Category Archives: Bible Stories

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October 27, 2025

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Bible Stories, Challenges & Difficulty, God's Word: The Bible, Sharing Our Faith, Wisdom & Guidance

NEPHILIM

When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 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. [Genesis 6:1-4 (ESV)]

Beach sunflowerThose four verses are some of the most confusing ones in Scripture. Who are the sons of God, the daughters of men, the Nephilim, and how did they come to be mighty men (or as some translations say giants)? The Nephilim appear to be a race of formidable beings associated with extraordinary physical stature and fearful reputation. Mentioned briefly twice in Scripture, we find them in Genesis, just before the flood, and again in Numbers (post flood). Nephilim comes from naphal, meaning to fall. One school of thought holds that the “sons of God” were fallen angels who mated with human women (the daughters of man) and produced a hybrid race of giants called Nephilim. The apocryphal book of Enoch claims these offspring were giants standing thee hundred cubits (450 feet) tall. They had such insatiable hunger that they ate humans as well as one another. Having taught humans medicinal magic, astrology, divination, and other sinful practices, it was their evil ways that caused the flood! Written around 300-100 BC, the book of Enoch never was accepted as part the Hebrew Scriptures and never has been in the Christian canon.

Let’s look at the context of these confusing verses. The previous chapters are about man’s fall into sin and the genealogy of Adam’s line rather than fallen angels and their giant offspring. Moreover, describing the Nephilim as “the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown” hardly seems an apt description of evil beings. When Genesis 6:5 says, “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,” there’s no mention of fallen angels or giant angel/men. Moreover, while they can take on human form, angels are spirit and Matthew 22:30 tells us they “neither marry nor are given in marriage.” Finally, Nephilim are mentioned again in Numbers. If this race of angel/humans existed post-flood, we must ask how they survived the great deluge. God vowed to “destroy every living thing” not on the ark with the flood and they weren’t on it!

Who were “the sons of God”? While angels are called the “sons of God” in the book of Job, Moses calls the men of Israel the “sons of the Lord your God” in Deuteronomy [14:1,32:8]. In Isaiah 43:6, God calls for the return of both His sons and daughters (meaning Israel). Indeed, Adam (meaning man) is the “son” of the one who formed him and gave him breath: God. On the other hand, woman is the “daughter” of man since she came from Adam!

While some posit that the “sons of God” descend from the godly line of Seth and the “daughters of men” come from the godless line of Cain, there really is no indication that Seth’s descendants were more godly or Cain’s more evil than anyone else. Nowhere else in Scripture are the terms “sons of God” or “daughters of man” used to indicate someone’s spiritual state. While there’s no evidence of them elsewhere, others believe the “sons of God” were early rulers who established royal dynasties. More likely, they were men of large stature and prowess who took women as their wives. Like their fathers, their sons (known as Nephilim) were people of considerable size who became “mighty men” because of their size and power. The Nephilim reappear in Numbers 13:33, when the scouts reported back to Moses. Seeing men of remarkable physical stature in the Promised Land, they called these descendants of Anak “Nephilim.” Elsewhere in Scripture, these descendants of Anak are called “a people great and tall.”

We don’t know the exact identity of the Nephilim and never will on this side of heaven. While I believe they were mortal men of extraordinary physical stature and military skill, you may disagree. Fortunately, our different interpretations do not impact our faith in Christ. Non-believers, however, love to take isolated verses like these as evidence that Scripture is filled with errors and ancient myths. The Bible, however, is inerrant which means it’s free from all falsehood, fraud, or deceit. But, that doesn’t mean the Bible is without difficulties and the Nephilim are just one of many. It’s our job to defend our faith. We can’t do that, however, without digging into those challenging verses and finding a rational and articulate defense of God’s voice as heard in Scripture.

“And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” [Numbers 13:33 (ESV)]

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October 23, 2025

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Attitudes & Behavior, Bible Stories, God's Plan, Sharing Our Faith, Today: Make it Count, Trusting God

COINCIDENCE

By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. [Luke 10:31 (NLT)]

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Was it just a coincidence that Pharaoh’s daughter was at water’s edge to hear the cry of Moses? Was it just a lucky break that, the night before Haman planned to have Mordecai impaled on a pole, King Xerxes couldn’t sleep and read about Mordecai saving his life? Was it by chance that Rebekah was the one who watered the camels of Abraham’s servant? Was it just a coincidence that Jesus was at the well when the unnamed woman came to fill her jug? No! They were God-ordained encounters. The God who keeps track of every sparrow is not about the leave anything up to chance! The apparent randomness of life is under sovereign rule and Scripture affirms divine governance over all events.

Recently, my husband and I were in aisle seats across from one another in the crowded airplane. It so happened that the man stuck in the middle seat next to me was married to the woman in the middle seat by my husband. When she started chatting with my husband, her husband warned me, “She’ll probably talk his ear off!” I reassured him, “It won’t bother my husband; he’s nearly deaf.” Laughing, he replied, “So is she!” That opened our conversation about the trials of living with a partner who has gone from being merely “hard of hearing” to profoundly deaf, even with hearing aids.

Commiserating with one another, we spoke of our shared challenges, concerns, and frustration with an unhearing partner. But then God intervened and we put ourselves in our partner’s spots. We seriously considered the distress, frustration, and sense of isolation they have daily. During this chance encounter, our hearts grew a little bigger as our empathy toward our spouses increased and we realized the need for more patience and understanding. As it turned out, on their side of the plane, my husband and his wife were having a conversation about the challenges of living with a partner who assumes they’ve heard everything that’s been said! Was it merely coincidence that those middle seats were the only ones open when that couple booked their tickets? I think not. We often experience God’s providence through what seem like accidental encounters.

New to her church, my daughter didn’t know the other team members when she responded to God’s call to go on a mission trip in July. Once there, she immediately hit it off with her roommate Cara, a woman close to her age. Twenty years ago, Cara’s husband was killed by a crazed gunman when their baby was only 11-days old. Oddly, about half of those on the mission team were widows or widowers. It was during that mission trip that my daughter received the heartbreaking news that she, too, had become a widow when her husband died unexpectedly back home.

Just because we didn’t know our son-in-law was going to die doesn’t mean God was taken by surprise. He knew exactly what kind of support our daughter would need and, with that mission team, God laid out a support network for her before she knew she needed one! From barely knowing anyone in her church, the trip gave my daughter the opportunity to become one with her church family. Having suffered traumatic loss herself, Cara was there to help her grasp the shocking news. When my daughter returned home, she had the support of a group of people who truly had “been there and done that.” During these last several months, her new church family have been advisors, encouragers, friends, and prayer warriors for her.

In Scripture, the only occurrence of the Greek word sugkuria (meaning coincidence, chance, or circumstance) is found in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. The traveler lies half-dead by the side of the road when a priest “by chance” comes along and sees him. The priest ignores the man and seemingly random events follow. A Levite happens along but passes by the traveler before a Samaritan coming along stops and helps him. In Jesus’ story, however, what seem to be coincidences turn out to be significant events. Although coming upon the injured man seems by chance, they were God-ordained and each person’s response was deliberate.

God’s orchestration of events—His sovereignty—doesn’t negate our moral responsibility. Their encounters with someone in need provided the priest, Levite, and Samaritan an opportunity to be a conduit of God’s mercy. Although the priest and Levite ignored the man’s cries, like the Samaritan, they freely chose how they would respond. Their sin was not diminished just because the Samaritan showed compassion and helped the dying man.

While all things happen for a reason, the reason is not necessarily a message from God. We shouldn’t get carried away trying to find divine meaning for every coincidence or chance encounter. Nevertheless, let us remember that life is filled with moments that appear accidental but carry eternal weight. How will we treat the unplanned encounters of life? Trusting that God’s hand is behind them, will we see these coincidences as a call to be the hands and feet of Jesus or, like the priest and Levite, will we go on our merry way?

Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous. [Albert Einstein]

We may throw the dice, but the Lord determines how they fall. … You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail. [Proverbs 16:33,19:21 (NLT)]

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. [Romans 8:28 (NLT)]

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October 16, 2025

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Attitudes & Behavior, Bible Stories, Knowing Him, Obedience, Temptation & Sin

FEAR THE LORD

Above all, fear the Lord and worship him faithfully with all your heart; consider the great things he has done for you. However, if you continue to do what is evil, both you and your king will be swept away. [1 Samuel 12:24-25 (CSB)]

green heronWhen the nation of Israel was established, God said He’d be their king. But the people wanted an earthy king like the nations surrounding them so Saul became king. Samuel told Israel that, as long as they and their king walked with God, all would go well for the nation. Reminding the people to remember all the wonderful things God did for them, Samuel cautioned Israel. If they persisted in rebellion and disobedience, there would be serious trouble: they and their king would be banished (a prophecy of their eventual exile).

When Samuel told the Israelites to “Fear the Lord,” he was giving them a warning about fearing the consequences of sin and God’s wrath. To make his message crystal clear, Samuel prayed for thunder and rain as a way of demonstrating God’s wrath. A rain storm would seem a blessing to people in an arid land but it was harvesting time. Rain during harvest damages the crops and causes them to rot. Not a boon but a disaster, this unseasonal storm was a clear sign of God’s displeasure at Israel’s desire for an earthly king. It demonstrated that the same God who brought blessings to them when He parted the Red Sea, made the walls of Jericho fall, rained hailstones on the Amorites, and scattered the Philistines with a thunderstorm, could rain trouble upon them as well. It showed that God’s people could be punished for disobedience as easily as they’d been blessed for obedience. The Israelites were given good reason to fear the Lord.

Unfortunately, Samuel’s warnings (and those of the many prophets who followed) were not heeded and, as prophesied, the kingdom was swept away less than 500 years later. One of God’s Biblical names is Elohay Mishpat, the God of Justice; the fall of Israel and Judah was His judgment against injustice, evil, disobedience, and sacrilege.

What does “fear the Lord” mean to us today? The Hebrew word for fear is yârêʼ and, when used in Scripture, it refers to an appropriate attitude of reverence and awe before the Holy One. Fully understanding that sin has consequences, rather than regarding God with terror and anxiety, fear of the Lord means our recognition that we are mere mortals before our Creator and Sustainer—we are nothing more than small children before their father or common criminals before their judge. Recognizing that we are recipients of His mercy, grace, and love, “fear of God” means regard for His might, trust in His limitless love, awe of His majesty and power, loving reverence for His being, submission to His commands, repentance for our sins, and an overwhelming mindfulness of His existence in our lives. Fear of the Lord involves our trust and love toward the powerful One who both protects and punishes us.

Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” and, as followers of Christ, we have no need to fear sharing the gospel, natural disaster, the strange or unfamiliar, tomorrow, enemies, persecution, judgment, or even death. Like the Israelites of old, however, we are to fear the Lord!

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. [Proverbs 9:10 (CSB)]

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in all his ways, to love him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul? [Deuteronomy 10:12 (CSB)]

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September 25, 2025

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Attitudes & Behavior, Bible Stories, Forgiveness, Obedience, Patience & Perseverance, Salvation: A New You

THE SAMARITANS

Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. [Luke 10:33 (NLT)]

deptford pinkThe hatred between Jews and Samaritans began in 930 BC when Solomon’s son Rehoboam was king and the united kingdom of Israel divided. Ten tribes rebelled and made Jeroboam king of the northern kingdom of Israel whose capital was Samaria. Only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin along with the Levitical priesthood remained in the southern kingdom of Judah. Fearing a change of alliance if people returned to Jerusalem to worship, Jeroboam set up his own worship centers in the north.

After Israel was conquered by Assyria in 772 BC, some of the northern kingdom’s Jews were taken into captivity but many of the poor and uneducated Jews remained. Assyria repopulated the land with Gentiles who brought their pagan gods and beliefs with them. Wanting to appease the god of the land after a series of lion attacks on the new settlers, Assyria’s king sent back an exiled priest to teach them about Israel’s Jehovah. As a result, Samaritan Judaism became an odd mix of paganism and Judaism. Only the five books of Moses were recognized as Scripture, many Jewish traditions were rejected, and idols were worshipped along with the God of Israel.

When the southern kingdom’s Jews began returning after their Babylonian exile, the Samaritans interfered with the rebuilding of Jerusalem and tried to undermine Judah’s relationship with their Persian rulers. Since the Samaritans were not welcome to worship in the Jerusalem Temple, they erected their own temple on Mt. Gerizim. Adding more fuel to the fire, they aligned themselves with the Seleucids during the Maccabean wars. Around 113 BC, Judah’s Jews destroyed the Samaritan temple and around 9 AD, some Samaritans snuck into Jerusalem on Passover and defiled the Temple with human remains.

Samaritans were a continual source of difficulty for the Jews of the south. Controlling the land between Galilee and Jerusalem, they regularly harassed pilgrims on their way to worship in Jerusalem. Because of the intermarriage between the Jews and Gentiles of Samaria, Samaritans were considered “half-breeds” by Jews. Considering them racially and theologically contaminated, Judeans had a proverb: “A piece of bread given by a Samaritan is more unclean than swine’s flesh.”

Bitter, intolerant, and hostile toward one another, the relationship between Samaritans and Judeans was like that between Protestants and Catholics during the troubles in Northern Ireland or Israelis and Palestinians today. This is the world in which we find Jesus telling the parable of the Good Samaritan with the unlikely hero being a Samaritan (the very people known to harass travelers).

We know this parable was in response to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” but let’s back up one chapter to see what preceded it. Jesus and the disciples were on their way to Jerusalem. Rather than taking the longer walk around Samaria, they were walking right through it. When Jesus sent messengers into a Samaritan village to make sleeping and eating arrangements, they were not welcomed. Although Jesus previously told the disciples to simply shake the dust from their feet if a town refused to welcome them, John and James suggested calling down fire from heaven to destroy the village. Luke says Jesus rebuked them but we don’t know what He said.

Part of their rebuke may be found in the story of the Good Samaritan. The parable could have been as much for His disciples (especially James and John) as it was for the legal expert who asked the identity of his neighbor. Jesus easily could have made his point with a Roman soldier as the story’s unlikely hero, but He didn’t. Although the Samaritans had been unneighborly in snubbing Him, Jesus deliberately chose a Samaritan to teach a lesson about neighbors! That parable told the disciples that, even when our neighbor is inhospitable and slights us, he still is our neighbor. Whether or not someone helps us, we are to help them and, when someone offends us, we’re not to take offense. We do unto others as we would like them to do to us and not as they’ve done to us!

Although there are about 800 Samaritans still living in Israel, the word “Samaritan” for most of us refers to someone who helps other people, especially strangers, when they have trouble. How ironic that the despised “pagan half-Jews of the Old Testament” (as one writer called them) took a place of honor in the New!

The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But the good Samaritan reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?” [Martin Luther King, Jr.]

Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. Do to others as you would like them to do to you. If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! [Luke 6:30-31 (NLT)]

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September 15, 2025

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Bible Stories, Faith & Hope, God's Promises, Patience & Perseverance

STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND

Then the Lord said to Moses, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have now allowed you to see it with your own eyes, but you will not enter the land.” So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, just as the Lord had said. [Deuteronomy 34:4-5 (NLT)]

Zion Nat'l Park

We all know the story of Moses. When his mother can keep him hidden no longer, she puts him in a waterproof basket and lays him in the reeds of the Nile. He’s found by Pharaoh’s daughter who, taking pity on the crying infant, adopts him. Moses’ sister appears and offers to find a wet nurse for the infant. Moses and his birth mother are reunited but, once he’s weaned (around two or three), the boy returns to Pharaoh’s daughter who raises him as her own. Unfortunately, with only eleven verses of Scripture about Moses’ childhood, there’s no way of knowing how much contact he had with his birth family after that or what he knew of his Hebrew heritage. Nevertheless, Moses must have been torn by the knowledge that he was living a privileged life in the palace of the man who was mercilessly oppressing his people. Did he ever feel he belonged in the palace? As a Hebrew boy being raised as an Egyptian prince, I suspect he never was fully accepted by those in Pharaoh’s court. Even though he was raised as a prince, was he too much of a Hebrew to be considered an Egyptian by the people around him?

When he was grown, Moses went out “to visit his own people” but we don’t know why. Was he visiting his birth family, supervising some labor, or merely curious? Scripture only tells us that when Moses saw an Egyptian abusing a Hebrew slave, the outraged man killed the Egyptian and hid the body. The next day, when Moses returned to his people, he happened upon two Hebrews fighting. When he tried to intervene, he was sarcastically rebuffed: “Who appointed you to be our prince and judge? Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?” Apparently, Moses was too much of an Egyptian to be considered a Hebrew by his own people!

To escape Pharaoh’s wrath over the homicide, Moses fled to Midian. The man who belonged to both the overlords and the slaves became a foreigner in a strange land. Reflecting this sense of not belonging, he even named his son Gershom, meaning “foreigner” or “stranger.”

While the years spent as a prince in Egypt and as a shepherd in Midian were the perfect preparation for the man who would deliver Israel, Moses didn’t know that. It’s easy to understand why he was so reluctant when God told him that he’d be the one to lead the Hebrews to freedom. What did Moses know of his people and God’s covenant with Israel? He hadn’t even circumcised his son!

Part of me finds the story of Moses incredibly sad. He spent a third of his life as an outsider in Pharaoh’s palace, a third as an exile in Midian, and a third as a nomad in the wilderness. A man who always lived as a stranger, he never really had a place to call home. Although Moses was the one who led his people to their home in Canaan, he never stepped into that Promised Land. After viewing it from a distance, he died and was buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in Moab.

Yet, isn’t this what the Apostle Paul was talking about when he gave his examples of faith in Hebrews 11? He wrote of faithful people like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who, like Moses, only viewed God’s Promised Land from a distance. True faith, however, allows us to see beyond what is right in front of us. We’re all strangers in a strange land because this world is not our home. The Promised Land is not a piece of soil; it is the Kingdom of God and a piece of eternity.

All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. … But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. [Hebrews 11:13,16 (NLT)]

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September 8, 2025

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Attitudes & Behavior, Bible Stories, Challenges & Difficulty, Family, Friends & Fellowship, God's Word: The Bible, Sorrow, Grief & Regrets

NO WORDS OF COMFORT

Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. [John 14:1-3 (NLT)]

water lilyThe next day would have been Sally’s wedding anniversary but, because it marked the six-month anniversary of her husband’s death, there would be no celebration. Instead of flowers, dinner, and romance, there would be tears. That morning, Sally called her step-mother, Sue, to share her dread of the following day. When telling us this, Sue admitted to being at a loss for words of consolation. A woman of faith and an ordained pastor, Sue’s difficulty in finding comforting words was because her step-daughter is Jewish. When Sue married Sally’s Jewish father, she respected her new family’s faith just as they respected hers. They knew her beliefs and what she did for a living and Sue gladly answers their questions. Nevertheless, she chooses her words carefully when speaking of the Lord and neither evangelizes nor condemns. Although her words that morning were as reassuring as they could be without speaking of Jesus, Sue knew they were nowhere near as comforting as they could have been.

In the Hebrew Bible, Sheol is mentioned as the place of the dead and the idea of a resurrection appears in Daniel and Isaiah. The Talmud contains references to heaven (Gan Eden), hell (Gehinnom), and the World to Come. Unfortunately, the who, when, what, how, and where details are missing and Judaism is ambiguous (and often contradictory) about what actually happens when one dies. Sue said she listened carefully during her son-in-law’s funeral and interment for words of comfort but heard none. After reading the Jewish funeral prayer El Maleh Rachamin and their Mourner’s Kaddish, I had to agree.

Had Sally been a believer, Sue might have told her daughter-in-law that she was not alone in distress and reminded her of the time Jesus walked on water and stilled the storm. We have a God who knows when we’re in trouble, is willing to walk on water to reach us, and will bring us peace in the middle of the tempest! Sue would have told Sally how much God loves her—so much so that He gave His one and only son so that all who believe would not perish but have eternal life. She would have comforted her with the story of Lazarus and Jesus’ words to Martha that He was the resurrection and the life and that anyone who believed in Him would live even after dying. Then again, maybe the widow would have found Revelation’s promise that He will wipe every tear and there will be no more tears, mourning, or death comforting. Sadly, those words are of little cheer to one who refuses to believe.

No words can take away the sorrow of a young woman suddenly losing her beloved husband, the father of her three small children, but there is much in our faith that can ease that pain. No Christian is left to face sorrow alone; we have a Savior, a Comforter, and the reassuring and powerful promises of Scripture. Thank you, Jesus.

Death to the Christian is the funeral of all his sorrows and evils and the resurrection of all his joys. [James H. Aughey]

I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. [John 14:27 (NLT)]

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