The Rephaim

Who were the people that the Bible refers to as the Rephaim? Where did they live? Where did they come from? Where did they go? Most students of Bible prophecy are very aware of who the Nephilim were. In Genesis chapter 6, it tells us that fallen angels came down to earth and had children with the daughters of men that came to be known as the Nephilim. One of the key characteristics of these Nephilim were their giant size.

In Genesis 6:1-4, we read the following....

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

One of the key phrases in the passage above is "and also after that".  Most serious students of Bible prophecy understand that there were giants on the earth before the flood, but many do not realize that the Scriptures also tell us that there were giants on the earth after the flood.

Satan and the fallen angels had tried to corrupt the DNA of mankind before the flood so that the Messiah could never appear.  That is why the flood had to come.  But apparently the fallen angels tried again after the flood. 

Satan filled "the promised land" up with these giants so that the people of Israel could not produce the Messiah there.  That is why these hybrid races had to be exterminated by the people of Israel when they conquered the land.

One of these races of giants was known as the Rephaim.
In Genesis 14:5 it tells us that the Rephaim were involved in wars in the promised land during the time of Abraham....

In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim

Not only that, but in Genesis 15: 18-21, God told Abraham that the land of the Rephaim was part of the land that God was giving to him and his descendants....

In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

In fact, in the book of Joshua it tells us that Og the king of Bashan was one of the Rephaim.  For example, Joshua 12:4 tells us this....

And the territory of Og king of Bashan, one of the last of the Rephaites, who reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei.

Joshua 13:12 also tells us that Og was "one of the last" of the Rephaites....

that is, the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who had reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei and had survived as one of the last of the Rephaites. Moses had defeated them and taken over their land.

Not only was Og one of the last survivors of the Rephaim, but he was also an incredibly large man.  The Scriptures tell us that his bed was 9 cubits (approximately 13 feet) long. 

Now what kind of man would need a 13 foot long bed?

A giant - that is who would need such a long bed.  

In fact, in Deuteronomy 3:11-13 we find that the land of Bashan was known as the land of the giants....

For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.  And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, and half mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites.  And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants.

Well, these wicked giants were defeated when Joshua and the people of Israel conquered the promised land.  We find a reference to this in the book of Joshua in Joshua 17:15....

"If you are so numerous," Joshua answered, "and if the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go up into the forest and clear land for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaites."

But even after the Rephaim were wiped out, their legacy remained.  In fact a whole valley was named after them.  It turned out that the "Valley of Rephaim" witnessed quite a number of battles according to the Scriptures.  We see one example of this in 2 Samuel 5:22....

And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.

We see another example of this during King David's day in 1 Chronicles 11:15....

Now three of the thirty captains went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam; and the host of the Philistines encamped in the valley of Rephaim.

There are also references to the Rephaim in ancient Ugaritic and Phoenician sources.  The truth is that giants once roamed this earth - before and after the flood.  These giants were not fully human.  There were the result of the mixture of human DNA with the DNA of fallen angels.  As inconceivable as that may seem to many, the reality is that not only did that happen in ancient times, but it is also starting to happen once again.

Are you ready for the return of the Nephilim?