“There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”
[Genesis 6:4 – KJV]
One of most obvious places where fringe culture, conspiracy theory and Biblical truth intersect is in regard to the giants. Although the modern pundits who propagate Darwinian evolution and naturalism vehemently deny such nonsense, the historical testimony from all over the world cannot be dismissed.
Giants once walked this earth.
Massive giants.
Some standing at least 15′ tall, weighing nearly 3,000 lbs. Swift, agile, fierce, and immensely strong giants. Their bodies proportionate and symmetrical, not gangly and deformed.
The giants before the flood — called the Nephilim — are believed to have been even taller.
For those of us who have been educated in a post-enlightenment society, where we are taught to apply a strict rationalism to everything, the idea of giants roaming the earth in the ancient past sounds more like a fairytale or science fiction than it does history. But the historical records abound. Giants are as real as can be.
Abraham Lincoln, prior to becoming president, wrote the following journal entry after visiting Niagara Falls. His is just one of many examples of this known phenomenon.
“When Columbus first sought this continent—when Christ suffered on the cross—when Moses led Israel through the Red-Sea—nay, even, when Adam first came from the hand of his Maker—then as now, Niagara was roaring here. The eyes of that species of extinct giants, whose bones fill the mounds of America, have gazed on Niagara, as ours do now. Contemporary with the whole race of men, and older than the first man, Niagara is strong, and fresh to-day as ten thousand years ago.”
[Abe Lincoln, Sept 1848]
Even in our churches, we practically never hear a preacher broach the subject of giants, despite the fact that giants are references over 20 times throughout the Scriptures. Where we treat the subject of the giants as taboo, the Biblical authors mention giants matter-of-factly, like they were commonplace in the ancient world.
For some reason Christians have no problem embracing certain aspects of the supernatural like angels and demons and miracles and the virgin birth and the resurrection, but we have a hard time wrapping our minds around the fact that there were “giants in the earth in those days; and also after that.”
Although it is worth doing a comprehensive secular study of the historical record of giants in the ancient world, which confirms that nearly every culture has either written and/or oral traditions of the giants, my goal here is simply to present what the Bible says about the giants and where they fit into the Biblical narrative.
Giants were the Hybrid Offspring of an Unholy Union
We are first introduced to the giants, called the Nephilim, in Genesis 6, in what the Bible describes as a forbidden union between the “sons of God” and the “daughters of men.” Most scholars agree that the word Nephilim is derived from the root Hebrew word, nephal, which literally means to fall or to lie.
The “sons of God,” therefore, are the fallen ones who abandoned their proper domain and lusted after the daughters of men, forcefully taking any they chose as wives in order to procreate.
The result of this perverse, unholy union? Giants. The Nephilim were a dominant, superior, hybrid offspring of giant warriors, who became known as the mighty men of old, heroes and men of renown in the ancient world. It only stands to reason that giant warriors of such stature would naturally become the dominant kings and rulers of the earth.
Jude describes how this heavenly rebellion in Genesis 6 was profane and treasonous in the eyes of the LORD.
“And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, [strange flesh] serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.”
[Jude 1:6-7]
Jude says the angels who abandoned their proper position in heaven indulged in “unnatural desire,” or literally different flesh. The Book of Enoch adds that the Watchers lusted after human women and came down and took all they wanted [1 Enoch 6:2].
In other words, the sons of God had no business intermingling with the daughters of man. It was a direct violation of the created order established by God and therefore a most perverse act of immorality.
The result of this ungodly transgression was the birth of the giants — a hybrid class of demonic offspring. The giants were not made in the image of God, but in the image of the fallen ones. And they were a direct threat to the human race.
Giants Perpetuated Evil and Violence on Earth
There is no mistake that the giants are directly connected to the complete corruption and defilement of all flesh prior to the flood of Noah’s day. The Biblical account implies that there is a connection between the manifestation of these giants and the wickedness in the earth.
“The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart… Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.”
[Genesis 6:5-6, 11-12]
The Book of Enoch confirms the Biblical account and elaborates on the evil agenda of the Watchers and their giant progeny. The fallen sons of God introduced all sorts of witchcraft, occult magic, astrology, enchantments, sorcery, use of drugs, weapons, genetic engineering, sexual perversion, and demonic blood sacrifice. The giants were bloodthirsty and violent, devouring mankind at will. [See 1 Enoch 7-8]
As I have mentioned before, the giant offspring of the Watchers were designed to accelerate evil and utterly destroy mankind from the earth.
Giants were to be Utterly Destroyed
The more I understand the role of giants in the Biblical narrative, the more I have come to understand God’s purposes in the flood and the subsequent conquest of Canaan. I believe the reason God resolved to destroy the entire earth with a global flood is directly connected to the total elimination of the Nephilim.
At the time of the great flood, only Noah and his family had been uncorrupted genetically. Everyone else on the face of the planet had been compromised by the corruption of all flesh — both man and animal.
The total annihilation of all flesh on the earth makes perfect sense when we insert the presence of the giants in those days. Interestingly, we see the very same relentless command given by God to utterly destroy all the inhabitants of Canaan during the conquest — men, women and children.
What is the connection between the flood and the conquest of Canaan?
GIANTS were in the land. Show them no mercy.
“So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, ‘The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.’”
[Numbers 13:32-33]
Giants are the Seed of Satan
Ultimately the mystery of the giants can be understood in one simple verse in Genesis 3, where the LORD tells Satan.
“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
[Genesis 3:15]
Everywhere the giants are found, they have one mission — destroy mankind and eliminate the seed of the woman. Satan knew enough to understand the coming Messiah would be born of a woman, so in his deranged mind, Satan’s purpose with the giants was to utterly wipe out mankind from the earth and so cut off the lineage of the promised Messiah.
All of sudden the role of the giants can be seen in light of the greater spiritual battle of cosmic forces.
Fortunately, every time Satan and the fallen sons of God have attempted to wipe out mankind from the earth, they have failed and God has triumphed.
Jesus Christ was born of woman in the fullness of time, and He has come to destroy the works of the devil and has conquered all the spiritual forces of evil that have been at work from the beginning!
As David symbolically cut off the head of the giant Goliath … so Jesus, the Son of David, has ultimately crushed the head of the Serpent! Amen!
Days of Noah 