Mighty Men?

Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then YHWH said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Then YHWH saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. YHWH was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. (Gen 6:1-6)

There has long been a debate about this text. It talks about "the sons of God" and "the daughters of men." And it talks about "the Nephilim." What in the world are we talking about? There are three basic ideas about how this should be understood. One view argues that it refers to ancient rulers (sons of God) who claimed divine status and took "daughters of men." Weak. The two primary views are "fallen angels" or "the line of Seth" for "sons of God."

It's interesting because it seems as if your interpretation will depend on your preconceived ideas about demons and angels. It says "the sons of God" took wives." That "took" is generally a forceful word, not a "wooing." So, biblically, Hebraically, the language would say that "the sons of God" refers to angelic (or demonic) beings. EVERY time the phrase is used elsewhere, that's what it's referring to. In Job 1:6 and Job 2:1, the text refers to a gathering in God's presence that included Satan. Not the sons of Seth. In Job 38:7, God asks Job about Creation. He says that "all the sons of God shouted for joy." Clearly not sons of Seth. There are references to the children of Israel as God's "son" (singular) and the coming Messiah as His "Son" (singular), but all "sons of God" references elsewhere specifically indicate supernatural (angelic or demonic) beings. So linguistically this would be the case. The objection is that Jesus said there is no marriage in heaven, but this isn't a marriage in heaven. It's an earthly event ... and they're taken forcefully by fallen angels. And according to the text, these "marriages" resulted in "the Nephilim." What about a marriage between Seth's line and Cain's line would produce "Nephilim"? And why would marriage between Seth's and Cain's offspring precipitate the Flood? It's all very sketchy to me and doesn't seem to warrant the outcome.

Now if we're talking about fallen angels taking on human form and breeding with human women, what would that mean? First, clearly these "Nephilim" -- the "mighty men" (literally "the fallen") -- would be the offspring. And, consider ... God told the serpent in the Garden, "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel" (Gen 3:15). The serpent (Satan) knew his downfall would come from Eve ... from a human woman. If he could eliminate the line of women by "seeding" corruption, perhaps he could prevent that. (He orchestrated the murder of every child under 2 years old in Bethlehem to try the same thing (Matt 2:16-18).) The introduction of human and demonic seed on the planet would warrant the elimination of that ... corruption and the Flood would make perfect sense. Otherwise ... we just seem to have a quiet warning that good boys shouldn't marry bad girls ... because, I guess, they could end up destroying the world. I don't know ...

Mind you, nothing to get up in arms about. Just some musings.