Hey Uncle John,
The topic came up in my Biblical Hebrew class today of the first section of Genesis 6. I had a couple of questions about it.
1) Who are the “sons of God”? I thought that they were just men, but in 6:4 it makes it seem like they were not just men.
2) At the beginning of verse 4 the word that’s translated as ‘giants’ in the KJV is from naphal – to fall. Dr. XXX seemed to think that these, literally, “fallen ones” were the offspring it then talked about who came from the son of God who went in unto the daughters of men. He brought up Achilles, Gilgamesh, etc, who were part god as examples. Is there even a chance that before the flood heavenly beings were allowed to go in unto the daughters of men?
Hope that came across right,
Atn.
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Hi Aaron!
How’s college treating you? No, wait… You just told me.
Yes, at first glance, it does seem to be the way your professor said, but “it ain’t necessarily so.” The “giants” were only extra-sized men, such as Goliath, who lived much later but was 10-12 feet tall, and very muscular. He was no “bean-pole” basketball player. The myth-makers of the ancient world, such as Homer, made use of their knowledge of pre-diluvian “giants” and “mighty men”, and devised fables of mighty men such as Hector. You may recall that we read about Hector, who in the battle for ancient Troy, lifted and threw huge stones which, Homer tells us, “ten(?) strong men could not now lift.”
Remember, Aaron, the pre-diluvian world was of a different order from the world that exists now, after the Flood. What God did to this earth, and to heaven, made it seem like a different planet to Noah when he and his family disembarked from the Ark. Before the Flood, men really did live hundreds of years, and there is no reason to doubt that some of them grew to an extraordinary size.
Secondly, we know that “the sons of God” were not fallen angels (as many ancient Hebrew and many early Christian teachers taught) because Jesus said plainly that the angels “neither marry nor are given in marriage.” The “sons of God”, then, must have been humans who were upright but were led astray by “the daughters of men”. That is the story of God’s people throughout the Bible. Nothing unusual there at all.
Finally, I can tell you that you will be wasting your time if you try to convince a college Professor of those simple truths. But if you just want to start a controversy for the fun of it, have at it! And please let me know how it goes. What your professor told you about Genesis 6 is standard fare among the intelligentsia, especially the those of the theological ilk.
But what they are missing, and what you will need if you are going to survive “the craftiness of men”, is experience with the power of God. The first time I really felt the creative power of God, understanding was created within me, which nothing else can put in a heart, that it was nothing to God to create this universe, destroy it, and redesign it. The real knowledge of God comes from experience with His power, not from the Bible or even from receiving the holy Spirit at conversion. Pursue that power, Aaron, and you will live. If you fail to pursue it, you will become a proud fool just like others who have received a few blessings and gifts from God and began to admire themselves.
Pastor John
PS By the way — and you might want to double check me on this — but I believe that Hebrew word nephalim (from naphal) is used in reference to extra-sized men later in the Bible, and not just here in Genesis 6.
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Hey… just to challenge you in a way that some might… and using your reasoning — why couldn’t God have decided that angels cannot marry AFTER the flood. I mean, maybe that was one of the big changes from before the flood to after the flood!
Also, since angels aren’t the only heavenly beings, maybe it was another type of heavenly being?
Bekah
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(1) Maybe you’re right.
(2) Maybe you’re right.
But do you really think so? I know you don’t. It just doesn’t have that witness which the Spirit gives to all truth. As you have learned (I see), being in the seminary atmosphere where you are, some of the simplest truths about God can be made to appear complex, and even wrong, by the strict use of fallen man’s logic.
jdc
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Thanks, simple sure is good. I’m really missing the Hebrew classes you did with Damien, Gary, and I. There was such a pure, clean, simple feeling as we went through the Hebrew and talked about it. After almost every one of these Hebrew classes, I have to go home and take a bath to feel right again.
Goodness. Oh, also today he also was giving examples of how Israel had gone astray from God over and over again, and he said something like, “And Hosea even married a harlot!” Like Hosea had really sinned by doing what God had told him to…geez. I’m so glad I have a pretty good knowledge of the Old Testament. If I didn’t, I would be completely lost as they brought up all their weird gobbly-goop.
Whew,
Atn.
