The birth of God’s nation Israel
In Genesis we read how Joseph, the youngest son of Jacob, was sold into slavery by his brothers, falsely accused and convicted but eventually became the second most powerful man in the world (Genesis 41).
This led God to take Joseph’s family out of the promised land (where, after all, the remnants of the nephilim lived) to protect them from being mixed with the DNA of these nephilim. God used Joseph for this and a drought that led to famine (Genesis 41:54).
Pharaoh gave Joseph’s family the city of Goshen in the fertile Nile Delta.
Genesis 46:30-34
Genesis 46:30 Then Israel said to Joseph, Now I can die, now that I have seen your face again, for you are alive.
31. Thereupon Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s house, I will tell Pharaoh. I will say to him, My brothers and my father’s house, who lived in the land of Canaan, have come to me.
32. The men are shepherds of small livestock, for they have always been pastoralists. They have brought their small livestock and their cattle, and all that they have.
33. When it shall come to pass that Pharaoh calls you and asks, What is your occupation?
34. then you must say, Your servants have always been pastoralists, from our youth until now, both we and our fathers. Then you will be allowed to live in the land of Goshen, because any shepherd of small livestock is an abomination to the Egyptians.
Because Egypt had an agrarian culture and they were not pastoralists (they detested it), Joseph instructed them to tell Pharaoh that they were pastoralists. For that reason, the Egyptians did not mix with the Israelites and the DNA of God’s people remained pure.
Thus, this DNA pure family was able to develop into a great nation (from 70 to +2 million) in a protected environment. Actually, they never wanted to leave there. After all, it was comfortable and safe there! (That’s how it is with us too: when we get it right we forget what God had in mind for us and God starts using means that are often not pleasant to achieve His goal, a goal that is ultimately much better for us).
God eventually used slavery to get them out of there and bring it to the land He had appropriated and destined for His people.
It was the time when God was going to build a nation that would later produce the Messiah.
And after 400 years, God sought them out through Moses and brought them to the inheritance, the promised land that the nephilim had taken possession of.
From Genesis to Genocide:
The devil focused on one man (Abraham), but his people had now grown into the millions. With that, the devil changed his tactics. He now had to attack an entire people and decided on genocide: Exodus 1:8-10 + vs 22
Exodus 1:8 Then there came into Egypt a new king, whom Joseph had not known.
9. He said to his people, Behold, the people of the Israelites are more numerous and powerful than we are.
10. Come, let us act wisely against it, or it will become numerous, and, should a war break out, it will also join our enemies, fight against us, and move out of the land.
22. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “All the sons that are born you must throw into the Nile, but all the daughters you may leave alive.
By doing so, the people could no longer reproduce and would become extinct. Also, the new Pharaoh brought them all into slavery. The killing of every male baby would work that the possible Messiah would also be killed!
An image of Noah’s ark is seen in the rush basket of Moses being rescued in the water to lead his people in the rescue plan.God called Moses and prepared him to take the people to the promised land of the nephilim:
Exodus 3:7 The LORD said, I have clearly seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt and have heard their cries for help because of their slave drivers. Verily, I know their distress.8. Therefore, I have come down to rescue the people from the hand of the Egyptians, and to lead them out of this land into a good and spacious land, into a land overflowing with milk and honey, into the territory of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Ferezites, the Hevites and the Jebusites.
The command was clear: take possession of the promised land and remove (destroy) the seed of the devil, the nephilim!
During the book of Exodus, when Israel wandered through the desert for 40 years God prepared them for the battle against the nephilim in the land of Canaan. He showed them the law. To enter into a spiritual battle you must know God’s will: 10 commandments and 612 laws (Exodus + Leviticus). After all, they would be entering a land filled with demonic activity.
This required spiritual strength and military might!
Then God gave the order to count the people (Numbers). Everyone was involved and must be prepared for battle…..
The provocation (bitterness): the nephilim tried to undermine the Israelites’ trust in God. Since they largely succeeded, the consequences were disastrous.
The 12 spies: God ordered the 12 best men of Israel to first explore the land before launching the attack.
Numbers 13:
1 The LORD spoke to Moses:
2. Send men before you to explore the land of Canaan, which I will give to the Israelites; you are to send one man from each tribe of his fathers, each a leader among them.
3. Moses sent them out of the desert Paran, at the command of the LORD. All these men were heads of the Israelites.
21. They went out and explored the land, from the desert Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-Hamath.
22. They went into the southern land and came as far as Hebron, and there lived Ahiman, Sesai and Talmai, descendants of Enak. Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.
23. Then they arrived at the valley of Eshcol, and there they cut off a vine with one cluster of grapes, which they were to carry on a pole in pairs. Also they took some pomegranates and some figs.
And their account was as follows:
Numbers 13
26 They went out and came to Moses and to Aaron, and to all the community of the Israelites, in the wilderness Paran, near Kadesh. And they reported to them and all the community, and showed them the fruits of the land.
27. They told Moses and said: We have come into that land to which you have sent us, and truly, it overflows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
28. But the people who dwell in that land are strong, the cities are fortified and very large, and also we have seen descendants of Enak there.
29. In the south land dwells Amalek, in the mountain land dwells the Hittites, the Jebusites and the Amorites, by the sea and by the bank of the Jordan dwells the Canaanites.
30 Then Caleb calmed the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up boldly; we will take possession of the land, for we will surely overpower it.
31 But the men who had gone up with him said: We cannot go up against that people, for they are stronger than we are.
32. And they made an evil rumor among the Israelites about the land which they had explored, saying, The land which we have passed through to explore is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we have seen in the midst of it are made up of men of great height.
33. We also saw giants there, descendants of Enak, descended from the giants. We were like locusts in our own eyes, and so were we in their eyes.
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This was a huge Biblical turning point. The Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land, it was the time of their REDEMPTION for which they had waited centuries. Having destroyed the most powerful army in the world (Egypt), God had formed a mighty fighting army out of the 12 tribes. But the 10 spies advised them not to enter the land of Canaan because…. they were terrified of the nephilim! The walls of the cities and giants like the sons of Enak made them not believe that God could bring them into the land.
And the people responded:
Numbers 14:
2 All the Israelites murmured against Moses and against Aaron. All the community said to them, If only we had died in the land of Egypt or in this desert! If only we had died!
Had the 10 spies exaggerated or lied?
No! Look what the Bible says about these nephilim, the sons of Enak:
Deuteronomy 2:
10 (The Emites used to live in them, a great and numerous people, as long as the Enakites.
11. They were also counted among the Refaites, as well as the Enakites, but the Moabites called them Emites.
Deuteronomy 2:
20. (This too was counted among the land of the Refaaites. The Refaites used to live there, but the Ammonites called them Zamzummites,
21. a great and numerous people, as long as the Enakites. However, the LORD wiped them out from before their eyes.
Deuteronomy 9:
1 Listen, Israel! You are going to cross the Jordan today to enter the land and take possession of nations greater and mightier than you, with great and sky-high fortified cities;
2. a great and long people, the Enakites, whom you yourself know and about whom you yourself have heard, Who can stand against the Enakites?
(3. Therefore you must know today that it is the LORD your God who is crossing out of the Jordan for you, a consuming fire. He will sweep them away, and He will subdue them to you. You shall drive them out of their possessions and soon put them to death, as the LORD has spoken to you.)
The Enakites were the giants to which the nephilim giants were measured. They were the worst kind. They built Kirjath-Arba as a tribute to Arba, the grandfather of Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai (Joshua 14:15). Caleb later obtained Hebron.
Kirjath Arba was then called Hebron, the oldest city in the then known world.
Arba was the son of Heth (Hethites), the second son of Canaan. They belonged to the cursed line of Canaan (nephilim).
Canaan’s descendants owned one of the central locations in the promised land.In the Bible, the area south of Jerusalem, between Jerusalem and Hebron, is called the valley of the Rephaites (=nephilim) Joshua 15:8).
Joshua 15:
8 The border then runs up through the valley of Ben-Hinnom, to the south side of the ridge of the Jebusite (which is Jerusalem). Further, the border runs up to the top of the mountain, west across from the Valley of Hinnom, which is north at the end of the Valley of the Refaites.
The 3 brothers Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai instilled such fear in the Israelites that they forgot about God, who did amazing miracles in the past years such as defeating the mightiest army on earth and splitting the Red Sea apart, that they no longer believed and trusted God and even wanted to return to the bondage of Egypt. There was no faith!
God was so annoyed by this that he wanted to destroy Israel and start a new people through Moses. But Moses pleaded for the people and God renounced them. But He punished the people for their rebellion that no one older than 20 would see the promised land (except Joshua and Caleb). Further, He condemned them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until the last of the then 20-year-olds would have died.
Numbers 14:
22 For all the men who have seen My glory and My signs, which I did in Egypt and in the desert, and who have tested Me ten times now and have not listened to My voice,
23. they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers! Yes, none of them who have rejected Me will see it!
Satan won this battle: the nephilim remained in the promised land and Israel was not allowed to enter.
Today it is still true that God does not reward disobedience. The Hebrews letter quotes this:
Hebrews 3:
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit saith, Today, if ye hear His voice,
8. harden not your hearts, as in the case of the bitterness (this refers to the rebellion at the time of the 12 spies), in the day of temptation in the wilderness.
9. There your fathers tempted Me; they tested Me and saw My works for forty years.
10. Therefore I have become wrathful with that generation and have spoken: Always they err with their hearts, and they have not known My ways.
11. Therefore I have sworn in My wrath: My rest they shall not enter!
Hebrews 3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, Today, if ye hear His voice,
12. See to it, brethren, that there shall never be in any of you a corrupt heart, full of unbelief, so as to be apostate from the living God;
13. but exhort one another every day, as long as one can speak of a present, that none of you may be hardened by the temptation of sin.
17. Upon whom, then, was He wroth forty years? Was it not on those who had sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
18. And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who had disobeyed?
This passage from the Hebrews letter declares that salvation is only by grace and through faith.
Thus then, the 10 spies are a picture of every person who encounters the challenges of daily life: God offers eternal life (“the promised land”) to all people. God promises us that this is possible through His Son Jesus Christ.
If a person enters heaven (“the promised land”) or dies in the wilderness (of this world) depends on whether he/she believes God or follows what his/her eyes see in this world!
This lesson was written 1500 years later in the New Testament and still holds true for us today. Do you follow what your eyes see or do you believe God?
Fear of the nephilim caused generations of Israelites who could not enter the promised land.
They had to wait 40 years before the new generation matured and could fight the nephilim…..This is why the next time it is about………. “the war for the promised land”!
