Tough Passages and Tough Lessons (Genesis 6:1-6)

Some passages in the Bible are more difficult than others.

Sometimes, they are sad or painful, sometimes complex or incredibly nuanced, and some more difficult than others.  Our passage today, Genesis 6:1-6, describes humanity’s downward spiral that ends in God’s judgment.  It also is (probably) the most difficult passage of the Bible to interpret and understand.  Let’s dive in. 

¹When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. ³  Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their 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 humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

⁵ The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. ⁶ The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.  

Genesis 6:1-6, New International Version

The first question is, who were the “sons of God”?  There are three basic views (and some variation between adherents of each view!):

1. Angels
2. Ancient Near Eastern Kings (possibly under demonic influence)
3. Seth’s Lineage

The view that the “sons of God” were angels is the oldest interpretation and dates back at least to the 2^nd century B.C.  Moving outside their appointed realm, these angels married or raped human “daughters” (women) and produced a race of half-human, godlike creatures (the Nephilim).  While it is the most straightforward interpretation, there’s no mention of angels at all at this point in Scripture.  Furthermore, the narrative of the flood (Genesis 6-8) is concerned exclusively with humanity, not angels.  In addition, when angels do take on human properties, we have no evidence they can reproduce at all, much less procreate with humans.

The second view is that the “sons of God” were Ancient Near-Eastern Kings.  Many Jewish interpreters and scholars hold this view.  They could have been kings, judges, or other rulers (princes, magistrates, governors, etc.).  The Hebrew word translated as “god” (elohim) supports this.  It doesn’t always mean the Lord.  It sometimes means ruler or king.  The practice of taking multiple wives was common in the ancient Near Eastern world.  If this is the case, the Nephilim were “mighty men”—acceptable translations for “nephilim.”  The main problem with this view is that the passage doesn’t have even the slightest hint of kingship or aristocracy.  Like the view above, the role of king or ruler hasn’t even been introduced (yet) in the Bible.  That doesn’t mean they didn’t exist, but it would be an argument from silence.

The “new kid on the block” interpretation of the “sons of God” is more recent in church history.  Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and others interpreted this as referencing “godly men.”  They mean the godly line of Seth as opposed to the sinful line of Cain.  This is supported by the context: Genesis 4 and 5 demonstrate the differences between these lines of humanity.  When they intermarry (our passage today), it results in unprecedented wickedness.  Like the last view, the Nephilim would either be offspring of these unions or were mighty men existing simultaneously.  There are two key issues with this view.  First, “daughters of humans” would be another way of saying “Cain’s family tree.”  This would be the only place in the Bible they were referred to this way, and it’s an obscure way of referring to them.  The second issue is Seth’s line was not very Godly.  Only Enoch and Noah were singled out as such. 

As I said, it’s very complicated, and each solution has its own set of problems. Frankly, we could argue ourselves out of whichever option we chose.

At this point in my study of the Old Testament, I believe the “sons of God” refer to the Godly line of Seth—the line of God’s blessing.  The “daughters of men” would be Cain’s lineage.  I believe the Nephilim (a Hebrew word, not a translation into English) were either “mighty men” present simultaneously as these unholy marriages occurred or the name given to the ungodly offspring of ungodly marriages.  As such, these were not supernatural but were powerful, ruthless mercenaries or pirates.

However you slice it, humanity quickly fell into greater and greater sin. Verse 5 makes the simple and sad statement, “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” It was so bad that the Lord was troubled and regretted our existence (verse 6).

That should be more troubling than the identities of some players in the sad state of humanity. It also reminds us that the Lord does not ignore sin then or now.