The Origin of Demons: Spirits of the Nephilim?

Weird Stuff in the Bible

When I was in the book of Enoch a couple episodes ago, something caught my attention. I was reading something from the book of Enoch’s chapter 15. I didn’t read the entire chapter on that episode, but I did read through it as I was doing my research, and there was a very interesting passage there about the spirits of the Nephilim.

Enoch chapter 15 basically makes the claim that when a Nephilim dies, its spirit roams the earth, afflicts humans, and will do so until the world ends.

In other words, the spirits of the Nephilim are demons.

The Book of Enoch makes a distinction between fallen angels and demons, saying that the fallen angels are these beings who God originally created, but that the demons were essentially created when those fallen angels mated with human women, as told in Genesis 6.

That goes against what I’ve heard all my life in church, which is that demons and fallen angels are the exact same thing. That the 1/3 of the angels who rebelled against God are the demons we frequently read about in the New Testament. The Book of Enoch has a different perspective on these evil spirits.

But this is not a podcast about Weird Stuff in the Book of Enoch. This is a podcast about Weird Stuff in the Bible. I do not use the Book of Enoch to replace my biblical understanding, but I do wonder whether this idea about the origin of demons is congruent with what Scripture actually teaches.

Because as we’ll see, scripture doesn’t outright state that demons and fallen angels are the exact same thing.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore IF it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Isaiah 26, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:10 - Enoch 15

8:30 - Is this Biblical?

20:00 - Mailbag and Thanking Some Weirdos

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Hosted by Luke Taylor