There was a portion of The Bible that stated that angels in Heaven found human women "comely," and that they propagated with them. Was this intended to break the pure blood line of Abraham, so that Jesus might not have been born? Were these half angels the reason for giants, like the Anakim? Is it possible that these half angels could have been what so many Greeks worshiped as gods, like Zeus and Aphrodite, etc? I know it sounds far fetched and even strange, but I still wonder who these offspring of angels and women ended up being like. Anonymous

Regarding whether angels mated with humans producing a mixed offspring, there has been much speculation. I'm not sure what to make of it, but I sure wouldn't hang my hat on any conclusions made under such slim information. :)

Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the LORD said, 'My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.' The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Genesis 6:1-4

And then there's another reference in Numbers that designates the sons of Anak as part of the "Nephilim".

There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight. Numbers 13:33

Is the only explanation found in the premise of angels coming down to mate with humans? Is it even possible for angels to mate with humans, especially in view of Jesus' comment alluding to "the angels in heaven"?

Jesus replied, 'You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.' Matthew 22:29-30

Seems kind of strange that if the "sons of God" were angels who could be given in marriage to bear children with humans that Jesus would use their unlikeness with humans in that respect to highlight the obvious misunderstanding held by the Bible scholars of the day. As it was, those Scripture scholars seemed to have been sufficiently put in their places so that they didn't even dare to question his rebuttal. Apparently, they recognized this inability of the "angels of heaven". By the way, they had been trying to snag Jesus by using one of their many technical and complex conundrums (mysterious puzzles), but it backfired.

Perhaps the aforementioned "sons of God" had a totally different denotation than what we might conclude using our highly developed formulas and rigid systems. What we can know about the Nephilim is that they were very large and very physically fit with hefty reputations.

Now I find it interesting that the Nephilim are not only mentioned in Genesis, but also in Numbers. I say interesting because there was a flood between the two times. Perhaps the word "Nephilim" has more to do with the stature of the particular people with such physical endowments. Did they use the word "Nephilim" during the time before the flood ... or was it the current word used to describe the giant races of men so that in referring to the time before the flood it also designated them as "Giants"? Like I say, lots of speculation.

Jim :)