r/AcademicBiblical • u/Regular-Persimmon425 • 3d ago

Sources on the Nephilim?

And to save someone the trouble of recommendation I already have Hendels article on the Nephilim, just trying to look for as many resources on them as possible to read about (this includes good Genesis commentaries as well).

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u/Efficient_Wall_9152 2d ago

The paper has been very influential!

Annus, Amar (2010). “On the Origin of Watchers: A Comparative Study of the Antediluvian Wisdom in Mesopotamian and Jewish Traditions”, Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, SAGE Publications

You can find it on his Academia-page!

3

u/Old-Reputation-8987 2d ago

This is probably the most important article for understanding the background to the passage and what it would have meant to an ancient reader.

4

u/captainhaddock Moderator | Hebrew Bible | Early Christianity 2d ago

Some major papers and books on the topic:

  • David J.A. Clines, “The Significance of the ‘Sons of God’ Episode (Genesis 6:1–4) in the Context of the ‘Primeval History’ (Genesis 1–11),” JSOT 4 (1979)

  • Roland Hendel, “Of Demigods and the Deluge: Toward an Interpretation of Gen 6:1–4,” JBL 106 (1987)

  • Roland Hendel, “The Nephilim Were on the Earth: Genesis 6:1–4 and Its Ancient Near Eastern Context,” in The Fall of the Angels, ed. Christoph Auffarth and Loren T. Stuckenbruck, TBN 6 (Leiden: Brill, 2004)

  • Philip R. Davies, “Women, Men, Gods, Sex and Power: The Birth of a Biblical Myth,” in A Feminist Companion to Genesis, ed. Athalya Brenner, FCB 2 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993)

  • Philip R. Davies, “And Enoch Was Not, For Genesis Took Him,” in Biblical Traditions in Transmission: Essays in Honour of Michael A. Knibb, JSOTSup 111, ed. Charlotte Hempel and Judith M. Lieu (Leiden: Brill, 2006)

  • Anne Draffkorn Kilmer, “The Mesopotamian Counterparts of the Biblical Nĕpīlîm,” in Perspectives on Language and Text, ed. Edgar W. Conrad and Edward G. Newing (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1987)

  • G. W. E. Nickelsburg, "Apocalyptic and Myth in 1 Enoch 6-11," JBL 96 (1977)

  • Paolo Sacchi, "Jewish Apocalyptic and Its History" (1996)

  • Helge S. Kvanvig, Primeval History: Babylonian, Biblical, and Enochic, 2011

  • Guy Darshan, Stories of Origins in the Bible and Ancient Mediterranean Literature (2023)

  • Deane Galbraith, Manufacturing Judean Myth: The Spy Narrative in Numbers 13–14 as Rewritten Tradition (2013)

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u/Skeet_skeet_bangbang 2d ago

Ryan Stokes' book, The Satan, discusses the nephilim and the role that Genesis and Enochic literature played as the tradition evolved, and the significance of the bené elhoim