When you’re reading through Genesis, you run into some strange things. Talking snakes (Gen 3:1), twins wrestling in the womb to see who comes out first (Gen 38:28-30), and… some kind of mixed-world marriage that results in superhero children…?
[1] When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, [2] the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. [3] Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” [4] The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. (Genesis 6:1-4 ESV)
I’ll reveal my cards early: I don’t think this passage is talking about angels marrying people, as is sometimes suggested. (Though City of Angels is a fun flick.)
So what’s really going on?
I think what usually trips people up here is that this passage comes right off the genealogy in Genesis 5. For many of us, when we hit a genealogy, our eyes glaze over and our brain only resets once we get back to the narrative. However, genealogies serve just as important a role as anything else in the narrative. They move the story forward over generations, but it’s still the same story. So, let’s go back even a little further to Genesis 4:
[17] Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. [18] To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. . . . [25] And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” [26] To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD. (Genesis 4:17-18, 25-26 ESV)
These are some of the last verses just before the Genesis 5 genealogy and our Genesis 6 text. In other words, the author of Genesis wants us to notice the two separate lines forming here: the wicked line of Cain and the godly line of Seth. In between Seth fathering Enosh and the Genesis 5 genealogy, the author notes that “people began to call upon the name of the LORD.”
With that in mind, the meaning of those verses in Genesis 6 becomes clear: the sons of God are from Seth’s godly line while the daughters of men are from Cain’s wicked line. Sadly, the theme of the “godly” seeing something “attractive” and therefore taking it shows up here just as it did when Eve saw and took the forbidden fruit in Genesis 3. (Clearly not all that appears beautiful is good!) This time the death that results from this foolish attraction is far more widespread: the Flood.
(After composing the bulk of this blog entry, my fellow Knowable Word author Peter noted to me that R.C. Sproul, Jr. just covered this text not long ago. The good news is that we agree on the interpretation! So if you’d like to read more about this passage, check out his blog.)
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