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Bible Question: My
question has to do with Genesis 6:2-4. Who or what are the sons of
God, and why were their sons Nephilim? The commentary in my Bible
says that the sons of God refers to the line of Seth, and that the
Nephilim are his descendants. This does not make much sense to me.
Why would Seth's children be mighty men (giants like Goliath), and
the men of renown (power, mystery, or supernatural)? Also why would
Seth be able to "take wives for themselves, whomever, they chose?"
Bible Answer: The
passage you are referring to reads as follows:
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.
. . 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.
(NASB) Genesis 6:2-4 |
There are two major views about the meaning of this passage. You have
encountered one of them.
1st View. The
view you encountered says the "sons of God" are the descendants
of Seth. This view reasons that the phrase the "sons of God"
refers to believers; and refers to Deut. 32:5; Ps 73:15 and Ps. 80:15
as proof. Genesis 4:26 says that with the birth of Seth, men "began
to call upon the name of the LORD." This view then concludes
that the "sons of God" are the children of Seth or Sethites and reasons that the "sons
of God" are not angels because Matthew 22:30 states that angels cannot marry.
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For
in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage,
but are like angels in heaven. (NASB) Matthew 22:30 |
This view also states that the "daughters
of men" are actually very beautiful unbelievers and concludes that
these women must be descendants of Cain or Cainites since they are
not angels. The view concludes that "Nephilim"
is mistranslated and should read "those who fall on." This
implies the men were very evil men - "mighty men." Usually,
no explanation is given to answer your last question. This view refers
to the "sons of God" as Sethites and the "daughters
of men" as Cainites.
2nd
View. The
second view says that the "sons of God" are evil angels
or demons who for some reason married these beautiful women. Their
offspring were mighty men or Nephilim who may have been evil men as well. This view reminds
us that Job 1:6: 2:1 and 38:7 calls the angels the "sons of God." The book
of Job was written before Genesis since Job lived before Moses. This implies that
the phrase "sons
of God" had a known meaning when Moses wrote the book.
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Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves
before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. (NASB) Job 1:6
Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves
before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself
before the LORD. (NASB) Job 2:1
When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God
shouted for joy? (NASB) Job 38:7 |
This view states that Matthew 22:30 does not say that angels cannot
have sex but that the angels do not marry in heaven. For those who
object to the idea of angels having sex with humans, 1 Peter 3:18-20
and Jude 6-7 are important. |
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