Noah's Contemporaries: the Nephilim

January 30th, 2026
by Lance Waldie

Genesis 6:4 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.

Now if Nephilim is translated “giants,” the fact that they lived “afterwards,” that is after the Flood, can indeed be accounted for in the OT itself. First, there later existed the “descendants of Anak” who lived in Canaan (Num. 13:22, 28). When the Israelite spies went to scout the land, they saw these men and referred to them as Nephilim, or giants (Num. 13:33). These Anakim (plural of “Anak”) later lived in the Philistine cities of Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. Though it is never stated specifically, it does appear that the nine-foot tall Goliath descended from the Anakim (cf. 1 Sam. 17:4-7). Second, there existed a group called the Rephaim who were compared to the Anakim (Deut. 2:11, 20; 3:11; cf. Gen. 14:5). Og, king of Bashan, was the last of the Rephaim, for he was killed by the Israelites as they moved into Canaan and possessed his land: “For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bedstead was an iron bedstead… Its length was nine cubits and its width four cubits by ordinary cubit” (cf. Josh. 12:4; 13:12). Since a cubit is approximately 18 inches, that means Og’s bed was over 13 feet long! Perhaps giants like Goliath who were among the Philistines in later Israel were descendants of the Rephaim (2 Sam. 21; 1 Chron. 20).

Now if the Nephilim were a race of people, then their existence “afterwards,” that is, after the Flood, poses a problem. It would mean that they survived the Flood. Yet only Noah and his family survived the Flood. If anyone else would have survived the Flood, this would have thwarted God’s plan to destroy everyone on the planet in order to start all over with Noah and his family. Hence, the Nephilim’s existence after the Flood can only be explained through some genetic mutation like gigantism that sprung up within some groups and was exploited by their people as a warrior class of very strong and tall people.

Though some equate the Nephilim with the offspring of the union of the unlawful marriages, the text does not specifically say such. What is specifically stated is that the Nephilim were contemporaries of Noah, being among the wicked on the antediluvian earth. Since the narrator speaks of them existing “afterwards, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men,” they existed “when” those people were marrying and being given in marriage. So is the “they” in v. 4 speaking of the Nephilim coming into the daughters of men (i.e., having sexual relations with them), or is the “they” speaking of the “sons of God,” namely fallen angels? Or, are the two one and the same? Moreover, is the term “those” in v. 4 a reference to the “mighty men” (Heb. gibborim) who were “of old, men of renown,” or of the Nephilim? Perhaps the Gibborim are one and the same as the Nephilim? The singular form of Gibborim is used of Nimrod in Genesis 10:8 who was known to be the most wicked of all mighty men. Likewise, the term “renown” in v. 4 means “name; reputation.” Since no particular people group had a moral reputation on the earth in those days, it appears that their “renown” was that of great wickedness. It thus appears that whether the Gibborim are the same as the Nephilim, both were exceedingly wicked.

It is said that these wicked men who dominated the earth both before and after the Flood “came in to the daughters of men.” Since come “in to” is often used of sexual relations in the OT, it is no surprise that the narrator speaks of the children born to them as a result of this union. Either these wicked men took advantage of weaker women, or perhaps the women willingly complied with their advances. Either way, the ingressive verb form of “came in to” focuses both on the beginning of their sexual unions and its ongoing nature. If this be the case, then the Nephilim were already on the earth when these sexual liaisons were taking place. The fact that these beings were on the earth in those days, and also afterwards, means that they were not a race of people but a designation of wicked people, likely from all races.

Food For Thought
Passages like Genesis 6:4, in speaking of giants, are difficult to believe for many. Often they’re passed over as myth and legend. Many scholars note the stories of antiquity that pre-date Moses which speak of giants, creation, and a flood, and they assume that some ancient writer made up his own story to insert in what would become the Bible. The Nephilim, however, were men of notoriety, and their reputation was known to all. Like most notorious people, it is likely that their stories circulated the globe for many hundreds of years. These “heroes” likely provide the historical base behind the obviously mythological accounts such as Gilgamesh and the like. Though many claim the Bible is myth represented as history, it’s really the opposite. The stories of the Bible given by God are the ones that circulated through oral tradition, and it was the ancient story-tellers of old who seem to have transformed history into myth. God’s Word has stood the test of time, and it proves itself over and over to all who seek truth.