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I want to start by saying I mean no disrespect to Mr. Heron! I admire him that
he has written several books, something I would love to do. In respect to Mr.
Heron I have read his first book, “The Nephilim & the Pyramid of the
Apocalypse.”
This is in response to Mr. Heron’s article: “New Light on ‘The Fallen Ones’ of
Genesis 6 Part 1” in which Mr. Heron says: “To begin; the Nephilim are NOT the
giants who were the offspring of the fallen angels. ‘Nephilim’ is a Hebrew word
derived from ‘nephal’ meaning ‘to fall’. Thus ‘nephilim’ literally means ‘the
fallen ones’. The majority of Hebrew scholars will vouch for this. “
I had to laugh about the Hebrew scholars vouching for this. If you know anything about
Hebrew scholars it is that it seems they don’t agree on much of anything. They
have been arguing for centuries over the meaning of the first two verses of the
Bible, as well as even the first word, “Beresheet”.
In his book “In the Beginnings” by Steven E. Dill D.V.M. he says the following:
“Isn’t it amazing how many different translations of Genesis 1:1-2 there are?
[He showed 27 different translations of Genesis 1:1-2 all written & translated
by several different Hebrew scholars, each saying that his translation was the
correct one. So, who do we believe?]I don’t know what it says about mankind, but
we can’t even finish the first sentence of the first paragraph of the first
chapter of the first book of the Bible without creating a controversy.
There seems to be about as many translations as there are Hebrew scholars.
I suppose it’s only human nature for each Hebrew scholar to come out with the best
translation ever. I’ve also noticed that nearly all of these scholars are the
world’s foremost authority in ancient Hebrew, but very few totally agree with
how the others translate. They all tend to say things like, “Yes, it can be
translated the way Dr. So-and-So puts it, but…” At this point they show you how
wrong Dr. So-and-So is and how right they are by translating it the way they believe.” (Page 128).
Michael Heiser says that the word “Nephilim” comes from the Aramaic script &
that it simply means “giants”. So who are we to believe? Do we believe Patrick
Heron? Is Mr. Heron a Hebrew scholar? Michael Heiser on the other hand is. I
think that when a subject is controversial, (such as with the word Nephilim)
people should say something like this: “You know, this is just my opinion on the
subject, and there are many views on this particular subject, still, I strongly
believe it to be this way”.
I don’t think we should state something as fact, when it has not been proven to be a fact. Michael Heiser
shows you the morphology of the word Nephilim & why it can only be translated as “giants”.
When Mr. Steven Dill is talking about Hebrew scholars, I believe he is talking
about the ones who are raised Jewish, speaking Hebrew as their native tongue. Of
course, one has to take it by faith that Michael Heiser’s translation is
correct.
He pretty much says it is a fact. So, whose fact do you believe? On this issue,
I agree with Michael Heiser on the meaning of the word “Nephilim”, because I have read
just about everything he has written on the subject. So, does that make me right? No, it just means that I think
Michael Heiser’s interpretation can stand closer scrutiny of the meaning of this
word & Patrick Heron’s cannot.
On Mike’s web site he has a FAQ page with a
question that says: What is Mike's view of Genesis 6:1-4 and the Nephilim?
In the book “Gateway of the Gods” written by Craig Hines, Mr. Hines has an 8
page critique of Patrick Herons book “The Nephilim & the Pyramid of the
Apocalypse”.
Starting on page 340-348 he brings out some very interesting
points. Although Craig doesn’t say this, I think we should ask the question,
“
What was Mr. Heron’s motive in writing this book?” Was it to make money & get
book sales, or to exalt himself in everyone’s eyes as a top notch Bible scholar?
I don’t know, only Mr. Heron knows the answers to these questions. On the
subject of motives Mr. Dill again says in his book “In the Beginnings” on page 15:
“I want to share my opinion with you, but I also want to share my motive. You
see, while it is important to know WHAT someone believes, sometimes it’s more
important to know WHY he believes it. When you learn why someone believes
something, you often learn why he accepts or rejects new information. Few are
willing to let new evidence change their preconceived ideas. Why am I saying
this?
There are two reasons. First, because over the years I have learned that
when it comes to believing something, motive trumps facts almost every
time….People will believe and defend some of the most ridiculous ideas as long
as they are motivated to do so. I have named this phenomenon “Mental Inertia.”
Its definition is: An idea believed tends to stay believed, and an idea rejected
tends to stay rejected. Its corollary is: It takes less evidence to convince
someone they are right than to convince them they are wrong.
The clearest, plainest most-obvious fact can be ignored and rejected by the
slimmest of evidence if that fact threatens a cherished opinion. My hope is that
you will always check your motive when faced with any evidence in this book that
is contrary to what you believe. The second reason I mention this is because I
haven’t always believed what I now believe.”
I do think that if you are going to write a book, you need to have all your
facts straight. Or else clearly state that it is your opinion. Craig says that a
lot of the facts & figures in the book by Mr. Heron just don’t add up, & he
(Craig) backs it up & shows you why it doesn’t. Did Mr. Heron check out all of
his facts & figures before he let the book go to print? [The facts & figures are
in regard to the Great Pyramid & the squaring of the circle using the
measurements of the Great Pyramid to square the circle]. In one part of the book
(page 344) Mr. Heron says that:
“O Morning Star” is derived from the original Hebrew word “Lucifer”. The
problem is that “Lucifer” is a Latin word, not Hebrew! The correct Hebraic term
would have been Helel Ben Shakar (Shining One, Son of the Dawn).”
Craig goes on to say;
”I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt that this could just be a
typographical error & Heron meant to say that the word is Latin, but it should
still be addressed. Minor mistakes such as this are the kind that can easily
place one’s credibility into question.”
The reason I’m bringing this entire thing out, is because Mr. Heron is saying
that the word Nephilim means” the fallen ones” STATING IT AS IF IT IS A FACT!
It is not a fact (as I mentioned before) as there are a few different views on
what this word means. In his book “Genesis 6 Giants” by Steven Quayle he says
the following:
” In the Hebrew language of the Bible, the word translated here as “giant” or
“giants” is Nephiyl or Nephil, with the plural being Nephilim. The word Nephiyl
means literally a “feller”, an old English word that connotes a “bully” or
“tyrant” as well as a large being.” Page 124.
This is the same thing James Strong says in his Exhaustive Concordance. So you
can see there are different views as to the meaning of this word. It falls to us
to investigate them all & draw our own conclusions, & not to have someone tell
us this is what this word means & it is a fact backed by Hebrew scholars.
After reading Patrick Heron’s book “The Nephilim & the Pyramid of the
Apocalypse” I found it very interesting.
I don’t agree with him on the pre-tribulation rapture, but that is my prerogative.
When I read books, I don’t believe every single word the authors have to say as gospel truth.
I don’t believe everything Patrick Heron says in this article, but that doesn’t mean I
think he is wrong on everything else. I quit agree with him on a lot of it, it’s
just the part on the meaning of the word “Nephilim” that I don’t agree with. I
don’t think it should be preached as fact either. In Craig Hines critique of
Mr. Heron he (Craig) doesn’t agree with Mr. Heron’s view that the Heavenly City
is shaped like a pyramid. I tend to agree with Mr. Heron’s views on this & think
that Craig needs to research this subject more. To me, (and yes, it is just my
opinion) it just makes more sense that it would be shaped liked a pyramid & not
a cube. But that is a whole other argument for another time. I have read other well know Biblical
researchers who think it is shaped like a pyramid.
Mr. Hines mentions that anyone can view Patrick Heron’s book on Amazon or on Mr.
Heron’s web site and see for themselves the errors. Mr. Hines closes with this
statement on page 348:
“I believe that people have a right to know about these mistakes and I hope to
do my part in preventing any further misinformation from being accepted as the
truth.”
I’d like to end this with a quote from Mr. Dill’s book “In the Beginnings”:
“We all tend to think and believe what we were taught to think and believe, and
we all tend to defend our thoughts and beliefs. We all tend to get upset when
others challenge the things we believe. Nobody likes to have his opinions
disproved or ridiculed. This is especially true for those of us with academic
initials following our names. We don’t like to admit that our interpretations
could possibly be wrong. However, if we are Christians, then we should be more
than willing to let truth prove or disprove our opinions. If we are wrong, then
we should reject our false opinions and willingly accept the truth.” (page 131)
Amen, I wholeheartedly agree.
If anyone would like to contact me, my email is:exploringtruths737@gmail.com.
Thank you, & may you have a blessed day
Joseph Bruni.
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