Hello All,I am a new poster here. And this is great subject. One that has spawned much controversy and debate. So I did a study on this myself to find out. I've been studying the Bible for about 25 years. I work for the 4th largest Christian book publisher in the world, so I have access to all sorts of bible study materials including Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldean concordances. So please bear with me, for this is long.One of things I have learned about the Bible is that it is full of "figurative language". I picked up a copy of "Figures of Speech Used in the Bible" written by E.W. Bullinger, the great great grandson of Heinrich Bullinger of the Protestant Reformation.Anyway, it explains, that words such as "giants or Nephilim" or "sons of God", are used "figuratively," meaning that they should not be taken at full literal face value, but as "symbolic or metaphoric" language.In the book of Luke, chapter 3, we find the genealogy of Jesus. Luke 3:38 KJV, “Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.” Here we see that “Adam” was called the “son of God”. If Adam was a son of God, then could it stand to reason that his offspring through Seth are also “sons of God?” Is there a clue to this in Genesis?In the book of Genesis: Genesis 4:26 “And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.” When “men began to call upon the name of the Lord," is when mankind began to walk in the Spirit of God.Next. Jesus promised us that if we follow him and walk in his ways: John 1:12 “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” And the Apostle Paul wrote:Romans 8:14 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Therefore, we could conclude that those who are “led by the Spirit of God” are the “sons of God”. Could that be true of Old Testament times as well?Now for further study.Who Were the Nephilim or Giants?Genesis 6:4 (NKJV) "There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown."Genesis 6:4 (RSV) "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown."Numbers 13:33 "And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."Deuteronomy 3:11 "For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man."Who were these "giants" or "Nephilim"? Were they the offspring of fallen angels and human women, fallen sons of God? Or were the Sons of Seth the ones who came unto the daughters of Cain and produced those Biblical "giants" of their day? This subject has long been the debate of many Christians and I wish to help clear up some of the controversy. When we read the above verses at first glance, it seems they are talking about huge men of very tall stature or superhuman men. But are they really? Notice in Deuteronomy 3:11 that it was King Og's BED that was nine cubits long, NOT King Og himself. Might the Israelites have used "exaggeration" when they were afraid and didn't want to fight God's battles when they said "and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers."?According to The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 1984 ed., the word Nephilim is derived from the word nephiyl pronounced, nef-feel, meaning a bully or tyrant. Yes, a bully or a tyrant....nothing to do with "large, men of great stature".This is the real meaning of the word giant as it was used in the context of Genesis 6:4. The word giant doesn't mean "super-human" or someone of "large stature" at all. It means a tyrant or mighty man, man of reknown. Those men who oppressed and beat their subjects into submission. "Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord," is a good example. He was all powerful in his day. And he ruled with an "iron fist". He was the "giant" of his day. The word "giant" is used in the figurative sense in modern times for "the giants of their industry" and we know that is a "figure of speech" and not to be taken at literal face value. So why would we believe that there was literally a whole race of men around 9 cubits tall? Another Hebrew word for "giant" is gibbor (used in Numbers and Deuteronomy) which means "powerful, warrior, tyrant, champion, chief, valiant man, or mighty man." Again, it does not mean a very large man of tall stature.The word nephiyl is taken from the Hebrew word nephal. Nephal has a variety of meanings: among those are "fallen, abortion (untimely death), to be cast out or cast down, a falling away, fugitive, inferior, to be judged, loss of light (as in the light of wisdom), overthrown, overwhelm, perish, to be smitten."Then WHO fell from the face of God? Were they "angels" or were they Adam's descendants? To determine that, let's begin by examining the word "angel". Were they angels that mated with human women? Or were they the "Sons of Seth" through Jared that mated with Cain's offspring that was forbidden by God?ANGELSIn The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, we find that the word "angel" has many meanings and is even used in the figurative sense. The word angel is translated in both the Hebrew and Greek languages as "messenger", we all know this, but on closer examination, we find the "root" words for angel mean something different.In the Hebrew language, "angel" is malak, pronounced, mal-lawk,: it is from an unused root which means to "despatch as a deputy, a messenger, but ALSO, a priest of God, prophet, or teacher, or king," denoting that it can also be used to describe someone who is "human."In the Greek language, "angel" is the word agellos which is a compound word derived from two other words, agele which means "a driven herd", and ago which means "to lead, bring or drive, bring forth, keep, lead away, be open." Or more commonly understood as a "shepherd".We know that Jesus is referred to as the "Good Shepherd", right? Remember, the Shepherd Kings of ancient Egypt? And we know that figuratively, God's people are known as “the sheep of His pasture,” right? This is figurative language. For we know that we are not "literal" sheep, right?Then we can conclude that that word "angels" is not necessarily referring to extra-terrestrial beings at all in certain passages? Could it be referring to those "ancient shepherds who were leaders over God's people?" In the case of the book of Jude and II Peter, those "angels that sinned and are held in chains" are in fact those "ancient leaders of God's people" who sinned by marrying the daughters of Cain which God strictly forbade as we will examine below. Sons of Seth?Where is there other evidence that it was the "Sons of Seth" who were the "sons of God"?For that, we turn to the book of Jasher and Adam and Eve Book II from the Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphical texts of the Scriptures. Now I know that these scriptures are controversial and debated. But I also know that the Reformation fathers referred to them. The book of Jasher is referred to in both the book of Joshua and the book of II Samuel in the bible. The Lost Books of Eden were lost texts not considered canonical by the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, however, they contain a wealth of information that seems to fill in the missing "holes" in Scripture and they do not in anyway detract from the message of the main canonical books.In the book II of Adam and Eve, Chapter 20, verse 15 we read:15 "Meanwhile the children of Seth, who were on the Holy Mountain, prayed and praised God, in the place of the hosts of angels who had fallen; wherefore God had called them "angels," because He rejoiced over them greatly."Here we have confirmation that God himself called his children or the Sons of Seth, "angels" for he rejoiced over them greatly.Now how did they fall?In Chapter 15 of Adam and Eve, book II, we read that after the death of Enos, Seth's son, Cainan stood at the head of his people in righteousness and innocence. And Cainan warned the people, "Let not one among you go down from this Holy Mountain; and make no fellowship with the children of Cain the murderer." We read on in chapter 16 and find Mahalaleel, son of Cainan standing over the children and warning his son Jared not to go down from the Holy Mountain where they lived to mix with the children of Cain, lest they perish with them.6 "Hear, O my son, hereafter there shall come a great destruction upon this earth on account of them; God will be angry with the world, and will destroy them with waters. (warning of the coming of the Deluge upon the land)7 "But I also know that thy children will not hearken to thee, and that they will go down from this mountain and hold intercourse with the children of Cain, and that they shall perish with them.8 "O my son! teach them, and watch over them, that no guilt attach to thee on their account."In Chapter 17, Jared keeps his father's promise, however, Satan then appears as a beautiful apparition to deceive Jared's children. All except Enoch who constantly kept watch.Satan then entices the children of Cain to make strong drink, musical instruments, and to teach the women how to put on makeup and dress and dance seductively. We read on....16 But after this, they no longer kept His commandment, nor held by the promise He had made to their fathers; but they relaxed from their fasting and praying, and from the counsel of Jared their father. And they kept on gathering together on the top of the mountain, to look upon the children of Cain, from morning until evening, and upon what they did, upon their beautiful dresses and ornaments.17 Then the children of Cain looked up from below, and saw the children of Seth, standing in troops on the top of the mountain; and they called to them to come down to them.Later on:29 Enoch at that time was already grown up, and in his zeal for God, be arose and said, "Hear me, O ye sons of Seth, small and great—when ye transgress the commandment of our fathers, and go down from this holy mountain—ye shall not come up hither again for ever.30 But they rose up against Enoch, and would not hearken to his words, but went down from the Holy Mountain.31 And when they looked at the daughters of Cain, at their beautiful figures, and at their hands and feet dyed with colour, and tattooed in ornaments on their faces, the fire of sin was kindled in them.32 Then Satan made them look most beautiful before the sons of Seth, as he also made the sons of Seth appear of the fairest in the eyes of the daughters of Cain, so that the daughters of Cain lusted after the sons of Seth like ravenous beasts, and the sons of Seth after the daughters of Cain, until they committed abomination with them.33 But after they had thus FALLEN into this defilement, they returned by the way they had come, and tried to ascend the Holy Mountain. But they could not, because the stones of that holy mountain were of fire flashing before them, by reason of which they could not go up again.ACCOUNT IN THE BOOK OF JASHER16 And all the sons of men departed from the ways of the Lord in those days as they multiplied upon the face of the earth with sons and daughters, and they taught one another their evil practices and they continued sinning against the Lord.17 And every man made unto himself a god, and they robbed and plundered every man his neighbor as well as his relative, and they corrupted the earth, and the earth was filled with violence.18 And their JUDGES AND RULERS went to the daughters of men and took their wives by force from their husbands according to their choice, and the sons of men in those days took from the cattle of the earth, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and taught the mixture of animals of one species with the other, in order therewith to provoke the Lord; and God saw the whole earth and it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon earth, all men and all animals.Here we see another meaning for Sons of God as "judges and rulers".-------------Therefore, I conclude, that the "sons of God" were the sons of Seth who mingled with the daughters of Cain in disobeying God. It was those who originally "walked in the Spirit of God" who "fell" from the face of God and married into the murderous line of Cain whom God forbade their intermarriage.And the "giants" or "Nephilim," their "offspring," were the "mighty warrior men of renown as defined in the Hebrew language.If you are still not convinced, then ask yourself, Why was Noah "righteous in all of his generations"? Could it be that Enoch did not follow his brothers to mingle with the daughters of Cain? Thus preserving the line of "righteous men"?God Bless,Kim