Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals
Monday July 20 2026
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Genesis 6:4 (ISV)-The Nephilim were on the earth at that time (and also immediately afterward), when those divine beings were having sexual relations with those human women, who gave birth to children for them. These children became the heroes and legendary figures of ancient times.
This week our church is hosting Vacation Bible School. The theme is an interesting one: Superheroes Of The Bible! We are looking at several persons in the Bible that may be rightly called “heroes.” In our modern definition of this word, it usually refers to men and women who perform great feats of goodness in honor to God and for those in need.
As I was preparing the lessons on the subject, my mind kept going back to this interesting passage in Genesis 6.
There is a great deal of discussion as to the origin and nature of these beings called the Nephilim (“giants” NKJV). Specifically, the question arises regarding the identity of their fathers. Who are these “divine beings” (or “sons of God,” NKJV) that parented them?
Many today believe that these “sons of God” are the righteous descendants of Seth who had intermarried with the wicked descendants of Cain. This ingenious interpretation of the passage (which arose nearly eighteen hundred years after Moses wrote the account) overlooks several key facts which demonstrate that the “sons of God” here were not human. (For example, consider that the phrase “sons of God” at that time was used to refer to angels-see Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:4-7).
What is truly fascinating is that the wording used in Genesis 6:4 to describe the Nephilim (“heroes and legendary figures of ancient times”) provides powerful evidence that these “sons of God” were not humans but were indeed angels.
Why were these cryptic Nephilim people described as both heroes of old and men of renown?…The ancient application to the appellation hero is not generally understood today in the same context that hero was applied and understood in ancient texts and thus, it is comprehended in a completely different connotation in the everyday life of the ancient epochs. The ancient recollection of heroes is more akin to our contemporary phenomena of superheroes, such as Superman and Spiderman. Indeed, these contemporary superheroes reflect allegories of forgotten secrets to epochs past, fond memories by some harkening back to an age of superhuman heroes. These contemporary cartoon characters eerily whisper something seductive, something secretive, and something sinister from the misty fog of prehistory that we dismiss at our peril. Consider this: one definition provided by Webster’s New Format Dictionary (1986) defines hero as “a man of superhuman powers, a demigod.” If the original translation for hero then is applied to Genesis 6, we indeed have a cryptic enigma, in that a race of superhuman demigods is part of the flood narrative. Just as curious, and without explanation, all renowned men of antiquity were depicted as heroes that persistently and continuously bubbled to the surface from the murky depths of primeval history as part man and part god, reigning for long durations. The Encyclopedia Americana testifies that among the ancient Greeks, heroes were those who were legendary for their bravery and achievements and who possessed exceptional strength. Homer’s Iliad generally referred to heroes as kings and sons of kings. They were fierce warriors, who did mighty deeds and waged mighty battles in the shadow of the common human’s fate. The Odyssey describes heroes as wise and venerable beings (such as Hercules/ Heracles) who lived to great ages. Homer further noted these mighty heroes were always doomed to gloomy fates. 1 The Roman poet Ovid authored Heroides, a series of twenty-one poetic love letters written to heroic lovers/ husbands by the women of the Heroic Age that included letters between Paris and Helen, and Leander and Hero. 2 The etymology of hero is not conclusive, but experts believe hero to be closely connected to a root word meaning “strong,” or one who guards or protects, suggesting soldierly (or militaristic) qualities. In truth, the concept of heroes from all races around the globe refers to a specific race of an early age (antediluvian), before historical records were written of their race, and to legendary characters of divine dignity analogous to that of gods. Teutonic and Celtic heroes were also figures descending from gods like Odin, Loki, and Danu. 3 But what is most intriguing regarding these ancient accounts is that all denote these pre-flood heroes as both a venerable and a distinct race of powerful demigods, separate from the mundane and mortal humans. Greek heroes were noted to be mythological beings; their positions among the sanctioned hierarchy of beings were placed somewhere between mortals and gods, making them semidivine….Hesiod, whom Herodotus claims was a contemporary of Homer, circa 900 B.C.E., 6 further recorded heroes in his famous work Works and Deep as “men of great renown.”…Hesiod additionally recorded Greek heroes, commonly known as Titans, warriors, demigods, and “depotentiated gods” from a former age of heroes. 9…Homer’s Iliad also referred to these Titanic heroes as demigods. 11 To this conclusion, the Greek philosopher from the third century B.C.E., Euhemerus, became famous for stating Greek myths were in fact dim memories of historical events from an earlier age, a theory that became known as Euhemerism. 12 Consider texts from clay tablets from ancient Mesopotamia on display in the great museums around the world, then quoted in the textbooks of schools and universities as part of secular revisionist history…These fantastic Sumerian legends that include the Epic of Gilgamesh curiously refer back to an Age of Heroes reigned over by semidivine Anunnaki giants, which thrived before the flood catastrophe and then somehow survived into the postdiluvian world. 13 Hesiod cryptically understood these heroes as the mysterious and infamous fourth race of beings created by the gods. 14…What is clear, however, is that the Bible and most other ancient transcripts, scriptures, legends, and mythologies all recognized and testified to a powerful antediluvian race of superhumans reigning as kings and demigods over the mortal and mundane humans. The first personalities (heroes) from memories of written history, according to author and historian Susan Wise Bauer, universally testify to a rein of obscure kings documented as part man and part god, which somehow descended from heaven on eagle’s wings. 15 (Gary Wayne, The Genesis 6 Conspiracy: How Secret Societies and the Descendants of Giants Plan to Enslave Humankind (GARY WAYNE’S GENESIS 6 CONSPIRACY Book 1), 21-25 (Kindle Edition): Trusted Books A Division Of Deep River Books)
The background of the word “heroes” tells us about the identity of both the “Nephilim” and the “sons of God.” Taken all together, we are reminded of the spiritual war that we are involved in, even today (Ephesians 6:10-18).
Revelation 12:9-12-So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. 12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”
Father, help us as we continue to study Your Word. Thank You for salvation and victory in Jesus. Amen.