The Book of Giants: “When the Nephilim Were Exterminated”

More than 60 years ago, excavations in the Qumran (Dead Sea) caves revealed nearly a thousand ancient scrolls that offered important glimpses into mankind’s past. Archaeologists were stunned to find so many unusual texts, including a scroll that offered clues about the Nephilim, giant beings mentioned in the Bible.

The Book of Giants: The ancient stories about these beings.

The Bible makes several references to the Nephilim and most can be found in the book of Genesis. Most information about these ancient giants comes from the apocryphal book of Enoch.

This ancient Jewish religious work is attributed to Noah’s great-grandfather, although some scholars date parts of it to around 300 BC.

Enoch is an intriguing character. The Book of Genesis tells us that he lived on Earth for 365 years before he was taken by God; «He walked with God, and he was no longer there; because God took him.”

During your time here, our planet was also inhabited by “angels” who freely interacted with humans, eventually intermingling with the “daughters of men” and giving birth to a race of unnaturally strong, giant hybrids called the Nephilim.

The origin of the word Nephilim is not fully understood, but scholars have proposed several etymologies: “the fallen ones”, “apostates”, or “those who cause the downfall of others”. Regardless of the name, the Nephilim have always been synonymous with giants.

The Book of Giants found in the caves at Qumran offers a different perspective on the Book of Enoch. Though incomplete, the scroll fragments paint a bleak picture:

The Nephilim realized that, as a result of their violent and devious ways, they faced imminent destruction and that this scared them enough to ask Enoch to speak on their behalf before God.

The text begins by detailing how the Nephilim plagued Earth and all that lived on it. But once everyone starts receiving the prophetic dreams of destruction, fear creeps into their hearts. The first to have such dreams was Mahway, the titan son of the angel Baraquel.

In his dream, he saw a pill being submerged in water. When the tablet appeared, all but three names were removed. This symbolizes the flood and subsequent destruction of all but Noah’s sons.

At the time, this fact had not become apparent to the Nephilim, so they debated the meaning of Mahway’s dream, but were unsuccessful in interpreting the signs.

Soon after, two more giants, Ohya and Hahya, the children of the fallen angel Shemihaza, began to have similar dreams; they dreamed of a tree being uprooted except for three of its roots.

After that, the rest of the group of giants started having apocalyptic dreams:

“Then two of them had dreams and the dream of their eyes had fled before them, and rising up, he came to [… and told] his dreams, and told him in the assembly of [his companions] the monsters

[… In] my dream I was seeing this night [and there was an orchard…] the gardeners and those who were watering [… two hundred trees and] big shoots came out of their roots […] all the water, and the fire burned everything [the garden…] They found the giants to tell them the dream…”

The giants realized the prophetic nature of their dreams and sought Enoch’s help. Unfortunately, Enoch had already disappeared from the face of the Earth, so the chosen Nephilim, one of its members, went on a cosmic journey to find him.

[Mahway] rode in the air like mighty winds and flew with his hands like eagles [… left behind] the inhabited world and passed through the desolation, the great desert […] and Enoch saw him and hailed him, and Mahway said to him [ …] here and there a second time to Mahway […]

The giants await your words and all the monsters on Earth. If […] it was taken […] from the days of […] your […] and that would be added […] we would like to know from you the meaning […] two hundred trees that came down from heaven…”

Unfortunately, parts of the scrolls were damaged beyond repair, but the text description is clear. One of the Nephilim traveled beyond Earth in search of Enoch and his vision interpretation powers.

The text becomes very interesting if we substitute some terms and consider it not as an allegorical story, but as the description of a real event whose meaning has become obscure over time.

If we consider flying “with hands like eagles” a metaphor, can we assume that Mahway took off from Earth in a spaceship?

In this case, does “desolation, the great desert” refer to interstellar space? It depends on how willing we are to interpret a fragment of a 2,000-year-old scroll.

Enoch sends Mahway back from whence he came, promising that he will speak to God on his behalf. Unfortunately for the Nephilim, the Enoch tablets sent to them did not bring good news:

Enoch the scribe […] a copy of the second tablet which [Enoch] sent in the same part from Enoch the scribe whom I observe […in the name of God the great] and a saint, to Semihaza and all his companions [ …]

May you know that not […] and the things that you have done, and that your wives […] they with their children and the wives of [your children] for your wantonness in the Earth, and there it has been upon you […] and the earth is weeping] and they complain about you and the acts of your children […] the harm you have done to him.

[…] Until Raphael appears, behold, the destruction [approaching, a great flood, and will destroy all living things] and what is in the deserts and in the seas. And the meaning of matter […] about you for evil. But now, untie the bandages [that bind you to evil…] and pray.”

Whether they prayed or not the text cannot say. But they seem to be gone, once again proving the effectiveness of a global flood.