The Sons of God

[Tom Tighe]

The Nephilim in Chapter 6 (although this version doesn't use this name) are the offspring of the 'sons of God and the daughters of man.' They were mighty men of renown and perhaps giants. They appear to be the cause of the corruption, maybe spiritually and/or physically, that necessitated the flood. Very few words describe this unusual and catastrophic time in man's history. Ive heard 2 theories on this that differ on the meaning of 'son of God' , one is a considerably better movie script.

1. The sons of God are 'direct creations of God, so probably angels or demons (fallen angels). They produce a race of giant man-(fallen)angel hybrids of which God does NOT approve. God certainly goes after giants with a vengeance in Joshua's conquest of Canaan. The giants appear to be renown for behaving badly and corrupt man's behavior and possibly his genetics. It is interesting to me, but not at all Biblically supported, that the Nephilim kinda sound like characters from Greek and Roman mythology.

2. After Cain kills Abel, his line continues in his footsteps. Cain's son Enoch pridefully names a city after himself. Then in 5 generations Lamech is the first documented polygamist and boasted that he killed a man and was 11 times more vengeful or bad-assed than Cain was. Cain's descendants follow their own desires and earthly ways and could be considered the "line of men" that have (naughty?) daughters of men?
Seth's line also has an Enoch, but he is a different guy. This Enoch "walked with God", and followed God's ways so fervently that God takes him straight to heaven without dying. This Enoch was also Noah's great-grandfather. Seth's descendants carefully followed God and could therefore be considered 'sons of God.' This theory has the corruption of man being moving away from God and toward bad behavior, maybe paganism. This is easier to grasp, but doesn't explain the giants.