Page Content (OCR)
27 "Archaeology, too, show, from the traditionary fables of the classical poets, as well as from the colossal monuments that are extant, that there were people in remote times of CYCLOPEAN STRENGTH; and whether this . . . was the characteristic peculiarity of a certain class only, various circumstances contribute to warrant the conclusion, that in the world before the Flood there were Titans distinguished by corporeal stature and energies far above the present scale. But although the idea of GIGANTIC POWER does underlie the language of the sacred historian, the term Nephilim seems to bear a deeper significance; and if etymology may guide us, it describes a class of men of worthless and at the same time of violent character. . . intimating that the Nephilim were marauding nomads -- men of a violent, overbearing, lawless character -- who abused their bodily powers to obtain their selfish ends; who were constantly roving from place to place in quest of plunder, and, emerging suddenly from their retreat, made attacks both on the property and the lives of men" (Critical Experimental Commentary, vol.1, p. 89). Men of gigantic stature are also mentioned as existing after the Flood of Noah's time. When the children of Israel sent spies into the land of Canaan, preparatory to invading the land, they were appalled to find giants dwelling in the land. They gave to Moses and the people a frightening, dismaying report: "Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. . . . We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the GIANTS, the sons of Anak, which come of the GIANTS: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so were we in their sight" (Numbers 13:28-33). Where did these giants come from? Since all the Pre-Flood giants were destroyed by each other, or before the Flood, these must have been born to disobedient angels who sinned by cohabiting with women soon after the Deluge. Says the Companion Bible: "But we read of the Nephilim again in Num.13:33: 'there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, which come of the Nephilim.' How, it may be asked, could this be, if they were all destroyed in the Flood? The answer is contained in Gen.6:4, where we read: 'There were Nephilim in the earth in those days (i.e., in the days of Noah); and also AFTER THAT, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children unto them, the same became the mighty men (Heb. gibbor, the heroes) which were of old, men of renown’ (lit. men of the name, i.e. who got a name and were renowned for their ungodliness). Giants AFTER the Flood, Too! The word for "giants" here is the same word used in Genesis 6:4 -- the Nephilim. Obviously, therefore, some of them lived after the Flood. A Second Irruption of Giants "So that ‘after that,' i.e. after the Flood, there was a second irruption of these