Mysteries of God's World Both Real and Supernatural Part 3
There are many things, visible and invisible about God's world that He has chosen not to make obvious to us.
Many of those mysteries can be revealed by research, study, and observation.
There is much fodder on the internet and elsewhere concerning legends, supernatural events, and more.
Much of it is pure speculation and fantasy.
To look at a subject carefully requires wisdom and discernment, hard work, and an open mind.
Pastor Joel Webbon of Right Response Ministries has over the past few years presented discussions that are very open-minded and informative regarding many subjects.
Biblical Giants | Clans, Sizes, & Supernatural Abilities | Episode 3
Video from Right Response Ministries
"The biblical record is undeniable - giants once roamed the earth. Goliath is by far the most well-known giant. But many fail to recognize that Goliath was one of the smallest giants. Scripture describes several different species of giants (or giant clans) with a startling range of physical sizes, as well as surprising supernatural abilities." from the video introduction
Giants in the Land: A Biblical Theology of the Nephilim, Anakim, Rephaim (and Goliath)
"Christians, including many pastors and scholars, tend to gloss over the references to giants in the Bible. Yet giants play an important role in the biblical story, particularly in relation to their occupation of the Promised Land. As will be seen, Israel initially refused to enter the land because of giants, and only men of great faith (Joshua, Caleb, and David) were able to defeat them.
The Sons of God and Giant Nephilim (Genesis 6:1-4)
The first mention of giants in the Bible is the Nephilim in Genesis 6:1-4. I have previously argued that the “sons of God” were spirit beings that mated with women and produced the Nephilim. The phrase “sons of God” elsewhere refers to spirit beings/angels (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7), and Genesis 6:1-2 contrasts this group with all of mankind (not some subset such as Cain’s line), meaning they are non-human. The common view that this was the mixing of the lines of Seth and Cain assumes that everyone in Seth’s line was godly and everyone in Cain’s line was wicked. This is not something the text ever claims. Furthermore, alternative views (also including the kingly-line view) fail to explain how this intermarriage produced mighty (giant) warriors:
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown (Genesis 6:4).
It is important to note that Genesis 6:4 never explicitly calls the Nephilim “giants.” However, the Nephilim have often been considered giants because of the description of the giants in the land as those who come from the Nephilim in Numbers 13:32-33. Also, the Septuagint translates both the Hebrew נְּפִלִ֞ים (Nephilim) and גִּבֹּרִ֛ים (gibborim, “mighty men” or “men of renown”) in Genesis 6:4 as γίγαντες (gigantes, “giants”).[1] (It may be that the Septuagint translated Nephilim as “giants” because of the account in Numbers 13, though some think Nephilim comes from the Aramaic word naphiyla for giant.[2])
Whether descendants of the Nephilim were actually in the land of Canaan is uncertain, as the Israelite spies may have been exaggerating their account. However, exaggeration is unlikely because Genesis 6:4 says the Nephilim were on the earth “in those days, and also afterward” and the link between the Anakim and Nephilim in Numbers 13:33 seems to be an editorial comment (possibly referring back to Numbers 6:4). At minimum, the claim in Numbers 13:33 shows that the Israelites were aware that the Nephilim of old had a reputation of being giants (more on this below).
In the context of Genesis 6, God sent the flood to wipe out violent humans, including the Nephilim, seen in the language of “all flesh” (Genesis 6:12-13). God continued the human race through Noah, a new Adam, who was not tainted by Nephilim blood. Noah’s direct lineage is given all the way back to Adam (Genesis 5:1-32), and he is said to be “blameless in his generations” (Genesis 6:9), possibly referring to his pure line—notice the plural “generations” (דֹֽרֹתָ֑יו). In spite of the flood, giants eventually made a comeback and dwelt in the land of Canaan.." from the article: Giants in the Land: A Biblical Theology of the Nephilim, Anakim, Rephaim (and Goliath)
This article from gotquestions.org takes a more cautious view of the evidence of giants.
Is there any evidence for the giants mentioned in the Bible?
"Giants are mentioned in the Bible in several places (e.g., Genesis 6:4; Joshua 12:4). Og, king of Bashan (Deuteronomy 3:11); the intimidating people in Canaan reported by Moses’ spies (Numbers 13:30–33); Goliath (2 Samuel 21:19); and the Anakites (Deuteronomy 9:1–2) are all examples of giants in Scripture. The Bible’s references to giants have led some people to seek further evidence of giants, sometimes lending credence to sensationalistic theories and unfounded claims.
Various giant myths exist the world over. Nearly every culture has ancient tales of giant (usually human-like) creatures that terrorize villages and require heroic effort to subdue. Could these stories be vague remembrances of actual history? If so, most are colossally exaggerated. The “giants” of the Bible were not the giants of myth—forty-foot colossi who sat on houses and picked their teeth with elm trees. The giants of the Bible were tall—Goliath was maybe nine or ten feet in height—but they were not gargantuan. The Bible’s giants were powerful and bigger than average, but they were human.
Some consider as evidence for giants certain written accounts outside of the Bible, archaeology and eyewitness accounts of archaeological finds, graphic depictions of giants found in ancient art, and recent historical records.
First, we should deal with archaeological evidence for giants. There are many accounts of archaeologists finding very large bones and weaponry or other artifacts that supposedly only a giant could have used. The truth is there is no proof of skeletal remains or fossils of giants, and no hard evidence of giant-sized utensils, weapons, or other gear. The large majority of the purported discoveries, especially the largest and most striking examples, do not exist except in eyewitness accounts that cannot be verified.
Another argument is that the visual depictions of very large people, such as found on Egyptian jars and tombs, are pictures of giants. Art historians usually conclude that these giant figures are simply representations of gods or kings and that their larger size was a way to show their importance or their high rank in comparison to other figures near them. Another explanation is that the smaller people are depictions of children, not lower-ranking men. True-to-life anatomical art did not exist in any culture until the Renaissance, and, up until then, children were often depicted as proportionally exact to adults, just smaller. These arguments are valid and logical. We know that Egyptian art was highly emblematic. The fact that the Egyptians depicted the god Anubis as a man with a dog’s head is no reason to assume there was an actual man with a dog’s head whom they worshiped. That said, there is no way to prove the actual intention of the ancient artists. Historians form theories based on what they feel is the most likely, most reasonable explanation for what they are seeing in ancient artifacts.
There are also written accounts outside of the Bible, although these should be viewed with skepticism. These include the Book of Enoch, the Book of Jasher, and the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus. Enoch and Jasher are pseudepigraphical, and Josephus sometimes cited unreliable sources. Josephus, in a passage about the Israelites moving their camp to Hebron, mentions that the Jews encountered the inhabitants of that land, including “the race of giants, who had bodies so large, and countenances so entirely different from other men, that they were surprising to the sight, and terrible to the hearing. The bones of these men are still shown to this very day” (Antiquities of the Jews, Book 5, ch. 2, § 3).
Many people in recent history are documented to be very tall: Robert Wadlow measured in June 1940 at 8 ft, 11.1 in. tall; John Carroll in 1966 was 8 ft, 7.5 in.; and Sultan Kösen in 2011 measured 8 ft, 2.8 in. tall (www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/tallest-man-ever, accessed 1/3/22). Such individuals stand out today, just as they did in ancient times. The Bible mentions extraordinarily large people, especially those who interacted with Israel, but there is nothing in the text to suggest gigantic beings of fabulous size. Seeking to confirm the Bible’s record with hearsay, specious claims, and manufactured evidence is misguided and unnecessary." from the article: Is there any evidence for the giants mentioned in the Bible?
Haunted Cosmos
Brian Sauve and Ben Garret introduce you to the newest New Christendom Press project: Haunted Cosmos—where Christianity, high strangeness, and the general weirdness of God’s embattled cosmos collide.
Check out Haunted Cosmos on YouTube.
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