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Some may have no idea what this chapter is about, with “sons of God” marrying “daughters of men” and the “Nephilim.” Some may also have some profound, over-the-top notions about the meaning of this chapter, but if you read this chapter in the context of the previous chapters, the fanciful and salacious interpretations fall by the wayside.
The first verses say, “Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.”
The sons of God as quoted here literally means “sons of Elohim.” It’s interesting that they saw the “daughters of men.” The text doesn’t say that there were “sons of men” v. “sons of God.”
This chapter tells us that God became troubled by this development in human history. He was not just a little upset but He personally felt a loss, a major loss.
The “sons of God” in Gen. 6:2 are the descendants of the line of Adam and Seth. We know this when we read the Bible in context.
The fourth chapter detailed the generations of Cain while the fifth chapter details the generations of Seth. This is the context of Genesis 6 and we should be careful about inserting ideas into this chapter that rips it out of its context. This chapter does not stand alone in Holy Scripture. The identity of these “sons of God” is found in the proceeding chapters.
Recall that Eve says in Gen. 4:25:
“Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, ‘God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him.’”
Later, we also see that one of Seth’s descendants, Enosh, was born in a generation that “began to call on the name of the Lord.” (Gen. 4:26)
There is no historical evidence, except in the generations of Adam through Seth that we see the age of when each patriarch was born from the previous patriarch. This genealogy of the “sons of God” ends with the Messiah Himself, as recorded in Luke.
God doesn’t really record all the sins of the people. He only records certain sins of certain people that God uses to make a point. We don’t know of every single sin that Adam and Eve ever committed. We only know of one. That one was recorded because God wanted to record it to explain Himself.
In Gen. 6:3 says:
“Then the LORD said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh…”
The word that is translated as “strive” in the NASB is דִּין din (Strong’s H1777) in Hebrew, which literally means “to judge or to administer.” This verse is a Messianic prophesy because God later tells us in Scripture that Yeshua, the Son of Man, is the one who has been given the right to judge mankind.
Weren’t there any “daughters of Elohim”? They are not recorded.
God warns us in 2nd Cor. 6:14-17:
“Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, ‘I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. ‘AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you.’”
Yeshua warns that before the flood people were drinking, partying and marrying and that is how people will be acting just before His coming, too.
Who were the Nephilim? Num. 13:33 says, that there were נְפִיסִים Nephilim (Strong’s H5304, from H5303) in the land of Canaan. If they were all drowned in Noah’s day, than who were these Canaanite Nephillm and what does the Nephilim really mean? The word in Hebrew comes from the root נָפַל naphal (H5307) which means “to fall or lie.” There’s nothing in these Nephilim that means they were tall. There’s nothing in this text that tells us that the Nephilim were the offspring or angels or demons. Yeshua said that Matthew 22:30 that the angels in heaven do not marry. People who find those meanings are reading their own meaning into the text.
These men, these Nephilim, were feared in a worldly way. They had charisma, power and renown. Their reputation proceeded them with their power and generated fear in the eyes of others and they were able to create empires.
Gen. 6:6 tells us that the world became so evil that God “repented” of making man:
“The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”
The word that is translated sorry is not teshuvah, in the sense that God made a mistake that he has to correct or repent from. The word there is נָחַם nacham (H5162) which means “to be sorry, to console oneself.” His heart was “grieved” which in Hebrew is עָצַב atsab (H6087a), which means “to hurt, pain, grieve.”
We see here that God has emotions, he is not an unemotional robot. We have emotions, and since we are made in God’s image, it would naturally follow that God has emotions too. He felt true sorrow and grief over how mankind is living.
Gen. 6:9 says:
“These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.”
We are told that Enosh walked with God too but Noah was also righteous and blameless in his generation or his lifetime.
When Enosh and Noah walked with God, it means that they lived with God. They knew God’s rules and lived them out.
Gen. 6:11 says:
“Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.”
The world was in decay, ruined and corrupt. It didn’t mean that the rivers, or the soil were polluted. The people themselves, through their evil conduct, were a corrupting blight on the earth, “…for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.” (Gen. 6:12)
Speaker: Richard. Reader: Jeff. Summary: Tammy.