“Rephaim” means, “fallen ones” and is a description of the hybrid offspring of demons and humans. We first encounter the Nephilim (mutants) prior to the Noahic flood, when the demons forcibly took the daughters of men and bore these abominations, Genesis 6:1-2,4. These demons are the angels who left their first estate, Jude 6, and were put in chains as a result of their attempt to corrupt not only the seed of humans, but of all biological life, Genesis 6:12.
The only way that humans can directly interact with angels is when an angel takes on a human form. Gabriel, the angel sent to speak with Daniel, was referred to as a man when he directly spoke with Daniel, Daniel 9:21. Unlike mythology, angels do not have wings. This comes from mixing up different types of spirit beings. The Cherubim, Ezekiel 10:19, and Seraphim, Isaiah 6:2, are the only spirit beings that possess what appears to be wings. The two angels that meet with Abraham before destroying the valley of Sodom are described as men, Genesis 18:16. The angels, including the demons, saw God make man from the ground, Genesis 2:7. Therefore, they would know how to make a human body from the elements of the universe. An example of this is seen with Satan, who has a limited ability to create certain types of life as seen with the Pharaoh’s magicians who stood against Moses, Exodus 7:9. This does not make them human; for they are still a spirit being who is wrapped in flesh. However, the physical body is of the same type of a human and can therefore reproduce with females, Genesis 6:2. This type of twisting of a nature is similar in kind to what “scientist” attempt to perform with gene splicing. It produces a perversion of the human, or animal, nature.
God had promised Satan that the seed of the woman would crush him. To prevent this from happening, Satan instructed some of the demons to attempt to corrupt all seed so God’s promise could not come true, Genesis 3:15. Even after the Noahic flood, these demons again attempted to pervert the human nature, which is when they ended up in chains awaiting judgment (Nephilim on the earth in those days and also after – Genesis 6:3). After the flood the Nephilim are known by different names, along with being referred to as Rephaim (fallen ones). The Moabites called them Emim, Deuteronomy 2:11. The Ammonites called them Samsummim, Deuteronomy 2:20. We find them in the time of Abraham when Chedorlaomer sacked Sodom and took Abraham’s nephew, Genesis 14:5-16. As part of the land promised to Abraham and his descendants, the land of the Rephaim was given, Genesis 15:18-21. They were in the promised land, when Israel first came out of the wilderness to take the land, and caused the Israelites to fear taking the land, resulting in them rejecting God’s protection and wandering in the wilderness for forty years, Numbers 13:33. Due to their fight with Moses, the kingdom of Og, one of the last remaining of the Rephaim until the time of King David, resided in Ashtaroth and Edrei, Joshua 13:12. The last of them was destroyed by King David, Deuteronomy 3:11, 13; Joshua 12:4, bringing an end to the Rephaim upon the earth. The Philistines had a couple of Rephaim in their midst, one of which David defeated with a stone – Goliath, 1 Chronicles 20:4.
Now they reside in Hades, Isaiah 14:9, and will not be resurrected, Isaiah 26:14, but cast directly into the lake of fire along with death and Hades because they are abominations of God’s creation, Revelation 20:14. They know of God and tremble because of Him, Job 26:5; however, they will not praise God, Psalm 88:10, for they are a corruption of His creation.
The way of the Rephaim is corruption and perversion of one’s nature. The seductress walks in this path, Proverbs 2:18, and it is the path unwise men are led down when following foolish women, Proverbs 9:18. Along with the seductress and foolish women, men who wander from the way of understanding rest with the Rephaim in Hades, Proverbs 21:16. Those who reject God and turn Him into the image of corrupt men (superheroes, false gods, etc.), turning to serve creation rather than the Creator go down the path of the Rephaim, while thinking they are wise, Romans 1:22-24. Just as the demons attempted to take what God had created and corrupt it, in a similar manner humans who walk down this path of destruction that reject the truth also seek to pervert their nature.