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1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. 3 And the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." 4 There were giants 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. ~ Genesis 6:1-4
Today’s passage includes four highly debated verses that have led to lots of division among believers in Christ. And yet, the central theme of the Bible is the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If in our study of the Bible, we miss the Lord Jesus, we have studied in error. A correct study of the Bible will unswervingly take us to the One who laid down His life for us. In fact, the Lord Jesus Himself confirmed that the Scriptures are all about Him.
In Luke 24:25-27 we read, "'O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?' Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures."
To this point of our study of the book of Genesis, we have been informed about the six days of creation. Then, after God created everything, He rested. Then, we were given details about the fall of man in Genesis 3. Then, we were given a contrast between those who embraced the culture of God and those who rejected the culture of God.
In v.1-2 of today's passage we read, "1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose."
Although there are those who interpret this phrase "the sons of God" as describing angelic beings, they fail to take into account the immediate context here in Genesis 1-5. There is really only one interpretive option for this phrase due to its context. Those who disagree with me go to other passages in the Old Testament and the New Testament, and they arrive upon their conclusion. Our understanding of this phrase is based upon the immediate chapters before today's passage. A correct hermeneutic leads us to do that. This phrase refers to the mixing of the two different lineages mentioned in Genesis 4 and Genesis 5. There is no mention at all of angels in context.
The sons of God, in this context is speaking of the lineage of Seth. These sons of God "saw the daughters of men." This passage is not describing fallen angels intermarrying with the daughters of humans, as some would lead us to believe. What is being described here is the intermarrying of those who have faith in the God of the Bible with those who did not have faith in the God of the Bible. The problem here was "the sons of God" were marrying women based on their outward beauty, not their inner beauty.
Back in Genesis 4 we learned of the sister of Tubal-Cain; her name was "Naamah" which means "loveliness." The meaning of her name explains why this daughter of Lamech was included in this account. "The sons of God" saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful and they intermarried. Throughout the Bible, the subject of inappropriate intermarrying is brought to the fore from time and time. God always instructs His people to remain within the godly line He has ordained and not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. That is the thrust of this passage.
In v.3 of today's passage we read, "And the Lord said, 'My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.'"
This verse leads with the idea that "God's Spirit shall not strive with man forever." This verse was given before the flood when the wickedness of man came to its zenith, so much so that only Noah and his family found grace in God’s sight. When God spoke these words, He literally meant: "In 120 years I will send the flood to destroy man's wickedness!" Note it was man's wickedness that God judged, not the wickedness of the angels. It happened just as God said it would, 120 years later.
The words, "My spirit shall not always strive with man" demonstrates that we come to repentance only by the Holy Spirit working on our hearts to bring an awareness of God to us, yet the ultimate choice is ours. In the case of Genesis 6:3, only 8 people listened and headed the Spirit during that 120 year span where God’s Spirit continued to strive and to tug at man’s heart right up until the time of the first raindrop that started the flood.
And, as we have seen in the previous two chapters here in Genesis, before the flood, people lived to be quite old, almost a thousand years old. Since man rejected God and His will, God promised his age would change drastically. The reason God cut our years on this earth was due to the fact that even in 70 or 80 years we can accomplish immense wickedness. Imagine people in their hundreds, closing in on their thousands.
In v.4 of today's passage we read, "There were giants 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."
The term translated "giants" is Nephilim in the Hebrew. It literally means "fallen ones." And these sinful people were "giants." We see this word "Nephilim" also used in Numbers 13:33 which reads, "There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."
We need not search for any other explanation than "giants" as so many people try to do. The description is given right here in its context. There are other accounts of giants in the Bible as well and descend from other groups. Goliath was one of them, he was a descendent of the Philistines. He fought David and lost.
Genesis 6:2 tells us the Nephilim were larger than average people who came from those of the sons of God being attracted to pretty women and they had children and some of them were very large. The Nephilim were large because they were bred large, at the expense of faith. Even to this day, families choose the road of success and exceptional gene development over godly husbands and wives.
There is nothing mentioned in the Bible concerning the reproduction of angels with humans. In fact, the Bible clearly informs us that angels do not reproduce. This account today is given to us to show that God expects us to value His truth above all else even when we decide who to get intimate with. It is when we are not being defined by the truth that we serve the purposes of the one who has always been known to undermine the definitions of God. While the enemies goal is to destroy us, God's goal is to make of us those who are inculcated by His truth which will endure forever.
