I am not sure if anyone has talked about this, but I think I have discovered (at least to my knowledge) the "true identity" of the Nephilim famously mentioned in Genesis 6. The long-standing debate on Genesis 6:1-8 is whether the "Sons of God" are fallen angels who mated with women or if the "Sons of God" are the godly lineage of Seth mentioned in Genesis 5. Those who hold to a fallen angels interpretation generally hold that the Nephilim are these giant beings who are angel-human hybrids. Those who hold to the "godly lineage of Seth" view (defended famously by St Augustine) usually push back and say angels as spirit beings cannot have flesh relations with humans, and thus the godly lineage of Seth makes the most sense given that the world was described here as turning completely wicked and thus the flood (Deluge) was now necessary. (Note: Antediluvian means the world before the Deluge, before the Flood.)
But what about the Nephilim mentioned in Genesis 6:4? In my research, there are three possibilities popularly put forth: (a) the Nephilim are angel-human offspring, thus making them "giants" (Greek) or "fallen" beings (Hebrew), depending on how you understand the mysterious term; (b) the Nephilim are the wicked human offspring from the intermarriage between the righteous and the pagans; or (c) the Nephilim are some other race or being who were famous at that time, possibly just tyrannical kings or very tall giants like Goliath, or possibly fallen angels who manifested as the ancient Greek gods who were then enshrined into pagan mythology. This post will discuss why none of these options fit the evidence and thus I will reveal a "new" possible identity of the Nephilim, which I've not yet seen anyone mention.
I think the best place to begin our look into this is looking at the text of Genesis 6:1-8,
1 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.The first thing to note about Genesis 6 is that the original Bible did not have "chapters," it was just one long running text. This means that those reading Genesis 6 had also just finished reading Genesis 5. We mistakenly tend to not read before or after chapters, when this is often part of the context. When you consult Genesis 5, it is one long chapter about the righteous lineage of Seth, all the godly men Seth's lineage produced. With this exegetical detail in mind, we immediately see a natural link to the opening words of Ch6, where the "Sons of God" most easily fit the Righteous Lineage of Seth just talked about. If you're going to say the "Sons of God" are (fallen) angels, that's a random shift in the story line, which isn't impossible but is a random detail suddenly appearing in the text.
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
The book of Genesis is heavily focused on the "Seed" of Genesis 3:15 conquering the Serpent, and thus the repeated theme of Genesis is that of Satan trying to corrupt the lineage of the Seed and thus repeatedly attempt to disrupt the Incarnation (see HERE for more on how sexual sin was likely Adam & Eve's sin). Thus when the lineage of Seth begins to intermarry with pagans, because the women's beauty is so seductive, this leads to the corruption of not only morals, but into idolatry and even affects the Messianic hopes of ever coming true (recall that Onan wanted to spill his seed rather than keep the lineage going). This fits perfectly with why the shift from the saints in Genesis 5 to Genesis 6 was such a serious thing for God to deal with. If the "Sons of God" are fallen angels who intermarry with pagan women, then that doesn't flow with the theme of the Seed being corrupted. The saints of Genesis 5 would still be on the earth doing just fine if (fallen) angels were mating with pagan women, so it really doesn't make sense that God would want to flood the earth under that angels theory.
Furthermore, to think the Nephilim were angel-human hybrid creatures does not really explain why God would cut man's life down to 120 years (6:3), nor why the Deluge would be the "solution" (6:5-7), since an angel-human hybrid could assumingly not be killed (as easily), and likely would have even gone after Noah to physically stop him. The wording of 6:5-7 indicates God would wipe out humans, plants, and animals, but no mention of wiping out angels (who would be the true culprits), thus rendering the punishment of a Flood meaningless. Given that, it makes perfect sense for God to cut down Seth's lineage down to 120 years when Genesis 5 just got through telling us the long lifespans of: Seth (912 years); Enosh (905yrs); Jared (800yrs); Methusela (969yrs); Enoch (365yrs); Lamech (777yrs); Noah (500yrs). Meanwhile, the lifespans of Cain are not mentioned (Genesis 4). Thus, it makes perfect sense for God to cut down Seth's lineage from hundreds of years down to 120 years if Seth's lineage turned wicked. Otherwise, that 120 years limitation is just a random detail not connected to anything. This parallels strongly with God saying Adam would "die" as a punishment for sin; where in this case it was not only death but also greatly reduced lifespan.
Now we get to the next big detail, what verse 4 says: "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown." Why would the text randomly introduce some irrelevant detail and a race of people we've not heard of, when the established context is that of the world turning wicked through human intermarriage? It says the Nephilim were "mighty men, men of renown," which sounds like human men, not that of angel-human hybrids. The biggest detail to keep in mind though is that it does not say the Nephilim came about due to the sexual offspring of these wicked unions, but rather that the Nephilim seem to have already existed.
Most importantly, the text does not say the Nephilim were evil, but rather a more neutral term: "they were mighty men of ages past, famous men," and that they were "on earth in those days and afterwards." What this means is that if the Nephilim are not describe as wicked, then where did we get that idea? The main source of thinking the Nephilim were bad is not from the text itself, but rather assumptions we bring to the text. The "Book of Enoch" says the Nephilim were fallen angels, but the Book of Enoch was written over 1000 years after Genesis, so it isn't that reliable and the Church and Rabbis never endorsed that book. While the Rabbis say "Nephilim" has a related word meaning "to fall," that's still just speculating here. In fact, the Greek Old Testament (LXX) translates them as "giants," and that's exactly how Numbers 13:31-33 describes the Nephilim, as giants towering over regular men as if grasshoppers. This Numbers 13:31-33 context is worth noting because it is the only other time Nephilim appears in the Old Testament (to my knowledge), so there's not a lot to go with, but we can see the "giants" definition makes more sense than "fallen". Side note, the text of Numbers 13:31-33 is a falsehood being told by a spy, so he is not necessarily describing real events, but rather is making up stories to scare the people from going into the land. So even that passage is of limited value, and it does not suggest the Nephilim survived the flood, and furthermore would defeat the whole point of Genesis 6 if the Nephilim were evil and dodged the flood.
This leaves us to my startling realization: if the Nephilim are not described as evil, then quite possibly the Nephilim were actually good guys all along, and our preconceived ideas just poisoned us from thinking any different. If the Nephilim are good guys, then why would they be mentioned here so "randomly"? The only thing that makes sense to me is if the Nephilim are the famous Saints-Patriarchs of Genesis 5, they were "giants" at least figuratively, famously known for being holy, loyal to God, etc. Hence why the passage says "they were mighty men from ages past," since they lived hundreds of years, and "famous men," since they are listed by name in Genesis 5, and "on earth in those days and afterwards," since Noah and his sons survived the flood. Similarly, Methusela died the same year the Flood happened, so he was around for centuries watching the world get corrupted. It is possible Enoch was "taken away" into "heaven" precisely so he wouldn't have to experience the Flood. And on that note, the long lifespans of the others mentioned would have certainly fit being ancient men of old. To me, this makes perfect sense, and fits the exegetical evidence, and yet (for some reason) I've not seen anyone who has suggested this.
Lastly, the wording of 6:5-8 seems to have a strong parallel to 6:1-4, each paragraph begins with wickedness leading to God instituting a punishment, followed by a sudden "but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord". If my theory holds true, then this "Noah found grace before God" would be a perfect parallel to "the Nephilim were on the earth and afterwards, might men, famous men," since Noah would be a Nephilim himself. The Patarich-Saints of Genesis 5 were able to stand out the entire time the world was turning wicked, as if God was holding on as long as possible until only Noah and his family was still alive and then the Flood had to happen. In conclusion, we must think the Nephilim were the Patriarch Saints of Genesis 5, as the best most honest exegesis of the text. They likely were not "fallen," unless this means their offspring failed them by marrying pagans; or if they were "giants," it could be figurative for being very famous or very influential, or possibly they were tall and handsome themselves (though Scripture often says being tall and handsome is a worldly trait leading to pride).
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