Giants or the descendants of Seth?

[NathanH83]

When Genesis 6 says the Sons of God went to the Daughters of men, married any of them they chose, had children by them, and they bore giants…is that talking about angels, or the descendants of the line of Seth? Who are the Sons of God?

 

[atpollard]

Genesis 6:1-2:
Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 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.

There is one line of interpretation that views the “sons of God” as those from the line of Seth and the “daughters of men” as those from the line of Cain. In that interpretation, this chapter describes an intermarriage between the godly and the ungodly, which is something that God specifically prohibits:

Deuteronomy 7:1-4 [NKJV]
1 "When the LORD your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, 2 "and when the LORD your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them [and] utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. 3 "Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. 4 "For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the LORD will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.​

​

2 Corinthians 6:14 [NKJV]​

14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?​

This view leaves many unanswered questions, like:

• Why did this make God angry enough to wipe out all the earth’s population except for 8 people?
• Why was there something “unnatural” about the offspring of these unions?

Nothing in the text offers any answers to these important questions.

 

[Andrew]

Genesis 6:1-2:
Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 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.

There is one line of interpretation that views the “sons of God” as those from the line of Seth and the “daughters of men” as those from the line of Cain. In that interpretation, this chapter describes an intermarriage between the godly and the ungodly, which is something that God specifically prohibits:

Deuteronomy 7:1-4 [NKJV]
1 "When the LORD your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, 2 "and when the LORD your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them [and] utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. 3 "Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. 4 "For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the LORD will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.​

​

2 Corinthians 6:14 [NKJV]​

14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?​

This view leaves many unanswered questions, like:

• Why did this make God angry enough to wipe out all the earth’s population except for 8 people?
• Why was there something “unnatural” about the offspring of these unions?

Nothing in the text offers any answers to these important questions.

I always got that impression when reading Genesis 6. This was before Abraham Issac and Jacob and the Israelites, Gods people or Children of God in Seth's lineage were intermixing with heathens, the outcome being abominable offsprings, men held in high esteem (priestly?) and barbaric (violent, militants) which I picture as renown (someone to look up to in admiration as being like looking up at a giant), Gilgamesh for instance was seen as half man and half god who's bravery made him of celebrity status, even in mythos.. but other "real giants" explanations are pretty fascinating, Goliath was unusually tall but now days its usually caused by hyperactive growth hormones and not necessarily genetic

 

[atpollard]

Genesis 6:1-2:
Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 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.

The other common theological interpretation of “sons of God” is either:

1. Demons (angels in rebellion against God)
2. uniquely demon-possessed men

with the “daughters of men” as human women.

When the phrase “sons of God” appears in Job 1:6 (Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.) it is clearly speaking of angels.

When the phrase “sons of God” appears in Job 2:1 (Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.) it is clearly speaking of angels.

When the phrase “sons of God” appears in Job 38:7 (When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?) it is clearly speaking of angels.

These are the only other times the phrase appears on the OT outside of Genesis 6. When the scholars translated the Hebrew Genesis into the Greek Septuagint, they translated “sons of God” in Genesis as “angels”, so their opinion on the “Angels” vs “people from Seth” question is clear.

From Jude we get:

Jude 1:6-7 [NKJV]​

6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
​

Jude speaks of the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah as an “unnatural sexual union” just as Genesis 6 speaks of an unnatural sexual union. While speculation on the details of human/demon sexual union is pointless and unprofitable, it is worth noting as a fact that sexual associations with the demonic go hand in hand with the occult and there are still,people who actively pursue such associations even today.

Matthew 22:30 [NKJV] 30 "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.​

Mathew 22 is often presented as an objection to interpreting the sons of God in Genesis 6 as angels (and rightly so). The counter arguments are:

• Jesus is speaking of faithful angels in heaven, not rebelling demons.
• Jesus stated that angels do not marry, but he did not say that angels were genderless.

It is for the individual to weigh the relative merits of each side.


The book of 1 Enoch is not inspired scripture, but that does not mean that it cannot still contain some accurate accounts. 1 Enoch contains the following account:

“And it came to pass that the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: ‘Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children … [They] took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments … And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants … And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways.”​

Choose for yourself what weight to assign to the words from 1 Enoch.

IF DEMONS WERE HAVING CHILDREN WITH HUMAN WOMEN ... and that is a very large IF ... then one obvious motive would be to pollute the human gene pool with a virus of corruption. This would not be to attack mankind and make fallen men more fallen, but an attempt to poison the seed of the woman to destroy the opportunity for the birth of the messiah. That was the evil that God would not contend with “forever” and set the 120 year clock counting down to the great flood and the preservation of 8 untainted human beings.

Just some thoughts.

 

[NathanH83]

I think they were angels