Multiple Incursions?

If we are to believe that Scripture always confirms and interprets itself (as I do), then it must be noted that there is not one confirming Scripture in support of Genesis 6:4 that specifically states that angels ever again mated with women. Not one. And as far as I can tell, we don’t even find evidence of such activity in any other extra-Biblical Hebrew texts either – at least not in Jasher, Jubilees or 1 Enoch anyway; three books that have gone out of their way to give us tremendous detail about the activities of the Fallen Ones. Even Josephus fails to give support to the idea of “Multiple Incursions” in any of his works on the history of the Jews.

Whereas, there are numerous confirming Scriptures in support of the idea that all Post-Flood giants were decendents of previous giants – most of which came from the lineage of Ham. The weight of confirming Scriptures (and other extra-Biblical and historical Hebrew texts) is heavily in favor of the “First Cause – With Lasting Genetic Effects“ theory and totally against the “Repeat Offenses – Through Multiple Incursions“ theory.

A common line of thought amongst believers in the “Multiple Incursions” theory can be seen in the following excerpt from an e-mail newsletter I recently received titled, LESSON 5 “And Also Afterward: Giants in the Old Testament” by Dr. Judd Burton, historian, archaeologist and director of the Institute of Biblical Anthropology. In that newsletter, he states:

If the Nephilim died in the flood, how is it that they appear in later passages of the Old Testament. The passage of Genesis 6:4 suggests the answer. “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them.” Here “also afterward” implies after the flood, and the subsequent phrase suggests that not only were there Watcher angel incursions before the flood, but also after it, when additional rebellious angels mated with human females to produce additional generations of giants.

It must be noted that this conclusion is pure speculation by Dr. Burton – and he’s certainly not alone in that view. In fact, that’s pretty much the mainstream view of virtually every researcher I know in this field of interest. But that view is based solely on speculation, arguing from Biblical silence. Thus, he is quite correct in his use of words like “implies” and “suggests” because the text itself does not specifically say this was so. It is an assumption with no further Biblical support. My contention is that a number of equally valid implications exists and will become evident by the end of this blog.

Those who hold to this view subscribe to the notion that Gen. 6:4 is saying, “There were giants (Nephilim) on the earth in those days and also afterward when the sons of God came [AGAIN and AGAIN] in to the daughters of men….”

An equally valid interpretaion would be: “When (or Because) the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and bore children to them, there were giants (Nephilim) in the land in those days and also afterward….”

I changed the order of the sentence simply to make this interpretation easier to understand, but it is not necessary to prove my point as we’ll soon see.

The Hebrew word “asher” is the key word in question. It is the word translated into English as “when.” However, it has a number of other meanings that are just as valid.

“Asher” is translated more often (at least in the NASB) as “because” rather than “when.” Thus, for me this becomes more of a “First Cause” issue, rather than a “Repeat Offense”issue. Going back to the original order of the sentence, notice how it would read if “asher” were translated as “because” instead of “when”: Here we see that

“There were giants [Nephilim] on the earth in those days and also afterward because the sons of God came in to the daughters of men….”

In my opinion, those are the two dominant views concerning how the Nephilim returned: First Cause (with lasting genetic effects) vs Repeat Offenses (through multiple incursions). As such, both groups of researchers must look at that Scripture differently –

Likewise, though I can still “see” Genesis 6:4 as a “First Cause” issue even when “asher” is translated as “when,” I think the meaning becomes that much clearer when translated as “because” as seen below (and yes, throughout this section, we will be adding more details from other Scriptures to it in order to make the answer that much more obvious as we move forward:

“The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, because the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” – Genesis 6:4

It must also be noted that the same word “asher” is used again in that passage as “who,” which appears to be its most common rendering in the NASB (as seen in the above concordance rendering).

With this interpretation, it is very easy to see this as a “First Cause” issue verses a “Repeat Offense” issue. In other words, it doesn’t have to mean that there was a second or multiple incursions that created more Nephilim giants after The Genesis Six Experiment. It could be that all of the giants “who” followed “afterward” were a bi-product – or the result of – the initial “incursion.”

The bottom line is, with only that ONE word in ONE verse (that could be interpreted two different ways) to go on, both camps of researchers are making an assumption in order to explain the established fact that there were indeed giants on the earth both before and after the Flood. So, the question then becomes, which preconceived notion is correct, logical and verifiable (with Scripture) when considering all of the evidence available to us?

Everything else that Dr. Burton wrote in his (above mentioned) newsletter built upon his preconceived notion of an implied “second incursion.” This is almost universally the case amongst believers in that theory. Further, the reason given for these other “incursions” generally involves an assumed attempt to prevent the Messiah’s birth. Well, if that’s the case, then some more questions immediately come to mind: Like why did this supposed return of the Fallen Angels center ONLY on Ham’s children – when clearly Messiah was to come through Shem’s offspring? If the goal was to wipe out Messiah, why mess with tribes that had nothing to do with His ancestry? Dr. Burton explains:

The giants resituated themselves in the Levant to keep the Jews out, to pollute or destroy (as in the case of David) the bloodline of Messiah, and to oppress and lead astray the Jews. In terms of culture, it is evident that the giants established their Watcher and Nephilim forebears as the gods of ancient polytheism.

I do agree with the notion that this strategy worked in terms of setting up a polytheistic system, which would lead much of the world into the worship of false gods. In fact, that’s the foundational principle of this whole series and something we will examine much closer in Volume 3, Babylon Rising: Mythology and the Coming Great Deception (God vs god).

Dr. Burton goes on to say…

Their entire culture was built upon preventing the arrival of Messiah.

OK. But if the goal is to prevent the arrival of Messiah, why not totally obliterate the fledgling nation through polluted genetics WITHIN the lineage of Shem? Why focus on Ham? Why not scoop up all of Shem’s women, have sex with them and be done with the whole affair? Or why not infect all three of Noah’s son’s offspring? Have them totally devour the land as they did before the Flood, only this time prevent anyone else from building a boat or any other structure of safety. Destroy everything once again! They came close last time. Maybe they could try harder this time. Seems to me, that would have been a far more effective strategy… if it were even remotely possible. But they couldn’t do that because it appears – when taking all of the available facts into consideration – that they were either not able or willing to repeat what they did in Genesis 6.

The whole “Multiple Incursions” thesis is full of holes and is based on pure speculation. The text does not give us any indication that any angels mated with humans again after the Flood. Thus, there are zero confirming Scriptures to support the “Multiple Incursions” theory.

Therefore, I suggest the Nephilim must have returned another way…

If the account given in 1 Enoch (and other ancient texts as well) is to be believed, the immediate offspring – the first generation of Nephilim – were MASSIVELY huge! Upwards of 300 cubits or more.

And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another’s flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones. -Enoch 7

The Bible seems to confirm the enormous size of some of these hybrids as well – even when referring to those who came after the Flood:

Yet I destroyed the Amorites (who were descendants of Canaan) before them, though they were tall as the cedars and strong as the oaks.- Amos 2:9 (NIV)

Most scholars refer to Post-Flood Nephilim in terms of 9 to 18 foot giants. But GOD, through the prophet Amos refers to giants who were as tall as cedar trees! Ever see a cedar tree? Very large. In fact, the “cedars of Lebanon” were often referenced in the Bible as being renowned for their enormous height. They can grow to over 100 feet tall! But even a modest cedar grows to between 30 and 50 feet in height. And giants of this size have apparently been found in the past. Giants who were between 30 and 100 feet tall would certainly explain the comments made by the Hebrew spies when they first scouted out the land of… Canaan:

They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”

Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

– Number 13:27-33 (NIV)

I would suggest that nothing smaller than 24 to 36 foot tall giants would make someone describe themselves as feeling like a “grasshopper” by comparison!

For the sake of illustration I have created the following graphic to show you what the various sizes of men would look like if standing side by side:

And for additional support of what Moses wrote in Numbers 13, consider the fact that when the Hebrew spies went into the land of Canaan, they brought back a single cluster of grapes that was so large it took two men to carry it on a pole! If we are to take the Scriptures literally, and just imagine a single cluster of grapes like we might buy at the supermarket, the following graphic illustrates an approximate scale of the size of the grapes and the corresponding size of a giant that might have been eating them:

A six foot man would have no problem carrying a single cluster of grapes that was scaled to anything smaller than what a 30 foot tall giant might have been eating. Thus, even by the size of the grapes we may think that the giants of Canaan were at least 30 to 36 feet tall! And no doubt about it, a 36 footer is pretty massive! But even if the Amorites could have possibly gotten to be as tall as 100 to 150 feet max (the size of the cedars of Lebanon), that is still only about one quarter the size of the first generation Pre-Flood giants. Remember, 1 Enoch says the first generation hybrids got to be “3,000 ells” or 300 cubits, which equals approximately 450 feet tall – a number that Scripture records as being the same as the length of Noah’s Ark. I wonder if that’s just a coincidence?

Why the dramatic decrease in size? If angel + human = 450 footers, why do we not see evidence of such massive creatures in the Post-Flood world? If the “Multiple Incursions” theory were true, there should be multitudes of 450 footers!

Therefore, I suggest the Nephilim must have returned another way…

By my reckoning, the Pre-Flood Nephilim were on the earth for nearly 1,200 years prior to the Flood. Look at what they were able to do in that amount of time! Surely, if there had been “Multiple Incursions,” we would not be here today – after nearly five thousand years!

According to 1 Enoch, the first generation of the Pre-Flood Nephilim only lived for 500 years. But judging from the writings of both the Hebrews as well as other ancient cultures, it would appear that there were second, third, and other generations that were on the earth in one form or another for total of roughly 1,200 years from the days of Jared leading up to the Flood.

In that time, Genesis tells us that they were able to thoroughly corrupt all flesh.

And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. – Genesis 6:12 (KJV)

Genesis, 1 Enoch, Jubilees and Jasher all agree, that the WHOLE EARTH and EVERYTHING on it had been thoroughly corrupted by the effects of The Genesis Six Experiment. It got so bad that the only thing God could do was wipe everything out and start over!

If we were to look at that from a strategic perspective, we’d have to say that was a pretty effective military campaign launched by the Fallen ones! If Lucifer’s goal was to wipe out the seed, he did a pretty amazing job with just 200 angels in 1,200 years! But if Lucifer’s angel+human=TOTAL CORRUPTION strategy was so successful (starting with just 200 angels), and if he had the ability to continue to use that strategy after the Flood (with COUNTLESS other angels within the 1/3 of Heaven’s hosts available to him), don’t you think he would have? Proponents of the “Multiple Incursions” theory say he did. So I ask, why didn’t the whole earth become completely corrupted again and again and again and again and again? They’ve had nearly five times the amount of time since the Flood as they did before the Flood to continue their previously effective plans. So, what happened? Why are they not still doing it? Why have they had to resort to the medical experiments and “Alien Greys” and such? Why is there no further mention of giants after the time of David in Scripture? If they had the ability – or willingness – to continue to mate with woman AS they did in Genesis 6, how do we answer those questions? How do we account for the LACK of evidential and Scriptural support for that position? We can’t.

Therefore, I suggest the Nephilim must have returned another way…