The Rise and Fall of the Nephilim
Page 18
(2 Kings 2:23-25)
As a rabbit trail, yet vital to understanding all these things, I find it very interesting to note that the prophet in this passage was able to call upon the name of the Lord and violently and maliciously kill 42 children who were mocking him. Despite the fact that Bethel was known for mocking the prophets of God, this seems an extreme consequence for childish bullying. Perhaps this is a picture of the severe, uncontrollable consequence of calling on the secret name of God. For as it shows in the text, there was no other consequence for Elisha’s extreme actions. And as an anecdote to this story, keep in mind the third commandment of Moses:
“You shall not utter the name of Yahweh your God to misuse it, Yahweh will not leave unpunished the man who utters his name to misuse it.”
(Exodus 20:7; the Jerusalem Bible)
A more literal reading in modern idiom would read something like “You shall not utter the secret name of God to misuse it for vain or selfish purposes, for Yahweh will not leave that person unpunished who does so.” This commandment has little to do with cussing and saying things such as “Goddammit.” It has more to do with a person’s conduct of life, especially in light of the secret name of God being used to fulfill vain purposes. Elisha seemed to be inviolate of this commandment, yet there is no consequence mentioned in the passage. It is pure and complete speculation, but perhaps the greatest punishment of all was living in the horrid aftermath of having utilized the Holy to perform such an evil deed.
As Israel expanded its territories, conquering and possessing the land throughout the region of Cana’an, they killed and ousted the inhabitants who had entrenched themselves there during the 400 years of the Hebrews’ Egyptian captivity. As a result, the displaced Cana’anites became the traditional enemies of Israel, but their deities seemed to have the same, identical roots, and were actually the same god, but in name only, as the form of worship differed between the two cultures. The parallels between Ba’al and Yahweh are quite detailed. For example, both peoples referred to him, in his role as the god of storms and war, by the euphemisms “the rider on the clouds” and the “father to the fatherless.”
Limestone stele from the western wing of the Temple of Ba’al, Acropolis, Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit), Levant. It depicts the storm god, Ba’al (late Bronze Age, 18th to 15th centuries BCE.
Photo courtesy of the author. Copyright 2011.
“5 Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. 6 God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.”
(Psalm 68:5-6)
Both are portrayed as overcoming their enemies, such as when Yamm and his henchman battled Litan, the Fleeing Serpent/the Twisty Serpent, known as “Leviathan” [] in the Hebrew.
“13 You did divide the sea by your strength: you brake the heads of the dragons [some translations say, ‘sea monsters,’ perhaps an allusion to the Serpent ] in the waters.”
(Psalm 74:13)
“12 Am I a sea monster or a dragon [again, an allusion to the Serpent?] that you must place me under guard?”
(Job 7:12)
“12 By his power the sea grew calm. By his skill he crushed the great sea monster.”
(Job 26:12)
“8 Or who enclosed the sea with doors when, bursting forth, it went out from the womb….”
(Job 38:8)
So it is more likely that, whatever the origin of his name, Yahweh took over the history of Ba’al in Hebrew folklore and is best understood as the Hebrew equivalent of that Cana’anite god.
Anecdotally, there is a famous confrontation between the Israelite prophet Elijah, and the prophets of Ba’al recorded in the Bible.
“16 So…[King] Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, ‘Is that you, you troubler of Israel?’ 18 ‘I have not made trouble for Israel,’ Elijah replied. ‘But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the LORD’s commands and have followed the Ba’als. 19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Ba’al and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.’ 20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, ‘How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Ba’al is God, follow him.’ But the people said nothing. 22 Then Elijah said to them, ‘I am the only one of the LORD’s prophets left, but Ba’al has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 Get two bulls for us. Let Ba’al’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire—he is God.’ Then all the people said, “What you say is good.” 25 Elijah said to the prophets of Ba’al, ‘Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.’ 26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Ba’al from morning till noon. ‘Baal, answer us!’ they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. 27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. ‘Shout louder!’ he said. ‘Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.’ 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention. 30 Then Elijah said to all the people, ‘Come here to me.’ They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD, which had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, ‘Your name shall be Israel.’ 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs[a] of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, ‘Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.’ 34 ‘Do it again,’ he said, and they did it again. ‘Do it a third time,’ he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. 36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: ‘LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.’ 38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, ‘The LORD—he is God! The LORD—he is God!’
40 Then Elijah commanded them, ‘Seize the prophets of Ba’al. Don’t let anyone get away!’ They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered them there.”
(1 Kings 18:16-40)
Elijah and the prophets of Ba’al.
Photo courtesy of the author. Copyright 2011.
It is apparent that the Hebrews did not recognize the evolution of the religion of the Mesopotamian region, and it is clear that they did not worship Yaweh as being the same as the god Ba’al. Despite the name of Yahweh being originally sourced to a son of El is attested by a document (KTU 1.1 IV 14) from Ugarit,8 a Palestinian site occupied by neighbors of Israel. The document translates as “The name of the son of god, Yahweh.” Furthermore, this status as the foremost of the sons of El is commemorated in the Song of Moses, one of the oldest of the Hebrew scriptures found in Deuteronomy:
“8 When the Elyon [another name of El] apportioned the nati
ons, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods [the bene haElohim—the Sons of God]; 9 Yahweh’s own portion was his people, Jacob [Israel] his alloted share.”
(Deuteronomy 32:8-9)
In Cana’anite literature, Yahweh ruled as the king of the other children of El. In this role, he presided and judged whenever the Assembly of the Gods met in council. The preeminence of Yahweh over the other gods is repeatedly asserted in the Old Testament Book of Psalms. In Psalm 86, we are told that “There is none like you among the gods, O Yahweh” (Psalm 86:8), and Psalm 89 is even more specific in explaining that the “gods” are the sons of El who met as the Assembly of the Gods, the Divine Council:
“6 The heavens praise your wonders, O Yahweh,
your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.
For who in the skies can be compared to Yahweh?
Who among the sons of gods is like Yahweh?
7 a God feared in the council of the holy ones,
great and awesome above all that are around him?”
(Psalm 89:6-7)
Angels or Gods?
Setting aside the theories of extra-terrestrial interpretations that we touched on in earlier chapters, it is abundantly clear that the Genesis 6:1-8 passage is speaking of unique characters, the Watchers. Identifying these characters strictly as angels creates a problem in the text, which is supported by other biblical passages such as Psalm 82, in which we have the mention of the Elohim in context of the “Divine Council”—the gathering of the plurality of gods. But the gods mentioned in the Psalm are not angels. Let’s examine this Psalm a little more closely, looking at its language and meaning.
A Psalm of Asaph
“1 God (Elohim) stands in the midst of the divine council
[literally, council of El]; among the gods [elohim] He
pronounces judgment.
2 How long will you [plural] judge unjustly,
showing favor to the wicked? Selah.
3 Judge the wretched and the orphan,
vindicate the lowly and the poor,
4 rescue the wretched and the needy;
save them from the hand of the wicked.
5 They neither know nor understand,
they go about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth totter.
6 I said, “you (plural) gods [elohim],
sons of the Most High [bene Elyon—another title for God], all of you [plural];
7 but you [plural] shall die as men do,
and fall like a man, O princes [plural; more accurately “shining ones”].
8 Arise [the command is singular], O God [plural; elohim],
judge [the command is singular] the earth,
for you [singular] shall inherit all the nations.”
God stood in the midst of the gods, the sons of the Most High (a variation on the Sons of God as found in Genesis 6:4). In this council, the bene haElohim are called “gods” and also “princes,” and are told that they will collectively fall. One would have to manipulate the passage, or simply overlook certain whole chunks of the Hebrew text in order to read around what it actually states: There is a multitude of gods. The first mention of Elohim in Psalm 82:1 must be translated as a singular, in that it is the subject of a singular verb: “Elohim stands.” This is consistent with the Hebrew language. The second mention of Elohim in the Psalm must be read as a plural, as the preposition in front of it (“in the midst of”) requires more than one. It is impossible to be in the midst of one person. In Psalm 82, God (Elohim) is presiding over an assembly (or council) of other gods (Elohim). This where I spoke in a previous chapter of the word elohim being both singular and plural, wholly dependent on the rest of the sentence structure and the context in which it is being used, such as saying “A deer stood in the midst of a herd of deer”—same word with both singular and plural contexts.
Verse 6 of the Psalm makes it very clear that the elohim are the very same characters as the Sons of God mentioned in Genesis 6:4, in that he addresses them as the other elohim, and calls them the “sons of the Most High,” addressing them, point blank, saying “you are gods [elohim], all of you.” An interesting observation has been made by Dr. Michael S. Heiser, when he notes that the elohim mentioned here are not angels, which comes from the Hebrew word Mal’akim, meaning “messenger,” an entirely different term than what occurs for the Sons of God.9
Other passages where the plurality of gods [haElohim] appear are:
“Among the gods there is none like you, O Yahweh; neither
[are there any works] like your works.”
(Psalm 86:8)
“For Yahweh is a great God, and a great King above all gods.”
(Psalm 95:3)
“For Yahweh is great, and deserving of exceedingly great praise: he is to be feared above all gods.”
(Psalm 96:4)
“All who served images were put to shame; those who boasted in mere idols; even all the gods bow down before him.”
(Psalm 97:7)
“For you, O Yahweh, are Most High above all the earth: you are exalted far above all gods.”
(Psalm 97:9)
“For I know that Yahweh is great, and that our lord is above all gods.”
(Psalm 135:5)
“O give thanks to the God of gods: for his mercy endures forever.”
(Psalm 136:2)
“I will praise you with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise to you.”
(Psalm 138:1)
“Who is like you, O Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders?”
(Exodus 15:11)
“Do you indeed decree what is right, O gods? Do you judge people fairly?”
(Psalm 58:1)
Some trains of more conservative theological thought insist that Psalm 82 is speaking of God addressing other members of the Holy Trintity: God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. But this cannot be at all accurate in light of the fact that not all members of the Trinity are “sons”; the Holy Spirit is not a “son of God.” Further, in verses 2-5 of the Psalm, God is charging the other Elohim with corruption, and condemning them for their corrupt rule of the earth. At the end of the Psalm, God is reclaiming the rule of the earth from the other elohim, the implication being that they have done a horrible job of it, acting wickedly, and so they must be taken out of the picture. Again, according to Dr. Michael S. Heiser, these other elohim were an “impediment or a nuisance or at best a disappointment”10 —certainly not indicative of the Holy Trinity, as defined by Christian theology.
There are numerous other passages in the Bible that speak of this divine council and the elohim as a plurality, as well as the sons of God, the bene haElohim. One of the most familiar passages where the Sons of God appear is the in the first two chapters of the Book of Job, which is considered to be, chronologically speaking, the oldest book in the Bible, pre-dating the formulation of Israel as a nation and the Jewish religion itself. Take note of another character who shows up in this passage:
“1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each on his day; and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually. 6 Now there was a day when the Sons of God [bene haElohim came to present themselves before the LORD, and [the] Satan also came among th
em. 7 The LORD said to (the) Satan, “Whence have you come?” [The] Satan answered the LORD, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 And the LORD said to [the] Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then [the] Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nought? 10 Hast thou not put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.”
(Job 1:1-10)
And again in Job Chapter 2: