When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose. Then the LORD said, “My spirit shall not abide in mortals forever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.
GENESIS 6:1-4 (5-8 must also be read for context, so...)
The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created—people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.
I've heard/read four views concerning the 'sons of God' in this most mysterious of Bible passages.
The sons of God:
1. Refers specifically to 'fallen' angels.
2. Represents the 'godly' descendants of Seth, one of Adam's sons.
3. Were kings or rulers who were described as 'gods'.
4. Were human beings possessed by demonic fallen angels.
Ever since my childhood, I've held to the first option being true. But in the past few years, I've reconsidered my position. I was possibly more influenced by Greek mythology than what the text truly said. The second option doesn't seem viable in my opinion, nor the other two, although I did consider them for a time. I'm going to propose a fifth option.
Taking into consideration the preceding chapters and the verses following Genesis 6:1-4:
5. a) We know Adam and Eve had many children (both sons and daughters) following the births of Cain, Abel (deceased) and later, Seth. Cain, after killing his brother, Abel, greatly feared God, while Seth followed in His ways. The two patriarchs would've passed their beliefs/attitudes/values onto their children eg. Enoch, Enosh). As numbers increased, some of Adam's children fell away from God (not just Cain's bloodline). It's very likely the different families moved away (Cain before all others) and that they later encountered each other in their travels/trade. During this time, the men of God fell for the ungodly women and married them (remember Sethites weren't all godly and all Cainites weren't evil). Therefore, the sons of God turned from God.
b) 'Nephilim' is an untranslated word meaning 'fallen ones'. This probably means nothing more than those people who followed their own hearts rather than God's. In one word: sinners - people who only did what was right in their own eyes. A pre-Flood example is the proud and violent Lamech (not Noah's father) who was the first to take two wives (Genesis 4:17-24 - Adah and Zilla), not one as God had commanded. Post-Flood examples abound: descendants of Shem, Ham and Japheth (Noah's sons) and their wives, made names for themselves through their tyrannical rules or ferocious military exploits and were recognised as great heroes. As we can see from history, many ancient cultures made religions of violence and war. Finally, possibly 'heroes' and 'warriors of renown' refer to early post-Flood descendants who lived considerably longer lives than their children and could be seen as 'great' for that reason alone.
Thoughts?
