HistoricalChristian.Faith

Philo of Alexandria on the Nephilim

Dates: c. AD 50 Summary: Philo reads Genesis 6 on two levels at once. Literally, he affirms the angelic view: the angels Moses names are the beings other philosophers call demons — souls in the air — and the giants "were sprung from a combined procreation of two natures, namely, from angels and mortal women." Allegorically, the "giants" become a moral typology of three kinds of people: those born of earth (pleasure-lovers), of heaven (learners), and of God (priests and prophets).

Claims & evidence

Angels are souls hovering in the air

Those beings, whom other philosophers call demons, Moses usually calls angels; and they are souls hovering in the air. … If, therefore, you consider that souls, and demons, and angels are things differing indeed in name, but not identical in reality, you will then be able to discard that most heavy burden, superstition.

— On the Giants, earlychristianwritings.com (on Genesis 6:2). Philo identifies the "angels of God" with the souls/demons that fill the air, an explicitly supernatural class of beings.

The allegory of men born of earth, of heaven, and of God

Therefore he utters no fable whatever respecting the giants; but he wishes to set this fact before your eyes, that some men are born of the earth, and some are born of heaven, and some are born of God: those are born of the earth, who are hunters after the pleasures of the body … Those again are born of heaven who are men of skill and science and devoted to learning … Lastly, those who are born of God are priests and prophets…

— On the Giants, earlychristianwritings.com (on Genesis 6:4). Alongside the literal angelic reading, Philo extracts a moral allegory in which "giants" classify three kinds of souls.

The giants sprang from angels and mortal women

But he relates that these giants were sprung from a combined procreation of two natures, namely, from angels and mortal women; for the substance of angels is spiritual; but it occurs every now and then that on emergencies occurring they have imitated the appearance of men, and transformed themselves so as to assume the human shape; as they did on this occasion, when forming connexions with women for the production of giants.

— Questions and Answers on Genesis, I, earlychristianwritings.com (on Genesis 6:4). Here Philo states the literal angelic view plainly: spiritual angels took human form to beget the giants.

Notes