Hence, if these “sons of the true God” were merely men, the question arises, Why were their offspring “men of renown” more than those of the wicked, or of faithful Noah? Also, the question might be asked, Why mention their marriage to the daughters of men as something special? Marriage and childbearing had been taking place for more than 1,500 years.

The sons of God mentioned at Genesis 6:2, therefore, must have been angels, spirit “sons of God.” This expression is applied to angels at Job 1:6; 38:7. This view is supported by Peter, who speaks of “the spirits in prison, who had once been disobedient when the patience of God was waiting in Noah’s days.” (1 Pet. 3:19, 20) Also Jude writes of “the angels that did not keep their original position but forsook their own proper dwelling place.” (Jude 6) Angels had the power to materialize in human form, and some angels did so to bring messages from God. (Gen. 18:1, 2, 8, 20-22; 19:1-11; Josh. 5:13-15, and other texts) But heaven is the proper abode of spirit persons, and the angels there have positions of service under Jehovah. (Dan. 7:9, 10) To leave this abode to dwell on earth and to forsake their assigned service to have fleshly relations would be rebellion against God’s laws, and perversion.

The Bible states that the disobedient angels are now “spirits in prison,” having been thrown “into Tartarus” and “reserved with eternal bonds under dense darkness for the judgment of the great day.” This seems to indicate that they are greatly restricted, unable again to materialize as they did prior to the Flood.—1 Pet. 3:19; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6.

INCREASED WICKEDNESS

The “mighty ones who were of old, men of fame” that were produced by these marriages were not men of fame with God, for they did not survive the Flood, as did Noah and his family, They were “Nephilim,” bullies, tyrants who no doubt helped to make conditions worse. Their angelic fathers, knowing the construction of the human body and being able to materialize, were not creating life, but lived in these human bodies and, cohabiting with women, brought forth children. Their children, “mighty ones,” were therefore unauthorized hybrids. Apparently the Nephilim did not, in turn, have children.

IN MYTHOLOGY

The fame and dread of the Nephilim, it appears, were the basis for many mythologies of heathen people who, after the confusion of languages at Babel, were scattered throughout the earth. Though the historical forms of the Genesis account were greatly distorted and embellished, yet there was a remarkable resemblance in these ancient mythologies (those of the Greeks being only one example), in which gods and goddesses mated with humans to produce superhu-man heroes and fearful demigods having god-man characteristics.—See GREECE, GREEKS (Greek Religion).

A REPORT INTENDED TO TERRORIZE

The ten spies who brought back to the Israelites in the wilderness a false report on the land of Canaan declared: “All the people whom we saw in the midst of it are men of extraordinary size. And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who are from the Nephilim; so that we became in our own eyes like grasshoppers, and the same way we became in their eyes.” No doubt there were some large men in Canaan, as other scriptures show, but never except in this “bad report,” which was carefully couched in language designed to strike terror and cause panic among the Israelites, are they called Nephilim.—Num. 13:31-33; 14:36, 37.

NEPHTOAH

(Neph·toʹah) [an opening].

The name associated with a spring on the boundary between Judah and Benjamin. (Josh. 15:1, 9; 18:11, 15) This spring is usually identified with the one at Lifta, to the E of Kiriath-jearim and about two miles (3 kilometers) NW of Jerusalem. Although this identification would agree with Joshua 15:9, Joshua 18:15, 16 appears to place “the spring of the waters of Nephtoah” W of Kiriath-jearim. Bible translators have variously handled this seeming discrepancy. Following the reading of the Septuagint Version, The Jerusalem Bible replaces “westward” with “towards Gasin.” In the Revised Standard Version the text has been changed in harmony with Joshua 15:9 and reads “to Ephron” instead of “westward.” Ronald A. Knox translates the Hebrew word yamʹmah (westward) according to its literal meaning as “seaward” and, in a footnote, explains: “This ought to mean westwards, towards the Mediterranean, but it seems quite clear that at this point the boundary of Benjamin turned eastward; and the sea is presumably the Dead Sea, its eastward limit.”

NEPHUSHESIM

(Ne·phushʹe·sim), Nephusim (Ne·phuʹsim) [to scatter, or, hackled ones].

A family head of Nethinim, some of whose descendants returned from Babylonian exile with Zerubbabel, 537 B.C.E. (Neh. 7:6, 7, 46, 52; Ezra 2:43, 50) Possibly he was of Ishmaelite ancestry through the Naphish tribe.—Gen. 25:13-15; 1 Chron. 1:29-31; 5:19.

NER

[lamp].

A Benjamite, son of Abiel (Jeiel), father of Abner and Kish, and grandfather of King Saul.—1 Sam. 14:50, 51; 1 Chron. 8:33; 9:39; see ABIEL No. 1.

NEREUS

(Neʹreus) [wet].

A brother who, with his sister, was included in Paul’s greetings to the Roman congregation. (Rom. 16:15) The name is also found on Roman inscriptions listing some of the emperor’s household, as well as in legend.

NERGAL

(Nerʹgal) [lord of the great city].

A Babylonian deity especially worshiped at Cuthah, a city repeatedly referred to in ancient inscriptions as the “city of Nergal.” The people of Cuth (Cuthah), whom the king of Assyria settled in the territory of Samaria, continued worshiping this deity. (2 Ki. 17:24, 30, 33) Some authorities suggest that Nergal was originally associated with fire and the heat of the sun and that later he came to be regarded as a god of war and hunting as well as a bringer of pestilence. The fact that this deity is associated with hunting has given rise to the conjecture that Nergal represents the deified Nimrod, “a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah.” (Gen. 10:9) The appellatives applied to Nergal in religious texts indicate that he was basically viewed as a destroyer. He is called “the raging king,” “the violent one” and “the one who burns.” Nergal also came to be regarded as the god of the underworld and the consort of Ereshkigal. The human-headed and winged lion is thought to have been the emblem of Nergal.

Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, one of King Nebuchadnezzar’s princes, was evidently named after this god.—Jer. 39:3, 13.

NERGAL-SHAREZER

(Nerʹgal-sha·reʹzer) [‘Nergal, protect the king’].

1. A Babylonian prince of Nebuchadnezzar’s time.—Jer. 39:3.

2. Another important prince in Nebuchadnezzar’s forces at the overthrow of Jerusalem, distinguished from No. 1 above by the added title Rabmag. It was this Rabmag who assisted in the release of Jeremiah from prison.—Jer. 39:3, 13, 14.

Because this name and title bear such a striking resemblance to that found on Babylonian bricks, legal contracts and inscriptions (Nergal-shar-uzur, Rabemga), some authorities think this prince was Neriglissar (Greek form), believed to be the successor of King Evil-merodach (Amel-Marduk).

NERI

(Neʹri) [lamp].

A descendant of King David through Nathan in the royal lineage of Jesus. According to Luke, Shealtiel was “the son of Neri,”