The Nephilim and The Flood

At our weekly Bible study, we have been going through Chuck Missler's Learn the Bible in 24 Hours. One of the questions that have come out of the study is about the Nephilim, the bizarre race started in Genesis 6:2

Genesis 6:2

that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.

The offspring of the unholy mating are the Nephilim, described later on as the Anakim.

Deuteronomy 1:28

Where can we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts, saying, "The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.

The question arising is, how did the  Nephilim survive the flood?

I suggest an understanding of the Nephilim in which the Nephilim functioned as spirit beings possessing the bodies of men, in order to experience the various carnal pleasures this world had to offer. When the Flood presented a threat to their existence, some of them, out of necessity, possessed the swine that went aboard the ark. After the ark landed and the animals were released, the surviving Nephilim waited until the land was sufficiently repopulated with great men before going and again possessing the strong of the land, to be known as the Anakim.

Take a look at the the story of the gadarene demoniac:

Mark 5:1-13

Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. And he cried out with a loud voice and said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me." For He said to him, "Come out of the man, unclean spirit!" Then He asked him, "What is your name?" And he answered, saying, "My name is Legion; for we are many." Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country. Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. So all the demons begged Him, saying, "Send us to the swine, that we may enter them." And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.

From this passage we learn the following:

• When demon possessed, a person may possess superhuman strength
• Demons, when forced to do so, are willing to possess and dwell in pigs
• Jesus did permit the demons to dwell in swine

Looking at Leviticus, we get this:

Leviticus 11:7-8

and the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you.  Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you.

When Noah took the animals aboard the ark, he took all of them. There was no restriction on what animals to bring on board, the swine went aboard as did the other animals.

And the Nephilim:

Genesis 6:2

that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.

This verse opens up a Pandora's box of possibilities. If one accepts the commonly held view that the "sons of God" here are the fallen angels of Lucifer's rebellion, then the following would be true by implication:

• The fallen angels had a libido
• They had bodies that could not only act on that libido, they could also breed with humans

While entirely possible, here is another possible scenario. What if, instead of directly breeding with humans, the demons are instead possessing the strongest men of the land and then acting their evil desires out through them? Looking at the gadarene demoniac of Mark 5, clearly the demon possessed man was no longer in control of his mind or body, the demonic hoard known as Legion was fully controling this hapless individual. As Legion, this man was totally uncontrollable, and indeed, was a terror to the entire region.

Imagine if the fallen angels of Lucifer's rebellioln did the same, back in the days of Noah. These demonic hordes possess the strongest, largest men of the land, magninfying their strength far beyond imagination. This demon-infused group becomes recognized as the Nephilim, giants in the land, undefeatable, wicked to no end.

When God's plan to destroy mankind and spare Noah becomes known, doubtless Lucifer also knew of the plan. Looking to preserve his minions, he knew God wasn't going to allow his agents to possess Noah's family. Unclean swine, however, were available, and lacking a human host to inhabit, they would do.

With or without the swine, sin obviously did re-enter the world even though Noah's family were the only humans to remain after the Flood. If God's intent was to eliminate sin at any cost, He would have eliminated everybody and started over, or perhaps started with only Noah. Instead, His magnificent grace was in action, allowing an imperfect small collection of people to continue when by all rights, most of them shoud have drowned with the rest of the humans. Indeed, knowing the utter hopelessness of the human condtion, God had a greater plan, one based on a final perfect sacrifice, his son Jesus.

So that's my theory on the Nephilim and the Flood.