Jesus vs. the Nephilim

Jesus battled the Nephilim.

Consider this: If our working theory on the origin of demons is correct, then the demons Jesus cast out were spirits of the giants destroyed by Noah’s Flood. So, Jesus and the apostles literally waged spiritual war against the Nephilim—the sons of the Titans.

Think about that for a minute. If there is any truth at all to the mythology of the ancient Greeks and Romans, then their demigod heroes like Theseus (son of Poseidon), Bellerophon (ditto), Perseus (son of Zeus), and Herakles (ditto) were Nephilim.

Imagine that. Can’t you just see the Apostle Paul tangling with the spirit of Herakles during one of his missionary trips through Greece? We’ll never know, but it’s a cool idea for a graphic novel.

Seriously, though, Jesus’ mission to drive the demons out of the Holy Land was more than a ministry to help the demon-oppressed and possessed. Israel, land and people, belonged to Yahweh. Demons were not welcome. They were trespassers.

Why were there so many in Israel in Jesus’ day? Have you ever noticed that the Old Testament prophets never cast out demons? In fact, the word translated “demon” in the OT only appears twice. The fact is there was more demonic activity during Jesus’ ministry than any other period in the Bible. Coincidence? Not on your life.

There are a couple of reasons for this. While demons are mentioned, like the “demons that were no gods”^[1] to which the Israelites sacrificed in the desert, the emphasis in the Old Testament is on God and His sovereignty. Yes, demons existed, but it’s only in passing when they’re mentioned at all. And many of those references are hidden because their names are translated into English words like plague, pestilence, destruction, and terror. They’re treated as forces of nature rather than literal entities. Texts from the cultures around ancient Israel confirm that Deber (“plague”), Resheph (“pestilence”), Pachad (“terror”), Gad (“fortune”), Meni (“destiny”), and others found in the Old Testament were considered pagan gods or demons, even by the prophets.

Jesus’ ministry was the spiritual equivalent of hand-to-hand combat, and demons are the enemy’s foot soldiers. His mission was to repel the enemy that had encroached on holy ground, something that had been going on for a long time.

The concept of holy ground in the Bible dates back to the Tower of Babel. It’s another aspect of the incident that Moses repeated for the Israelites:

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.

Deuteronomy 32:8–9, ESV (emphasis added)

God reserved Israel for Himself. The small-G gods had been allotted to the rest of the nations (Deuteronomy 4:19–20), but Jacob was His inheritance. Israel, the people and the land, belonged to Yahweh, just as Moab belonged to Chemosh and Ammon belonged to Molech. However, since Israel had been out of the land since the days of Jacob, Joshua had to wage a holy war to reclaim it from the rebel gods and their human minions for Yahweh and His people.

Those rebel gods want to take Yahweh’s mount of assembly for themselves, and they’ve never stopped trying to take back the Holy Land. Human history revolves around the Fallen trying to destroy God’s chosen people, or at least drive them away from His holy mountain, Zion. This is the sense behind David’s distress at Saul’s attempt to chase him out of Israel:

And he said, “Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What evil is on my hands? Now therefore let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is the LORD who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering, but if it is men, may they be cursed before the LORD, for they have driven me out this day that I should have no share in the heritage of the LORD, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’”

1 Samuel 26:18–19 (ESV)

David was afraid that he would not be able to worship Yahweh outside of Israel because the lands beyond its borders belonged to other gods.^[2]

Another illustration of the concept is in the story of the commander of the Syrian army, Naaman. He came to Israel, desperate for a cure for his leprosy. After he was miraculously healed, Naaman had an odd request for the prophet Elisha:

Please let there be given to your servant two mule loads of earth, for from now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the Lord.

2 Kings 5:17, ESV

The Syrian soldier knew that Yahweh was the one true god, and to be sure he worshiped only Yahweh, Naaman returned to Damascus with two mule loads of holy dirt.

So, back to the New Testament: When Jesus cast out demons, he wasn’t just delivering the oppressed and possessed. He was telling those foul spirits, the sons of the Titans, “Get off my land.”

You’ve got to admit that’s pretty cool. But it gets even better. Toward the end of His third year in ministry, Jesus went on the offensive and invaded their turf.

And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.…

And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. 

And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.

Mark 8:27a, 9:2–10, ESV

Caesarea Philippi was at the foot of Mount Hermon, which is the only high mountain in the neighborhood. Remember, this was not only where the two hundred Watchers swore an oath to corrupt humankind, it was the mount of assembly for the creator-god of the Canaanites, El, where he held court with his consort, Asherah, and their seventy sons.

Here’s the point: Jesus climbed the rebels’ mount of assembly and transformed Himself into a being of light:

Behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.

Matthew 17:5–6, ESV

Could He have been any more obvious? As our friend Dr. Michael Heiser describes it, this was a cosmic poke in the eye. It’s like Jesus shot a flare gun into the heavens! Then He came down the mountain and, after casting a demon out of a boy at the foot of Mount Hermon, Jesus made sure the message was received, loud and clear:

After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.

Luke 10:1, KJV (emphasis added)

Some manuscripts read “seventy-two,” but the theological point is the same. In the ancient Near East, that number meant the complete set—in other words, “all of them.” El, Asherah and their seventy sons—i.e., the gods of all the nations—claimed Mount Hermon as their holy mountain. It was essentially the Canaanite Mount Olympus.

And Jesus climbed their mountain, had a meeting with the Father, Elijah, and Moses on the summit, and then came down to demonstrate that His seventy was better than El’s. Like so many other events in the Bible, this was not a coincidence.

That’s not all. This remarkable event may have been an echo of a military campaign in the spirit realm led by Yahweh Himself.

^[1] Deuteronomy 32:17.

^[2] Heiser, M. (2012). “Deuteronomy 32:8–9 and the Old Testament Worldview,” Faithlife Study Bible, John D. Barry, Michael R. Grigoni, et al. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software), p. 3.