THE THREE REBELLIONS

Our adventure began a couple of months ago when I listened to a podcast featuring a former cable news analyst interviewing a priest. You might think I’m setting up a joke here, but alas, I am not. As their conversation unfolded, the two men began discussing the Nephilim from the Book of Genesis — and how, in their view, these beings had shaped human history. Before long, they were confidently asserting that every modern world leader, including the entire U.S. Congress, was half‑demon and half‑human because of Nephilim intervention.

I was amazed, to say the least. Yet as I sat there thinking about this incredible conclusion, I had to admit something to myself: I’ve always wanted to do a careful study of the Nephilim, but I had never gotten around to it. Then I stumbled across an internet article telling the same story. That did it. It was time to look into this subject — if for no other reason than to see how such a story could arise in the twenty‑first century.

This is the story of my investigation, and what a story it has turned out to be.

Like any detective, I decided to start at the beginning. I went looking for Scriptural evidence about the Nephilim and followed the trail wherever it led — always with an open mind, but also always questioning. We are not going to fall for any nonsense.

I began at the dawn of time, in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 1 tells of God’s creation of the heavens and the earth, moving step by step through the forming of the world. Chapter 2 completes the story with the creation of humanity. Humans were created in God’s image and likeness for fellowship with Him. Fellowship, as we’ve studied before, is Relationship + Purpose. (If you missed that earlier study, I’ve linked it below.)

All of this is summed up at the end of Chapter 2:

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Genesis 2:24–25

Adam and Eve lived in the Garden, doing the work God gave them, in relationship with Him. They spoke with Him. They were innocent and without guile. They were in paradise.

And then it happened:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

Genesis 3:1

God had given them one boundary: do not eat from one particular tree. A few verses later, in verse 6, the woman ate the fruit and crossed that boundary. Humanity entered into rebellion against God for the first time. Nothing has been the same since. Fellowship was broken. They were expelled from the Garden. Shame entered the human experience. Death, sickness, pain, and struggle became part of life in a now‑hostile world.

This first rebellion was the rebellion of humanity.

But so far, there is no mention of the Nephilim. To find them, I did a word search. (You can do the same on Bible Gateway if you’d like to check my work.) Here’s what I found.

All Biblical References to the Nephilim

When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

Genesis 6:1–4

This is the foundational passage. The Nephilim appear in the context of the “sons of God” and the “daughters of humans.”

Key observations:

• The text is intentionally brief.
• The Nephilim are associated with “mighty men” (gibborim).
• The passage appears immediately before the Flood narrative.
• The phrase “and also afterward” raises questions that the text does not answer.

And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.

Numbers 13:32–33

This is the only other place the word appears.

Key observations:

• The spies’ report is fearful and exaggerated.
• Joshua and Caleb contradict it.
• The narrative itself signals that the spies are unreliable witnesses at this moment.

Summary Table

Reference	Hebrew Term	Context	Notes
Genesis 6:1–4	נְפִלִים	Pre‑Flood world	Linked to “mighty men”; enigmatic origin
Numbers 13:32–33	נְפִלִים	Spies in Canaan	Possibly exaggeration; linked to Anakim

At this point, we don’t have much to go on. The Nephilim are mentioned only twice, and both references are brief. But we do have two leads.

Lead 1: Other names appear to be associated with them — we’ll explore those in the next section. Lead 2: The context of Genesis 6 is the rise of wickedness in the world.

In Genesis 6:5–7, God sees that human evil has reached a crisis point, and He announces judgment:

“I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created…”

What happened to bring about such a severe response? This is where the Nephilim come into play.

Notice that the Nephilim are mentioned just before the Flood. Notice also that they are connected — somehow — to the “sons of God” who took human women as wives.

Who were these “sons of God”?

Another word search shows that this phrase refers to members of the heavenly host (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7). These are heavenly beings. Some of them rebelled against God. To distinguish them from loyal heavenly beings, we will call them Rebellious sons of God.

Thus, we can establish that these Rebellious sons of God crossed a boundary and corrupted humanity by taking human women and producing offspring associated with great size and strength. According to the spies’ report, Canaan was a frightening place because it was inhabited by the descendants of Anak, who were said to come from the Nephilim. Whether the spies were exaggerating or not, the association was part of Israel’s memory.

This is the second rebellion — not a human rebellion like Eden, but a rebellion of heavenly beings.

So far we have:

1. A human rebellion (Eden)
2. A spiritual rebellion (Genesis 6)

And there is one more.

The Third Rebellion — Babel

Genesis 11 describes humanity’s attempt to unify in pride and autonomy. God had told them to fill the earth. Instead, they built a city and a tower to make a name for themselves.

They rejected God’s boundary. They sought greatness apart from Him. They acted in opposition to His purpose.

God’s judgment was swift. He confused their languages, scattered them, and — as Deuteronomy 32:8–9 later explains — disinherited the nations and assigned them to lesser heavenly beings.

Humanity is now:

• sinful (Eden)
• oppressed by sinful powers (Genesis 6)
• divided and scattered (Babel)

In short, after the three rebellions — with all their combined catastrophe — the stage is set for God’s redemptive plan. The Rebellious sons of God and the Nephilim sit right in the middle of this story.

And this is only the beginning.

Next time, we’ll follow another trail of discovery as we explore the Giant Clans of Israel. You won’t want to miss this one.