The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Genesis 6:4,
"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."
Who were these boys? The passage tells us they were "heroes of old, men of renown." They were also the offspring of "sons of God" and "daughters of humans."
The word "Nephilim" is related to the verb "to fall" in Hebrew. Some find meaning from that. However, it turns out there are a number of views of what exactly is meant by those identified as Nephilim. Beyond that, there seems to be even more speculation as to what the phrase "sons of God" refers to in the passage. (Not much debate, obviously, over what "daughters of humans" means.)
The NIV uses the phrase "daughters of humans" where a number of other translations use the phrase "daughters of men." As such the NIV lends itself, (in my mind anyway) to the idea that female humans were having relations with other-than-humans and having offspring: the Nephilim.
There really are a number of good articles on the internet that provide background on various views on the Nephilim and who the sons of God were. One such site is "answersingenesis.org", found here: https://answersingenesis.org/bible-characters/who-were-the-nephilim/
Here is a great summary of the four main interpretive alternatives commonly found among expositors that I just swiped from their site (although they can be found in a number of places):
Fallen angels view: Satan and/or his fallen angels bred with human women and had offspring that were called Nephilim.
Fallen angels overtook men view: Fallen angels and/or Satan possessed men and caused them to breed with women.
Sethite view: The sons of God were the godly line from Adam to Seth down to Noah, and the Nephilim were fallen children who sought after false gods.
Fallen men view: Godly men (sons of God) took ungodly wives, and their descendants (Nephilim) followed after the false gods, rejected God, and fell far from God in wickedness.
For me, perhaps not as titillating, intriguing and exciting as other perspectives, I have a hard time with the notion of angels, demons and the like having sex with human women. My reason is that the assumption that because there are other beings out there that God has created (or devolved from what he created) does not automatically mean they all have features and capabilities as we humans do. I note a comment Jesus made about both angels and something of our estate in the resurrection:
"The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels." Luke 20:34-36.
Marriage is not a feature in the resurrection which clearly indicates we will no longer be procreating and being just like the angels, since we won't die, the kingdom of God will remain permanently populated with no need for procreating.
There are a number of issues in the Scriptures where we just don't have the answers, although we may feel strongly about our perspectives on them. This is one of those.
What are your thoughts about this?
Who were these boys? The passage tells us they were "heroes of old, men of renown." They were also the offspring of "sons of God" and "daughters of humans."
The word "Nephilim" is related to the verb "to fall" in Hebrew. Some find meaning from that. However, it turns out there are a number of views of what exactly is meant by those identified as Nephilim. Beyond that, there seems to be even more speculation as to what the phrase "sons of God" refers to in the passage. (Not much debate, obviously, over what "daughters of humans" means.)
The NIV uses the phrase "daughters of humans" where a number of other translations use the phrase "daughters of men." As such the NIV lends itself, (in my mind anyway) to the idea that female humans were having relations with other-than-humans and having offspring: the Nephilim.
There really are a number of good articles on the internet that provide background on various views on the Nephilim and who the sons of God were. One such site is "answersingenesis.org", found here: https://answersingenesis.org/bible-characters/who-were-the-nephilim/
Here is a great summary of the four main interpretive alternatives commonly found among expositors that I just swiped from their site (although they can be found in a number of places):
Fallen angels view: Satan and/or his fallen angels bred with human women and had offspring that were called Nephilim.
Fallen angels overtook men view: Fallen angels and/or Satan possessed men and caused them to breed with women.
Sethite view: The sons of God were the godly line from Adam to Seth down to Noah, and the Nephilim were fallen children who sought after false gods.
Fallen men view: Godly men (sons of God) took ungodly wives, and their descendants (Nephilim) followed after the false gods, rejected God, and fell far from God in wickedness.
For me, perhaps not as titillating, intriguing and exciting as other perspectives, I have a hard time with the notion of angels, demons and the like having sex with human women. My reason is that the assumption that because there are other beings out there that God has created (or devolved from what he created) does not automatically mean they all have features and capabilities as we humans do. I note a comment Jesus made about both angels and something of our estate in the resurrection:
"The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels." Luke 20:34-36.
Marriage is not a feature in the resurrection which clearly indicates we will no longer be procreating and being just like the angels, since we won't die, the kingdom of God will remain permanently populated with no need for procreating.
There are a number of issues in the Scriptures where we just don't have the answers, although we may feel strongly about our perspectives on them. This is one of those.
What are your thoughts about this?
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
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