The Rise and Fall of the Nephilim (28 page)

(1 Kings 18:16-40)

Elijah and the prophets of Ba’al
.
Photo courtesy of the author. Copyright 2011.

It is apparent that the Hebrews did not recognize the evolution of the religion of the Mesopotamian region, and it is clear that they did not worship Yaweh as being the same as the god Ba’al. Despite the name of Yahweh being originally sourced to a son of El is attested by a document (KTU 1.1 IV 14) from Ugarit,
⁸
a Palestinian site occupied by neighbors of Israel. The document translates as “The name of the son of god, Yahweh.” Furthermore, this status as the foremost of the sons of El is commemorated in the
Song of Moses
, one of the oldest of the Hebrew scriptures found in Deuteronomy:

“8 When the Elyon [another name of El] apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods [the bene haElohim—the Sons of God]; 9 Yahweh’s own portion was his people, Jacob [Israel] his alloted share.”

(Deuteronomy 32:8-9)

In Cana’anite literature, Yahweh ruled as the king of the other children of El. In this role, he presided and judged whenever the Assembly of the Gods met in council. The preeminence of Yahweh over the other gods is repeatedly asserted in the Old Testament Book of Psalms. In Psalm 86, we are told that
“There is none like you among the gods, O
Yahweh” (Psalm 86:8), and Psalm 89 is even more specific in explaining that the “gods” are the sons of El who met as the Assembly of the Gods, the Divine Council:

“6 The heavens praise your wonders, O Yahweh,
your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.
For who in the skies can be compared to Yahweh?
Who among the sons of gods is like Yahweh?
7 a God feared in the council of the holy ones,
great and awesome above all that are around him?”

(Psalm 89:6-7)

Setting aside the theories of extra-terrestrial interpretations that we touched on in earlier chapters, it is abundantly clear that the Genesis 6:1-8 passage is speaking of unique characters, the Watchers. Identifying these characters strictly as angels creates a problem in the text, which is supported by other biblical passages such as Psalm 82, in which we have the mention of the Elohim in context of the “Divine Council”—the gathering of the plurality of gods. But the gods mentioned in the Psalm are
not
angels. Let’s examine this Psalm a little more closely, looking at its language and meaning.

“1 God (Elohim) stands in the midst of the divine council

[literally, council of El]; among the gods [elohim] He

pronounces judgment.

2 How long will you [plural] judge unjustly,

showing favor to the wicked? Selah.

3 Judge the wretched and the orphan,

vindicate the lowly and the poor,

4 rescue the wretched and the needy;

save them from the hand of the wicked.

5 They neither know nor understand,

they go about in darkness;

all the foundations of the earth totter.

6 I said, “you (plural) gods [elohim],

sons of the Most High [bene Elyon—another title for God], all of you [plural];

7 but you [plural] shall die as men do,

and fall like a man, O princes [plural; more accurately “shining ones”].

8 Arise [the command is singular], O God [plural; elohim],

judge [the command is singular] the earth,

for you [singular] shall inherit all the nations.”

God stood in the midst of the gods, the
sons of the Most High
(a variation on the Sons of God as found in Genesis 6:4). In this council, the
bene haElohim
are called “gods” and also “princes,” and are told that they will collectively fall. One would have to manipulate the passage, or simply overlook certain whole chunks of the Hebrew text in order to read around what it actually states: There is a multitude of gods. The first mention of Elohim in Psalm 82:1 must be translated as a singular, in that it is the subject of a singular verb:
“Elohim stands.”
This is consistent with the Hebrew language. The second mention of Elohim in the Psalm must be read as a plural, as the preposition in front of it (“in the midst of”) requires more than one. It is impossible to be
in the midst of
one person. In Psalm 82, God (Elohim) is presiding over an assembly (or council) of other gods (Elohim). This where I spoke in
a previous chapter of the word
elohim
being both singular and plural, wholly dependent on the rest of the sentence structure and the context in which it is being used, such as saying “A deer stood in the midst of a herd of deer”—same word with both singular and plural contexts.

Verse 6 of the Psalm makes it very clear that the elohim are the very same characters as the Sons of God mentioned in Genesis 6:4, in that he addresses them as the other
elohim
, and calls them the “sons of the Most High,” addressing them, point blank, saying
“you are gods [elohim], all of you.”
An interesting observation has been made by Dr. Michael S. Heiser, when he notes that the elohim mentioned here are not angels, which comes from the Hebrew word
Mal’akim
, meaning “messenger,” an entirely different term than what occurs for the Sons of God.
⁹

Other passages where the plurality of gods [haElohim] appear are:
“Among the gods there is none like you, O Yahweh; neither
[are there any works] like your works.”

(Psalm 86:8)

“For Yahweh is a great God, and a great King above all gods.”

(Psalm 95:3)

“For Yahweh is great, and deserving of exceedingly great praise: he is to be feared above all gods.”

(Psalm 96:4)

“All who served images were put to shame; those who boasted in mere idols; even all the gods bow down before him.”

(Psalm 97:7)

“For you, O Yahweh, are Most High above all the earth: you are exalted far above all gods.”

(Psalm 97:9)

“For I know that Yahweh is great, and that our lord is above all gods.”

(Psalm 135:5)

“O give thanks to the God of gods: for his mercy endures forever.”

(Psalm 136:2)

“I will praise you with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise to you.”

(Psalm 138:1)

“Who is like you, O Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders?”

(Exodus 15:11)

“Do you indeed decree what is right, O gods? Do you judge people fairly?”

(Psalm 58:1)

Some trains of more conservative theological thought insist that Psalm 82 is speaking of God addressing other members of the Holy Trintity: God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. But this cannot be at all accurate in light of the fact that not all members of the Trinity are “sons”; the Holy Spirit is not a “son of God.” Further, in verses 2-5 of the Psalm, God is charging the other Elohim with corruption, and condemning them for their corrupt rule of the earth. At the end of the Psalm, God is reclaiming the rule of the earth from the other elohim, the implication being that they have done a horrible job of it, acting wickedly, and so they must be taken out of the picture. Again, according to Dr. Michael S. Heiser, these other elohim were an “impediment or a nuisance or at best a disappointment”
¹⁰
—certainly not indicative of the Holy Trinity, as defined by Christian theology.

There are numerous other passages in the Bible that speak of this divine council and the
elohim
as a plurality, as well as the sons of God, the bene haElohim. One of the most familiar passages where the Sons of God appear is the in the first two chapters of the Book of Job, which
is considered to be, chronologically speaking, the oldest book in the Bible, pre-dating the formulation of Israel as a nation and the Jewish religion itself. Take note of another character who shows up in this passage:

“1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each on his day; and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually. 6 Now there was a day when the Sons of God
[bene haElohim
came to present themselves before the LORD, and [the] Satan also came among them. 7 The LORD said to (the) Satan, “Whence have you come?” [The] Satan answered the LORD, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 And the LORD said to [the] Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then [the] Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nought? 10 Hast thou not put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.”

(Job 1:1-10)

And again in Job
Chapter 2
:

“1 Again there was a day when the Sons of God [bene ha’Elohim] came to present themselves before the LORD, and [the] Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD.”

(Job 2:1)

One could only imagine what exactly was going on in the courts of heaven when the Divine Council, the host of elohim, “presented themselves” before God, the singular elohim that held rule over them. Although these verses as well as other passages throughout scripture exist, and have meaning and purpose, it tells of a very different picture of the gods of the Bible, and a much murkier purpose behind the things that they did. Suddenly, the picture of the mythological Zeus holding court with the other Olympian gods, toying with the lives of humans while bartering with Hades, the god of the Underworld, starts to look at once not so unfamiliar or far-fetched. Again, we see the great mythologies of the world start to merge into a bigger, more mysterious story where the differing cast of characters blend and merge into one another.

The members of the Divine Council, known as the Watchers, who descended to the earth on the slopes of Mount Hermon, did so with great determination to make a pact among themselves. They were charged with the responsibility of watching over humanity, the children of God’s creation, but then left that responsibility behind when they looked down on humanity with desire, wanting to be one of them and experience the lustful, sensual, steamy, flesh-on-flesh experience of sexual contact. They wanted to create life that sprang forth from their own loins, experiencing what only the Creator himself had experienced. For this, they were condemned, stripped of their “god-ness,” and reduced to a fleshly life that would suffer the consequence of physical death—a thing that they, apparently, would not have had to suffer in their heavenly state.

But there is also the danger of ascribing too much non-malevolence to these beings. In a desire to make them seem “more human,” we can often times imbue them with attributes that they did not possess. In the Christian way of thinking, making something “good” that God has deemed “evil” can run the risk of heresy and blasphemous behavior, and apparently the elohim who stood in the midst of the elohim—the Divine Council—had the superior power to condemn them for their actions. Yet, in great speculation, it is curious to wonder how these lesser gods saw themselves, what they thought about, and how they rationalized a departure from their Creator. When mankind considers offending a holy God, we have nothing to register that against, save for words taught from scriptures and consciousnesses that have religious mores grafted into them. These members of the Divine Council who left their place in the courts of heaven and descended to the earth to cohabit with human women seemingly understood full well what consequences their actions would produce. Yet, they still did it. Was it because they didn’t believe that God had the power to condemn and destroy them? Or was it that they simply didn’t care? Because, unlike human beings who have no visceral, tangible connection to the presence of God save through faith alone, these beings had physical access, beings gods themselves, and could experience the presence of the Most high God on a firsthand basis.