Divine Host
Contents
Hand Servants of the Light
| Dominion |
|---|
| Archangels |
First Sphere
These are the Angel types corresponding to one of the Sephirot. Some are warriors, some are guides, some are just feelers.
| Choir of Angels | Translation |
|---|---|
| Chayot Ha Kodesh | Holy Living Ones |
| Er'el | Brave ones |
| Ophanim | Wheels |
Second Sphere
| Choir of Angels | Translation |
|---|---|
| Elohim | Godly Beings |
| Hashmallim | Glowing ones, Amber ones |
| Malakim | Messengers, angels |
| Seraphim | Burning Ones |
Third Sphere
| Choir of Angels | Translation | |
|---|---|---|
| Bene Elohim | Sons of Elohim | |
| Cherubim | Gods gatherersl | |
| Ishim |
Lore of the Host
- Lore of the Fundament
- Lore of Humanity
- Lore of the Celestials
- Lore of Flame
- Lore of Radiance
- Lore of Awakening
- Lore of the Firmament
- Lore of the Winds
- Lore of the Earth
- Lore of Paths
- Lore of the Forge
- Lore of Light
- Lore of Patterns
- Lore of Portals
- Lore of Longing
- Lore of Storms
- Lore of Transfiguration
- Lore of the Beast
- Lore of the Flesh
- Lore of the Wild
- Lore of Death
- Lore of the Spirit
- Lore of the Realms
- Lore of Law
- Lore of Purification
- Lore of Observance
Nephilim: Divine Bastards
The Nephilim (/ˈnɛfɪˌlɪm/; Hebrew: נְפִילִים) are mysterious beings or people mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. They are large and strong; the word Nephilim is loosely translated as giants in some Bibles but left untranslated in others. Some traditional Jewish explanations interpret them as fallen angels. The main reference to them is in Genesis, but the passage is ambiguous and the identity of the Nephilim is disputed.
According to Numbers 13:33, they later inhabited Canaan at the time of the Israelite conquest of Canaan.
A similar or identical biblical Hebrew term, read as "Nephilim" by some scholars, or as the word "fallen" by others, appears in Ezekiel 32:27.
The majority of ancient biblical interpretations including the Septuagint, Theodotion, Latin Vulgate, Samaritan Targum, Targum Onkelos, and Targum Neofiti—interpret the word to mean "giants". Symmachus translates it as "the violent ones" and Aquila's translation has been interpreted to mean either "the fallen ones" or "the ones falling [upon their enemies]".
Nephilim as Giants
Most of the contemporary English translations of Genesis 6:1–4 and Numbers 13:33 render the Heb. nefilim as "giants". This tendency in turn stems from the fact that one of the earliest translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, composed in III/II century BCE, renders the said word as gigantes. The choice made by the Greek translators has been later adopted into the Latin translation, the Vulgate, compiled in IV/V century CE, which uses the transcription of the Greek term rather than the literal translation of the Heb. nefilim. From there, the tradition of the giant progeny of the sons of God and the daughters of men spread to later medieval translations of the Bible.
The decision of the Greek translators to render the Heb. nefilim as Gr. gigantes is a separate matter. The Heb. nefilim means literally "the fallen ones" and the strict translation into Greek would be peptokotes, which in fact appears in the Septuagint of Ezekiel 32:22–27. It seems then that the authors of Septuagint wished not only to simply translate the foreign term into Greek, but also to employ a term which would be intelligible and meaningful for their Hellenistic audiences. Given the complex meaning of the nefilim which emerged from the three interconnected biblical passages (human-divine hybrids in Genesis 6, autochthonous people in Numbers 13 and ancient warriors trapped in the underworld in Ezekiel 32), the Greek translators recognized some similarities. First and foremost, both nefilim and gigantes were liminal figures resulting from the union of the opposite orders and as such retained the unclear status between the human and divine. Similarly dim was their moral designation and the sources witnessed to both awe and fascination with which these figures must have been looked upon. Secondly, both were presented as impersonating chaotic qualities and posing some serious danger to gods and humans. They appeared either in the prehistoric or early historical context, but in both cases they preceded the ordering of the cosmos. Lastly, both gigantes and nefilim were clearly connected with underworld and were said to have originated from earth and as well end up closed therein.
In 1 Enoch, they were "great giants, whose height was three thousand ells". An Ell being 18 inches (45 centimetres), this would make them 4500 feet (nearly a mile) tall (1350 metres).
The Quran refers to the people of Ād in Quran 26:130 whom the prophet Hud declares to be like jabbarin (Hebrew: gibborim), probably a reference to the Biblical Nephilim. The people of Ād are said to be giants, the tallest among them a hundred feet high. However, according to Islamic legend, the ʿĀd were not wiped out by the flood, since some of them had been too tall to be drowned. Instead, God destroyed them after they rejected further warnings. After death, they were banished into the lower layers of hell.
Nephilim as Fallen Angels
All early sources refer to the "sons of heaven" as angels. From the third century BCE onwards, references are found in the Enochic literature, the Dead Sea Scrolls (the Genesis Apocryphon, the Damascus Document, 4Q180), Jubilees, the Testament of Reuben, 2 Baruch, Josephus, and the book of Jude (compare with 2 Peter 2). For example: 1 Enoch 7:2 "And when the angels, (3) the sons of heaven, beheld them, they became enamored of them, saying to each other, Come, let us select for ourselves wives from the progeny of men, and let us beget children." Some Christian apologists, such as Tertullian and especially Lactantius, shared this opinion.
The earliest statement in a secondary commentary explicitly interpreting this to mean that angelic beings mated with humans can be traced to the rabbinical Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and it has since become especially commonplace in modern Christian commentaries. This line of interpretation finds additional support in the text of Genesis 6:4, which juxtaposes the sons of God (male gender, divine nature) with the daughters of men (female gender, human nature). From this parallelism it could be inferred that the sons of God are understood as some superhuman beings.
The New American Bible commentary draws a parallel to the Epistle of Jude and the statements set forth in Genesis, suggesting that the Epistle refers implicitly to the paternity of Nephilim as heavenly beings who came to earth and had sexual intercourse with women. The footnotes of the Jerusalem Bible suggest that the biblical author intended the Nephilim to be an "anecdote of a superhuman race".
Some Christian commentators have argued against this view, citing Jesus's statement that angels do not marry. Others believe that Jesus was only referring to angels in heaven.
Evidence cited in favor of the fallen angels interpretation includes the fact that the phrase "the sons of God" (Hebrew: בְּנֵי הָֽאֱלֹהִים; or "sons of the gods") is used twice outside of Genesis chapter 6, in the Book of Job (1:6 and 2:1) where the phrase explicitly references angels. The Septuagint manuscript Codex Alexandrinus reading of Genesis 6:2 renders this phrase as "the angels of God" while Codex Vaticanus reads "sons".
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan identifies the Nephilim as Shemihaza and the angels in the name list from 1 Enoch.
In Arabian Paganism
Fallen angels were believed by Arab pagans to be sent to earth in form of men. Some of them mated with humans and gave rise to hybrid children. As recorded by Al-Jahiz, a common belief held that Abu Jurhum, the ancestor of the Jurhum tribe, was actually the son of a disobedient angel and a human woman.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephilim
Enochian Glyphs: Angelic Symbols of Power
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_Alphabet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enochian#Alphabet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transitus_Fluvii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malachim
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enochian_magic
Bruce's Theories
Ok here goes. It would be easy to define the Nephilim as lesser versions of Angels and Demons, but that isn't really true or at least I don't see it that way. The above definitions from biblical scholars, some centuries dead, but no less eloquent or well educated suggest that rather than lesser angels the Nephilim are super-humans. Yes they can call upon some of heaven's powers and abilities, but they are fundamentally human, just stronger and faster and more resilient than mere mortals. Likely they have longer lifespans, but they will eventually die of old age if allowed to live that long. I believe that as super-humans they draw their powers from angelic faith, but they do so through their blood. Its their angelic paterfamilias that determines the strength of their blood and the degree to which they can manifest divine abilities. In many ways this blood related affinity parallels the Children of Caine, but only in superficially, because the Kindred are cursed by god while the Nephilim are essentially blessed.
Lexicon
- Furore -- Divine anger that lends speed and strength to the Nephilim, but also makes them subject to losses of control and ultimately the Wrath.
- Glyphs -- Remnants of divine language that can evoke divine effects, they can be worked onto any surface or material including the flesh, but they are just symbols without the power of the blood.
- Sanguis -- The angelic blood that elevates Nephilim above everyday men and women, it bears the signature of the paterfamilias, his characteristics like strengths and weaknesses.
- Wrath -- A failing of human self-control that leads to spiritual darkness and uncontrolled violence.
