Arcana Coelestia #583
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.
Jeremiah 46
1
The word of Yahweh which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.
2
Of Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.
3
Prepare the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle!
4
Harness the horses, and get up, you horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail.
5
Why have I seen it? they are dismayed and are turned backward; and their mighty ones are beaten down, and have fled apace, and don't look back: terror is on every side, says Yahweh.
6
Don't let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; in the north by the river Euphrates have they stumbled and fallen.
7
Who is this who rises up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?
8
Egypt rises up like the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers: and he says, I will rise up, I will cover the earth; I will destroy cities and its inhabitants.
9
Go up, you horses; and rage, you chariots; and let the mighty men go forth: Cush and Put, who handle the shield; and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow.
10
For that day is [a day] of the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour and be satiate, and shall drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
11
Go up into Gilead, and take balm, virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain do you use many medicines; there is no healing for you.
12
The nations have heard of your shame, and the earth is full of your cry; for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, they are fallen both of them together.
13
The word that Yahweh spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt.
14
Declare in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes: say, Stand forth, and prepare; for the sword has devoured around you.
15
Why are your strong ones swept away? they didn't stand, because Yahweh did drive them.
16
He made many to stumble, yes, they fell one on another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our birth, from the oppressing sword.
17
They cried there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he has let the appointed time pass by.
18
As I live, says the King, whose name is Yahweh of Armies, surely like Tabor among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.
19
You daughter who dwells in Egypt, furnish yourself to go into captivity; for Memphis shall become a desolation, and shall be burnt up, without inhabitant.
20
Egypt is a very beautiful heifer; [but] destruction out of the north is come, it is come.
21
Also her hired men in the midst of her are like calves of the stall; for they also are turned back, they are fled away together, they didn't stand: for the day of their calamity is come on them, the time of their visitation.
22
The sound of it shall go like the serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as wood cutters.
23
They shall cut down her forest, says Yahweh, though it can't be searched; because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable.
24
The daughter of Egypt shall be disappointed; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.
25
Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods, and her kings; even Pharaoh, and those who trust in him:
26
and I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants; and afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, says Yahweh.
27
But don't you be afraid, Jacob my servant, neither be dismayed, Israel: for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
28
Don't you be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says Yahweh; for I am with you: for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you; but I will not make a full end of you, but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.
