HistoricalChristian.Faith

Josephus on the Nephilim

Dates: c. AD 100 Summary: In the Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus follows the angelic tradition. "Many angels of God" consorted with women and begat unjust sons who trusted in their own strength; he compares these offspring to the giants of Greek mythology. Noah, distressed by their conduct and fearing for his life, urged them to reform and departed when they refused.

Claims & evidence

Angels of God begat unjust sons, like the Greek giants

For many angels of God accompanied with women, and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers of all that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their own strength; for the tradition is, that these men did what resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians call giants.

— Antiquities of the Jews - Book I, Chapter 3, Section 1, sacred-texts.com. Josephus reads the "sons of God" as angels and likens their offspring to the giants of Greek myth.

Noah's vain appeal and departure

But Noah was very uneasy at what they did; and being displeased at their conduct, persuaded them to change their dispositions and their acts for the better: but seeing they did not yield to him … he was afraid they would kill him, together with his wife and children, and those they had married; so he departed out of that land.

— Antiquities of the Jews - Book I, Chapter 3, Section 1, sacred-texts.com. Josephus frames the corruption of this era as the moral backdrop to the Flood.

Notes

• Josephus represents the mainstream first-century Jewish reading: the sons of God are angels, not the Sethite line.
• His comparison to the Greek giants shows the angelic interpretation was widely assumed and read as parallel to pagan giant-myths, against the later Sethite view.
• Josephus appears on this wiki also as a witness on the Old Testament Canon and Origin of the Septuagint timelines.