their respective etymologies, the two terms seem to be synonyms. Both groups were giants, considered ancient, and associated through the ʻAnaqs. Further, according to LXX scribes רְפָאִים rəp̄āʼîm = γίγαντες gigantes and נְפִילִים nəp̄îlîm = γίγαντες gigantes; therefore, it is most probable that the רְפָאִים rəp̄āʼîm were “the giants” stemming from postdiluvial נְפִילִים nəp̄îlîm. 1 Enoch asserts this identification as positive thus establishing the premise for its demonological etiology.
This topic now becomes even more interesting: although the Rephaʼim were eventually extinguished, the term resurfaces throughout the Tanach in reference to departed spirits. The prophet Isaiah in 26:14 says,
Dead ones will not live; Rephaʼim will not rise; on this account, you have punished and you have exterminated them. You have destroyed every remembrance of theirs.
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מֵתִים בַּל־יִחְיוּ רְפָאִים בַּל־יָקֻמוּ לָכֵן פָּקַדְתָּ וַתַּשְׁמִידֵם וַתְּאַבֵּד כָּל־זֵכֶר לָמֹו׃
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The Rephaʼim here are paralleled with dead ones, as they are elsewhere in the Tanach.[iv] Further, other Semitic languages associate רְפָאִים rəp̄āʼîm with “departed spirits” (i.e. NeoPunic = ראפאם and Ugaritic = rpʼum).[v] The Ugaritic terms rpʼum (= “Repha’im”) and ʼilnym (= “divine ones”) appear in the ancient cultic texts of Ras Shamra, a Canaanite port city. These texts that date from circa 1400 BCE speak of Canaanite version of hell in Bashan, the territory ruled by King Og of the Repha’im. Consequently, some scholars have argued that a certain rpu mlk ‘lm (= “rpu the eternal king”), who resided at Ashtoreth/Edrei as Dt 1:4 attests, is one called Milku, who is actually King Og.[vi] Although these archaic pagan texts may provide clues to the identity of רְפָאִים rəp̄āʼîm, an analysis of such goes well beyond the scope of this study. Suffice it to say that the Ras Shamra tablets of Ugarit establish rpʼum as renowned, and at times divine, ones from ancient past.
Next, Is 14:9 may identify the Repha’im with the long deceased giants. They are paralleled with the chief ones of the earth in a warning to a pompous king:
Sheol from beneath is quaking for you to meet you at your arriving. It incites the Rephaʼim for you, all of the powers of the land. It raises up from their thrones, all of the kings of the nations.
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שְׁאֹול מִתַּחַת רָגְזָה לְךָ לִקְרַאת בֹּואֶךָ עֹורֵר לְךָ רְפָאִים כָּל־עַתּוּדֵי אָרֶץ הֵקִים מִכִּסְאֹותָם כֹּל מַלְכֵי גֹויִם׃
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The scribes of the LXX picked up on this subtlety, seeing theרְפָאִים rəp̄āʼîm of this passage as “giants”. Note the LXX rendition of Is 14:9:
ὁ ᾅδης κάτωθεν ἐπικράνθη συναντήσας σοι, συνηγέρθησάν σοι πάντες οἱ γίγαντες οἱ ἄρξαντες τῆς γῆς οἱ ἐγείραντες ἐκ τῶν θρόνων αὐτῶν πάντας βασιλεῖς ἐθνῶν
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Hades from beneath is embittered to meet thee: all the giants that have ruled over the earth have risen up together against thee, they that have raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
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This reading proves definitively that the LXX scribes understood the Repha’im here to be the, then extinct, ancient and legendary giants that in former days were kings and mighty men on the earth – people such as King Og of Bashan.
In summary, while a connection between the Nephilim of Genesis 6:4 and ghostly Repha’im is not provable beyond a shadow of a doubt, the link is apparent: Repha’im are Nephilim, and Repha’im are also dead mighty men from old times. Thus, 1 En 15:8-12 demonstrates the book’s exegetical potency and potential for advanced demonology. Moreover, whether one attributes the book to divine dictation or mere scribal boredom, one conclusion is inescapable: 1 Enoch, the book that Jude 14 quotes verbatim and endorses as genuine prophecy, merits serious consideration as a work of complex exegesis and ancient midrash.
[i] A Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint dates to circa 250 BCE.
[ii] Michael Heiser, “The Meaning of the Word Nephilim: Fact vs. Fantasy,” page 5 [cited 24 March 2012]. Online: http://www.michaelsheiser.com/nephilim.pdf
[iii] ʻAnaqs, ʼEmim, and Zamzummim (alt. Zuzim cf. Gn 14:15) are all Rephaʼim that may simply be one clan bearing multiple designations that vary by region. Or, alternatively, they may be different sects of Rephaʼim as it is used in a general manner referring to giants.
[v] See Dietrich-L.-S. Texte 1, tablets 120-122, esp. 122
[vi] See Van Der Toorn (1991:57-58)
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