The war for the Promised land (1)
After 40 years of wandering in the desert by Israel as punishment for their lack of faith in God, the people were ready to enter the promised land populated by giant nations (Nephilim or Refaists).
In doing so, they first had to pass the kings Og and Sihon, the giant gatekeepers of the promised land. Their kingdoms were on the east side of the Dead Sea and the Jordan River. Although Chedorlaomer had killed most of the Refaïm in Genesis 14, there were still plenty of imposing giants in the land.
The people first asked nicely if they could pass through the land of Sihon:
Numbers 21:
21Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, with the request:
22. Let me pass through your land. We shall not depart through fields or vineyards. We shall not drink the water from the wells. We shall go by the royal road, until we have passed through your territory.
23. However, Sihon did not allow Israel to pass through his territory, but Sihon gathered all his people and went out, meeting Israel, to the desert. Then he came to Jahza and engaged in battle with Israel.
Sihon attacked Israel in the desert. In Deuteronomy you can read what happened:
Deuteronomy 2:
31 And the LORD said to me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land to you. Now begin to take actual possession of his land.
32. And Sihon went out to battle, he and all his people, facing us, to Jahaz.
33. And the LORD our God gave him over to us, and we defeated him, his sons and all his people.
34. At that time we took all his cities and struck every city with a spell: men, women and little children. We left no one behind.
35. Only the cattle we looted for ourselves, and the spoils of the cities we took.36. From Aroër, which lies on the bank of the stream Arnon, and the city that lies in the valley of the stream, as far as Gilead, there was no city too high for us; the LORD our God gave it all to us.
In verse 24 it says that Sihon was the king of the Amorites. Amorites were Nephilim! See the next piece:
Amos 2:9 But I have swept away the Amorites before their eyes,
which were high as cedars
and strong as oaks.
I have swept away its fruit from above
and its roots from below.
10. But I led you out of the land of Egypt,
and made you go through the desert for forty years,
to take possession of the land of the Amorites.
King Sihon and his capital city of Hesbon had a great reputation for their power and strength (Numbers 21: 26-30). He was a mighty king, but God defeated him! He went out before Israel. Sihon was killed and so were his sons (the genetic line!).
You could say that here was already a fulfillment of Genesis 3:15 where Jesus Christ (the Angel of the Lord!) in His not yet carnal body defeats the Nephilim.
NOTE: God had already promised years earlier that He would fight for them in the wilderness:
Exodus 33:
1 Further the LORD spoke to Moses, Go, depart from here, you and the people whom you have led out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: To your descendants I will give it.
2. I will send an angel before you – I will drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Ferezites, Hevites and Jebusites –
3. to a land overflowing with milk and honey. But I Myself will not travel in your midst, because you are a stubborn people and I would otherwise destroy you along the way.
God’s purpose to wipe out the descendants of Canaan:
God focused His attention and judgment on the seven nations, also mentioned in Genesis 10, the descendants of Canaan. Kanäan became such a notorious figure in ancient times that the land was named after him. God did not perform a “genocide” but a military campaign against the descendants of Kanäan, the ancestor of the Nephilim of AFTER the Flood. These Nephilim included the last remnant of the Nephilim (demigods) from BEFORE the Flood.
The supernatural destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was another example. They were also descendants of Canaan (Genesis 10:19). These cities were a pool of rebellion against God.
The fate of the Amorites was CHAREM : the spell of extermination. Nothing remained of the people, this bloodline was totally destroyed. In the open field, Sihon was defeated by “the Angel of the Lord” and delivered to Moses and the Israelites.
After Sihon came OG….:
Og, King of Basan, was one of the most notorious kings of the Nephilim. His bed was gigantic:
Deuteronomy 3:
11 For only Og, King of Basan, was left of the rest of the Refaites. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabba of the Ammonites? Its length is nine cubits, and its width four cubits, measured to the elbow of a man.
Its bed was about 4.5 x 2 meters. It was put on display in a Museum in Rabba after his death. That’s how famous he was!
Og was one of the last original Rephaim since the tower of Babel was built. Not the last of the giants, but certainly of the Rephaim.
The Israelites took all 60(!) cities, a huge number for the time. They were fortified with walls, ramparts and gates made of large basalt blocks (which with their tons of weight wsl only the Nephilim could lift) as protection from the nomadic peoples who lived in the desert while the hills of Basan were on the border with the desert. The Nephilim were modern advanced builders, building large houses with huge (high) rooms.
Og immediately went to war. He left his invincible city and headed into the open field. That doesn’t seem very smart tactically, but God sent hornets that drove the entire population out of the city.
(Joshua 24:12 And I sent hornets before you, which drove them out from before your eyes, as before the two kings of the Amorites were driven out. This was not done by your sword, nor by your bow).
Deuteronomy 3:
2 Then the LORD said to me, Do not be afraid of him, for I have given him, all his people, and his land into your hand; you must do to him as you did to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who lived in Hesbon.
God also defeated King Og, the Rephaim in this way.
Deuteronomy 3:
3 And the LORD our God also gave Og king of Basan and all his people into our hand, so that we defeated him, until there was none of him left.
4. At that time we took all his cities: sixty cities, all the territory of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Basan. There was not a city that we did not take from them.
5. All those cities were fortified with high walls, gates and bolts. In addition, we took very many cities without walls.
6. We struck them with a spell, as we had done with Sihon, king of Hesbon. We struck every city with the ban: men, women, and little children.
7. However, all the cattle and the spoils of those cities we looted for ourselves.
In Deuteronomy 2:37, God tells them to leave the surrounding lands alone. God focused only on the bloodline of Canaan with their corrupt DNA.
(Deuteronomy 2:37 Only in the vicinity of the land of the Ammonites, all the area along the stream Jabbok, in the cities of the mountain country and in everything that the LORD our God had forbidden us, you did not come).
The people of Israel had achieved famous victories that became known throughout the world at that time. Psalm135:6-12 testifies to this. (Read!)
Jesus Christ, the Angel of the Lord, declares war on the Nephilim kings:
Exodus 23:
20 Behold, I send an Angel before you to watch over you in the way and to bring you to the place which I have prepared.
21. Be on your guard before His face and listen to His voice. Do not embitter Him, for He will not forgive your transgressions, because My Name is within Him.
22. But if you listen attentively to His voice and do all that I will speak, I will be the enemy of your enemies and the adversary of those who corner you.
23. For My Angel will go out before you and bring you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Feresites and the Canaanites and the Hevites and the Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.
So this Angel is Jesus Christ, for an ordinary Angel cannot forgive! The “Angel of the Lord” was the physical appearance of God on earth during the Old Testament. Jesus came to earth and thus fought for the Israelites.
The Nephilim survived the Flood as evidence of God’s omnipotence and mercy:
Defeating the Refaites shows the omnipotence of God on earth, not only to Israel, but also to the other nations. God is greater and more powerful than the greatest and most powerful kings.
This is evident in her story of Rahab in Jericho:
Joshua 2:
9 and said to those men, I know that the LORD has given you this land, and that the terror of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of this land have melted away in fear of you.
10 For we have heard that the LORD caused the waters of the Scheldt Sea to dry up before your eyes, when you went out of Egypt. And also what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, Sihon and Og, who were on the other side of the Jordan, whom you struck with a spell.
11. When we heard that, our hearts melted away with fear, and because of you there is no more courage in anyone, for the LORD your God is a God above in heaven and below in the earth.
Israel crosses the Jordan River: Canaan trembles with fear at their arrival
Moses, who was not allowed to enter the promised land because of disobedience, gives the people of Israel a message just before his death:
Deuteronomium 7:
1 Wanneer de HEERE, uw God, u gebracht heeft in het land waar u naartoe gaat om het in bezit te nemen, en Hij vele volken van voor uw ogen verdreven heeft, de Hethieten, de Girgasieten, de Amorieten, de Kanaänieten, de Ferezieten, de Hevieten en de Jebusieten, zeven volken, die groter en machtiger zijn dan u,
2. en wanneer de HEERE, uw God, hen aan u overgegeven heeft en u ze verslaat, dan moet u hen volledig met de ban slaan; u mag geen verbond met hen sluiten en hun niet genadig zijn.
3. U mag geen huwelijksbanden met hen aangaan: uw dochters mag u niet geven aan hun zonen, en hun dochters niet nemen voor uw zonen.
Deuteronomy 7:
1. When the LORD your God has brought you into the land where you are going to take possession of it, and he has driven out many nations from before you, the Hittites, the Girgasites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Feresites, the Hevites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you,
2. and when the LORD your God has given them over to you and you defeat them, then you must strike them completely with the spell; you must not make a covenant with them or be gracious to them.
3. You must not enter into marriage ties with them: you must not give your daughters to their sons, and take their daughters for your sons.
Again, God would defeat the Canaanites because they were bigger and more powerful than the Israelites. Therefore, they were not allowed to mingle with the descendants of the demigods, the Nephilim.
But many nations who did not know God submitted to the mighty Nephilim and worshiped the fallen angels. Moses warns the Israelites not to mingle with the other nations, for:
Deuteronomy 7:
4 For they would cause your sons to depart from behind Me, so that they would go and serve other gods, and the wrath of the LORD would ignite against you and He would soon wipe you out.
5. But this is how you must do with them: you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones in pieces, cut down their sacred poles, and burn their images with fire.
6. For you are a holy people before the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the nations on the face of the earth to be a people for Him who are His personal property.
Marriage would therefore be a genetic and spiritual danger! Therefore, all had to be eradicated.
Here again is the command:
Deuteronomy 7:
16. You shall consume all the nations that the LORD your God gives you. Let not thy eye spare them. And do not serve their gods, for that is a trap to you.
17. When you say in your heart, These nations are greater than I; how can I ever drive them out of their possession?
18. do not be afraid of them. Remember always what the LORD your God has done to Pharaoh and to all the Egyptians,
19. the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, the wonders, the strong hand and the outstretched arm with which the LORD your God has led you out. Thus will the LORD your God do to all the nations from whom you fear.
20. In doing so, the LORD your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hidden from you are also perished.
21. Do not shrink from them, for the LORD your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God.
22. The LORD your God will drive out these nations from before you, but gradually: you will not be able to destroy them immediately, or the animals of the field would become too numerous for you.
23. The LORD your God will hand them over to you; he will bring them into great confusion, until they are wiped out.
24. He will give you their kings in your hand, and you must make their name disappear from under heaven; no one will stand before you until you have wiped them out.
25. The images of their gods you must burn with fire. The silver and gold that is on them you must not covet or take for yourself, or you will be ensnared by them, for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.
26. You must not bring such an abomination into your house, or you will likewise become one on whom the ban rests; completely abhor it, yea, have a deep abhorrence of it, for it is something on which the ban rests.
God alone will wipe out the Nephilim.
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 heavenly 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 this day that it is the LORD your God Who is coming out of the Jordan for you, a consuming fire. He will sweep them away and He will subdue them to you. You will drive them out of their possessions and soon kill them, as the LORD has spoken to you.
Sky-high fortified cities, great and mighty people! They were the men of Name from Genesis 6. And God was going to personally deal with these fallen angels and destroy them.
