My book, Fallen: The Sons of God and the Nephilim, is now available from my online store and Amazon.
It has taken a little while, but my book Fallen: The Sons of God and the Nephilim has reached the top 10 in both of its categories on Amazon. As of my latest check, it was ranked #9 in Christian Angelology and Demonology and #6 in Old Testament Bible Study (Books). This is thanks in large part to two strong months of sales following several interviews I have done (details below).
Fallen addresses that strange and controversial passage in Genesis 6:1–4. Historically, there have been three major interpretations regarding the identity of the “sons of God” in this passage, and there are a few less common interpretations as well. My book offers a detailed analysis of this passage and the three major views while demonstrating how only one of these positions properly explains the text, makes sense of the context, fits the narrative of Scripture, and adequately addresses all objections. The best arguments for each view are examined and then analyzed in light of Scripture and history. All of the objections raised against each position are also given space and examined to see whether one of the views withstands scrutiny.
While the first 16 chapters of Fallen focus on the identity of the sons of God, much of the second half of the book studies the subject of the Nephilim (“giants” in many Bibles). Many people conflate these two groups, but a careful reading of the text shows that the Nephilim were on the earth because of what the sons of God did.
There is significant interest in this topic. I often have people approach me after a presentation on a different subject, and they want to ask me about this passage. Numerous books have been written on the topic as well, but a large percentage of them emphasize some of the sensationalism that is often associated with this topic. My goal was to write the most detailed Bible study on the topic that has been done to this point and avoid the sensationalism. After completing my ThM thesis on the subject in 2011, I spent eight more years studying and writing on the topic before Fallen was published. At just under 500 pages, I believe I have accomplished my goal of producing the most in-depth (yet largely easy to follow) book on the sons of God and the Nephilim available anywhere. One may disagree with my conclusions, but he or she will undoubtedly gain a deeper understanding of this passage while reading the book.
The Interviews
Since August 2023, I have taken part in several interviews with hosts who have sizeable followings. Please note that I do not come up with the names of the programs—they are often chosen for better rankings in web search results. Here are the links:
Fallen Angels and the Nephilim—Prophecy Watchers (w/ Mondo Gonzalez)
The Bloodline of Giants (ft. Tim Chaffey)—The Week in Bible Prophecy (w/ Gary Stearman)
The Sons of God and the Nephilim: Interview with Tim Chaffey—Remnant Radio (w/ Joshua Lewis and Michael Miller)
Origin of the Nephilim—3 Primary Views—Right Response Ministries – Part 1 (w/ Joel Webbon)
How Did the Nephilim Survive the Flood? with Dr. Tim Chaffey—Right Response Ministries – Part 2 (w/ Joel Webbon)
How Fallen Angels Biologically Engineered the Giants with Dr. Tim Chaffey—Right Response Ministries – Part 3 (w/ Joel Webbon)
Can Angels Procreate with Women? with Dr. Tim Chaffey—Right Response Ministries – Part 4 (w/ Joel Webbon)
I have a couple more interviews that will air in the next few weeks, so I will post those links here when they are available.
If you have watched/listened to any of these and found them helpful, leave a comment below and share your thoughts. Also, if you’ve read Fallen, please consider taking a couple minutes to leave a positive rating/review on Amazon.
Thanks for reading!
Dr. Chaffey
I am currently reading your book FALLEN and have a question regarding the word ‘elohim being translated as judges in Exodus 21:6 and 22:8-9. As I use the NKJV this is of importance to me.
Verse 22:9 in particular states”… the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whomever the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor”. If the word ‘elohim should be translated as God instead of judges in this passage (I think you make a very good case in your other examples that it should be so), how would God condemn the person so that the parties would know of his judgment? In other words, without some manifestation from Him, how would this be accomplished?
Thanks for your time and consideration.
Hi Steve,
Thanks for reading the book and for your excellent question. Let me give you a couple of potential solutions. If I am correct in stating that these instances should be translated as God rather than judges or gods, then I think we can see other instances in the Pentateuch where God would make his answer known. Remember, at that time, God’s presence dwelled in the tent of meeting, and Moses regularly sought God’s answer to issues. So, it could be something like that. Another possible way for God to make his verdict known would be similar to the case of the woman suspected of adultery by her husband. If the woman lied before God when making her vow, then God would cause her to endure some sort of penalty related to her womb (see the article I coauthored on this passage at https://answersingenesis.org/sanctity-of-life/numbers-5-and-abortion/).
There is another potential solution, and I don’t believe I mentioned it in my book. I’ve thought about adding it as an appendix if I make an updated version of the book. Dr. Michael Heiser discussed this on his podcast back in 2019. He contended that these passages about being brought before ‘elohim should be understood as being brought before the household ancestors. At first, this sounds very strange, but I think he makes an interesting case. While I still like the idea of them being brought before God, there appears to be a difficulty with that proposal in that Exodus 22:9 uses a plural verb in its final phrase. When used of God, ‘elohim generally has a singular verb (e.g., Gen. 1:1 – In the beginning, ‘elohim created (sg. verb)). But this passage has a plural verb, so is it truly referring to God or something else. I don’t think a good case can be made for judges, but perhaps the household ancestors view can make sense of the text. I need to look into this further. Here’s a link to the transcript where Dr. Heiser talked about it: https://nakedbiblepodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/NB-291-Transcript.pdf.
I hope this helps.
Tim