Chapter 32: The Nephilim Wars

Amorites strategically controlled all the essential mountain roads branching from the spine that ran down the center of the mountain range. This then positioned the Amorites, who lived west of the Jordan in Samaria (Ephraim), known today as Syria, and in northern Judah. The other descending sons/nations of Canaan, as well as the Hittites, were living in the northern and northwestern regions, towards the Mediterranean, while the Girgashites and the Perziites resided to the south and to the east, which was still part of the hill country. The Philistines occupied the area to the south and to the west, towards the Mediterranean, in what is known to today as Gaza. The Jebusites occupied central Judah and, more specifically, the region surrounding modern- day Jerusalem. Jebusites were, in fact, another sect of Canaanites, as were many of the peoples of the Covenant Land, 5 and just as the Phoenicians were also Canaanites.

Ancient Canaanite society was very much like ancient Greek civilization and was comprised of city- states, whose principal cities were Tyre, Simyra, Byblos, Jerusalem, Sidon, and Akko, among others. Canaanites’ favored deities were Baal and Astarte/Ashtar and Molech, the infamous cult of the bull. They worshipped a trinity of gods known as El the father, Astarte the mother, and Baal the son, also identified as Adon/Adonai/Adonis. When the Greek satirist Lucian enigmatically referred to Adonis, he was referring to Adon , meaning “Baal.” 6 Baal was known variantly as the Great Storm God of the Sea; he was rewarded with kingship for his great victory over the sea monster Tiamet by the supreme creator, El. 7

El was the mightiest of the three gods and was represented by the sun and its light. El was exceedingly fond of impregnating human females. This was the impious god of Middle Eastern theology, who appointed a god to each of the nations, analogous to Deuteronomy 32: Chemosh to Moab, Milkom to Ammon, Yahweh to Israel, as well- known examples. 8 El was a bloody tyrant in legend; he dethroned his father, Uranus; murdered his favorite son; and decapitated his daughter. El was a lustful and morbid character 9 and part of the celestial mafia of watchers.

Baal, son of El, was not immortal, 10 just as some of the Nephilim were not immortal. By the fourteenth century B.C.E. , Baal had superseded El as the deity of choice in Canaan, infiltrating and influencing Israel until the sixth century. 11 Two accompanying beliefs stand out: First, all the Canaanite kings considered themselves to be living gods, descending from the demigod offspring (Nephilim) of El and perhaps Baal, as witnessed to by the famous Phoenician King Hiram, who partnered with Solomon to build the temple in Jerusalem. Second, Phoenician tomb inscriptions describe a lineage of kings who represented themselves as the earthly representatives of gods (Nephilim). 12 These two beliefs offer strong evidence that Nephilim were the kings of all the Canaanite nations, while the Amorites were an intermeshed, Nephilim- hybrid nation.