Genesis 6:4 mentions the Nefilim. That word, Nefilim, generally understood to mean “giants.” But who were they, really? And where did they come from? The Torah just kind of drops that in there, doesn't it? "The Nefilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. These were the heroes of old, men of renown."
Well, Jewish tradition has a lot to say about it, filling in the gaps with some truly wild stories.
One particularly striking account tells us that the "Sons of God" – often interpreted as fallen angels – took wives from among the daughters of men. And these unions… well, they didn’t produce ordinary children. These women gave birth to giants. Really big giants. We’re talking three thousand ells tall! Now, an "ell" is an old measurement, but whatever it was, it’s clear – these guys were HUGE.
And hungry. Very, very hungry.
The story goes that these giants quickly devoured all the resources of humanity. Think about it: imagine trying to feed beings that size. It wouldn’t take long to strip the world bare. And when the humans couldn't sustain them any longer? The giants turned on them, devouring people, too. It gets worse. They began sinning against every living creature – birds, beasts, reptiles, fish. They devoured each other, drank blood. You can imagine the scene… it wasn't pretty.
The earth itself cried out against this lawlessness. The air was thick with the stench of rotting carcasses.
One particularly gruesome detail involves Shemhazai, a fallen angel, who supposedly fathered two sons, Hiwa and Hiya. According to the tale, these two alone consumed a thousand oxen, a thousand camels, and a thousand horses every single day. Can you even imagine the logistics of that?
It’s no wonder, then, that God decided to cleanse the earth with the Flood.
But where did these giants come from, really? Why were they so…awful?
Some say these giants, born of spirit and flesh, are the evil spirits that still roam the earth today, relentlessly pursuing us. Others offer a slightly different take. According to this version, the angels transformed themselves, taking the shape of men, and appeared to the women while they were with their husbands. The women, bewitched by these angelic forms, lusted after them. As a result, they gave birth to giants. It’s a fascinating idea – that even the thought of infidelity could have such monstrous consequences. The Testament of Reuben gives us this version.
And while most accounts attribute the birth of the Nefilim to these unions, the Zohar, that foundational text of Kabbalah, offers a different, darker origin. The Zohar tells us that Samael, often identified as the angel of death, copulated with Eve, "injecting her with slime," and from that union came Cain, whose very essence was different from other humans. The Nefilim, then, issued from the seed of Cain.
These myths – and they are myths, stories meant to teach us something profound – also provide a potential origin for the giants that the Israelites encountered in the Land of Israel, as described in Numbers 13:31-33.
What are we to make of all this? Maybe it's about the dangers of unchecked power, or the consequences of straying from our moral compass. Maybe it's about the dark side of desire. Or maybe, just maybe, it's a reminder that even the smallest seed of corruption can grow into something truly monstrous. And that's a thought worth pondering, isn't it?