The Nephilim were powerful or unusually large people mentioned before the Flood and again in the spies’ report about Canaan. The Israelites felt small in comparison with the Anakim associated with them.
Definition
The Nephilim were a people mentioned before the Flood and again in the report of the spies concerning Canaan. The word is often translated “giants,” though the Revised Version retains Nephilim. In the Canaanite context they represent men of extraordinary stature associated with the sons of Anak.
Biblical Usage
Genesis mentions the Nephilim among the antediluvians, though the precise interpretation of that passage is uncertain. Numbers uses the term for the people whom the spies saw in Canaan, before whom the Israelites felt as small as grasshoppers.
Historical Background
The Nephilim are associated with the mighty men of old and men of renown. The supplied material distinguishes them in Genesis from the children born through the union of the sons of God and the daughters of men, though the passage is difficult to interpret.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(Gen. 6:4; Num. 13:33, R.V.), giants, the Hebrew word left untranslated by the Revisers, the name of one of the Canaanitish tribes. The Revisers have, however, translated the Hebrew gibborim, in Gen. 6:4, “mighty men.”
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>nef'-i-lim (nephilim): This word, translated "giants" in the King James Version, but retained in the Revised Version (British and American), is found in two passages of the Old Testament--one in Ge 6:4, relating to the antediluvians; the other in Nu 13:33, relating to the sons of Anak in Canaan. In the former place the Nephilim are not necessarily to be identified with the children said to be borne "the daughters of men" to "the sons of God" (Ge 6:2,4); indeed, they seem to be distinguished from the latter as upon the earth before this unholy commingling took place (see SONS OF GOD). But it is not easy to be certain as to the interpretation of this strange passage. In the second case they clearly represent men of gigantic stature, in comparison with whom the Israelites felt as if they were "grasshopers." This agrees with Ge 6:4, "the mighty men that were of old, the men of renow." Septuagint, therefore, was warranted in translating by gigantes.</p><p>James Orr</p>
