Daughters of Men

Mother: So in preparation for our discussion of "Joan of the Ark" (borrowed from M) or Mrs. Noah, we started with the beginning of  Genesis Chapter 6 which reads:

 Sons of God and Daughters of Men

6 When mankind began to multiply on the earth and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful, and they took any they chose as wives^[a] for themselves. ³ And the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain^[b] with^[c] mankind forever, because they are corrupt.^[d] Their days will be 120 years.” ⁴ The Nephilim^[e] were on the earth both in those days and afterward, when the sons of God came to the daughters of mankind, who bore children to them. They were the powerful men of old, the famous men.

  We began to discuss who these men and women were and we decided to discuss this instead of Noah's wife and daughter- in-laws. Though we will cover this topic in our next post. So discussing the origins of these Nephilim... I am of the mindset that these were of the Godly line of Seth and they began to inter-marry with the ungodly line of Cain.

Daughter: I don't know about that mom. If the Nephilim were just the ungodly line of Cain mixed with the godly line of Seth then why not just say that? Why call them Nephilim? The word "Nephilim" is related to the verb series “to fall” in Hebrew, Aswers in Genesis, So wouldn't it make more sense that  they were angels who had fallen??? Something else to take note of is that these Nephilim were also mentioned later in the Bible suggesting that maybe Noah's daughter-in-laws might have also given birth to Nephilim babies since no one, except for those upon the ark, survived the flood.

Numbers 13:33

³³ We even saw the Nephilim^[a] there—the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim! To ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and we must have seemed the same to them.”

Another note on this passage. It says here that the Nephilim were giants. So how then would giants come from a mix of a Godly and ungodly line.

Mother: Okay but what if they were meaning they were amazingly talented, "giants among men"

John Gill's Commentary stated that he believed: " Sons of God" were not angels either good or bad, as many have thought, since they are incorporeal beings, and cannot be affected with fleshly lusts, or marry and be given in marriage, or generate and be generated;

 Which means he believes they couldn't have children or reproduce. If a godly man (or woman) marries outside of the faith it is possible that their offspring might still become men/women of renown yet not be pleasing to God.  I believe that the passage is saying this, Godly men, where led away by the beauty of the women of the ungodly. They became so enamored with the worldly fun that the others were having they gave up following after God. This would explain why there were so few men and women that God could look at and find pleasing. I am not sure about the reason why these men were so tall, or made to seem like giants.  Genetics maybe?

 Daughter: Interesting points, however, that doesn't explain why they were called Nephilim. Personally I think that, since in Numbers 13:33 it explains they were as giants and then earlier in  Genesis 6 it says they were "the powerful men of old, the famous men,", Greek mythology and mythology across the world was based off of these Nephilim. For in all lies there is a sliver of truth. From every fact comes a story. Since these "gods" were rumored to have powers though wouldn't it make sense that maybe just maybe they were born of angels.

Mother: My problem is Angel's are spirit beings, and they do not marry.  Although that isn't saying that fallen Angels don't marry.  It would be interesting to read the book of Enoch and see what he thought.   I think we could go on forever trying to discern this, but what can we take away from the text? What is God trying to teach us by adding this particular passage to His word?

Daughter: I learned that even angels, fallen though they might be, look and lust based upon appearances. It seems that in this time only God looked upon the heart. I also learned how to connect other religions back to the original God. Seems to me that every time we make mistakes something new and worse pops up in the worlds history, and man always makes up some new religion to remove his guilt from not following after the one true God.

Mother: We all seem to be caught up in outward appearances, and as you said God looks on the heart. It seems sinful to me to think that the beautiful Angels that God created could fall in love with mere women. I also notice that even back then parents were raising their children without the fear of the Lord, without honoring Him. I like what Matthew Henry says on this passage regarding the Son's of God:

Family religion is put an end to, and the children are trained up according to the worldly maxims of that parent who is without the fear of God. If we profess to be the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, we must not marry without his consent. He will never give his blessing, if we prefer beauty, wit, wealth, or worldly honours, to faith and holiness. 

So remember to keep your heart in God's precious care. Allow Him to choose the man of faith He has for you.  Honor Him first and He will guide your steps.

So next week we do Noah's wife and daughters?

Daughter: Yep!