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Genesis
6:1-4
The
Sons of God & Their Offspring
(Giants In The Land)
This study
although not critical to the foundations of Christian doctrine, and
certainly it does not play a major role in the salvation of man, is
one of controversy and also one of interest to teachers, and students
of the Word of God. I believe that if one approaches any subject in
the Bible, whether controversial or not, with an open mind and having
a heart to know the truth of the Word of God, it (the truth) can and
will be revealed. With that in mind, I present the following study
with hopes that it may answer some questions and solidify some
thoughts that may be confused or muddled by this subject. It has
mine. Also, it gives one the opportunity to;
1
Pet 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always
be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the
reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness
and respect, (NIV)
The
Scripture in question:
Gen
6:1-4 1 When men began to increase in number on the earth
and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw
that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married
any of them they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will
not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a
hundred and twenty years." 4 The Nephilim were on
the earth in those days-- and also afterward-- when the
sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them.
They were the heroes of old, men of renown. (NIV)
Let's ask
some questions from these verses to set the stage for this study.
Gen
6:1 When men began to increase in number on the earth and
daughters were born to them, (NIV)
1.
When did men begin to increase in number on the earth? See Chart
2.
When were daughters born to them?
Gen
6:2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were
beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. (NIV) See
Appendix
1.
Who were the "sons of God"?
2.
How could an angelic being cohabitate with and marry a human woman?
Gen
6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days--
and also afterward-- when the sons of God went to the
daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of
old, men of renown. (NIV) See Appendix
1.
Who were the Nephilim?
2.
What time period is "those days" speaking of?
3.
What time period is "and also afterward" speaking
of?
I will try
to answer these questions the best that I can with everything that is
available to me. Please note that in part, I (we) can be dogmatic
about certain things and in others, questions about scriptural
foundation or word meanings, leave uncertain thoughts. I do believe
that there is sufficient Scriptural references, along with the study
of word meanings, to substantiate that the "sons of God"
were fallen angelic beings that produced giant offspring.
An
important point to keep in mind; Gen chapter 6 covers a broad range
of time and is not limited to just the time of Noah.
To answer
the first question from Gen 6:1, one only needs to look at chapter 4.
See Chart
Gen
4:1 Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave
birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have
brought forth a man." (NIV)
It is easy
to see that men began to multiply sometime shortly after the fall of
Adam and Eve from the garden.
The second
question of the same verse can simply be answered by reading about
Cain in the same chapter. See Chart
Gen
4:17 Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave
birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after
his son Enoch. (NIV)
Where
could Cains wife have come from other than from his own father and
mother? So, Scripture supports the fact that "daughters"
began to be born at least shortly after Cain and/or Abel. (Obviously,
they continued to be born from Adam and Eve and their offspring and
their offspring, ect..) The daughters of men were certainly pure
Adamic stock and were chronologically produced offspring of Adam and
Eve and even possibly before Abel, their second son. Most certainly,
shortly thereafter. (to say that the daughters of men were not born
until the seemingly chronological time of chapter six, which the
latter part is in the middle of Noahs life, would be an error). If
that were true, where did Cain, Seth, Enoch, ect. get their wives?
(See Genesis chapts. 4,5).
The first
question from Gen 6:2 is answered from the following: See Appendix
The
Sons of God.
In each of
the following verses (KJV) the term "sons of God" is
used. In the Old Testament, it refers to Angelic beings. Only
in the New Testament does it refer to "man" and only
in reference to those who accept the salvation of God's Son.
Bracketed, [italicized] Scriptures are taken from the
Septuagint. (also see Appendix)
O.T.
Gen
6:1-3 1 When men began to increase in number on the earth and
daughters were born to them, 2 the [**]sons of God saw
that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of
them they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not
contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a
hundred and twenty years." (NIV)
**The
Alexandrian text of the Septuagint says ["angels of God"]
Gen
6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days-- and also
afterward-- when the sons of God [sons of God] went to the
daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of
old, men of renown. (NIV)
Job
1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present
themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. (KJV)
[And it came to pass on a day, that, behold, the angels of God
came...] See Appendix
Job
2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present
themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present
himself before the LORD. (KJV) [And it came to pass on a certain
day, that the angels of God came to stand before the Lord,...]
See Appendix
Job
38:7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of
God shouted for joy? (KJV) [When the stars were made, all my
angels praised me with a loud voice.] See Appendix
N.T.
John
1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (KJV)
Romans
8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the
sons of God. (KJV)
Romans
8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the
manifestation of the sons of God. (KJV)
Phil
2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God,
without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among
whom ye shine as lights in the world; (KJV)
1
John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the
world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (KJV)
1
John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet
appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we
shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (KJV)
Some
things to consider here are:
1.
The sons of God could not be;
A.
A reference to righteous men because from the time of Adam to Noah,
there were only three. Abel, Enoch and Noah. Abel was killed and
has no recorded offspring. Enoch was "taken by God"
leaving Methuselah (not a giant). And Noah was evidently alive at
that time but the question to answer is, were Shem, Ham and Japheth
the beginning of the giant races? If so, were they the "sons of
God"? That would not be possible because according to Genesis
6:1 the sons of God began to cohabitate with the daughters of men
after they (daughters) "began to be born".
(Addressed previously)
B.
Seth or his son Enos. The time of the unions between the sons of God
and the daughters of men are wrong for this theory. Also, the belief
that Seth and his offspring were "godly" is incorrect.
Gen
4:26 reads: Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that
time men began to call on the name of the Lord. (NIV)
The more
correct translation is: "then men began to call themselves by
the name of Jehovah" or "call upon their gods by the name
of Jehovah"
The line
of Seth, with the exception of Noah, was not godly and was destroyed
in the flood. If it had been such a "godly" line, would
not the multitudes of that line have been spared also? Noah was the
"only" righteous person alive at the time that God
commanded him to build the ark. Even Noah's sons and their wives
were not righteous but they were preserved because they were still
(and possibly, the only) pure Adamic stock left on earth. See Gen
6:12 "All flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth"
2.
Reading Genesis chapters 4,5 and 6:1-4 brings up some inaccurate
suppositions if any of the above ideas were true.
A.
The union of godly men and ungodly women create giants.
B.
The union of godly men and godly women create giants.
The fact
that these giants were created only from the union of the "sons
of God and the daughters of men", rules out any possibility that
ordinary men and women (whether righteous or unrighteous) could
produce these men of monstrous proportions. See below, the principle
of first mention and how that everything is produced after its own
kind. To change that law for this one instance is an error.
Josephus
said, "many angels of God accompanied with women, and begat
sons that proved unjust, and despisers of all that was good, on
account of their own strength,... these men did what resembled the
acts of those whom the Grecians called giants" (Ant. Book 1,
ch.3) Again he says, "There was till then left the race of
giants, who had bodies so large, and countenances that they were
surprising to the sight, and terrible to the hearing. The bones of
these men are still shown to this very day" (Ant. Book V, ch.
2)
The
Ante-Nicene fathers also refer to angels as falling "into
impure love of virgins, and were subjugated by the flesh.... Of these
lovers of virgins, therefore, were begotten those who are called
giants"
Justyn
Martyr said, "but the angels transgressed... were captivated
by love of women, and begat children"
Methodius
said, "The devil was insolent... as also those (angels) who
were enamored of fleshly charms, and had illicit intercourse with the
daughters of men"
The
question arises then, what would be the purpose of Satan attempting
to corrupt the human race with evil seed? The answer lies in the
following verse.
Gen
3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between
your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will
strike his heel.
It stands
to reason, that if Satan could completely corrupt the pure Adamic
stock of human kind, either before the flood or after, that he would
thwart Gods promise to him that his head would be crushed by the seed
of the woman.
So what
about the Scriptures in the four gospels like,
Matt
22:30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given
in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. (NIV) ?
Some
important points. First of all, when building doctrinal foundations,
it is crucial that we do not build upon one Scripture. (This and it's
parallel passages are the only references that make this
statement.) Doing that gives an unbalanced foundation that looks
much like a triangle sitting on one of it's points; it is very
unstable and apt to fall under pressure of any kind. There is more
Scripture to support the idea that angels could procreate than the
fact that they could not. Secondly, does "they will be like the
angels in heaven" mean that the angels are "sexless"?
There is nothing to substantiate this. Every reference to angels
gender is that of a male. So, could not this Scripture just point to
the fact that there are no angelic marriages in heaven due to the
fact that they are all male?
Next,
there are documented cases of "something" (unexplainable by
those attacked) having sexual relations, both heterosexual and
homosexual, with men and women. Also, there are many, many accounts
of "extra-terrestrials", "fairies" and "demons"
having sexual encounters with men, women and children throughout the
ages. In my mind, these could only be the demons of Scripture.
To answer
the second question of Gen 6:2, we must first look at a very
important aspect of studying the Word of God.
The
principle of first mention:
Usually,
if not always, when a subject idea is first introduced in the Bible,
the pattern continues throughout. The following scriptures introduce
to us the principle of "according to their kinds".
Gen
1:11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation:
seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed
in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so.
(NIV)
Gen
1:12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according
to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according
to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. (NIV)
Gen
1:21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every
living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to
their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.
And God saw that it was good. (NIV)
Gen
1:24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures
according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along
the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind."
And it was so. (NIV)
The
pattern here is that every thing created and living is after it's
own kind. Therefore, we need to consider the following verses
and apply them to that thought.
Gen
2:21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep;
and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and
closed up the place with flesh. (NIV)
Gen
2:22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken
out of the man, and he brought her to the man. (NIV)
Gen
2:23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and
flesh of my flesh; she shall be called `woman,' for she was
taken out of man." (NIV)
Gen
4:1 Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave
birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have
brought forth a man." (NIV)
This
principle was even carried into the ark.
Gen
6:20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after
their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his
kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
(KJV)
The first
question of Gen 6:4 is answered in the following section.
Giants
There is
much Biblical evidence to support giant races upon the earth.
The Hebrew
word Nephilim from nephil means giant, bully or tyrant.
Gen
6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days-- and also
afterward-- when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had
children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. (NIV)
The
following are some general Scriptures referring to giant peoples.
Gen
14:5 And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings
that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth
Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim,
(KJV)
Gen
15:20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,
(KJV)
2
Sam 21:16-22 16 And Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of
Rapha, whose bronze spearhead weighed three hundred shekels
and who was armed with a new, said he would kill David. 17 But
Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David's rescue; he struck the
Philistine down and killed him. Then David's men swore to him,
saying, "Never again will you go out with us to battle, so that
the lamp of Israel will not be extinguished." 18 In the course
of time, there was another battle with the Philistines, at Gob. At
that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants
of Rapha. 19 In another battle with the Philistines at Gob,
Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the
Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver's rod. 20 In
still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge
man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot--
twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha. 21 When he
taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David's brother, killed him.
22 These four were descendants of Rapha in Gath, and they fell
at the hands of David and his men. (NIV)
Dt
1:28 Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart. They
say, `The people are stronger and taller than we are; the
cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites
there.'" (NIV)
Dt
2:10-11 10 (The Emites used to live there-- a people strong and
numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. 11 Like the Anakites,
they too were considered Rephaites, but the Moabites called
them Emites. (NIV)
Dt
2:21 They were a people strong and numerous, and as tall as
the Anakites. The LORD destroyed them from before the Ammonites,
who drove them out and settled in their place. (NIV)
Dt
9:2 The people are strong and tall-- Anakites! You know
about them and have heard it said: "Who can stand up against the
Anakites?" (NIV)
Dt
3:11 (Only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the
Rephaites [Rephaim]. His bed was made of iron and was more
than thirteen feet long and six feet wide. It is still in Rabbah
of the Ammonites.) (NIV)
See
Josh 12:4;13:12 for "remnants of the Rephaim"
A valley
of the giants is mentioned in;
Josh
15:8 Then it ran up the Valley of Ben Hinnom along the southern
slope of the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem). From there it
climbed to the top of the hill west of the Hinnom Valley at the
northern end of the Valley of Rephaim. (NIV)
Josh
18:16 The boundary went down to the foot of the hill facing the
Valley of Ben Hinnom, north of the Valley of Rephaim. It
continued down the Hinnom Valley along the southern slope of the
Jebusite city and so to En Rogel. (NIV)
2
Sam 5:18 Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the
Valley of Rephaim; (NIV)
2
Sam 5:22 Once more the Philistines came up and spread out in the
Valley of Rephaim; (NIV)
2
Sam 23:13 During harvest time, three of the thirty chief men
came down to David at the cave of Adullam, while a band of
Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. (NIV)
1
Chr 11:15 Three of the thirty chiefs came down to David to the
rock at the cave of Adullam, while a band of Philistines was encamped
in the Valley of Rephaim. (NIV)
1
Chr 14:9 Now the Philistines had come and raided the Valley
of Rephaim; (NIV)
Isa
17:5 It will be as when a reaper gathers the standing grain and
harvests the grain with his arm-- as when a man gleans heads of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim. (NIV)
The same
word (rapha) used above for the name "Rephaim"
(a giant race) is used in the following scriptures and translated
inaccurately from the original Hebrew as dead or deceased. (Dakes
Annotated Study Bible)
Job
26:5 Dead [Giant] things are formed from under the waters,
and the inhabitants thereof. (KJV)
Ps
88:10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead
[Rephaim] arise and praise thee? Selah. (KJV)
Prov
2:18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the
dead [Rephaim]. (KJV)
Prov
9:18 But he knoweth not that the dead [Rephaim] are there;
and that her guests are in the depths of hell. (KJV)
Prov
21:16 The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding
shall remain in the congregation of the dead [Rephaim]. (KJV)
Isaiah
14:9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy
coming: it stirreth up the dead [Rephaim] for thee, even all
the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all
the kings of the nations. (KJV)
Isaiah
26:14 They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased
[Rephaim], they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and
destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish. (KJV)
Isaiah
26:19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall
they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as
the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead
[Rephaim]. (KJV)
An
interesting point here, Isa 26:14 (see Ps 88:10) says
that the Rephaim (giants) have no resurrection. This may be a
fulcrum of Scripture for the doctrine that the giants of Scripture
are from the seed of the sons of God (the angels that left their
first estate Jude 6 & 2 Pet 2:4). All men of
Adamic seed will one day rise in resurrection, either to face the
second death or to be with God in eternity. Angels will not rise
in resurrection nor will their seed that was on the earth.
Jude
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left
their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under
darkness unto the judgment of the great day. (KJV)
2
Pet 2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but
sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for
judgment; (NIV)
These two
verses (with Jude 7) are clearly speaking of angels
who sinned sexually. Jude 7 starts out "Even as" in
reference to those fallen angels and Sodom and Gomorrha, who did not
remain in their natural state. Also "in like manner"
referring to the act of fornication "and going after strange
flesh" refers back to the angels which did not remain in
their own habitation and the men of Sodom and Gomorrha which went
after each other in homosexual acts.
The second
question of Gen 6:4 is easily answered. "in those days",
simply means from the time that the sons of God began to procreate
with the daughters of men until the flood that destroyed the
corrupted seed of the woman (Eve). This has been covered throughout
the lesson so far and needs no further explaination.
The third
question of Gen 6:4 is also answered easily from the Scriptures
and one only needs to look at post-flood passages that refer to
giants to see that once again, Satan attempted to corrupt the human
race. It was to his advantage that God promised to never destroy the
earth or its inhabitants again by a flood, so the second attempt to
corrupt that seed by which his destroyer would come had to be
accomplished. The reason for God commanding the Israelites to kill
all the peoples (man, woman and child) of the lands of conquest was
to eradicate once again the giants produced by the fallen angels.
This verse clearly states that after the 120 years for the existing
races of peoples to remain on the earth (verse 3), there were once
again, Nephilim born to the daughters of men. Do not make a
separation between verses 3 & 4 for context and it's easy to
understand.
Appendix
1
This
appendix gives various Translations of some of the Scriptures used in
this study.
Abbreviations:
1.
AAT - The Bible: An American Translation
2.
ASV - American Standard Version
3.
KNOX - The Holy Bible: A translation from the Latin Vulgate in
the Light of Hebrew and Greek originals (Monsignor Ronald Knox)
4.
MOF - A New Translation of the Bible (James Moffatt)
5.
NAB - The New American Bible
6.
TAY - The Living Bible (Kenneth Taylor)
7.
TOR - The Torah
8.
YLT - Youngs Literal Translation of the Holy Bible (Robert
Young)
Scriptural
References
Gen
6:2
The divine
beings saw how beautiful the daughters of men were and took
wives...TOR
The sons
of heaven.....NAB
The angels
noticed that the daughters of men...MOF
Gen
6:4
The
Nephilim were in the earth...ASV
The fallen
ones...YLB
Job
26:5
Sure
enough, there is none but trembles before him: even the old heroes
and those who share their dwelling-place under the lower depths. KNOX
Before him
the primaeval giants writhe, under the ocean in their prison. MOF
Isa
14:9
...it is
waking up for the Rephaim...YLT
Isa
26:14
Dead -
they live not, Rephaim, they rise not...YLT
Job
1:6
One day
when the heavenly powers stood...KNOX
Now one
day the angels came to present themselves...MOF
Now one
day when the heavenly beings...AAT
Job
2:1 Reference Job 1:6
Job
38:7
...as the
morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy..TAY
Giants
and Giants In The Land
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