New Post on Who are 'the Sons of God'?
(Revision
Dates: August 26, 2014 ; April 2, 2020 )
Biblical Canonical Sources:
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture
has been taken from the NEW AMERICAN
STANDARD BIBLE, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by the
Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Other Scripture Taken from:
The Interlinear Bible:
Hebrew-Greek-English, © 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984, 2nd ed. 1986 by Jay P.
Green, Sr. (Lafayett , IN
The Literal Translation of the Holy
Bible, copyright © 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985 by P. Green, Sr. This
work was contained in the side column of Green’s work referenced above.
Noncanonical scriptures: Complete
Book of Enoch: “Scripture taken from The Source Bible.
Copyright © 2010 by Dr A. Nyland.”
The passage of Scripture that we are
discussing is Genesis 6:1-4. Here are the first three verses:
Now it came about, when men [lit., the man] began
to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the
sons of God [or the gods] saw that the daughters of men [lit., the
man] were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they
chose. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man [lit., the
man] forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one
hundred and twenty years.
People have interpreted the
sons of God [or the sons of the gods] to be various
groups—fallen angels, the descendants of Seth, and other less likely groups. I
now think that I somewhat misinterpreted these verses in my 2015 edition of my book
because in it I interpreted “the sons of God” to be fallen angels. I have made
a further study of these verses and shall here explain why I have changed my view.
I am sorry that it took this long for me to come to my present interpretation
of this phrase and to my present interpretation of the entire passage of
Genesis 6:1-8. My present interpretation must be the one correct interpretation
because it makes the best sense of each statement of the passage and brings
each part of the passage together in the most harmonious scenario. My present
view is that “the sons of God” are the idolatrous pre-Adamites. This means that
this phrase is best translated “the sons of the gods.” This change in regard to "the sons of God" fortunately has little effect on the rest of my book.
My Basic Thesis Concerning God's Two
Creations of the Human Race
Kurt P. Wise, associate professor of science at
Who Are the “Men” of Genesis 6:1-2?
Before we discuss my reasons for concluding
the identity of the sons of God [or the sons of the
gods], we shall look at the context of these verses to determine who the
“men” [lit., the man] are (Gen. 6:1-2). These verses begin:
Now it came about, when men [lit., the man] began to
multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them....”
To do this we shall consider this whole
section of Genesis in which it is found.
God Names Adam and His Descendants Thus
Creating a New Definition of the Word Man That Is Different from Its Meaning in
Genesis 1.
Genesis 5:1 tells us that God named Adam
and Eve Man [Heb., Adam] in the day they were
created. Here are the first five
verses of Genesis 5. I will make a few changes in the NASB
as indicated so that it becomes a more accurate translation according to my
opinion:
This is the book of the...[descendants]
of Adam. In the day when God created...[Adam], He made him in the likeness of
God. He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in
the day when they were created. When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty
years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. Then the days of Adam
after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he had other
sons and daughters. So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and
thirty years, and he died.
We should be aware that God's usual way
of naming the small portion of the whole was to name the smaller portion the
same name as the larger whole. For example, the heavens reaching up to the
stars was called heavens; so when God named the expanse of the
atmosphere, He called it heavens (Genesis 1:8). Likewise, God
called the land earth because it was a part of the whole earth
that included the seas (Gen. 1:10). I believe the term day that
God gave to the twelve hours of daylight also reflects a longer
creation day. So in Genesis 5:1, God calls Adam and Eve and their
descendants man (Heb., adam) because the name of
the pre-Adamites that He created as described in Genesis 1 was man,
the larger portion of mankind. By context, we can conclude that the term man in
chapter 6 of Genesis refers to the smaller group of mankind, that is, the
descendants of Adam and Eve. This group was named “man” by God according to
Genesis 5:1. God desires that the reader understands that Adam and Eve's
descendants did not become man after the intermarriages, rather they were
created men from the their beginning.
The author of Genesis usually tells us
the name He gives to the smaller part of the larger part as soon as the smaller
part is created. When God created Adam and Eve as recorded in Genesis 2, they
were not yet presented as a group of people, so it was too early to make a
statement about God's naming this group. But Genesis 5:1-2 was a perfect place
to do this. It was the first place that Adam and Eve and their descendants were
referred to as a group. You may not notice at first that they are seen here as
a group, but they are for two reasons. (1) The author has spoken in Genesis 5:1
of a book about the descendants of Adam. (2) He begins with “He made man
[lit., Adam]”; then he speaks of “male and female,” and then he
writes that “He blessed them.” Compare this with Genesis 1:28 fwhere it says: “And God blessed them; and God said to
them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it....” God's
statement of blessing in Genesis 1:28 included the multiplication of the race.
So in Genesis 5:2, His blessing includes their multiplication. So we read in
Genesis 5:2, “...He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were
created.” These descendants of Adam and Eve basically were created to be like
the pre-Adamites, so God assigned to them the same name—man (Gen. 1:26).
The Only Section of Genesis That Is
Called a Book
Genesis 5 and Genesis 6:1-8 comprise one
section of Genesis. Moses entitled it “This is the book of the generations of
Adam.” Since the author's intention for each genealogical division of Genesis
was not only to give a list of descendants, but also to tell a story, we must
see Genesis 5:1-6:8 as a story written for the purpose of giving us an account
of some important events. It sets the stage for the next genealogical section
of the narrative, which relates the story of Noah's flood. The flood of Noah
ended the generations (better tr. descendants) of Adam, with the
exception of Noah and his immediate family. Genesis 6:9 begins the generations
(better translated, descendants) of Noah. We
must conclude that Genesis 5:1-6:8 covers the complete story of the
descendants of Adam from the following considerations: Genesis 5 through
6:8 is the only section in Genesis that the author of Genesis called a “book.”
Should not this make us ask what is unique about this section among all the
sections of Genesis? Leupold makes the helpful comment which answers this
question: “‘Book’ (sepher) refers to any document, long or short, as
long as it is complete in itself.”3 At the end of this section
we are told that God decides to destroy all the descendants of Adam and Eve,
except for Noah's family; therefore, when we read this section we should
expect to discover at least some of the reasons God destroyed Adam’s line.
Also we now know why the author called this section a “book.” It follows the
history of Adam and Eve's descendants to their complete end, when God judges
all these people that descended from Adam and Eve, with the exception of Noah
and his family. We also know that one of the purposes of this section of
Genesis was to explain why God judged the descendants of Adam and Eve, saving
only Noah and his family. We will find that it was due to their marrying “the
sons of the gods,” whom the author called “sons of the gods” to reveal that God
was not pleased with these marriages. The offspring of these marriages
were evil and therefore propagated violence and other sins throughout the land
where the descendants of Adam and Eve lived.
Even though chapter 6 begins a new
chapter, we must be careful not to disconnect what we read at the beginning of
chapter 6 from what was being asserted in chapter 5, as would be the tendency
for us all. Let us carefully make some observations of Genesis 4 and 5: (1) It
describes the proliferation of the descendants of Adam and Eve. (2) It
specifically mentions sons and daughters. (3) It tells us in Genesis 5:1 that
God named Adam and Eve Man [Heb., Adam] in the day
they were created, thus singling out a new group of people distinct from the
pre-Adamites, carrying the same name. In my book, I show that Genesis 2:4 must
refer back to Genesis 1 rather than ahead to what follows in chapter 2. The
absence of the Hebrew conjunction waw here indicates this. Also, I prove
that it should be translated as I have written the altered NASB translation in
the following quote of Genesis 2:4:
[These are the descendants]...of the heavens and the earth when
they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven.
The Hebrew word
for “descendants” means that they came through births. Also, the Bible
indicates that they descended from the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1 records
a separate creation of man from the creation of Adam and Eve who were not
created by births; rather Adam was created later by God directly out of the
ground and Eve was formed from Adam’s rib; we, therefore, conclude that the “men”
[lit., the man] of Genesis 6:1 is a separate group from those
created as recorded in Genesis 1. The pre-Adamites are not included in this
group. The sixth chapter begins speaking of “the man.” This indicates that the
subject of Genesis 6:1-8 is also the same group that God called “man” in Genesis
5:1-2. We would expect this since this “book” concerns the descendants of Adam
and Eve. We also see that “the face of the land” was the area of the earth
where Adam and Eve's descendants lived. This understanding of the land under
discussion carries through until after Noah's flood. Now let us proceed to see
exactly what transpired that led to their fatal judgment. (4) We learn in
Genesis 4:26 that the descendants of Seth began to call on the name of Jehovah.
A study of the names of the descendants of Cain and the descendants of Seth
will reveal a great similarity, indicating that there was communication between
them. When the descendants of Adam began to marry the sons of God, this
was spiritually disastrous to them. Thus far we have determined that
“the men” of Genesis 6:1 are the descendants of Adam and Eve and that the face
of the land is the area of the earth where they dwelt.
The Sons of
God Are Not the Descendants of Adam's Son, Seth
Now let us
determine who the sons of God or the sons of the gods are.
The interpretation that sons of God mean the descendants of
Seth and the man designates the descendants of Cain is
untenable for a number of reasons:
1. Being
aware that the “men” of Genesis 6:1 are the “Man” of Genesis 5:1-2, who are the
descendants of Adam and Eve and that, in particular as noted in the genealogy
of Genesis 5, they include the sons of Seth, obviously the sons of God cannot
be this group.
2. According
to the context of Genesis 6:1-2, the group who occupied the “face of the land”
was composed of the descendants of Adam and Eve including Seth's line as given
in the genealogy of Genesis 5, but the sons of God (or the
gods) were the outsiders. It was the daughters of the "men" who
multiplied "on the face of the land" (Gen. 6:1).
3. If
we read further, we will find that there were two results that followed these
intermarriages: the life spans of the men decreased
drastically and the offspring of the marriages became great men of political
power. If these marriages were only the result of the combination of
Seth’s descendants and Cain’s descendants, neither of these results would have
occurred.
4. Cain's
descendants were also descendants of Adam and Eve, but the text of Genesis
6:1-3 implies that these sons of the gods or sons of
God that “took” the “daughters of men” were distinct from the
descendants of Adam and Eve. In itself, this argument would not be conclusive
because this verse does not absolutely require this deduction.
5. We
shall see that these marriages resulted at times in their offspring growing up
to be giants. The text tells us in Genesis 6:4 that there were Nephilim
on the earth in those days. The word “giants” here is from the Hebrew
word nephilim, which definitely means giants. According to Michael
S. Heiser, nephilim is not the passive participle of the
Hebrew word naphal as many believe, but comes from the Aramaic
word naphil which means giant. The plural would be naphilin in
Aramaic and naphilim in Hebrew. His discussion is at http://www.michaelsheiser.com/nephilim.pdf;
the title of his article is “The Meaning of the Word Nephilim: Fact
vs. Fancy.”
The New
Testament book of Jude hints that some of the angels in heaven disobeyed God
and married into the human race, but it does not actually require this
interpretation as appendix F of my book (2015 edition) shows. I have shown in
my book that the average life span of the pre-Adamites was 929 years, and that
they must have married into a race with about a 60-year life span. If this
intermarrying proceeded at a slow pace, it is most likely that the age of the
race would level out at about 120 years. This is what the Scripture's prophecy
stated would in time come about after the beginning of these mixed marriages.
Presumably from the context, it would be these mixed marriages that brought
about this decrease in lifespan of the group known as the man. One
can imagine why people's life spans would level out at this figure of 120
years, because those who lived longer than 60 years would have more time to
multiply and thus would tend to overrun and out populate those who only
possessed an approximate lifespan of 60 years. People assert that “the
sons of God” or “the sons of the gods” were the descendants of Seth or that
they are the worshipers of heathen gods who were descended from Adam and Eve
and then move on without ever accounting for the rapid decrease in life spans.
One must explain how the intermarrying of these two groups of people brought about
this rapid decrease in life spans. (Please see my book.)
Some interpretations conclude erroneously that the words “his days
shall be one hundred and twenty years” mean that God intends to send the flood
of Noah in 120 years to destroy them. But Genesis 6:5-8 is not a retelling
of Genesis 6:1-4. Its beginning with a waw, sometimes translated and
indicates that the narrative is moving forward in time to the events of Genesis
6:5-8. This is one of its syntactic functions. For example, no waw begins
Genesis 2:4, and we know that it refers back to Genesis 1. Genesis 2:5 begins
with a waw and moves the narrative forward. Also notice that
Genesis 6:4 does not begin with a waw, and it refers back to
Genesis 6:1-3. Consider Genesis 5:1 “This is the book of the generations of
Adam....” No waw begins this section because Moses here begins his
genealogy whom he introduced in chapter 4. (See also Genesis 24:45 where
the waw is not used. This is significant even though it is a
quote because the servant is relating a narrative in his quote.)
Now back to Genesis 6:5-8, the main
reason to conclude that this describes a separate decision of God from Genesis
6:1-4 is because the two prophetic statements are mutually exclusive. For these
people's average life spans to decrease from 929 years to 120 years cannot be
the same as their being blotted from off the face of the earth! Therefore, we
would better conclude that Genesis 6:1-4 is not speaking of God's flood
judgment, as many think. This is in accord with every time “his day” is used
elsewhere in the Old Testament. The words "his days shall be one hundred
and twenty years" (Gen. 6:3) apparently means the average life span for Adam's
descendants. The cause of this decrease in life spans is not stated, but
it can be inferred and must be inferred to provide an understanding of this
passage. The 120 years was a decrease rather than an increase in life spans
because it must be referring to Genesis 5 where their lengthy life spans
were given. The life spans of descendants of Adam and Eve began at about 929
years, but my calculations, explained in my book, show that Noah’s wife and
Shem’s wife each had a potential life span of 277 years. There is no reason to
believe, therefore, that this change in life spans was a supernatural act of
God. A prophet of God apparently predicted it, quoting the words of God. My
book gives mathematical evidence that indicates that the decrease in life
spans was due to the intermarrying among the descendants of Adam and Eve
and another race that had a lifespan of approximately 60 years. This means that
“the sons of God” cannot mean the descendants of Seth. If they were the
descendants of these men, there would have been no decrease in life spans from
929 years as a result of these marriages.
The “Sons of
God” Are Not the Descendants of Adam's Son, Cain
An
interpretation that sees the man to be the descendants of Seth
and the sons of the gods to be the descendants of
Cain is untenable for a number of reasons: (1) This interpretation would not
explain the change in the life spans of the descendants of Seth from 929 years
to present-day life spans. (2) As noted above, Cain's descendants were also
descendants of Adam and Eve, but the text of Genesis 6:1-3 implies that
these sons of the gods or sons of God that “took”
the “daughters of men” were distinct from the descendants of Adam and Eve. In
itself, this argument would not be conclusive because this verse does not
absolutely require this deduction. (3) Also why did these life spans
decrease just the amount that you would predict if they were the marriages of
the descendants of Adam and Eve with pre-Adamites. For example, why did the
life spans level off while the people dwelt at the tower of Babel, and why did
they decrease just the amount you would have expected them to do when these
people were scattered and began to marry into the pre-Adamic race. Also, what
caused the life span of Terah to be longer than his father’s? “[T]he sons of
God” in question must not have been the descendants of the Seth. These life
spans are all calculated and explained in my book.
A Note
Concerning the Non-Canonical Writings That Assert That the Sons of God Were
Fallen Angels
It is not wise to put very much credence
in ancient writings that assert that the sons of God were fallen angels. Many
interpreters believe that the sons of God or the sons of the gods were
the angels spoken of in Jude who sinned by leaving Heaven and cohabiting with
the daughters of men. Next we shall see that this interpretation is definitely
not acceptable.
Doesn't The Book of Enoch, The
Book of Jubilees and The Antiquities of the Jews inform
us that the fallen angels beget children with the daughters of man and that “the
sons of God” were these fallen angels? Yes it does. But these books cannot be
relied upon for true biblical exegesis nor can they be relied upon as the
source of true revelation from God. They are non-canonical. They were written
approximately a thousand to thirteen hundred years after the canonical Book of
Genesis. The most ancient of these books was probably The Book of Enoch,
which was written around the third century B.C. This book tells us that the
offspring from the union of angels and men produced angels 450 feet tall. But
the Book of the Revelation, which is in the Bible, makes this statement:
"And he measured its wall, seventy-two yards, according to human
measurements, which are also angelic measurements" (Rev. 21:17). The Greek
places the measuring unit in cubits; these were based upon the length of a
man's arm and hand lengths. Therefore, the basic size of an angel's arm and
hand must be similar to a man's size. One would not expect the offspring of
man's union with the angels to be 450 feet tall.
The Book of Enoch contradicts
the Holy Scriptures in a number of places. In 1 Enoch 69:8-11,
the author of The Book of Enoch accuses the angel Penemue of
corrupting the human race by teaching them how to write with ink and paper.
This way of thinking is foreign to the Bible. If we did not know how to write
and read what we had written, how could we benefit from the Word of God? The
Book of Enoch also says that the angels looked down and saw the
sinfulness of man before Noah's flood (Enoch 1:9). But the Bible
says that God saw the sinfulness of man (Gen. 6:5). Man's sinfulness is
ascribed to the fallen angel Azazel (1 Enoch 10:8). But the Bible
attributes our sinfulness to our fleshly nature (Gen. 6:3). Enoch prays for
fallen angels (1 Enoch 10:8). Such instruction to man is never
found in the Scriptures. Jude tells us that even the angels will not accuse
Satan, but according to the Book of Enoch, God told him to reprimand the
fallen angels. Why would we put much credence in such a book? Nevertheless,
Jude appears to quote the Book of Enoch, but he may have quoted directly from
another source concerning the preaching of the prophet Enoch.
The Book of Jubilees is also
non-canonical and it is quite obvious why. A very serious doctrinal error can
be found in its teaching—that God changed mankind's nature after the flood so
that he would not need to sin. The Bible teaches that the new nature is given
to those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Man was a sinner
before the flood and after the flood.
Josephus finished his work The
Antiquities of the Jews probably around 90 A. D. It is possible that
the idea that the angels were the sons of God and that they had relations with
human women found both in The Book of Jubilees and The
Antiquities of the Jews was taken from The Book of Enoch.
To conclude, we should not place a lot of confidence in the Book of Jubilees or
the Book of Enoch.
Should we translate בְנֵי־ הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙ as “the sons of God” or “the sons of the gods”?
The NASB translates
Genesis 6:4 as follows:
The Nephilim [giants] were in the earth [bet., land]in
those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into
the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, Those were the
mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
That the Scripture calls those who worship idols sons or
daughters of the gods is revealed in these verses:
Reasons Why the Sons of God Cannot be the Fallen Angels
There are some good reasons why we should eliminate the angels by the
process of elimination.
(1) Let us see what meanings the phrase “the sons of...” can have in the
Scriptures. Of course, if this phrase is taken literally, it means that this is
a son of someone. This literal meaning can also be extended to mean the
physical descendants of someone. In one case, Adam is called the son of God,
since God created him. This is in the New Testament, Luke 3:38: “the son of
Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.” In the Greek, words
for “the son of God” does not include the word for “son”; it is understood. But
we often find son used figuratively:
Ø
“sons of the
prophets” 2 Kings 2:7; 4:1, etc.
Ø
“sons of pride” Job
41:34
Ø
“sons of the Most
High” Psalms 82:6 Regarding this phrase, Barnes wrote,“That is, You [the
magistrates who were judging God's people] occupy a rank which makes it proper
that you should be regarded as His sons.” Barnes on the Old Testament:
Psalms II, p. 330.
Ø
“sons of the
mighty” Psalms 89:6 Barnes says that this is speaking of the mighty character
of the angels. Barnes' words are: “The angels—regarded as mighty.” Barnes on
the Old Testament: Psalms II, p. 330.
Ø
“sons of Zion
“But come here, you
sons of a sorceress,
“Offspring of an
adulterer and a prostitute.
“Against whom do
you jest?
“Against whom do
you open wide your mouth
“And stick out your
tongue?
“Are who not
children of rebellion,
“Offspring of
deceit....” (Isa. 57:3-4)
Ø
“sons of iniquity”
Hosea 10:9
Ø
“Blessed are the
peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9)
Ø
“But I say to you,
love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may
be “sons of your Father” who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the
evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matt.
5:44-45)
Ø
“sons of the
kingdom” Matthew 13:38
Jesus explained the
parable of the tares among wheat:
Ø
The one who sows
the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the
good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the
sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the
harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.” (Matt. 13:37-39)
Please observe the
word “sons” in this passage is used figuratively and means the people who are
of the character of either the kingdom of God
Ø
“sons of this age”
Luke 16:8; 20:34
Ø
“sons of Light”
Luke 16:34; John 12:36; 1 Thessalonians 5:5
Ø
“sons of the day” 1
Thessalonians 5:5
Ø
“sons of
disobedience” Ephesians 2:2; 5:6; Colossians 3:6
Ø
“Then you shall say
to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD, Israel
Here is a list of
occurrences of the phrase “the daughters of...”:
“Woe to you, O
Moab!
“You are ruined, O
people of Chemosh [an idol]!
“He [Chemosh] has
given his sons as fugitives,
“And his daughters
into captivity,
“To an Amorite
king, Sihon. (Num. 21:29; bold type mine)
Ø
Jeremiah 48:46 (almost
the same as Num. 21:29 .)
Ø
“daughters of Shiloh ” Judges 21:21
Ø
“daughters of the uncircumcised”
2 Sam. 1:12
Ø
See Deuteronomy
32:5, 6, 19
Ø
“Judah Israel Jerusalem Judah
Ø
“You are the sons
of the LORD your God; you shall
not cut yourselves nor shave your forehead for the sake of the dead.” (Deut.
14:1)
Here is a quote from John D. Davis,' A
Dictionary of the Bible:
Many a Babylonian styled himself the son of
the god whom he worshiped and upon whom he relied for protection and care.4
This source also says,
The earliest
attested interpretation, that of the Samaritan version, regarded the sons of
God as men; and later when the angelic theory arose, it was the opinion of a
particular school among the Jews, while the more influential party in religious
maters still taught that the sons of God were men.5
The above list of references shows that when
this phrase is used figuratively it indicates a participation of the person in
a likeness of his subject or an allegiance to his subject. The worshipers of
these foreign gods were called either the sons of their god or the daughters of
their god depending upon the person's gender. Good angels are called the
sons of God in the Scriptures, but probably the bad angels are never given
such a lofty title. Interpreters often turn to Job 1:6; 2:1; and 38:7 to show
that the meaning of “the sons of God” in Genesis 6:1-2 are the fallen angels.
But they do not look to see the context of these verses or to compare the
contexts of these verses with the context of Genesis 6. Let us look at Job 1:6
and 2:10 , which is the same. Satan is here called the adversary:
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present
themselves before the LORD, and Satan
[meaning in Heb., the adversary] also came among them.
These angels are presenting themselves before
God. It is a day when God's servants, the angels, who worship God, come for God
to hear the about their recent activities. Please notice two things about this
verse: (a) The word “also” in this verse indicates to us that Satan is not
referred to as a “son of God.” Here the Hebrew word “also” could mean “also” or
“even,” but it would probably best be translated “also” here because this is
its first meaning and it does not say that Satan was among them but that
he came among them. Satan most probably was not included in the term
“the sons of God.” (b) Satan in Hebrew means adversary. The Hebrew article is
used with it. It seems impossible that within the same setting the Bible would
refer to Satan as a son of God and also as “the adversary.”
Now let us look at Genesis 38:7, which says,
“When the morning
stars sang together,
“And all the sons
of God shouted for joy?”
These are all happy for God that His creation
was accomplished. Certainly there are no fallen angels among them. These angels
are in the very act of worshiping God and are called “the sons of God.” Compare
these occurrences with Job 4:18 where we have the words of Eliphaz also in the
same book of the Bible:
He [God] puts no
trust even in His servants;
And against His
angels He charges error.
Here Eliphaz does not use the expression “the sons of God,” but “angels.”
As we can observe, the author of Job had the option of calling these sons of
God angels.
So the first reason that the sons of God or
the sons of the gods cannot be the fallen angels is that this phrase has
its own meanings. It almost always is used figuratively in the Bible and it
indicates one who shares a characteristic with someone, one who has an
allegiance to someone, or a worshiper of God or of the gods. It would be very
out of place to translate it “sons of God” and then apply it to sinful fallen
angels.
(2) These sons of God or the sons
of the gods were not fallen angels because the interpretation does not fit
the general context of this passage. Angels have absolutely nothing to do with
the context. The context is dealing with issues and groups of people which are
all terrestrial. If these were angels, we would expect the text to mention that
they “came down,” or we would expect it to give some other indication that the
author is bringing new personalities from the realm of heaven into his
narrative. To restate the reason, the narrative is self-contained—it builds
upon itself. Unless we are informed of the entrance of new characters, we
should look for a group of people who already has been discussed in the
narrative itself to identify any group in question.
(3) We will see that some of these sons of
the gods were giants. The term “giants” has a strong connotation of being at
least part human.
The NASB translates Genesis 6:4 as follows: “The Nephilim [giants] were in
the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of the God [or the
gods] came into the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, Those
were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”
The word “giants”
here is from the Hebrew word nephilim, which definitely means giants.
According to Michael S. Heiser, nephilim is not the passive participle
of the Hebrew word naphal as many believe, but comes from the Aramaic
word naphil, which means giant. The plural would be naphilin
in Aramaic and naphilim in Hebrew. His discussion is at https://www.godawa.com/chronicles_of_the_nephilim/Articles_By_Others/Heiser-Nephilim.pdf; the title of his article is “The Meaning of the Word Nephilim:
Fact vs. Fancy.”
If you see how
these people were all mixed as part of the descendants of Adam and Eve on “the
face of the land,” you can see what is meant when God said, “I will blot out
[the] man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to
creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them”
(Gen. 6:7) This is exactly what He did. “[T]he man” was composed only of the
descendants of Adam and Eve and those who had married into their descendants
and their offspring. This was the geographical extent of the flood. This is why
the pre-Adamites could still be living on the earth after the flood.
As has been explained,
Genesis 6:1-3 tells us that the pre-Adamites (lit., the sons of the gods)
married into the daughters of the descendants of Adam and Eve (lit., the man).
I take it that the sons of the gods are idol worshipers and this is why
God was displeased that the fathers gave their daughters freely to these sons
of the gods. We can surmise that the descendants of Adam and Eve, with the
exception of Noah and his family, had apostatized also and did not object
to these marriages. From Genesis 5, we know that the race that the text calls the
man is composed of the descendants of Adam and Eve. We know that the sons
of the gods are pre-Adamites (1) because the article is used with “gods,”
(2) because they are not the giants since giants do not enter the story until
verse 4, (3) because they are not fallen angels since heavenly beings are
outside the context, and (5) because they are not fallen angels since God
compares the man with the sons of the gods when He says,
My Spirit shall not strive with [the]
man forever, because he also is flesh….
Fallen angels are sinful beings, but they are basically spirits,
not material, although they can appear as humans (Lk. 2:13 ; Heb. 1:7, 14; Ps. 104:4; and Dan. 9:21 ). It was the flesh of the sons of the gods that caused
them to worship idols. God notes that the descendants of Adam and Eve (lit., the
man) are also flesh. God’s logic was that the descendants of Adam and Eve
will eventually be drawn to idol worship; therefore, He will not stop them from
marrying into the pre-Adamic race. However, this intermarrying with the
pre-Adamites will lower the life spans of the descendants of Adam and Eve to an
average of 120 years. The lowering of the life spans of the descendants of Adam
and Eve would only happen if the mixing of the races occurred rather slowly
over a period of years. A few calculations of the decrease in life spans over a
few generations will show that there was plenty of time for this decrease to an
average of a 120-year life span to occur before Noah’s Flood. These
calculations are based upon the principle that the child’s life span will be
the average of his or hers parents two life spans. This principle proves to be
true when it is employed to analyze the life spans listed in Genesis 5 and 11.(Please
see my book.) After the Flood, God forced a fast intermarrying of the
descendants of Noah, bringing the life span of the mixed races to the life span
of the pre-Adamites (about 60 years).
Now to verse 4, when one reads this verse in Hebrew, he first
notes that the subject precedes the verb, not a common order in Hebrew. Ronald
J. Williams explains that this order of words may be employed for seven reasons
(as previously noted on an email). The best reason is for the author’s placing
the subject first was to indicate a new subject (and possibly also for
emphasis). The words “and also
afterwards” must mean the time after the giants had basically disappeared from
the land. This is seen well if we narrow on the meaning of the Hebrew word ken,
which BDB defines as the following:
so (i.e., usu., as has been
described or commanded, with ref. to what has preceded), mostly of manner, but
sts. [sometimes] also of quantity, quality, or degree. (485)
We can conclude that since the text says,
and also afterward [lit., after so or
such], when the sons of God (better, the sons of the gods) came
in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the
mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
it means that at the beginning of the mixing of the races, at
least some of the offspring were giants but as the mixing continued, the
offspring failed to produce giants; these offspring, however, continued to be
the leaders in the land. This can be concluded no matter whether Hebrew gam is
translated “also” or “even.”
The point is that the mixing of the pre-Adamites and the Adamites
produced such long-living, capable people that even if they were not giants,
they were still able to arise to the top of society. The pre-Adamites provided
the experience and the Adamites provided the intelligence and longevity. From
this we must conclude that the giants came as a result of a mixing of the
races. Also we know that the giants did not remain on the earth for a very long
period of time. These giants that lived on the earth for a short time and then
vanished from the earth must not be the ancestors of the postdiluvian giants
mentioned elsewhere in the Bible because the descendants of the antediluvian
giants would have been destroyed in Noah’s Flood (Gen. 6:11-13). Since an
offspring’s potential life span is the average of the potential life spans of
his or her parents, the ratio of the life spans between people of the two races
was also the ratio of the rest of their genomes. Possibly a certain ratio of DNA between the children’s
parents produced children that became giants. The Adamites in general
married into the pre-Adamites right when the Adamites began to multiple,
according to Genesis 6:1-2, but this was not the case with the patriarchs. The
genealogy of Genesis 5 indicates that the patriarchs held their high life spans
until Noah, who lived to be 950 years.
The lineage of the patriarchs from Adam through Lamech did not
marry the idol worshiping pre-Adamites. This can be seen from the life spans
that are given in the Genesis 5 genealogy. Except for Enoch, who was
translated, and except for Lamech, who must have died before he reached his
potential life span, their life spans were all about 929 years. Noah married a
woman who was a mixture of the races but her family must have converted to
Yahwism before this. As noted above, her potential life span can be calculated
to 277 years. Noah’s son, Shem, also married a woman with the same life span,
probably a woman from the same family that Noah’s wife came from. It would not
have been sinful to marry a pre-Adamite if they had converted to Yahwism, but
it was displeasing to God to marry an idol worshiper. Yahweh did not hold Noah
guilty for marrying a woman of the mixed race (Gen. 6:9).
At least some of the postdiluvian giants (see Deut. 2:11 ; 3:11 -13; Josh. 2:4; 13:12 ; 17:14 ; Num. 13:28 , and 33; 1 Chron. 20:4, 8; and 2 Sam. 21:15 -22) were descendants of Noah and his family. Mixing, however,
occurred after the Flood between the descendants of Noah and the pre-Adamites.
Possibly, in some cases, these unions resulted in their offspring being giants.
Shem lived to be 600 years and the residents of the City of Babel 21:16 , 18). This scenario is included here for the reader’s consideration.
If you see how these people were all
mixed as part of the descendants of Adam and Eve on “the face of the land,” you
can see what is meant when God said, “I will blot out [the] man whom I have
created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and
to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them” (Gen. 6:7) This is
exactly what He did. “The man” was composed only of the descendants of Adam and
Eve and those who had married into their descendants and their offspring. This
might have been the geographical extent of the flood. This is why the
pre-Adamites could still be living on the earth after the flood. In my book I
show that the life spans dropped after the scattering at the Tower of Babel
A Recap of a Proper Understanding of
Genesis 6:1-8
The descendants of Adam and Eve were
living on the face of the land. They are termed “men.” The pre-Adamites, who
were idolaters, married the daughters of “men.” These were called “the sons of
the gods” by the author of Genesis. God was displeased with the descendants of
Adam and Eve for giving their daughters to these idol worshipers. God warned
the descendants of Adam and Eve that they were going to lose their longevity of
929 years until they only lived to be 120 years old. The text then indicates
that a nearly complete deterioration of the descendants of Adam and Eve took
place during the time when the life spans of the descendants of Adam and Eve
dropped to 120 years. The offspring of the fallen angels and humans led the
people into violence and gross sin, which grew worse; so God decided that
His only recourse was to send Noah's flood to destroy the whole population of
Adam's descendants, except Noah and his family.
The Race of Noah's Descendants
Was Finished
We know that Noah did not carry on the
race of the descendants of Noah because we have seen from the author's
reference to "the book of the generations of Noah" (Gen. 5:1) that the
pure Adamic race was over. And we believe this because Noah himself took a wife
that was a mixture of the Adamic race and the pre-Adamic race, and he and his
wife bore a son, Shem, who only lived 600 years. I show in my book how the life
spans of Noah's descendants declined generation by generation. They leveled off
at the time of their stay at Babel
I will type out Genesis 6:1-4 from the NASB with changes
and comments. I believe this gives us a true understanding of what the Spirit
is saying in this passage (the translation to be read is in bold letters):
Now it came
about, when men [lit., the man] [which refers
back to the descendants of Adam and Eve as named and defined in Genesis
5:1f] began to multiply on the face of the land, [the part of the
earth upon which the descendants of Adam and Eve dwelt] and daughters were
born to them, that the sons of…[the gods] saw that the daughters of men [lit., the man] were
beautiful; and they took wives [they settled down to raise
families] for themselves, whomever they chose. [the descendants of
Adam and Eve were happy to give their daughters in marriage to these idol
worshipers.] Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man [lit., the man]...[for a long
time.] [I have closed out this sentence here because the next clause is
not connected with a waw and
because it makes more sense to connect the next clause with the one following
it.] [(In their erring he is flesh.)] [Green translates this clause the way I
have it here. Since man is flesh, God concluded that he was going to sin and do
violent acts. I have put it in parenthesis since it interrupts the statement as
a parenthetical thought.] [N]evertheless [even though God is
permitting these marriages to occur, He will still let the final average life
span come to 120 years, which is twice the life span of he pure
pre-Adamites] his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
[Let me add
something to what has just been said;] [this is implied in the
Hebrew, otherwise this sentence would have begun with a waw.]…[giants] [Nephilim is a
transliteration; the Hebrew means giants] were on the earth in those
days, and also...[after such] [“afterward” in the Hebrew is two words:
“after such,” "such" being translated from the Hebrew word ken] when
the sons of...[the gods] [that is, the pre-Adamites.] came in to the
daughters of men, and they bore children to them,...[these] [meaning, these
offspring]...[became] the mighty men who were of old, men of renown [apparently
this means that after giants were no longer the outcome of the cohabiting of
the pre-Adamites with Adamite women, their offspring were, however, very
capable people and very much for taking to themselves power.]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
1Kurt P. Wise, Faith,
Form, and Time: What the Bible Teaches and Science Confirms About Creation and
the Age of the Universe (Nashville
2Ibid. 176.
3H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis, 2 vol. (Columbus:Wartburg Press, 1942), 1:230.
4Ronald J. Williams, Hebrew
Syntax: An Outline, 2nd ed. (Buffalo: University of Toronto
Press, 1976), 96-97._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _3H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis, 2 vol. (Columbus:Wartburg Press, 1942), 1:230.
1Kurt P. Wise, Faith,
Form, and Time: What the Bible Teaches and Science Confirms About Creation and
the Age of the Universe (Nashville
2Ibid. 176.
3H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis, 2 vol. (Columbus:Wartburg Press, 1942), 1:230.
3H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis, 2 vol. (Columbus:Wartburg Press, 1942), 1:230.
4Ronald J. Williams, Hebrew
Syntax: An Outline, 2nd ed. (Buffalo: University of Toronto
Press, 1976), 96-97.
Copyright © 2020 by Gary T. Mayer
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