This, it is argued, helps explain the downfall of the human race into such degrees of sin that God is grieved and eventually unleashes the rains of judgment.Īnother view understands the “sons of God” as angelic beings that have become sexually involved with women. The overarching point, then, is that the line of Seth is intermarrying with the line of Cain, the murderer of Abel. “daughters of man”) were not women in general but the offspring of Cain. The Sethite view understands the “sons of God” to be the descendants of Seth. The two answers that I’m most interested in are the (a) Sethite view and (b) the Fallen Angels view. There have been several answers provided in the history of interpretation.

But the question is, who are the “sons of God” that find these women “attractive” and then marry them? The situation (“sons of God” finding the women “attractive”) results in marriages (“they took as their wives”). As humanity increases, there is a strange story of “sons of God” being attracted to the “daughters of man” (6:2).

This, after all, was the imperative given to Adam and Eve (cf. In this text Moses describes the multiplication of mankind on the face of the earth. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. And they took as their wives any they chose. When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. The particular debate I’m interested in here is concerned with how we identify the “sons of God” in Genesis 6.

This picture of the sinfulness of mankind sets the stage for one of the most well-known stories in the Bible: the flood narrative.Īs with most biblical stories, however, the various details are often debated.

The depths of sin that God witnessed among those who were created to bear his image (Gen 1:26–27) had “grieved him to his heart” (6:6). In Genesis 6 Moses paints a picture of the human race falling into sin to such a significant degree that God is said to have “regretted” making mankind (Gen 6:6).

All fallen angels sims 4