583. 'The Nephilim' were called 'mighty' on account of their self-love. This too is clear from many passages in the Word where such people are called 'mighty', as in Jeremiah,

The mighty ones of Babel have ceased fighting; they are seated in their strongholds; their might is deserting them, they have become like women. Jeremiah 51:30.

Here also 'the mighty ones of Babel' stands for those who are eaten up with self-love. In the same prophet,

A sword against the liars, and they will go mad. A sword against her mighty ones, and they will be thrown into confusion. Jeremiah 50:36.

In the same prophet,

I have seen it. They have been thrown into confusion and are turning backward. Their mighty ones have been crushed and have surely fled, and they have not looked back - terror all around! The swift will not flee away, nor the mighty one escape. Mount your horses, and drive your chariots madly on; let the mighty ones go forth - Cush, Put, the Ludim. Jeremiah 46:5-6, 9.

This refers to persuasion resulting from reasonings. In the same prophet,

How do you say, We are mighty, and men of strength for war? Moab has been laid waste. Jeremiah 48:14-15.

In the same prophet,

The city has been taken and its strongholds, possession has been taken of it. The heart of the mighty ones of Moab on that day will be like the heart of a woman in labour. Jeremiah 48:41.

Chapter 49:22 similarly speaks of 'the heart of the mighty ones of Edom'. In the same prophet,

Jehovah has redeemed Jacob, and has reclaimed him from the hand of one mightier than himself. Jeremiah 31:11.

Here a different [Hebrew] expression is used for 'mighty'. The fact that the Anakim, who descended from the Nephilim, were spoken of as 'mighty ones' is clear in Moses,

You are crossing the Jordan today, going to dispossess nations greater and more numerous than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, Who will stand before the sons of Anak? Deuteronomy 9:1-2.

War in the Word represents the combat of temptation when good loves are assaulted by evil loves or false ideas. The evil that attacks comes from one of the many societies of hell, and it operates by arousing a selfish love in our mind that is contrary to what we know is right. Then our selfish love attacks the love that nourishes the wish to be a good person, and there is war in our minds. This is represented by wars that the children of Israel fought in and around the land of Canaan, of which there is a long history in the old testament. The selfish loves abound in our minds from our heredity, and the good loves come along with our conscience as it develops. If we had no conscience we couldn't be tempted; we would immediately follow the wishes of our selfishness and give in. But then the end result is that we are in slavery to the hells and will do whatever they want.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 1659 [3], 1664, 1683, 1788 [2])