newprotest.org: THE NEPHILIM

THE NEPHILIM

October 10, 2004
by: jovial_cynic
You have your foundational passages of the scriptures, which is the important stuff. Stuff about salvation, and about righteous living and the such. These passages should really be straight forward, with little room for debate. These passages are at the heart of Christianity, and I'm comfortable with those passages.

Then you have your weird passages which just make you scratch your head. And since it doesn't make much sense, and since folks have to try to make sense of things, we end up with different schools of thoughts on interpretation. Take the Genesis 6:1-4 passage, for instance:

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 the LORD 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.


That's taken from the NASB, which I find to be a very reliable translation. Other bibles translate "Nephilim" as "giants," which I suppose could mean large men, or whatever - there's the "mighty men who were of old," which would make them legendary (Hercules?). But what's going on here?

A buddy of mine and I have debated this passage, and he firmly believes that the "daughters of men" refer to the unholy line of Cain, and that the "sons of God" refer to the righteous line of Seth. I vehemently disagree, and believe that the "daughters of men" refer to human women, and that the "sons of God" refer to angels who fell. And he can't see it my way, and I can't see it his. That's so weird to me, since you'd think that scripture would be clear. But on things which are not important to salvation and the knowledge of the person of Jesus, it's not supposed to matter.

That bugs me. I'm not really satisfied not knowing, and even more unsatisfied that other folks can have the same information and come to a completely different result.

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