Prophet Nahum did not live to hear of the fall of Thebes, but only of Memphis

 

by

 Damien F. Mackey

  

To sum up: Our Simeonite family was from southern Judah,

but once had to identify as Galilean (Book of Jonah), and, another time,

as resident in the environs of Assyrian Nineveh (Book of Nahum).

  

Extent of Nahum’s prophetic career

 

            His alter egos

 

Nahum we need to multi-identify, before we can provide him with a full chronology and geography.

 

From these variations on Tobit 14:4:

 

‘Go to Media, my son, for I fully believe what Jonah the prophet said about Nineveh, that it will be overthrown’ (RSV).

 

‘My son, take your children and hasten to Media, for I believe the word of God that Nahum spoke about Nineveh. It will all take place’ (NCB),

 

we learn that Nahum was Jonah.

 

Now, according to pseudo-Epiphanius (De Vitis Proph. in Opp. 2:247), Nahum was of the tribe of Simeon.

 

Whereas the Book of Nahum does not provide a patronymic - does not name his father, or ancestor - the Book of Jonah does.

The prophet was a “son of Amittai” (Jonah 1:1; cf. 2 Kings 14:25).

 

The great prophet, Amoz (Amos), father of Isaiah, immediately suggests himself for the Simeonite “Amittai”. For one, Amoz was the patriarch of an enormously influential Simeonite prophetic family: 

 

God can raise up prophets at will - even from a shepherd of Simeon

 

(3) God can raise up prophets at will - even from a shepherd of Simeon

 

And, secondly, Amoz, or Amaziah, is a name compatible with the unusual “Amittai”.

 

Amoz I also believe to have been the prophet Micah, his very mirror-image, in fact, known to biblical commentators as “Amos redivivus”.

We find Isaiah and his father, Amos-Micah, in the Simeonite coupling, in Judith 6:15, of “Uzziah son of Micah, of the tribe of Simeon”.

 

There may be just one more addition to make to our composite Simeonite prophet.

If he is also Isaiah, then our prophet may connect with Hosea - Isaiah’s son Immanuel being, according to what I have written, the same boy as Hosea’s son, Lo-ammi:

 

Was Hosea’s boy-child, Lo-Ammi, Isaiah’s famous son, Immanuel?

 

(3) Was Hosea's boy-child, Lo-Ammi, Isaiah's famous son, Immanuel?

 

To sum up: Amoz (Amittai)/Micah was the Simeonite father of Isaiah (Hosea, Uzziah)/Nahum-Jonah.

 

His geography

 

This takes us far and wide, because our prophet, as Uzziah of the Book of Judith, was, according to Judith 8:34; 13:23 (Douay): “… the prince of Juda[h]” and “the prince of the people of Israel”.

 

Added to that, he, as Jonah-Nahum, would travel to Assyrian Nineveh.

 

The Simeonite family was apparently from Moresheth (Mareshah) in southern Judah (Micah 1:1).

 

Awkward complications arise, however, when we learn that Nahum was an “Elkoshite” (Nahum 1:1), and that Jonah was “the prophet from Gath-hepher” (2 Kings 14:25; cf.  Joshua 19:13), a location presumed to be firmly fixed in the land of Galilee.

In my recent article:

 

Were any Old Testament prophets from Galilee?

 

(5) Were any Old Testament prophets from Galilee?

 

I concluded (on the side of the Pharisees, John 7:52) that no Old Testament prophet arose from Galilee. My story was, based on Charles Boutflower, that Isaiah, having to flee the wrath of King Ahaz of Judah, went northwards for a time to Galilee, to what would come to be known as Capernaum, Kfar Naḥum (כְּפַר נַחוּם), literally, ‘Nahum’s village’, due to his presence there, as Nahum:

 

Isaiah took his family north to escape the wrath of king Ahaz

 

(5) Isaiah took his family north to escape the wrath of king Ahaz

 

The ancient name of the place, though, was Gath-hepher. Indeed, it was situated in Galilee, but our Simeonite prophetic family did not originally hail from there.

 

No Old Testament prophet arose from Galilee!

 

The other complication is with Nahum’s Elkosh (or Ali Qosh, or AlQush), thought by some to have been a Simeonite town (of uncertain location) in southern Judah, but, by others, to have been the well-known Alqosh (Al Qūsh, near Nineveh).

 

Now, it would make perfect sense for the prophet, Nahum-Jonah, to have - during his Assyrian mission - spent some time amongst the exiled Israelites in Nineveh, such as Tobit (who references him as we have read), and his family.

There, he may have taken notes for his graphic (“eye-witness”, as some have described it) account of the city and the Assyrians in the Book of Nahum.

 

To sum up: Our Simeonite family was from southern Judah, but once had to identify as Galilean (Book of Jonah), and, another time, as resident in the environs of Assyrian Nineveh (Book of Nahum).

 

That, at last, brings us to the main focus of this article, the chronology, and how this affects what our prophet could have lived to see regarding the fall of Memphis, and that of Thebes, and of Nineveh.

 

The long-lived Tobias (= Job), son of Tobit - who most likely met Nahum-Jonah during the latter’s mission to Nineveh - would live to see and hear of the Fall of Nineveh (Tobit 14:15):

 

“But before he died, [Tobias] saw and heard of the destruction of Nineveh.

He saw the inhabitants of the city being led captive into Media by Cyaxares,

the king of Media. Tobias blessed God for all that he had done against the Ninevites and Assyrians. Before dying he rejoiced over Nineveh,

and he blessed the Lord God forever and ever”.

 

His chronology

 

We can know, from a comparison of Isaiah and Hosea, that our Simeonite prophet likewise lived a very long life, his prophetic floruit extending from King Jeroboam II of Israel (Hosea 1:1) all the way down to King Hezekiah of Judah.

 

However, the necessary (my view) recognition of the reforming king Hezekiah as being the same as the reforming king Josiah, and Hezekiah’s wicked son, Manasseh, as Josiah’s wicked son, Jehoiakim (see e.g.):

 

Damien F. Mackey’s A Tale of Two Theses

 

(6) Damien F. Mackey's A Tale of Two Theses

 

takes our prophet, now as “Asaiah” (2 Kings 22:12), into the reign of king Josiah, and beyond that, to be martyred, as Uriah (Urijah) in the reign of the wicked son-successor, Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 26:20-23).

 

But thanks to this, our folding of the era of King Josiah into the era of King Hezekiah, we can now identify this incident as being the very martyrdom of the prophet Isaiah traditionally occurring at the hands of King Manasseh – an incident that so far (I think) has been unidentifiable in biblical texts.

 

Of course, with our folding, into one, of supposedly two Judean eras, there must come a corresponding folding of the Assyro-Babylonian history that accompanies this Hezekian-Josian period. What this entails, relevant to the destruction of Egypt’s old capital city of Memphis, is that great Assyro-Babylonian conquerors (supposedly) of this city must now all be fused into the one mighty king. I speak of:

 

Esarhaddon

Ashurbanipal

Nebuchednezzar

Cambyses

On this, see e.g. my articles:

 

Esarhaddon, Cambyses, and the Fall of Egypt’s Memphis capital

 

(7) Esarhaddon, Cambyses, and the Fall of Egypt’s Memphis capital

 

Chaldean armies come to Egypt

 

(7) Chaldean armies come to Egypt

 

What all of this boils down to is that, if our Simeonite prophet lived only into the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, very early in the reign of King Nebuchednezzar ‘the Great’ (cf. Jeremiah 25:1) – when I believe that Jonah came to Nineveh:

 

The ‘Jonah incident’ historically identified

 

(18) The ‘Jonah incident’ historically identified

 

then he did not live long enough to hear of the Fall of Thebes at the hands of Ashurbanipal-Nebuchedezzar, nor, a fortiori, of the Fall of Nineveh some years after the passing of that mighty Assyro-Chaldean king.

 

So Nahum, when he tells of the Fall of No (Noth), as a preview of what will later befall Nineveh (Nahum 3:8):

 

“Art thou better than populous No [Noth], that was situated among the rivers,

that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea,

and her wall was from the sea?”

 

cannot be referring to Thebes, whose demise was yet in the future, but must have been referring to Memphis, Hebrew Moph (מֹף), which Esarhaddon took early in his reign – possibly while Nahum was yet residing in Assyrian Alqosh.

 

Biblical commentators, who generally have taken Nahum 3:8 to be referring to Thebes, not Memphis, have trouble fitting the prophet’s description to ancient Thebes.

 

John R. Huddlestun, for instance, though aware of the difficulties, will nevertheless argue for Nahum 3:8 intending Thebes:

 

“Nahum, Nineveh, and the Nile: The Description of Thebes in Nahum 3:8–9”, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 62, No. 2 (April 2003), pp. 97-110:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/376364

 

He tells of the difficulties associated with this in his Introduction:

 

I.                   INTRODUCTION

 

WELL before the advent of modern biblical criticism, translators and interpreters of the Hebrew text puzzled over the identification of nō^ɔ-^ɔāmōn in Nahum 3:8–9. In the Septuagint, confusion over how to translate the opening words of verse 8 (hatēt´tbī minnō^ɔ-^ɔāmōn) is evident in what appear to be multiple renderings, some of which may have originated as glosses. …. In rabbinic tradition, No-Amon is interpreted as the Delta city Alexandria, a rendering adopted and defended by Jerome in the Vulgate. …. With one or two exceptions, modern scholarship has associated the toponym, and the event referred to in 3:8–9, with the Egyptian Thebes of Upper or southern Egypt and its sack by the Assyrians in ca. 663 B.C.E. …. Yet, as many have noted, this identification is not entirely consistent with the biblical text’s portrait of that city as one encircled by water and protected by the sea. Thebes is far removed from the Mediterranean Sea, and, although situated on the banks of the Nile, one could hardly characterize the city as surrounded by water. The problematic description has occupied both Egyptologists and biblical scholars, who have offered various solutions—geographical, grammatical, and mythological—to reconcile the biblical portrait with the layout of the city.

 

[End of quote]

 

I suggest that the prophet Nahum was referring to Memphis, instead.

 

Though it, too, may not have seemed to fit Nahum’s description of being surrounded by water, new evidence has come to light that might suggest otherwise:

 

Dried-up branch of the Nile ran alongside ancient pyramids and capital of Memphis

 

(20) Dried-up branch of the Nile ran alongside ancient pyramids and capital of Memphis

 

 

Zebedee inscription in Capernaum

 

 

“Numerous stone artifacts found at the site include olive presses and millstones, dishes and craters (large bowls for mixing wine), and the earliest known

pictorial representation of the Ark of the Covenant”.

Mike Mason

In my recent article:

 

Whence that name, Capernaum?

 (2) Whence that name, Capernaum?

 

I suggested, following Charles Boutflower, that the prophet Isaiah (who is my Nahum), he and his family – a type of the Holy Family – had fled to Galilee to escape the wrath of king Ahaz of Judah. Instead of Boutflower’s Nazareth in Galilee, though, I had opted for Capernaum, allowing for the place to be named after a Nahum, thus Kfar Naḥum (כְּפַר נַחוּם), literally, ‘Nahum’s village’.

 

And further, since (Isaiah) Nahum was also Jonah (cf. Tobit 14:4), I had proceeded to suggest, in my follow-up article:

 

Were any Old Testament prophets from Galilee?

 

(2) Were any Old Testament prophets from Galilee?

 

that Jonah’s Gath-hepher (2 Kings 14:25) must have been the original name of the place, before it was re-named after the prophet Nahum (Jonah).

 

The Hebrew name, Gath-hepher (גַּת הַחֵפֶר), is apparently associated with “winepress”, “winepress of the well”, or “winepress of the digging”: 

Topical Bible: Gath-Hepher

 

As we read above: “Numerous stone artifacts found at the site include olive presses and millstones, dishes and craters (large bowls for mixing wine) …”.

It would be an appropriate site to have prompted Jesus to utter (Luke 17:2): ‘It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin’.

 

And that leads us seamlessly into this insightful article by Dr. Noel Rabinowitz:

Millstones Made in Capernaum – Dr. Noel Rabinowitz

 

• Biblical Insights
• September 1, 2022

 

Millstones Made in Capernaum

 

Bible interpreters have much to say concerning Yeshua’s [Jesus’s] teaching about the humble status of children in Matthew 18:1-6 but they usually overlook where that event takes place – a detail that is actually quite important to the story. After deflating the disciples’ ambitions for power and prestige in the Kingdom, Yeshua follows up with a stern warning: “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (v.6).

 

We know from Matthew 17:24 that Yeshua and his disciples had returned to Capernaum and this detail enables us to interpret Yeshua’s words here with even greater clarity. Capernaum is located on the northern shoreline of the Sea of Galilee and sits on a bed of basalt rock, the remains of a long extinct volcano. Fishing was obviously the major industry at Capernaum but it wasn’t the only industry – the basalt provided Capernaum with nutrient-rich farming soil in which to grow high quality grains. The abundance of basalt, however, made Capernaum home to a third industry, namely the manufacture of heavy-duty agricultural tools such as olive presses, household griding tools and industrial millstones.

 

Excavators found a large quantity of unfinished tools at Capernaum – many more than the residents of the village could have possibly needed, indicating that these tools were manufactured for sale.

 

Workman made small household grinding stones as well as industrial millstones which were much larger and much heavier than the household version.

 

The bottom part of the industrial millstone was cone-shaped and sat on the ground, pointy-end up. The top part, which rested on top of the cone, was shaped like an hourglass with what looked like a stone belt at the waste of the hourglass. A wooden log was inserted into the “belt” and turned by a donkey. Grain was poured into the top and ground as the donkey turned the stone.

 

English Bibles typically translate the Greek phrase μύλος ὀνικὸς (mulos onikos) something along the lines of ‘great millstone” (ESV), “large millstone” (NIV), “heavy millstone” (NASB); “huge milestone” (NET) or simply “millstone” (KJV). The Greek phrase, however, literally means “millstone of a donkey.” Yeshua was clearly referring to the hourglass-shaped – and extremely heavy – upper section of an industrial millstone.

 

Now, Yeshua’s warning becomes extraordinarily vivid! He and his disciples were in Capernaum with the Sea of Galilee in plain view. Perhaps they were even standing along the lake’s shoreline when Yeshua made this statement. And they had no doubt walked past the millstone factory many times. It wasn’t hard for them to visualize the horrific death of someone with an industrial-grade basalt grinder tied around his neck sinking to the bottom of the lake. The fate of those who cause one of Yeshua’s disciples to sin is intended as a warning for us all.

Capernaum (Chapter 18 of Jesus: His Story In Stone)

Capernaum (Chapter 18 of Jesus: His Story In Stone)

 

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Mike Mason

 

Leaving Nazareth, He went to live in Capernaum. –Mt 4:13

 

The ancient village of Capernaum (which means town of Nahum) was located on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, some three miles west of where the upper Jordan River flows into the lake from the northern mountains.

 

In Jesus’ day its population was about 1500, small compared to several much larger cities on the lake. But Capernaum was strategically important for being on a primary trade route known as the Via Maris (Way of the Sea) that carried traffic from the interior along the top of the lake toward the Mediterranean coast. In Capernaum Jesus called five of His disciples: the four fishermen Peter, Andrew, James and John, and the tax collector Matthew. In fact there were “many tax collectors” stationed here, showing that this was a significant financial center, as well as hosting a detachment of Roman soldiers (Mt 8:5-13).

 

Ruins of Capernaum

 

Discovered by the explorer Edward Robinson in 1838, the ruins of this village reveal a network of adjoining houses built of undressed and unmortared basalt blocks, reinforced with stones and mud. A typical single-story house, accomodating two or more kindred families, consisted of small rooms with cobbled floors arranged around an open courtyard, with stone steps leading up to a roof made of light wooden beams, thatch, and packed dirt.

 

Numerous stone artifacts found at the site include olive presses and millstones, dishes and craters (large bowls for mixing wine), and the earliest known pictorial representation of the Ark of the Covenant. The second photograph shows another interesting discovery, the so-called Zebedee inscription which, though it dates from the fourth century, mentions the family name of the father of James and John, “the sons of Zebedee” (Mk 10:35). 

 

The full inscription reads: “Alphaeus the son of Zebedee the son of John made this column. May it be for him a blessing ...”.

 

The Zebedee Pillar

 

It was here in Capernaum that Jesus chose to establish headquarters for the early part of His ministry. Matthew refers to it as Jesus’ “own town” (9:1) and many chapters of the gospels are set here. Outstanding miracles of healing were performed in Capernaum, including that of the man with a shriveled hand (Mk 3:1-6), the centurion’s servant (Mt 8:5-13), a demonized man (Mk 1:21-89), and a paralytic (Mk 2:1-12). Regarding the latter story, the photograph shows how easy it would have been for the paralytic’s four friends to escape the crowds by climbing over the rooftops of the abutting houses, digging through the light thatch, and lowering their friend directly into the courtyard of the house where Jesus was teaching.

 

Note that all these miracles contain important elements beyond the miracle itself. In the case of the paralytic, Jesus made a public demonstration of forgiving his sins, thus drawing the accusation of blasphemy from the teachers of the law. Similarly, the man with a shriveled hand was healed on the sabbath, again rousing his opponents’ ire. As for the demonized man, when the demon testified loudly to knowing who Jesus was —“the Holy One of God!”— Jesus told him sternly to be quiet. In each case, it seems, the real point was not the miracle, amazing though it was, but the explosive secret of Jesus’ true identity. As the Pharisees complained, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mk 2:7)

 

In the end, despite such tremendous works of power, and despite the amazing blessing of having the Son of God living in their midst, Capernaum rejected its famous rabbi, compelling Jesus in turn to reject the town: “And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths…. It will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you” (Mt 11:23-4).

 

(Photos by Karen Mason)

 

Giants in Scripture and in the world

 

by

Damien F. Mackey

 

“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

  

As the above text indicates, giants have existed both before and after the great Flood.

 

Evidence for giants can be found throughout the world – though one always has to be on guard against fakes:

Were There Giants? What the Evidence Actually Shows - ScienceInsights

“By the 1800s, public fascination with giants was so intense that it became profitable to fake them. The most famous case is the Cardiff Giant, unearthed on October 16, 1869, on a farm in Cardiff, New York. Two laborers digging a well hit stone three feet down, cleared the soil, recognized the shape of a foot, and eventually uncovered a ten-foot-tall stone figure of a man. Crowds paid to see it, and many believed it was a petrified ancient giant.

The whole thing was a setup. The farm’s owner, William Newell, had buried the statue the year before. His cousin George Hull, an atheist and amateur science enthusiast, had carved it to make a point about the tension between science and religious faith. Hull wasn’t wealthy, and the scheme was also designed to make money, which it did. The giant became so popular that P.T. Barnum offered to buy it. When the owners refused, Barnum simply made a replica and displayed that instead, claiming his was the real one. The owners tried to sue, but the judge reportedly said, “Bring your giant here, and if he swears to his own genuineness, you shall have your injunction.” By December 1869, Hull confessed, and the hoax collapsed”.

 

President Abe Lincoln, himself of unusual configuration, which some call “gigantism”, is purported to have been interested in the discovery of giants in North America.

 

 

The ancestors of the giants, the Anakim, about whom the Israelite spies reported (Numbers 13:33), had apparently survived from the raid of the four northern kings at the time of Abram - about half a millennium earlier - when giant peoples such as the Rephaïtes (Deuteronomy 3:11), the Zuzites (Deuteronomy 2:20 links them with the Zamzummim, another clan of great stature) and the Emites, “a people great, numerous, and tall” (Deuteronomy 2:10-11), were overcome (Genesis 14:5).  

Later, as the army of Israel will make its way through Transjordania (Dr. Osgood distinguishes this region, as IV, from the Early Bronze III civilisations in Canaan), they will encounter, and defeat, the fearsome Og, giant king of Bashan.

(The account of Og’s defeat is recorded in several passages, including Numbers 21:33-35, Deuteronomy 3:1-11, and Joshua 12:4-5). 

 

“Og king of Bashan”, we read, “was the last of the Rephaïtes. His bed was decorated with iron and was more than nine cubits long and four cubits wide. It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites”. Og’s bed was about 14 feet long and 6 feet wide or about 4 meters long and 1.8 meters wide.

Now, that’s a giant!

 

While some ancient Jewish legends can be helpful to the point of being vital, I think that we can take with a grain of salt the one that has King Og clinging to Noah’s Ark:

The Amazing Story of Og, the Giant King of Bashan | Mayim Achronim

“Midrashic texts famously record that Og was the only survivor of the Great Flood, aside from Noah and his family. When the torrential rains began, Og jumped onto the Ark and held on tightly (Zevachim 113b). He swore to Noah that he would be his family’s eternal servant if Noah would allow him into the Ark (Yalkut Shimoni, Noach 55). The Talmud (ibid.) states that the rain waters of the Flood were actually boiling hot. Yet, the rain that fell upon Og while he held unto the Ark was miraculously cool, allowing him to survive”.

 

Was Og the original Procrustes?

 

As Einstein would have said, it is all relative. (Or, as a football guru once remarked: ‘You don’t have to be Norman Einstein to …’).

 

Therefore, when speaking of giants, it needs to be noted that human beings were on average somewhat smaller, or shorter, than are those of our own era.

The Neanderthals, perhaps the long-lived antediluvians, who continued on for a time after the Flood, were not necessarily tall, but they were apparently very strong, with marvellous eyesight far surpassing our own, and with a much longer life expectancy.

 

Again, the walled cities in Canaan that Israel’s spies described as being “fortified and very large” (Numbers 13:28), would be miniscule by comparison with our own cities. But to an invading people lacking siege weaponry, even a relatively small, walled city would loom as formidable.

 

One does not need to be a giant to be very strong.

 

There is no indication, for instance, that the immensely powerful Samson was an actual giant – except in his faith (cf. Hebrews 11:32).

And this man in the 1930’s, who pulled a full bus with his teeth, was certainly no giant.

 

 

The Philistines, not included in the report of the spies - but figuring at the time of Abram, and then, again, at the time of kings Saul and David - appear to have been a tall race, including various giants, such as Goliath.

 

Also needing to be taken into account is the fact that the reluctant spies exaggerated the truth, so that, now: “All the people we saw there are of great size” (Numbers 13:32). 

 

And, again (13:33): ^“We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim)”.

 

Any mention of the Nephilim, either then, or today, is bound to attract interest. 

What is the significance of the fact there were giants in those days (Genesis 6:4)? | GotQuestions.org
Genesis 6 records the expansion of the human race and its descent into further corruption. The writer records that there were “giants on the earth in those days” (Genesis 6:4, NKJV) and offers a brief explanation of how that came to be.

 

As humanity multiplied and began to be numerous on the earth (Genesis 6:1), the “sons of God” took wives (Genesis 6:2), and they began to increase. In light of the rapid multiplication of humanity and its evil, God limited the human lifespan to one-hundred, twenty years (Genesis 6:3). Prior to that time, people lived a very long time—even up to around nine hundred years (see Genesis 5). Though lifespans were decreasing on their own, God intervened to limit them greatly. Despite this significant limitation, there were giants (Hebrew, Nephilim) in those days—in the days of Noah. These were mighty men of renown and were apparently the products of relationships between the “sons of God” and the “daughters of men” (Genesis 6:4).

 

The giants in those days were extraordinary, leading some to suppose that the “sons of God” in Genesis 6:2 and Genesis 6:4 are fallen angels and not merely regular people. In that theory, these fallen angels took on physical form and procreated with women. The demon-human hybrid DNA resulted in giant size and, apparently, enhanced physical abilities.

 

There are three objections to this theory: First, there is nothing in the text that suggests the “sons of God” are angels. While the phrase can be used of angels (as it is apparently in Job 1:6, 2:1, and 38:7), it is also regularly used of people (e.g., Matthew 5:9 and Luke 20:36). Second, there is no indication that angels are physiologically compatible with women and can procreate with them (unless this is the only instance).

 

Third, the theological implications are significant enough that one might expect some further explanation. Instead, we only see the offspring referred to as “giants” (Nephilim) and mighty, but nothing beyond that.

 

Others have suggested that the sons of God might be people possessed by demonic beings. As in the other view, the phrase sons of God would still refer to fallen angels. While this view would resolve the physiological implications, there is nothing in the text that would suggest this possibility.

 

A third view is that there were giants in those days simply because humanity hadn’t been fully genetically corrupted—everyone was big and tall and mighty—and God intervenes to shorten human lifespans. This theory takes the biblical account at face value, that these sons of God were simply men. In any case, there were giants in the land at this time before the flood and “afterward” (Genesis 6:4). There were still giants during the time of Israel’s conquest of Canaan (Numbers 13:33) and David’s time (1 Samuel 17:4–7). If these Nephilim were superhumans resulting from demonic and human cohabitation, it seems they would have died in the flood (Genesis 7:21–23). The fact that they were still around after the flood is either evidence that the fallen angels performed the same act again at some point after the flood, or it is another indicator in support of the third view that these giants on the earth from time to time were exceptional, but not superhuman. ….

[End of quote]

 

The view that (fallen) angels are able to have offspring with human beings seems metaphysically ridiculous. However, it is apparent from the story of Sarah in the Book of Tobit, that these malevolent entities are not beyond lusting after human persons. Asmodeus, described as “the worst of demons”, and jealous of the beautiful Sarah, will bump off seven consecutive of her husbands, until young Tobias, guided by the healing archangel Raphael, will come and save the day.

 

The girl had been driven to the verge of suicide (Tobit 3:10).