The Sons of God a step by step look into Genesis
6:1-13 by bro eric
Many
commentators have held that a number of angels from heaven did actually descend
to the earth to mate with the daughters of men and reproduced giants in the
process of time. The light of God’s Word will reveal the veracity, or
otherwise, of this assertion. Before we bring on the leads to clarify the
issue, let us look at the verses:
Genesis chapter six
Verse one:
¶ And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the
face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
Verse two:
That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they
were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
Verse three:
¶ And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive
with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and
twenty years.
Verse four:
¶ There were giants in the earth in those days; and also
after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they
bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of
renown.
Verse five:
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually. {every...: or, the whole imagination: the Hebrew word signifieth
not only the imagination, but also the purposes and desires} {continually: Heb.
every day}
Verse six:
¶ And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the
earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Verse seven:
And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created
from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and
the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. {both...: Heb.
from man unto beast}
Verse eight:
¶ But Noah found
grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Verse nine:
These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man
and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. {perfect: or,
upright}
Verse ten:
And Noah begat
three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Verse eleven:
¶ The earth also
was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
Verse twelve:
And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was
corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
Verse Thirteen:
¶ And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come
before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I
will destroy them with the earth. {with the earth: or, from the earth}
To have
a good understanding of the above, it is proper to note from the very first
verse that the issue is about humans on
earth, and not angels in heaven. Men began to multiply on the land God gave.
With the multiplication came problems. The root of this problem had to do with
marriage. This is a very serious issue. Once the marriage institution fails,
other institutions follow suit. Marriage is honorable in all. God judges the whoremongers
and adulterers, who fight against this honorable institution.
The
second verse narrates the origin of the problem. Here, we are told that “the
sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them
wives of all which they chose.” We must take good note here also that the issue
is about marriage and not just a sex jamboree. The sons of God were taking
wives, or marrying them. They were not just having intercourse, as some may
wish to claim; but they were “taking wives of all which they chose”. Having
established this fact of marriage, we next move to prove that
The Sons
of God in Genesis Chapter Six Were Not Angels,
Because
the Lord, Jesus Christ who cannot lie, has inferred that angels do not marry
(Mt.22:30). They have no need of such custom. They are all ministering spirits
(Hb.1:14). But men have taught that it was angels in heaven that took wives on
earth. Should we now take their word and reject the word of the Lord Jesus
Christ? Ro 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is
written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome
when thou art judged. Someone who thinks we are mixing up the issues might just
point out: but these are fallen angels and demons, and not
angels in heaven; the angels took on the form of men in order to marry their
daughters! We do not find those additions in the text. Fallen angels and
demons are not associated with sons of
God, are they? If they took on the form of men, as you suggest, there
should be a record of such an important event. But we find no such examples in
the entire Bible where angels can take on human form without God’s consent. You
had better not put words into the Holy Bible that will put us all in trouble,
please.
So, Who
Were the Sons of God in Genesis Chapter Six?
Let us
go back to the two chapters before it.
Genesis
4: 26
And to Seth, to him also there was born a son;
and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the
LORD. {Enos: Heb. Enosh} {to call...: or, to call themselves by the name
of the Lord}
Take
note of the underlined. The marginal reading put here by the translators of the
King James Version reveals so much for those who care to know. For those who
would insist that “to call upon the name
of the LORD” is the proper phrase instead of “to call themselves by the name of the Lord”, there may be a need to
understand what it means to call upon the
name of the LORD. Calling upon the name of Jehovah is more than mere
invocation or incantation. It is akin to worship-fully naming the divine name,
which in itself is a kind of identity. 2Ti 2:19 says “…Let everyone that nameth
the name of Christ depart from iniquity”. Invoking this name elicits a
reverence that words cannot demonstrate. We are here referring to those who sanctify
the name of the Lord God in their hearts (Isa.29:23, 1 Pet.3:15) and are sanctified thereby (1Cor1:2). These are "them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours".
The phrase in 2Ti2:19: “that nameth the name of Christ” is very instructive and would be helpful in this case. Who is he that nameth the name of Christ? Is it not the one who is named of him (being a Christian, a name derived from Christ)? In the same manner, calling the name of God in a religious note implies that you are identified with Him. Those who were calling His name in worship were His people. They were distinguished from the other men of their time who were irreligious. You may have to look up the affairs of Cain’s descendants, in the preceding verses, to be convinced. They had stopped calling on the name of God after their progenitor murdered his brother Abel for worshipping God in the right way.
The phrase in 2Ti2:19: “that nameth the name of Christ” is very instructive and would be helpful in this case. Who is he that nameth the name of Christ? Is it not the one who is named of him (being a Christian, a name derived from Christ)? In the same manner, calling the name of God in a religious note implies that you are identified with Him. Those who were calling His name in worship were His people. They were distinguished from the other men of their time who were irreligious. You may have to look up the affairs of Cain’s descendants, in the preceding verses, to be convinced. They had stopped calling on the name of God after their progenitor murdered his brother Abel for worshipping God in the right way.
This is
not a new idea. John Wesley of old has the following to say about it:
“Then
began men to call upon the name of the Lord-Doubtless God's name was
called upon before, but now, 1. The
worshippers of God began to stir up themselves to do more in religion than they
had done; perhaps not more than had been done at first, but more than had been
done since the defection of Cain. Now
men began to worship God, not only in their closets and families, but in public
and solemn assemblies. 2. The
worshippers of God began to distinguish themselves: so the margin reads
it. Then began men to be called by the
name of the Lord, or, to call themselves by it.
Now Cain and those that had deserted religion had built a city, and
begun to declare for irreligion, and called themselves the sons of men. Those that adhered to God began to declare
for him and his worship, and called themselves the sons of God.”
This is
the plain answer. For those who are determined to get something more
sophisticated, we are sorry to come short of it. Jesus has said that angels do
not marry and we cannot disprove him who made everything. If you insist that
angels can change to humans and marry any time they wish, I wonder what hope we
have that the saints, who would be like the angels in heaven, would not do what
they wish over there and rebel against the will of God.
God has
always desired a “godly seed” on the
earth. That is even the reason for the marriage institution, according to Mal
2:15. The godly seed or “pure breed” was not supposed to mix with the corrupt
one. The failure to keep this chastity led to the proliferation of evil in the
land. In verse 3 we find God displeased with the things that were being done on
earth. His words again show that the
perpetrators of this evil were not angels but men.
Ҧ And the
LORD said, ‘My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is
flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years’.”
The sons of God in this chapter were not
angels, but men!
Somebody
else may be eager to ask us whether the sons
of God in the book of Job were men or angels. Even if we concede that they
were angels, it would not change the fact that the ones in this chapter were
men. It is like arguing that because the king of Babylon in Isa 14:12 was
called a day star, he therefore must be the day star in 2Pe 1:19. It
is the context that will determine the subject, not the title.
The
vision of God for a godly seed has now been fulfilled in Christ Jesus. It is no
longer a matter of racial, cultural or biological background. (Act 10:35) But
in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted
with him. Joh 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: {power: or, the right,
or, privilege}
Ro 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the sons of God.
Ro 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the
creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Php 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; {harmless: or,
sincere} {ye shine: or, shine ye}
1Jo 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.
1Jo 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)
Giants in the Earth in those Days
Gen.6:4
¶ There
were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of
God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same
became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
You
might ask us: can a marriage between two families produce these giants? This
point may make you reject everything we have said so far. But we plead your
indulgence a little further, so that we by the mercies of God might reveal to
your heart the wonderful truth that we find here.
The
first note to take here is that the Hebrew word translated “giant” in this
verse is nephilim, from naphal, "he fell." It is properly translated “a
feller”, i.e. a bully or tyrant, which, by extension, is a giant. Adam Clarke,
a Bible commentator says, “It may be necessary to remark here that our
translators have rendered seven different Hebrew words by the one term giants,
viz., nephilim, gibborim, enachim, rephaim, emim, and zamzummim; by which
appellatives are probably meant in general persons of great knowledge, piety,
courage, wickedness, &c., and not men of enormous stature, as is generally
conjectured.” We are not saying that the nephilim
are not literal giants, but we want you to note that the word denotes something
more than your regular giants. The verses that follow makes this point evident.
It states:
Gen6:5
And GOD
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. {every...:
or, the whole imagination: the Hebrew word signifieth not only the imagination,
but also the purposes and desires} {continually: Heb. every day}
Gen6:6
¶ And it
repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his
heart.
Gen6:7
And the LORD
said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both
man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it
repenteth me that I have made them. {both...: Heb. from man unto beast}
It
becomes pertinent from the context of these above verses to conclude that the
giants here were noted more for the enormity of their wicked nature than for
the enormity of their physical stature. Again, this does not refute the
possibility that they possessed a huge size. A zealous adversary once submitted
that there are archaeological evidences that giants lived on earth in the olden
days. We consider this point insufficient to conclude that the nephilim of Genesis chapter six were
literal giants, for the simple fact that there were literal giants on earth after
the destruction of these nephilims in the flood of Noah. See Nu 13:33, De 2:11,20,
De 3:11,13, Jos 12:4, Jos 13:12, Jos 15:8, Jos 17:15, Jos 18:16, 2Sa 21:16,18,20,22,
1Ch 20:4,6,8. So if producing offspring of giants is only made possible by the cross-breeding angels and men, which purported happened only once, how did the nephilim survive the flood of Noah?
It
amazes us that some have gone to the extent of crediting doubtful apocryphal
works that did not pass several canonical tests such as the book of Enoch to
support the view that angels took on human form to fornicate with women on
earth. The same reason the book was rejected by the Jewish and Christian
councils for canonization is the reason these professor have accepted it. The
book was rejected because of its illogical fables and filthy dreams. In the
first place, its authorship is contestable. Enoch of the Holy Bible left the
earth before Noah’s days, yet his supposed writing contained detailed accounts
of this and later events. Some argue that Jude the apostle cited part of it in
his epistle. This is the reason they think it’s inspired by God. The fact that
Jude mentioned statements, which are found in that book, does not prove that Jude’s
statement was copied from it. There is a possibility that some men took
advantage of Jude’s statement to import false doctrines through a forged document.
1Ti 4:7 says to “refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself
rather unto godliness”. Saints, we would not miss anything in Christ if we
refuse to read a verse in the forged book of Enoch. It is full of old wives’
fables! It does not edify the soul. 2Pe 1:3 God, by his divine power, has given
us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of
him that has called us to glory and virtue, which is contained in the sixty-six books of the Holy Bible. What is not found therein is not necessary for life
and godliness.
The
Bible shows that it was men that sinned against God’s order, and not angels in
heaven. Therefore, He rightly punished them with Noah’s flood. The flood didn’t
reach the angels.
Genesis
chapter six:
11 ¶ The
earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And
God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had
corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 ¶ And
God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is
filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the
earth. {with the earth: or, from the earth}
Stop
twisting the words of the Lord, sirs. God was dealing with men here, and not
angels.
Gen6: 2
That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they
took them wives of all which they chose. 3 ¶ And the LORD said, My spirit shall
not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an
hundred and twenty years.
TO BE CONTINUED....
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