Day 19 Devotion – Did Giants Once Exist?

Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” There were giants 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. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Genesis 6:1-4

These are some of the strangest verses in the Bible. Who were the sons of God that interbred with daughters of men? Some scholars say that the Hebrew language is pointing to angels coming down and interbreeding with female humans. This event led to the production of a half-breed, grotesque race of giants called the Nephilim. We then see that this evil is why God chose to bring about the flood to destroy mankind. Ancient man definitely believed these giants existed and Josephus refers to them in the first century AD. While the KJV and NKJV translate the word as giants, it is interesting to note that other translations such as the NIV and NASB only give the Hebrew word Nephilim because they are unsure of how to translate it. If you look up the word in a Strong’s Concordance you will see that it can be translated as “giants” or as “fallen ones”.
My scientific mind is very skeptical and will not allow me to accept the giant translation because there is no fossil evidence that they existed. The fossil record actually shows us that man was once much shorter than today. I believe these people fell away from God and interbred with ungodly people groups giving rise to a race of people that reached large numbers and because of their lack of morals became very corrupt and violent. The giant reference could be referring to their numbers and power rather than their actual size. Notice it says they were present afterward. The Nephilim are mentioned when Joshua tries to conquer the promised land. How did the giants return if God destroyed them in the flood? More later.