Blog

The identity of the “sons of God” in Genesis 6:1-4 has been a subject of debate among scholars and theologians. There are several interpretations of who these “sons of God” were, each with its own set of arguments and evidence.

Genesis 6:1-6 And it happened that, when humankind began to multiply on the face of the ground, daughters were born to them. Then the sons of God saw the daughters of humankind, that they were beautiful. And they took for themselves wives from all that they chose. And Yahweh said, "My Spirit shall not abide with humankind forever in that he is also flesh. And his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were upon the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God went into the daughters of humankind, and they bore children to them. And Yahweh saw that the evil of humankind was great upon the earth, and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was always only evil. And Yahweh regretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. Lexham English Bible (LEB)

According to scholars, that are three alternate views to who the “sons of God” are:

Option One - fallen angels who consorted with human women, producing giant offspring called nephilim. This was the traditional view of both pre-Christian Judaism and the early church. It was supported by Flavius Josephus, Philo, Eusebius and many of the “Ante-Nicene Fathers”, including Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Tertullian, Irenaeus, Athenagoras and Commodianus.

Option Two - the genealogical line of Seth, who were committed to preserving the true worship of God. This view was first suggested by Julius Africanus in the third century AD and later advocated by Saint Augustine, the Catholic Bishop of Hippo. Augustine rejected the concept of the fallen host having committed fornication with women. He interpreted Genesis 6 to mean that the male offspring of Adam through Seth were “the sons of God”, and the female offspring of Adam through Cain were “the daughters of men”. He wrote that the problem was that the family of Seth had interbred with the family of Cain, intermingling the bloodlines and corrupting the pure religion. This view has become the dominant one among most modern biblical scholars.

Option Three - the sons of pre-Flood rulers or magistrates. This belief became the standard explanation of rabbinical Judaism after Rabbi Simeon ben Yochai pronounced a curse in the second century AD upon those Jews who believed the common teaching that the angels were responsible for the nephilim. This interpretation was advocated by two of the most respected Jewish sages of the Middle Ages, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi) and Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (Nachmanides), and became the standard explanation of rabbinical Judaism. However, it is not widely accepted by modern scholars.

The phrase “sons of God” elsewhere in the Bible always refers to spirit beings/angels. There are no instances in the Bible where the phrase "sons of God" refers to men.

Deuteronomy 32:8 When the Most High apportioned the nations, at his dividing up of the sons of humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the sons of God. Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)

Job 1:6 And it happened one day that the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh, and Satan also came into their midst. Lexham English Bible (LEB)

Job 2:1 And then one day the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh, and Satan also came into their midst to present himself before Yahweh. Lexham English Bible (LEB)

Job 38:7 when the morning stars were singing together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Lexham English Bible (LEB)

Psalms 29:1 Ascribe to Yahweh, O sons of God, ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength. Lexham English Bible (LEB)

Psalms 89:5-8 5 And so the heavens will praise your wonderful deed, O Yahweh, even your faithfulness, in the assembly of the holy ones. 6 For who in the sky is equal to Yahweh? Who is like Yahweh among the sons of God, 7 a God feared greatly in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all surrounding him? 8 O Yahweh God of hosts, who is mighty like you, O Yah, with your faithfulness surrounding you? Lexham English Bible (LEB)

Daniel 3:25 He answered, saying, “Look, I see four men unbound walking in the midst of the fire and there is no damage to them, and the appearance of the fourth man resembles the son of a god.” Lexham English Bible (LEB)

Here is what E.W. Bullinger says about these "sons of God" in Appendix 23 to The Companion Bible:

It is only by the Divine specific act of creation that any created being can be called "a son of God." For that which is "born of the flesh is flesh." God is spirit and that which is "born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). Hence Adam is called a "son of God" in Luke 3:38…

This is why angels are called "sons of God" in every other place where the expression is used in the Old Testament. Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Ps. 29:1; 89:6; Dan. 3:25 (no art.). We have no authority or right to take the expression in Gen. 6:4 in any other sense. Moreover in Gen. 6:2 the Sept. renders it "angels". (Appendixes to the Companion Bible p. 26-27)

Genesis 6:1-2 contrasts the “sons of God” with “man,” implying that these are non-human beings. Genesis 6:1 says that “man began to multiply” and “daughters were born to them.” The Hebrew word for “man” (adam) is the generic term for mankind, as used in Genesis 5:1-2. Nothing in the text suggests that only “some” men (either ungodly men or kings) were having children in Genesis 6:1. Rather, the “sons of God” (6:2) are contrasted with “man”—thus the “sons of God” were distinct from “man” and were marrying daughters of all mankind. The “sons of God” must therefore be non-human beings of some sort.

Immediately following the reference to intermarriage, Yahweh says He will judge man because he is “flesh” (Genesis 6:3), implying that humans were trying to become more than normal “flesh” by marrying spirit beings. Yahweh says, “My Spirit shall certainly not remain among these men for ever, because they are flesh, but their days shall be an hundred and twenty years”. This implies that verses 1-2 refer to humans trying to become more than normal human “flesh” and live “forever”. Humans were going along with the intermarriage with spirit beings in the quest for immortality. Yahweh says He will not put up with this because humans are mortal (“flesh”), and He therefore decreases their maximum lifespan to 120 years. Alternately the reference to 120 years could also mean He will wipe them out with a flood in 120 years. Starting with Genesis 11, lifespans steadily declined and it became rare that anyone exceeds 120 years of age.

The context implies that the Nephilim were the resulting offspring of spirit beings and humans. The Nephilim (Hebrew נְּפִלִ֞ים, “fallen ones;” the Greek LXX has γίγαντες, “giants”) are mysterious characters—“the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.” The text does not explain how the Nephilim got there. It simply says “The Nephilim were upon the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God went into the daughters of humankind, and they bore children to them”, implying a relationship between their appearance in those days and the intermarriage with of daughters of humankind with spirit beings. It is unclear how these mighty men of renown came about if they were not the product of intermarriage between spirit beings and humans.

Turning to the New Testament, let's examine what Jude and Peter said about the fallen angels in the New Testament with the help of Appendix 23 of The Companion Bible mentioned above:

Jude 6:6-7 And the angels who did not keep to their own domain but deserted their proper dwelling place, he has kept in eternal bonds under deep gloom for the judgment of the great day. As Sodom and Gomorrah and the towns around them indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire in the same way as these, are exhibited as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. Lexham English Bible (LEB)

2 Peter 2:4-5 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but held them captive in Tartarus with chains of darkness and handed them over to be kept for judgment, and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a proclaimer of righteousness, and seven others when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly. Lexham English Bible (LEB)

1 Peter 3:19-20 in which also he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, who were formerly disobedient, when the patience of God waited in the days of Noah, while an ark was being constructed, in which a few—that is, eight souls—were rescued through water. Lexham English Bible (LEB)

That there was a fall of the angels is certain from Jude 6. The nature of their fall is clearly stated in the same verse. They left their own oiketerion. This word occurs only in 2 Cor. 5:2 and Jude 6, where it is used of the spiritual (or resurrection) body.

The nature of their sin is stated to be “in the same way” to that of the subsequent sins of Sodom and Gomorrha. For this sin they are "reserved unto judgment” and are “in prison”. Their progeny, called Nephilim (translated “giants”), were monsters of iniquity; and, being superhuman in size and character, had to be destroyed (see Appendix 25). Only Noah and his family had preserved their pedigree pure from Adam (Genesis 6:9). The Nephilim’s gene pool was inherently corrupt. The rest of mankind had become “corrupt” to, as in genetically corrupt. The only remedy was to destroy creation (de facto), as it had become destroyed (de jure).

The one and only object of the Flood was then to destroy de facto the corrupted gene pool of the Nephilim, mankind, and all other living creatures (as the fallen angels engaged in genetically re-engineering animals too).

The primary objection of Christians to the traditional view of Genesis 6:1-4 is that Yeshua teaches that angels do not marry. However, the Bible never rules out the sexual capabilities of spirit beings/angels. There is a great deal revealed in the Bible about angels. Angels could and did assume human form and even eat men's food (see Genesis 18-19). Although the Bible doesn't tell us how, Jude 6 shows that some angels left their proper abode (their spiritual bodies) and took on fleshly bodies so as to marry and produce offspring by the daughters of men.

While Yeshua did imply that angels do not marry or have sexual relations, notice that Yeshua only speaks of angels in heaven and not of fallen angels on earth - “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.” (Matthew 22:30). Yeshua says nothing about the sexual capabilities of angels, leaving open the possibility that they are capable of sexual relations but refrain from such in heaven.

In a similar passage in Luke 20:34, Yeshua’s primary purpose was to affirm the reality of the resurrection to the questioning Sadducees, who did not believe that there would be a resurrection. As you can clearly see from Luke's account of this confrontation, Yeshua made two points about the age to come: (1) Resurrected humans will not marry, and (2) resurrected humans will be given eternal life, which the holy angels now have. Interpreting these verses to mean that angels have never been able to marry or procreate reads more into them than was intended by Yeshua.

And last, the Sodom and Gomorrah story implies that angels have sexual capabilities. At least they were perceived as such by the Sodomites who wanted to rape them (Genesis 19:5).

And last but not least, apocryphal books of which numerous fragmented copies were found within the Dead Sea Scrolls also attest to the traditional view that the “sons of God” were spirit beings who mated with human women and produced the Nephilim. These include: The Book of Enoch, The Book of Jubilees, Book of Giants, and The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs. These sources clearly tell us that the “fallen angels” (originally called “Watchers”) brought with them knowledge which humanity did not have beforehand. This knowledge led to a rapid advance of the antediluvian society in terms of arts and sciences and to rapid decline in terms of obedience and moral values. It also positioned the fallen angels for reverence and worship by mankind. This knowledge included advanced art of warfare, metallurgy, jewelry/ornament making, face beautifying techniques, enchantments and magic, astrology, astronomy, climate understanding, and more.

These sources confirm that the objective of the Flood was the destruction of the polluted human and animal bloodlines and the eradication of the forbidden knowledge that humanity had learned from the fallen host.

Book of Jubilees 5:1-7 And it came to pass when the children of men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born unto them, that the angels of God saw them on a certain year of this jubilee, that they were beautiful to look upon; and they took themselves wives of all whom they chose, and they bare unto them sons and they were giants. And lawlessness increased on the earth and all flesh corrupted its way, alike men and cattle and beasts and birds and everything that walks on the earth -all of them corrupted their ways and their orders, and they began to devour each other, and lawlessness increased on the earth and every imagination of the thoughts of all men (was) thus evil continually. And God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt, and all flesh had corrupted its orders, and all that were upon the earth had wrought all manner of evil before His eyes. And He said that He would destroy man and all flesh upon the face of the earth which He had created. But Noah found grace before the eyes of the Lord. And against the angels whom He had sent upon the earth, He was exceedingly wroth, and He gave commandment to root them out of all their dominion, and He bade us to bind them in the depths of the earth, and behold they are bound in the midst of them, and are (kept) separate. And against their sons went forth a command from before His face that they should be smitten with the sword, and be removed from under heaven.

Book of Jubilees 4:21-24 And he [Enoch] was moreover with the angels of God these six jubilees of years, and they showed him everything which is on earth and in the heavens, the rule of the sun, and he wrote down everything. And he testified to the Watchers, who had sinned with the daughters of men; for these had begun to unite themselves, so as to be defiled, with the daughters of men, and Enoch testified against (them) all. And on account of it God brought the waters of the flood upon all the land…

To summarize, the evidence that "the sons of God" mentioned in Genesis 6 are fallen angels is substantial. By their disobedience, these angels produced offspring which were strong and violent. These offspring are mentioned throughout the Bible in relation to the conquest of the Promised Land. The concept of a race of giants which resulted from the union of gods and humans is virtually universal in the world's early civilizations.

The knowledge they brought with them and taught mankind caused society to develop at a rapid technological pace. This societal development was not positive, and it gave rise to a very violent society, one in which the nephilim apparently played a large role. Yahweh restrained the wicked angels in the Abyss, and cleansed the earth of them and the violence they brought with the great Flood. You may read more about them, their fall, their sins, their offspring, and the destruction they brought on creation, in The Book of Enoch.

The original intent of the angels may have only been to satisfy their forbidden lust. However, I am of the opinion that their appearance on the scene represents Satan's first (but not last) attempt to prevent the coming of the Seed of the woman foretold in Genesis 3:15.

"Wisdom calls out in the streets, in the squares she raises her voice." (Proverbs 1:20)