*** it-2 p. 492 Nephilim ***
Increased Wickedness. “The mighty ones who were of old, the men of fame” that were produced by these marriages, were not men of fame with God, for they did not survive the Flood, as did Noah and his family. They were “Nephilim,” bullies, tyrants, who no doubt helped to make conditions worse. Their angelic fathers, knowing the construction of the human body and being able to materialize, were not creating life, but lived in these human bodies and, cohabiting with women, brought forth children. Their children, “mighty ones,” were therefore unauthorized hybrids. Apparently the Nephilim did not, in turn, have children.
This is what the WTS says, what does the Bible say?
Numbers 13:30-33—Then Ca´leb tried to still the people toward Moses and went on to say: “Let us go up directly, and we are bound to take possession of it, because we can surely prevail over it.” 31 But the men who went up with him said: “We are not able to go up against the people, because they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they kept on bringing forth to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying: “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is a land that eats up its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in the midst of it are men of extraordinary size. 33 And there we saw the Neph´i·lim, the sons of A´nak, who are from the Neph´i·lim; so that we became in our own eyes like grasshoppers, and the same way we became in their eyes.”
Now, the WTS says this was not a literal usage. However, the term Nephilim was used twice. In fact, (1) a specific tribe is mentioned, "the sons of Anak" and (2) the ancestry of this tribe is attributed to the Nephilim. It was apparently a fact with which the people were fairly familiar as no one needed to explain it on any other occasion. Also, the account recorded in Deuteronomy found it unecessary to repeat the term Nephilim, on the occasion of their going up across the Jordan.
Deuteronomy 9:1-3—“Hear, O Israel, you are today crossing the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified to the heavens, 2 a people great and tall, the sons of An´a·kim, about whom you yourself have known and you yourself have heard it said, ‘Who can make a firm stand before the sons of A´nak?’ 3 And you well know today that Jehovah your God is crossing before you. A consuming fire he is. He will annihilate them, and he himself will subdue them before you; and you must dispossess them and destroy them speedily, just as Jehovah has spoken to you.
But, here these sons of Anakim are referred to as a people "about whom you yourself have known." There was good reason why a nation of people so large would be well known, and why their ancestry would be public knowledge—even reaching into the ears of the slaves of Pharoah. And certainly they would have been well known to the vast mixed company of Egyptians who left with the Israelites.
Why does the WTS say, "Apparently the Nephilim did not, in turn, have children?" The Bible nowhere makes that statement, but as we can see it clearly states the contrary. The sons of Anak are declared as being "from the Nephilim." As far as I know, there is only one way that can occur.
An interesting research project involves tracing out Gath, Anak, Ashdod, and Rephaim. Reading every instance of these in the Bible, I am now convinced that the Nephilim were sires of children and that Goliath is their most famed descendant.
Of course, that would mean the Hebrew word used in the flood account for "whole inhabited earth" was mistranslated and only meant "region" or "land" or "city" and that the destruction described was on a smaller scale than that related to us today. Either that, or these Nephilim were extremely gifted swimmers and could tread water for quite a few days. Otherwise, the Anakim could not have existed as descendants of the Nephilim. Neither could the Rephaim, who were related to the Anakim.
Respectfully,
AuldSoul
