Some people read books and are immediately persuaded by whatever case the book is making. Once I “ran into” a young lady on Facebook. She had read Keith Mathison's book on postmillennialism and was persuaded by it right away, which she announced upon joining a Facebook group named for the book. Then she started reading earlier reformers and quickly got to Turretin, who persuaded her of “historic postmillennialism” (a bit of a misnomer for what I call pre-enlightenment futurist premillennialism). Then she read books on exclusive Psalmody and became persuaded of that, regarding the use of “man-made hymns” in worship as a “very grave error.” Then she read books about why “federal vision” is heresy and was persuaded, but was also unwilling to discuss the matter and will not talk to anyone with an interest in honest engagement about it. At the rate she is going she'll soon be residing in an echo chamber containing only herself and her books. I suppose we may give her credit for enjoying reading.
But enough about her. I don't read books to be persuaded by them. Mostly, I read books when I am already persuaded of a particular view (often through discussion, interaction, and experience; as well as Bible reading and study) and wish to broaden my knowledge and understanding about the topic. Such it is with this book about giants in the Bible. At the center of this topic is the much-debated text of Genesis 6:1 – 4, and the nature of the nephilim. I have remained consistent over the years in my view that the nephilim were the result of angel-human interbreeding, ever since I first paid any actual attention to this text back in college. I maintained this view because it is what flows from a natural reading of the text. The opposing view, that “sons of God” refers to the Sethites, never gained much traction in my mind; primarily because it fails to account for the existence of the nephilim (in short, how do giants all of a sudden come from normal humans?). It only takes a little bit of cross-referencing in the Bible to find that the word nephilim refers to a race of giants. It also only takes a little bit of cross-referencing to know that angelic or supernatural beings (at some level) are meant by the phrase “sons of God.” If I were reading any other book it would be hard to conclude the author intended only a natural union of humans with their offspring, as the “Sethite view” supposes. Of course, now I have many more reasons to support the correct view, most of which are touched on at some point or other in this book. The Sethite view seems like a classic case of commentators failing to recognize the author's (Moses') literary intent in favor of striving to make everything found in scripture fit a preconceived systematic theology with (in this case) no room for things like giants, angels marrying, and super weird stuff.
On the whole I would review this book very positively, despite a few writing style idiosyncrasies and not-quite-logically-obvious charts. The author is a no-nonsense reformed baptist pastor with a high view of scriptural authority and reformed soteriology. The book is very extensively researched and heavily footnoted. Anyone looking for absurd or novel interpretations of scripture passages isn't going to find it here. The author has truly done a huge amount of homework and remained faithful to sound exegesis of God's Word.
The discussion about giants in the book resolves around the combination of 1) scripture exegesis, 2) other ancient texts and 3) additional external sources. Concerning #1, the author could be accused of “exegetical maximalism” but not, in my opinion, to an unreasonable extent. In general I find paying extra close attention to scripture text to be useful, if done with integrity and caution. Concerning #2, the author made it clear that the use of other ancient texts can shine a lot of light on how scripture was understood by its immediate recipients, and how common concepts carried over between various ancient cultures (albeit with significant differences). Concerning #3, much of the extraneous discussion, but not all, is found in the appendices and footnotes. A possible criticism of the use of these sources might be “why can't we just stick to scripture alone?” However the book handles these carefully enough, as it is always plenty clear what is drawn from scripture and what isn't, and the justification for bringing in other sources is always apparent. It is noted that people use other sources (especially commentaries) all the time to study scripture. In short, none of this bothers me because it's all very straightforward. The author makes all sources clear. He is also very honest about expressing doubt where conclusions (both from scripture, nd other sources) are questionable.
Some important particulars touched on by the book including the following: 1) The existence of the divine council and its implications was noted. It was a couple chapters in before this was mentioned; personally I believe this is foundational to a good understanding of Biblical cosmology from which related topics flow. 2) The idea that myths are not merely frivolous imaginings of our ancestors, but convey distorted versions of ancient truths, was acknowledged. This is very important especially given the remarkable number of common themes in myths of various cultures all across the world (especially flood traditions). 3) The author offered a good explanation for why not all ancient texts are totally useless or false. This is found in the first appendix. 4) The author was clear that people in ancient times were not stupid but discerned matters according to the best of their ability. A modern pretentious element has crept into a lot of Christian thinking nowadays where people have the idea that somehow we are more clever now thanks to the benefit of science (and perhaps, at some level, an evolutionary component). Although it is true that we have learned much they didn't know, the idea that the ancients' wisdom and worldview were without value is to be rejected. Furthermore, there is much we don't know today, and can never know, about what the ancients knew, and what they did with that knowledge.
The book is structured as follows. It starts with a lengthy introduction explaining and defending the “supernatural” view of Genesis 6, which is defended very thoroughly, simultaneously rejecting the Sethite view also very thoroughly. After the introduction, numbered chapters mostly follow scripture chronologically, going into some detail about the various episodes in the Bible where giants are found. However there are a few detours into other topics including exciting things like demons and chimeras. Also within some chapters are a few random side trips, thought experiments, photo albums of stone circles, and the like. After the last chapter one finds four helpful appendices. All in all it works pretty well. But I think if I were to approach this topic I would change a couple things. The material in the first two appendices is very important because it explains how extra-Biblical ancient texts (1 Enoch, for example) inform our understanding of scripture and relate to it. The skeptic may want to read this first before dismissing half the book as based on “extra-Biblical” evidence. Additionally, very strong support for the supernatural view of Genesis 6 is found in 2 Peter and Jude; this is not covered thoroughly until the second appendix. The other thing I would want to see would be a more extensive discussion of the divine council (see, for example, Ps. 82) right at the beginning of the book. Although I am not the expert, my sense is that (once again) many of these related cosmological topics flow from a clear understanding of the divine council, and not vice-versa. Modern Christian thinking is polluted with what Evan Wilson has called an “incipient dualism,” in which people think there are no other “god-like” beings other than God and Satan.* There are plenty of places in the Bible where other gods are found, and having actual power over their own domains, not just in people's imaginations. Of course, these are created beings, who are corrupt (Ps. 58:1) and subject to the ultimate authority of the one true God.
Although the author is probably not postmillennial (certainly not explicitly so), he starts to sound like it in a few places, particularly the chapter entitled “Victory.” There are certainly many themes that point this way throughout the book, which is inevitable given the nature of the topic and how scripture handles it. However, I have yet to see a book that really ties it all together: all the way from the divine council or governing princes, to the fallen angels, the nephilim, demons, and Christ's ultimate victory and displacement of these lesser gods upon his ascension. (This book emphasizes the giants, as per the title, and there's nothing wrong with that.) Postmillienialism has as much to do with Christ's triumph over these gods, who had a measure of actual power over the nations of the OT era, as it does with the fate of Christianity as it pertains to people on the earth. Even the New Testament is full of this language if you're paying attention to it (Acts 17:22 – 31, for example). And Satan now holds no more power over the world than the other gods everyone has forgotten about.
Finally, and somewhat tangentially, I'll mention one of the more interesting theories found in the book, which has to do with dinosaurs: namely, that they were not creatures God made “after their own kind” (as in Genesis 1) but that they may have been hybrids or genetic experiments bred by the nephilim (or perhaps even the corrupt creations of angelic beings? You know, like Morgoth [in the Tolkien legendarium] made orcs as a mockery of elves. Must fiction be stranger than the truth?). Thus, dinosaurs were not brought onto the ark, as it was God's will to destroy them, since they were not made after their own kind; rather, “all flesh had corrupted itself” (Gen 6:12). It's fairly obvious that most dinosaur skeletons were of creatures in traumatized (drowning) positions when they died. This seemed like an absurd idea at first but the more I have reflected on it, the less crazy it sounds. Also I should add that after a quick internet search, this view is much more widespread than I would have guessed. I didn't know about it until reading this book but now I think it is rather convincing. If this is true then perhaps paleontologists should stop giving new species names to every dinosaur fossil they find. Gorgonopsis must have been an earlier prototype, or something.
I give this book five out of five stars. Will it convince a skeptic? Perhaps not. But those already holding to the supernatural view of Genesis 6 will be equipped with a much deeper understanding of the topic. One is of course free to reject a few ideas here and there that may seem a bit far fetched. And if you are new to the topic and open-minded, this exposition of what you have not noticed in scripture may just blow your mind. Just don't be persuaded all at once!
*This comes from a very important essay on the topic, entitled “The Governing Princes,” found in The Forgotten Heavens: Six Essays on Cosmology, edited by Douglas Wilson, Canon Press, 2010.
