Tag: Esther

The Nephilim are Something Else

Posted on by jovial_cynic

The Nephilim 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. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
Genesis 6:4 (NIV)

If you look very closely, Genesis 6 does not actually say the Nephilim are the offspring of the sons of God and human women. It merely says they were present then and afterwords.

Whether they are the offspring or not is unclear, but other later writings outside the Bible (the book of Enoch, Jubilees) suggest so.

If they are not the offspring of the “sons of God” and the good daughters of humanity, the Haman (who is associated with “falling,” like the word “Nephilim) connection is stronger, as Haman is not a son of Xerxes in the book of Esther.

Good vs Beautiful

Posted on by jovial_cynic

The sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.
Genesis 6:2 (NIV)

Translators do violence to the text.

This word we translated as “beautiful” here? FIFTEEN TIMES this Hebrew word is used before this, and EVERY SINGLE TIME, the word is “GOOD.”

“Good” is how God described the world he created in Genesis 1. It’s the same “good” of the Tree of good and evil knowledge.

The theological paths you can take here are absolutely tremendous.

The daughters of humanity were GOOD. What does this teach us about women? What does it say about God’s view of them? Who or what corrupts them by way of violence?

There is much water to draw from this well.

Another important link:

When Sarai is taken by Pharaoh in Genesis 12, she is described as beautiful (yawfeh), but when Esther is taken by Xerxes in Esther 2:7, she is described as both good (tov) and beautiful (yawfeh). And actually, the whole book of Esther links Haman with the concept of “falling,” which is the same root word as the Nephilim in Genesis 6. One might argue that Haman is Nephilim, and both the Pharaoh and King Xerxes are like “sons of God” who take women they please.