As I have pointed out repeatedly, and as I noted in my year-end book recommendations, Dr. Michael Heiser‘s The Unseen Realm is, in my view, an essential companion to any serious study Bible. That is not to say Dr. Heiser’s approach to unpacking some of the Bible’s most challenging and difficult passages is free of controversy or immune to challenge. Plenty of people will take profound objection to what Dr. Heiser says. Yet, given that Dr. Heiser looks at the original Hebrew and Greek texts of the Old Testament, to interpret and understand the concepts involved, and draws clear parallels to similar ideas in the New Testament, his point of view is at least worth considering.
If you want the tl;dr version of the book in video form, here it is:
As Dr. Heiser points out in the Foreword to his book, most pastors and preachers simply skip over the “weird” passages in the Bible. This is perhaps one of the strangest:
6 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in[a] man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim[b] 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 6:1-4, English Standard Version
The fourth verse is downright strange. Countless Christian (and Jewish) scholars have tied themselves into theological and rhetorical knots for thousands of years, trying to figure out just what this means.
There are a number of different theories around who and what the Nephilim were, and rather more importantly, who the “sons of God” were – for these were the progenitors of the Nephilim. The three main ones centre around the “sons of Seth” (i.e. the line of descendants from Seth, marrying the unholy line of Cain), “fallen angels”, or actual great heroes. Dr. Peter Gentry breaks these theories down for us:
The accumulation of evidence indicates, to me at least, that the “sons of God” reference speaks very clearly to divine beings, created by God, but NOT begotten of God. There is only one begotten Son, who descended unto the Earth as a man – and that is Jesus Christ.
So, if we proceed from the assumption that the “sons of God”, i.e. the fathers of the Nephilim, were divine beings, but of a lower level than God Himself (obviously), then the Nephilim existed in the time of the Flood as, essentially, demi-gods – and afterwards as well.
What does this imply for the history of Mankind?
Well, if you are familiar with a Netherflix series called Ancient Apocalypse, starring one Graham Hancock, then you have some idea of the answer to that one:
I make no claims as to whether this show is scientifically and historically accurate. It seems to be, but I simply do not know. However, I have seen enough in the last few years about how badly wrong the “mainstream” conclusions are about pretty much everything, to be willing to at least listen to even the most crackpot theories.
And Hancock’s theories are anything but “crackpot”.
If you watch that series, you will be left quite thunderstruck by just how closely the evidence he presents, parallels the information to be found in the Bible, and especially in the extra-Biblical text, the (First) Book of Enoch. Over and over again, as we look around the world, we see traditions and myths of a colossal, world-destroying Flood – and of great men, sometimes giants, arriving on boats of some kind to rebuild civilisation and lift Mankind back up from the utter destruction wrought upon them.
The question is, can we accept the timelines posed in the series? I am unqualified in every way to answer this. All I can say is that Biblical and historical scholars have some work to do, to reconcile the Bible against the timeline presented by Hancock, of a cataclysm at the end of the last Ice Age that resulted in flooding on a vast, global scale. Based on my own, extremely cursory, reading of Genesis 9-11, all I can say is that we do need to figure out how the Biblical dates line up with an apocalypse from about 10,000 BC, with Abram’s appearance in the land of Haran (apparently, somewhere in modern Turkey), at around 1,800 BC.
We know the Bible is accurate with respect to Abram’s (Abraham’s) existence, because of the Amarna and Nuzi tablets, which confirm precisely many of the details given in the Biblical chapters with respect to the traditions and customs of Abraham’s time. Archaeology keeps confirming, if inadvertently, the historical details found within the Bible, and does so repeatedly despite the intense hostility of mainstream archaeologists to the Biblical text.
So why, then, should we conclude the Bible is wrong about the Flood, or about the Nephilim?
There IS work to be done in reconciling the Biblical and geological/archaeological timelines, to be sure. But, from my own personal perspective, I can say with absolute certainty that the path to deeper faith in the Bible and its message is MORE knowledge, not less. The more we investigate the geological and archaeological records for the kinds of things that Hancock refers to, the better we can understand and appreciate the words of Scripture.
Is Hancock right about everything? Probably not, but I am hardly in a position to draw any conclusions on the subject. I will simply say that he is putting his ideas out there for others to unpack and critique, and that is all to the good.
More generally, I can say one thing with absolute confidence:
Everything you were taught in school about anything unrelated to maths, science, and engineering, was wrong. All points currently accepted as the “mainstream” consensus of politics, history, economics, and dozens of other fields, are wrong. We have been ripped off and lied to for decades, and it is high time we start doing our own homework.
Part of this means opening our minds to all sorts of weirdness. Some of it is, indeed, absurd and ridiculous – Flat-Earth Theory, or the geocentric model of the Universe, are outright contradicted by the available evidence. Much of it, though, is worth at least considering – and that includes Hancock’s ideas about ancient advanced civilisations destroyed by a great apocalypse, since this lines up rather well with what an already reliable historical record tells us.
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Didact,
It is an indictment of the academy of the Church, of every stripe, that we’ve just avoided these ‘weird’ segments for many generations. It is inexplicable given that this ‘prehistory’ topic of study is the one I find the deepest conversations with non-Christians. There’s a yearning in the heart to know where we came from. There’s a deeper yearning to know there is a Father and a King who can overcome the destroyers and bring peace. As Chesterton put it, children do not need to be taught there are monsters, that they know. They need to be taught there is good that overcomes and slays the monsters.
I’ve read two of Hancock’s books, The Fingerprints of the Gods and the Magicians of the Gods. They are lengthy, deeply fascinating stories of investigation and very compelling data comparisons. I was very glad to see this Netflix series come out. It brings his conceptual framework to people who never read books. My wife and I are watching them and it’s wonderful to have another to talk about it with. His work needs to be thought through. I will say the tone in the Netflix series is far more hostile to the Academy than he is in the books. And of course, only the topmost highlights of any given megalithic site are brought to the fore on screen. The books will still be a rewarding read for anyone.
Something that makes Hancock’s work special is that he admits to errors freely. Twenty years after the Fingerprints of the Gods, some of the assumptions he makes were proven wrong. He takes that into account and then changes his proposals. No surprise, the more he makes revisions the closer he gets to Noah’s flood. The man is not ossified or easily deterred.
Because the Christians have neglected this subject for generations, there is a lot of work to do to reconcile the ‘Christian’ view of time with the data pointing to pre-ancient civilizations. Fortunately, there is an intellectual bedrock to work with from previous Christians.
First, the Young Earth Creation Model. For many Christians, this is the only acceptable view. ‘We believe the bible means what it says and says what it means!” is the rallying cry. Inspiring Philosophy did a dynamite analysis and teardown on this subject. It is a new and unstable floor to stand on, it is not the bedrock of biblical exegesis. He shows its roots in some Seventh-Day Adventist sects about a century ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLcNTAi0Cw4
Second, prosecuting attorney Ryan Pitterson makes a relentless case that the ending of Nephilim was a primary motive of the entire Old Testament story. In his book The Judgement of the Nephilim, he shows the culmination is with King David and his heir Jesus Christ. David ends the Giants, the remnant of the Nephilim (although not fully ended until Ester) and Jesus conquers their spiritual offspring, the demons. Pitterson doesn’t quote very many modern scholars, although you will find Heiser. He quotes dozens of 1800’s era Puritan/Protestant preachers who were fluent with the Nephilim in the Old Testament. I don’t know why this vein of thought left the Church. More to learn, always.
https://www.amazon.com/Judgment-Nephilim-Ryan-Pitterson/dp/0999208306
Third, what can we do with the Adam & Eve creation account, and the timeline of Abraham, and pre-ancient civilizations? Can all exist within the same timeline? Can the pre-ancients pre-exist Adam & Eve? Are there grounds to read the Genesis account as two different stories in Chapters 1 & 2?
There is an elegant and comprehensive model for this, and it comes by the way of Dr. Joshua Swamidas. It is found in his book The Genealogical Adam and Eve: The Surprising Science of Universal Ancestry. Dr. Swamidas does a two-part interview with Heiser: https://nakedbiblepodcast.com/podcast/naked-bible-356-the-genealogical-adam-and-eve-part-1/
His insight is that the bible tells the story of ancestry and lineage, not genetic descendants. The ancients neither knew nor cared about genetics. They did care about fathers and sons. To read the bible accurately requires moving out of the western enlightenment worldview and into an ancient near east worldview.
There is strong precedent to read Gen 1&2 as two separate accounts. Many Church scholars have done so, including Augustine. When you separate them, it is plausible that there were ‘homo sapiens’ produced in chapter 1. They were capable of reproduction and greater than all the other critters of creation. Then in chapter 2, Adam and Eve were shaped specially and set to be the high priests of Yahweh in his throne room on earth. From the Garden of Eden, they were to bring Yahweh’s order and peace to the rest of the earth.
In this model, there is room for vast pre-ancient civilizations and divine rebellions, for a divine plan to redeem creation through Adam and the sons of Adam. When the homo sapiens and the sons of Adam begin to mingle, there is a timeline where all the descendants can share a universal common ancestor. There would be no more homo sapiens without Adam’s line within them. There’s some complexity to it, but the coming of Christ coincides very tightly with the timing of the universal common ancestor Adam. Jesus comes for the sons of Adam, all of them, and he is the new Adam for the new creation to come with his return.
https://www.ivpress.com/the-genealogical-adam-and-eve
Is that the final solution for the timeline of truth conquering the mask of lies? I don’t know, probably not. But in the same way the red pill manosphere dismantled the feminist smokescreen, this pre-ancient civilization restructuring of our common framework is well underway.
For Christians finding obstinate disinterest from their brethren, Bible Project has an artful and deeply insightful series on Spiritual Beings in the bible. Heiser was part of the development, and the 21 hours of podcast conversations backing up the 20 minutes of clips are full of insight.
Consider it a TL;DR for people who won’t take the time to read anything on this, also great for children.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH0Szn1yYNeef2AIszbltRK15dgoxA_57
I wouldn’t be killing any sacred cows by painting the Neanderthals, who almost wiped out the Human species, as the savage descendants of the Nephilim in a book, would I?
you’d be running in direct opposition to Texas Arcane
…
although he said some pretty goofy stuff.
You know, I’m able to track sales of your books on Kindle through my affiliate links – and it seems like someone did buy Murderhobo’s Apprentice.
Advertising does work))
Thank you very much, I just hope they enjoyed it.
I think I might have to kill off the ‘free’ versions. Like Vox says, people do not value that which they do not have to pay for. I am already ripping stuff off of royal road because it’s packed to the brim with people like…
Well, let’s just say I got a .5 star review on a new book because the picture on my cover didn’t happen in the book ‘fast enough’. And another one because I mentioned that Lucifer was a ‘bad guy’ and that my MC chewed out a teenage girl for stripping in front of him (Forgetting that he wasn’t a golem anymore).
I think I may ditch Royal Road soon. It’s too full of these kinds of people. I can produce 8 books a year. I loved the free editing, but it’s worth exactly what I paid for it 🙂