by Brian Godawa
Chronicles of the Nephilim: The Ancient Biblical Story
Watchers, Nephilim, and the Divine Council of the Sons of God. In this dvd video lecture, Brian Godawa explores the Scriptures behind this transformative storyline that inspired his best-selling Biblical novel series Chronicles of the Nephilim.
Horror: A Biblical Genre
Horror is not an inherently evil genre of storytelling. It can be used for gratuitous evil purposes, or for godly moral purposes. The Bible tells many stories using the horror genre in order to inspire holy fear of evil and admonish or chastise those in sin. In this dvd video lecture, Brian Godawa presents how horror movies can be biblically redeeming.
Sex and Violence for Christian Storytellers
In this dvd video lecture, Brian Godawa examines the issue of sin depicted in the movies and in the Bible. Should Christians watch or create R-rated movies, novels or articles? Are we sinning, or opening ourselves to sin, if we expose ourselves to dramatic visual images of sex, violence & profanity?
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[1] G. Ernest Wright, “Troglodytes and Giants in Palestine,” Journal of Biblical Literature 57:3 (Sept 1938): 305-309.
[2] Clyde E. Billington, “Goliath and The Exodus Giants: How Tall Were They?” JETS, 50/3 (September 2007) 489-508.
[3] Conservative scholars claim that Moses wrote the Pentateuch during the time of the Exodus, so that would most likely mean that the older longer cubit was used in those texts. Critical scholars claim that Moses did not write the Pentateuch, but that it was mostly written and/or compiled during the time of the Exile which would mean they most likely used the newer shorter cubit in the Pentateuch, but then made some reference to that older cubit in Chronicles and Ezekiel to remind their readers of the changeover.
[4] If this is the case, then the Septuagint translators misunderstood the cubit of the Hebrew text as being the smaller cubit, when in fact it was the larger Egyptian cubit. They would then be translating the number incorrectly downward.
[5] The longer cubit however is most likely not being used in reference to Og’s height since the text says it is measuring “according to the common cubit” as opposed to the royal cubit.
[6] Michael Hesier, “Clash of the Manuscripts: Goliath & the Hebrew Text of the Old Testament,” Bible Study Magazine May/Jun2009, Vol. 1 Issue 4, p33; http://biblestudymagazine.com/interactive/goliath/#
[7] Conrad E. L'Heureux “The yelîdê hārāpā': A Cultic Association of Warriors,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 221,(Feb., 1976), pp. 83-85.
[8] See Brian Godawa, Enoch Primordial Appendix on the Rephaim,( Los Angeles, CA, Embedded Pictures Publishing, 2012), pp 364-366.
[9] See Appendix B “The Nephilim,” Noah Primeval (Los Angeles, Embedded Pictures, 2012), 304-322.
[10] Special thanks to Doug Van Dorn for this bit of research. Beresheet A, 20.224, “There are five races of mixed multitude. These are the Nefilim (fallen), the Giborim (mighty), the Anakim (giants), the Refaim (shades) and the Amalekim.” Van Dorn, Douglas (2013-01-21). Giants: Sons of the Gods (Kindle Locations 2629-2631). Waters of Creation. Kindle Edition. It is important to note however that the Zohar is of questionable origin, so it represents a much later tradition than is preferable for our ancient research.
[11] “A tradition told in the famous Al-Khitat, a history of Egyptian lore compiled by al-Maqrizi (1364-1442 AD), recounts the teaching of one master Ibrahim bin Wasif Shah (d. 1203 AD) who said that King Adim (Ad) was, ‘A violent and proud prince, tall in stature.’” Van Dorn, Giants (Kindle Locations 2605-2608).
[12] Like Edom, Moab and Ammon were to be left alone by the Israelites in their conquest because of their descendancy from Lot, Abraham’s nephew (Deut. 2:9, 19). But then King David conquers all three of these peoples for his kingdom; Edom, Moab and Ammon (2 Sam. 8; 10). It was as if God was saving their ultimate dispossession for his messiah king.
[13] “There shall come a man out of his seed, and he shall rule over many nations; and the kingdom of Gog (or “Og”) shall be exalted, and his kingdom shall be increased.” Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton, The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament: English Translation(London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1870), Nu 24:7. For the Og version, seeJohn William Wevers, ed., Numeri, vol. III, 1, Vetus Testamentum Graecum. Auctoritate Academiae Scientiarum Gottingensis Editum (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1982), 289.
[14] John H. Walton, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary (Old Testament): Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 311.
[15] Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 121.
[16] Special thanks to Douglas Van Dorn for this discovery.
[17] Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton, The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament: English Translation (London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1870), 2 Kgdms 21:11.
[18] David scholar McCarter suggests “overtook them” may be translated “captured them,” as in capturing the bones of the Saulides. (P. Kyle McCarter Jr, II Samuel: a New Translation with Introduction, Notes, and Commentary, vol. 9, Anchor Yale Bible (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008), 440.) The Lexham LXX translates that phrase as “took them down,” as if to mean that the giant took down the remains of the six hanged descendants of Saul in order for the Gibeonites to release them to Rizpah. But in the Bible, giants are never in a positive disposition toward Israel, so this is most likely not the best translation. Randall Tan and David A. deSilva, Logos Bible Software, The Lexham Greek-English Interlinear Septuagint (Logos Bible Software, 2009), 2 Kgdms 21:11–12.
[19] Brian Godawa, Appendix, Joshua Valiant, (Los Angeles, CA: Embedded Pictures Publishing, 2013), 322. See also, Judd H. Burton, Interview With the Giant: Ethnohistorical Notes on the Nephilim (Burton Beyond Press, 2009) 20.
[20] Randall Tan and David A. deSilva, Logos Bible Software, The Lexham Greek-English Interlinear Septuagint (Logos Bible Software, 2009), 2 Kgdms 21:11, 22.
[21] David Tsumura, The First Book of Samuel, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2007), 442.
[22] Yigal Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands, 2 vols. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963), I, pp. 196–97; II, p. 354.
[23] Ralph W. Klein, 1 Samuel, vol. 10, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1998), 176.
[24] Yadin, Y. 1955. “Goliath’s javelin and the menor `orgim”, PEQ 87:58-69
[25] Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 448.
[26] “Although the LXX interferes seriously in the text, presupposing a double haplography in the Hebrew text, this reading points into the right direction. As a matter of fact NKH Hiphʿil in the historical books never means to strike upon an object (cf. also E. Jenni, ErIs 24 [1993] 114–118), but to strike down, i.e. to kill somebody... Consequently, Ariel here designates some kind of person, best translated as ‘lion of God’: S. Münger, “Ariel,” ed. Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, and Pieter W. van der Horst, Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Leiden; Boston; Köln; Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge: Brill; Eerdmans, 1999), 88–89.
[27] Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver and Charles Augustus Briggs, Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, electronic ed., 72 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 2000).
[28] W. Herrmann, “El,” ed. Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, and Pieter W. van der Horst, Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Leiden; Boston; Köln; Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge: Brill; Eerdmans, 1999), 275.
[29] B. Mazar, "The Military Élite of King David," Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 13, Fasc. 3 (Jul., 1963), 312.
[30] James McConkey Robinson, Richard Smith and Coptic Gnostic
Library Project, The Nag Hammadi Library in English, 4th rev. ed., 173 (Leiden; New York: E. J. Brill, 1996).
[31] S. Münger, “Ariel,” ed. Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, and Pieter W. van der Horst, Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Leiden; Boston; Köln; Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge: Brill; Eerdmans, 1999), 89. Münger refers to the Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan (P. M. Fischer, ADAJ 40 [1996] 101–110, esp. 103–104 with figs. 3a-b).
[32] 850 B.C.
[33] S. Münger, DDD, 89. Pritchard’s Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament translates ariel as the name of the king of the city, and Hallo’s Context of Scripture translates it as the more unlikely object, fire hearth. James Bennett Pritchard, ed., The Ancient Near East an Anthology of Texts and Pictures, 3rd ed. with Supplement (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969), 320; William W. Hallo and K. Lawson Younger, Context of Scripture (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2000), 137.
[34] B. Mazar, "The Military Élite of King David," Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 13, Fasc. 3 (Jul., 1963), pp. 316.
[35] Johnson, Ken (2012-01-09). Ancient Book Of Jasher (p. 129). Kindle Edition.
[36] Johnson, Book Of Jasher (p. 223).
[37] Steve A. Wiggins, “Old Testament Dagan in the Light of Ugarit,” Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 43, Fasc. 2 (Apr., 1993), 370.
[38] T. C. Mitchell, “Dagon,” ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1979–1988), 851; Lowell K. Handy, “Dagon (Deity),” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 2.
[39] It is now thought by some that Dagon as a fish-man may have been etiologically influenced by Atargatis, a mermaid goddess of nearby Philistine Ashkelon and by the Sumerian fish-man god Odakon as interpreted by the Babylonian historian Berossus. Frank J.. Montalbano, “Canaanite Dagon: Origin, Nature,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 13 no 4 O 1951, p 395.
[40] Montalbano “Canaanite Dagon,” p 381-397.
[41] Mark S. Smith, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle: Introduction with Text, Translation and Commentary of KTU 1.1-1.2, vol. 1 (Leiden; New York; Köln: E.J. Brill, 1994), 293.
[42] Wiggins, “Old Testament Dagan,” 372.
[43] John Day, “Asherah in the Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitic Literature,” Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 105, No. 3 (Sep., 1986), 391-92. While the Scriptures are replete with many calls to Israelites to repent from worshipping Ba’al and Asherah, there is no Biblical indication that Israel ever worshipped Dagon, the god of the Philistines.
[44] John Day, “Asherah in the Hebrew Bible,” 387.
[45] K. G. Jung, “Asherah,” ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1979–1988), 317–318.
[46] John Day, “Asherah in the Hebrew Bible,” 402.