Nephilim

The Nephilim are mysterious beings or humans mentioned in the Bible. Traditionally understood as beings of great size & strength, or alternatively as beings of great power & authority.

The 1st biblical reference to them happens in Genesis 6:4. According to Numbers 13:33, 10 of the 12 spies reported the existence of Nephilim in Canaan before its conquest by the Israelites.

Interpretations vary vastly across traditions. Second Temple texts like 1st Enoch & Jubilees picture the Nephilim as offspring of fallen angels (Watchers) & of human women, portraying them as evil giants whose corruption led to the flood that’s told in the book of Genesis.

Some viewed the Nephilim as the descendants of Seth intermarrying with Cain’s lineage. Just to put this into perspective, Seth & Cain are biological brothers (half or whole, depending on the story). Their descendants married each other. It would be like marrying your cousins. Not 1st or 2nd cousins. But cousins nonetheless.

While others support the fallen angel theory. This was later supported by the Dead Sea Scrolls. Islamic tradition links them to the giant tribe of ‘Ad. While other theories link them with the Sumerian Apkallu myths or elite Canaanite warriors.

Over time, the Nephilim have been reimagined in popular culture: they appear in novels, films, video games, & conspiracy theories unrelated to religion. They are often pictured as powerful hybrids, ancient gods, or remnants of a lost superhuman race. Or the race of giants that Goliath descended from.

In the Bible, 3 interconnected passages refer to the Nephilim. 2 of them are in the Torah (Old Testament). The 1st appearance in Genesis 6:1-4. This is immediately before the Noah’s Ark story. Genesis 6:4 says: The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, & also after that when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men & they bore children to them; the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.

A few things hit differently in this passage:

• Heavenly beings can have biological human children? How is this physically possible? If, after all, they’re spiritual beings?
• Why would God give/allow these “angels” the ability to even have kids in the 1st place? In modern times, we don’t think of angels as having the ability to have kids. Even the fallen ones. We do tend to think that Satan himself is the only 1 that can somehow have kids (the Antichrist).
• Who, exactly, were these “men of renown”? Like we, personally, just want 2-3 of the names. Is it some guys we’ve never even heard of? Or would it confirm some names we already know? Like yep, our fav demigod Hercules made the short list. But some decisions happened on the editing room floor. Sorry Herc!

“Those days” were a period when the human population on the earth had started to really take off. This was when people began “to be plentiful on the Earth.”

The 2nd is Numbers 13:32-33, where 10 of the 12 spies describe the Anakites (a Rephaite tribe) as descendants of the Nephilim. Outside the Pentateuch, there are 1 more passage indirectly referencing nephilim & this is Ezekiel 32:17-32.

The earliest translation of the Bible (the Septuagint), which was composed in the 3rd or 2nd century BC, gives the said word as gigantes. In Greek mythology, the gigantes were beings of great strength & aggression. But not necessarily of great size.

The Vulgate (compiled in the 4th or 5th century AD) transcribes the Greek term rather than translating the Hebrew nefilim. From there, the tradition of the giant progeny of the sons of God & the daughters of men spread to later medieval translations of the Bible.

From the 3rd century onwards, references are found in Enochic literature, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Jubilees, the Testament of Reuben, 2 Baruch, Josephus, & the Book of Jude.

The New American Bible commentary draws parallels between the Epistle of Jude & the statements in Genesis. This suggests that Jude refers implicitly to the paternity of the Nephilim as heavenly beings who came to earth & had spicy adult time with human women.

The story of the Nephilim is elaborated in the Book of Enoch. The Greek, Aramaic, & main Ge’ez manuscripts of 1 Enoch & Jubilees acquired in the 19th century (held in the British Museum & the Vatican Library) connect the origin of the Nephilim with the fallen angels, & in particular with the egregoroi (watchers).

In this tradition, the kids of the Nephilim are called the Elioud. They’re considered a separate race from the Nephilim. But they end up sharing the same fate as the Nephilim.

Some believe the fallen angels who sired the Nephilim were cast into Tartarus (II Peter 2:4, Jude 1:6), a place of “total darkness.” An interpretation is that God granted 10% of the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim to remain after Noah’s deluge, as demons, to try to lead the human race astray until the Final Judgment.

The Book of Jubilees also says that ridding the Earth of these pesky Nephilim was 1 of God’s purposes for flooding the Earth in Noah’s day. It describes the Nephilim as being evil giants.

A long-held view in some Christian sects is that the “sons of God” were the formerly righteous descendants of Seth (Adam & Eve’s 3rd kid) who rebelled. While the “daughters of men” were the unrighteous descendants of Cain. The Nephilim were their offspring. This view dates to at least the 1st century AD in Jewish literature. It was found in Christian sources from the 3rd century.

Some individuals & groups (including St. Augustine, John Chrysostom, & John Calvin) take the view of Genesis 6:2 that the “angels” who fathered the Nephilim referred to certain human males from Seth’s lineage. They were called sons of God in reference to their prior covenant with Yahweh (Deut. 14:1, 32:5). In these sources, these men had begun to pursue bodily interests, & so took wives of “the daughters of men.”

This view is also held by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. This is supported by their own Ge’ez manuscripts & Amharic translation of the Haile Selassie Bible (1 Enoch & Jubilees also), which count as canonical by this church. The “Sons of Seth” view is the view presented in a few extra-biblical, yet ancient texts.

In these sources, these kids of Seth were said to have disobeyed God by breeding with the Cainites & producing wicked kids “who were all unlike.” This angered God into bringing about our boy Noah’s flood.

If you subscribe to the ancient alien theory, then you’ll be familiar with Zacharia Sitchin. In his The Earth Chronicles series, Mr. Sitchin makes the claim that the Nephilim were an extraterrestrial race called the Anunnaki. The Anunnaki came down from the 12th Planet (Nibiru) & mated with (or at least genetically messed with) human women. They also gave humanity a few things: civilization, makeup, weapons, warfare, & farming. (Our founder is currently reading The 12th Planet right now, as of the date this posts. They are about done with it, like 2 more chapters!)

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Dybbuk

Also spelled dibbuk, meaning “to cling,” “to cling,” or “adhere.” This entity is a malicious, restless spirit of a dead person/spirit that “clings” to or possesses the body of a living person or is the dislocated soul of a dead person.

This isn’t a good-natured ancestral ghost. But an earthbound soul that’s been denied peace & seeks refuge (or revenge) within a human host. It supposedly leaves the host body once it has accomplished its goal. Sometimes after being exorcised.

The idea of the dybbuk has roots in Jewish mystical traditions. Specifically the Kabbalah, which gained prominence in the 16th to 18th centuries in Central & Eastern Europe. Earlier accounts of possession, like those given by Josephus, were of demonic possession rather than that of ghosts.

Traditionally, dybbuks tended to be male spirits. Because women couldn’t become dybbuk, they didn’t participate in gilgul. In Hebrew, gilgul means “cycle” or “wheel.” In Kabbalistic esoteric system, gilgul is a concept of reincarnation or transmigration of souls.

Sometimes these spirits were said to possess women on the eve of their weddings. Typically, in a sexual fashion by entering the women through their vaginas. Men & boys could be possessed as well.

In traditional Jewish communities, the idea of the dybbuk served as a socially accepted way of expressing unacceptable urges. Including sexual ones.

Within Jewish mysticism & folklore (particularly in Kabbalistic traditions) protective practices were also used to ward off malevolent spirits. One such practice involves attaching a mezuzah to the doorposts of a home. A mezuzah is a piece of parchment/paper written with a specific Torah verse.

While the mezuzah mainly serves as a reminder of faith & adherence to God’s commandments. It’s also viewed as a protective amulet against harmful spirits, including the dybbuks.

The Zohar, a foundational Kabbalah text, suggests that a properly affixed mezuzah can prevent such entities from entering a home. Also, Jewish folklore includes accounts where neglected or improperly maintained mezuzah were believed to make homes open to dybbuk possession.

In Lurianic Kabbalistic view (a major school of Jewish mysticism), it’s believed that every soul undergoes a process called gilgul (reincarnation) until it has made good all its spiritual flaws & completed its divine mission (tikkun).

A dybbuk is usually the soul of a great sinner. Someone who failed so utterly in life that their soul is deemed unfit for reincarnation or even for the stillness of the afterlife.

Because the soul can’t find rest or transition into a new body, it’s condemned to wander the world, a spiritual refugee. this limbo state between death & full divine judgment is sometimes referred to as the Barzakh in certain mystical texts. The dybbuk, being trapped & tormented, lashes out by invading a living host.

The possession is an act of desperation or malice. Once a dybbuk possesses a person (usually a woman, but not always), the host’s voice may change, becoming that for a dead person. Sometimes they speak in an unfamiliar language (it’s unfamiliar to the speaker/possessed person), or they recite profound, sacred texts they’ve known or seen.

The dybbuk speaks through the host. Often they reveal the sins that condemned it to wander or it accuses the host’s family of a concealed transgression. The host often suffers intense physical & mental anguish.

Because the dybbuk is a spiritual entity with a soul, its removal is an intensely religious act, an exorcism, that requires the intervention of a learned & righteous rabbi. Usually a rabbi is versed in Kabbalistic practices. The ceremony is solemn & ritualistic.

The rabbi, with a quorum of 10 men (minyan) & often holding a shofar (a ram’s horn), tries to reason with the dybbuk, at first, urging the distressed soul to leave in peace to leave in peace & accept its divine judgment.

If the dybbuk resists, the rabbi must use the power of sacred names & oaths. The rabbi may threaten the spirit with complete banishment from the Jewish people (a harsher spiritual punishment than eternal wandering).

The essential moment is when the rabbi calls upon the Divine Name to compel the dybbuk to exit the body. Often through the host’s small toe or finger so as to not cause the host any permanent harm.

As the dybbuk leaves, the shofar is usually sounded to break the spirit’s hold & symbolizes the final severance. The exit is then sealed with a prayer.

The Possession (2012) is a supernatural horror centered around the idea of a dybbuk. The story follows a young girl who becomes possessed by an evil spirit after finding an old box at a yard sale. Jeffrey Dean Morgan & Kyra Sedgwick star in this movie.

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#16thCentury #18thCentury #Afterlife #Barzakh #CentralEurope #Commandments #Dibbuk #Dybbuk #EasternEurope #Exorcism #Ghosts #Gilgul #Hebrew #JeffreyDeanMorgan #Jewish #JewishFolklore #JewishMysticalTraditions #Josephus #Kabbalah #KyraSedgwick #LurianicKabbalah #Mezuzah #Quorum #Rabbi #Reincarnation #Shofar #Sinner #Soul #Spirit #Tikkun #Torah #Weddings #Zohar

Were the #Pharisees Really Jesus’s Enemies?

#Jesus #Christianity #BibleStudy

The Pharisees appear throughout the #Gospels as opponents of Jesus—but how much do we actually know about them from antiquity? In this video, Dr. #RobynWalsh explains what our sources tell us (and don’t tell us) about the Pharisees. From #Josephus to Paul to early #Christian writings, much of what survives is filtered through outsiders—or even critics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scWs1tT4uiY

Predestination

Predestination is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God. This usually references to the eventual fate of an individual soul.

Predestination often seeks to address the contradiction of free will. God’s omniscience seems to conflict with human free will.

In this way, predestination can be regarded as a form of religious determinism/predeterminism. Also known as theological determinism. Determinism is a metaphysical view that all events within the universe can occur in only 1 possible way.

Josephus wrote, during the 1st century, that there were 3 main Jewish sects. They differed on this subject. Josephus argued that the Essenes & Pharisees thought that God’s Providence orders all human events. The Pharisees still maintained that people were able to choose between right & wrong. Josephus wrote that the Sadducees didn’t have a doctrine of Providence.

In the New Testament, Romans 8-11 speaks on a statement of predestination, in Romans 8:28-30. People have interpreted this passage in some different ways. Some say this only has to do with service & not about salvation.

Others say that this passage should be interpreted to the Christian community as a group rather than individuals. While some Catholics believe that this passage teaches that God has predestined the salvation of all humanity.

Some Protestants believe that this passage is teaching that God has predestined a certain set of people to salvation, & the remainder of humanity is predestined to reprobation. Reprobation is a doctrine that teaches that a person can reject the Gospel to a point where God can, in turn, reject them & curses their conscience.

Origen when writing in the 3rd century taught that God’s Providence extends to every single person. He believed God’s predestination is based on God’s foreknowledge of every human being’s merits, whether in their current life, or a previous one.

Valentinus believed in a form of predestination. In his opinion, people are born into 1 of 3 natures. This depended on which elements prevailed in a person. In Valentinus’ view, a person born with a bad nature can NEVER be saved because they’re too inclined to evil.

Some people have a nature that’s a combo of good & evil. They can choose salvation. The 3rd type of person has a good nature & will be saved because they’re inclined to be good.

Irenaeus attacked predestination that Valentinus set out. Irenaeus argued that it was unfair. For Irenaeus, people were free to choose salvation or not.

In the 4th & 5th century, Augustine of Hippo also taught that God orders all things whilst preserving human freedom. Prior to 396, Augustine believed that predestination was based on God’s foreknowledge of whether people would believe, that God’s grace was “a reward for human assent.”

In response to Pelagius, Augustine said the sin of pride consists in assuming that “we are the ones who choose God or that God chooses us (in His foreknowledge) because of something worthy in us.” Augustine argued that it’s God’s grace that causes the individual act of faith.

Scholars are divided over whether Augustine’s teaching implies double predestination, or the belief that God chooses some people for damnation, as well as some for salvation.

Catholic scholars tend to deny that Augustine held this view. Some Protestants & secular scholars believe that Augustine did indeed believe in double predestination.

Augustine’s view raised some objection. Julian of Eclanum said that Augustine was bringing Manichean ideals into the Church. Tensions became obvious, eventually, with the confrontation between Augustine & Pelagius culminating in the condemnation of Pelagianism. As interpreted by Augustine, at the Council of Ephesus in 431. Pelagius denied Augustine’s view of predestination in order to affirm that salvation is achieved by an act of free will.

The Council of Arles, in the late 5th century, condemned the position “that some have been condemned to death, others have been predestined to life.” This seems to follow Augustine’s teaching.

The Second Council of Orange in 529 also condemned the position that “some have been truly predestined to evil by divine power.”

In the 8th century, John of Damascus emphasized the freedom of the human will in his doctrine of predestination. He argued that acts arising from peoples’ wills aren’t part of God’s Providence at all. Damascene teaches that people’s good actions are done in cooperation with God, but aren’t caused by Him.

Cassian believed that despite predestination being a work that God does, God only decides to predestinate based on how people will respond.

In the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas taught that God predestines certain people to the beatific vision based solely on his own goodness rather than that of creatures. Aquinas also thought that people are free in their choices, fully cause their own sin, & are solely responsible for it. According to Aquinas, there are a few ways in which God wills actions.

Again in the 13th century, William of Ockham (Of Occam’s Razor fame.) taught that God doesn’t cause human choices & associated predestination with divine foreknowledge. Ockham/Occam taught that God predestines based on people’s foreseen works, he sustained that God’s will wasn’t constrained to do this.

John Calvin repudiated the idea that God allows rather than actively decrees the damnation of sinners, as well as other evil. Calvin didn’t believe God to be guilty of sin. But rather he considered God imposing sin on His creation to be an enigmatic mystery.

Though he maintained God’s predestination applies to damnation is caused by their sin. but that the salvation of the saved is solely caused by God.

In Roman Catholicism, free will isn’t denied. Predestination plays a very small role in Roman Catholicism. The “heretical” 17th & 18th century sect within Roman Catholicism known as Jansenism preached the doctrine of double predestination.

Although Jansenism claimed that even members of the saved elect could lose their salvation by doing sinful, un-repented deeds, implied in Ezekiel 18:21-28. According to the Roman Catholic Church, God doesn’t will anyone to mortally sin & so to deserve punishment in Hell.

The Mormons (LDS church) rejects predestination. But they believe in foreordination. Foreordination teaches that during the pre-mortal existence, God selected (foreordained) particular people to fulfill certain missions (“callings”) during their mortal lives.

For example, prophets were foreordained to be God’s/the Lord’s servants (Jeremiah 1:5), all who receive the priesthood were foreordained to that calling & Jesus was foreordained to enact the atonement.

However, all such people foreordained to retain their agency in mortality to fulfill that foreordination or not. The Mormon church (LDS church) teaches the doctrine of mortal agency, the ability to choose & act for oneself, & decide whether to accept Christ’s atonement.

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#13thCentury #17thCentury #18thCentury #396 #3rdCentury #431 #4thCentury #529 #5thCentury #Cassian #ChurchOfLatterDaySaints #CouncilOfArles #CouncilOfEphesus #CouncilOfOrange #Damascene #Determinism #Essenes #Ezekiel182128 #Foreordained #IrenaeusOfLyons #Jansenism #Jeremiah15 #Jewish #JohnCalvin #JohnOfDamascus #Josephus #JulianOfEclanum #Late8thCentury #Manichean #Mormons #NewTestament #OccamSRazor #Origen #Pelagius #Pharisees #Predestination #Predeterminism #Protestants #Reprobation #RomanCatholicChurch #RomanCatholicism #Romans811 #Romans82830 #Sadducees #SecondCouncilOfOrange #StAugustineOfHippo #TheologicalDeterminism #ThomasAquinas #Valentinus #WilliamOfOckham

One day, one decomposition
A000960: Flavius Josephus's sieve: Start with the natural numbers; at the k-th sieving step, remove every (k+1)-st term of the sequence remaining after the (k-1)-st sieving step; iterate

3D graph, threejs - webGL ➡️ https://decompwlj.com/3Dgraph/Flavius_Josephus_sieve.html
3D graph Gen, threejs animation ➡️ https://decompwlj.com/3DgraphGen/Flavius_Josephus_sieve.html
2D graph, first 500 terms ➡️ https://decompwlj.com/2Dgraph500terms/Flavius_Josephus_sieve.html

#decompwlj #math #mathematics #sequence #OEIS #javascript #php #3D #numbers #Flavius #Josephus #sieve #graph #threejs #webGL

**The So-called Bust of Josephus**

🔗 https://brentnongbri.com/2025/04/25/the-so-called-bust-of-josephus/.

#History #Josephus #Judaism #Sculpture

Herod The Great was probably NOT of Idumean Ancestry.
https://solascripturachristianliberty.blogspot.com/2024/04/herod-great-probably-was-not-of-idumean.html

#HerodTheGreat #Idumeans #Idumea #Edom #Cosobarus #Josephus #NicolasOfDamascus

not as long as AI's learn by example from us

#josephus #freepalestine