Could Giants Really Have Survived the Flood? - Michael Heiser

The biblical text does not explicitly describe a "second wave" or separate period of giant (Nephilim or Raphaim) cohabitation after the Flood, but it acknowledges giants existing both before and after the Flood, leaving room for interpretation. Three main explanations emerge from biblical scholarship and ancient Jewish texts: (1) some traditions suggest that Noah, his sons, or their wives were carriers of the giant lineage, with midrashic texts even describing Noah as a giant, implying a continuation of giant ancestry through the Flood; (2) the Flood may have been regional rather than global, allowing Nephilim descendants to survive in isolated areas such as regions associated with the Philistines and the Sea Peoples—among whom were the Rephaim and Anakim mentioned in Deuteronomy and Numbers; and (3) a linguistic interpretation of Genesis 6:4 allows that giants could have existed “whenever” the sons of God interbred with the daughters of men, implying possible post-Flood angelic-human unions producing giants again, although this is debated and based on translation choices. There is no clear biblical indication of multiple incursions by rebellious angels; typically, the original fallen angels who fathered the pre-Flood giants are portrayed as being imprisoned (e.g., in Tartarus). Thus, the post-Flood giants may stem either from surviving lineages if the Flood was localized or from renewed unions, but scripture remains ambiguous and scholars propose these as the main paths to explain giants after the Flood. These interpretations align with the biblical mentions of tall giants like the Anakim and Raphaim in the Old Testament, especially in the books of Deuteronomy, Numbers, and Joshua. #giants #flood #genesis #genesis6 #michaelheiser #bible #deuteronomy #nephilim