The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
Genesis 6:4 (NIV)
The actions of the “sons of God” here are written in stark and glaring contrast to Genesis 4:1, where it says that Adam knew his wife Eve.
I believe the text is describing violence.
The sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.
Genesis 6:2 (NIV)
Translators do violence to the text.
This word we translated as “beautiful” here? FIFTEEN TIMES this Hebrew word is used before this, and EVERY SINGLE TIME, the word is “GOOD.”
“Good” is how God described the world he created in Genesis 1. It’s the same “good” of the Tree of good and evil knowledge.
The theological paths you can take here are absolutely tremendous.
The daughters of humanity were GOOD. What does this teach us about women? What does it say about God’s view of them? Who or what corrupts them by way of violence?
There is much water to draw from this well.
Another important link:
When Sarai is taken by Pharaoh in Genesis 12, she is described as beautiful (yawfeh), but when Esther is taken by Xerxes in Esther 2:7, she is described as both good (tov) and beautiful (yawfeh). And actually, the whole book of Esther links Haman with the concept of “falling,” which is the same root word as the Nephilim in Genesis 6. One might argue that Haman is Nephilim, and both the Pharaoh and King Xerxes are like “sons of God” who take women they please.
But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Genesis 6:8 (NIV)But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.
Genesis 6:18 (NIV)
Genesis 6 clearly states that the world was entirely wicked, full of violence, every thought and intent was evil… except for Noah.
But God also saves Noah’s entire family: his wife, his sons, and his sons’ wives, despite them falling into the “entirely wicked” category.
What does this tell us?
But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.
Genesis 6:18-20 (NIV)
If you’ve followed my posts about the different “kinds of animals” in Gen 1-3, and how we seem to have a picture of Israel (livestock), the Gentiles (the wild animals), and the Enemies of God (the ones that creep), you may see this as prophetic and extremely hopeful.
The way it is written, this covenant appears distinct from the one that occurs after Noah gets off the boat. This one seems… redemptive.
Adam himself is TECHNICALLY not “just a human,” being born of dirt and spirit.
ויולד בדמותו כצלמו, “he begot a son in his likeness in his image;” the emphasis on this is to show us that anything he begot during the previous 129 years were only creatures that did not reflect his likeness or image, i.e. disembodied spirits, mostly מזיקים, injurious, destructive spirits. (Compare 3,20)
Chizkuni on Genesis 5:3
BUT.
Other rabbis in the Midrash have said that being “in Adam’s likeness” meant that he was… born circumcised.
He was righteous (Gen. 6:9). This suggests that he was one of the seven men born circumcised. Adam and his son Seth were born circumcised, as it is written: He begot a son in his own likeness after his image, and he called him Seth (Gen. 5:3).
Midrash Tanchuma on Genesis 5:3
Which is, by the way, NOT ANY WEIRDER THAN ANGEL/HUMAN MONSTER BABIES.
So, always take commentary with a grain of salt. Even mine.
“When God’s people (who know better) prey on the ones they were called to serve, the ensuing fallout is so great that God Himself must intervene.”
This is a warning for us. This points to the End.
I say this because many of the “mythical” stories (Creation, the angels/human hybrids, the flood) all exist in other ancient cultures, and there’s no reason God could not have said “this is something you believe to be true, but I’m going to change it so you can know who I am.”
Paul did this same thing with shrine of the “unknown God” of the people of Athens in Acts 17.
God is perfectly capable of taking our myths and converting them into stories about Himself, and quite frankly, this is far more interesting to me than an “accurate” story that lacks a theological message.
There’s something special about taking our misbeliefs about the world, and having God show us that he is greater than the stories we believe.
“You believe monsters? Well God beat all those monsters!”
God uses our stories to reveal himself. That seems more personal… and more powerful.
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;
2 Peter 2:4 (NIV)Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones
Jude 1:14 (NIV)
The books of 2 Peter and Jude have passages that seems to quote from the Book of Enoch, which is not in our Bibles. While this book is not Scripture, the point is that Jude, Pete, and their contemporaries were familiar with the text.
The book of Enoch says angels had sex with human women. Giants were born in those days, and in the days afterwards.
When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.
Genesis 6:1-2 (NIV)
There are 2 schools of thought on the “sons of God” in Genesis 6. This phrase “benei ha-elohim” can either be:
1. Angels who impregnated women
2. Men of Seth’s “godly” lineage who mixed w/ Cain’s line.
In interpretation 1, the Nephilim are monsters and giants. In interpretation 2, they are evil humans.
Either way, whether you believe the “sons of God” refers to angels or men in Seth’s line, neither position requires you to believe that the events actually happened.
The goal is to try to understand what the text intends to teach us, and the lesson may be the same either way.
That said, I strongly believe that Genesis 6 is meant to tell us a story about angels who took human form and impregnated women. Not that I think it literally happened, but I think that’s what the story is saying. And this is primarily because “daughters of Adam” cannot just mean “daughters of Cain.”
Besides, Jude and Peter aren’t going to quote from the Book of Enoch if they don’t think their audience is familiar with the book of Enoch and understand what says. And what it says is that angels impregnated women and those women gave birth to monsters. Later, war. And then the flood.
When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.
Genesis 5:3 (NASB)
Genesis 5 says his image about Seth, and nobody else.
The Rabbis wondered about this and suggest that Adam and Eve may have had other offspring after Cain and Abel, before Seth. These offspring were… different. Not like Adam. Something monstrous.
This points to the Nephilim in Genesis 6.