Last week’s sermon passage introduced us to the Nephilim, who are described as ‘heroes of old, men of renown’ (Gen 6:4). These heroes have long puzzled and delighted readers of the Bible, as the seem like the stuff of movies; not history. So who are the Nephilim?
To begin with, they appear in connection to ‘the sons of God’, who saw that ‘the daughters of humans were beautiful’, and ‘married any of them they chose’ (Gen 6:2). So who are these ‘sons of God’ and ‘daughters of humans’? The most common hypothesis is they are angels (or other heavenly beings) having marital (and therefore sexual) relations with humans. So what are we to make of this?
To begin with, nowhere else in Scripture is it even hinted at that angels would, or even could, have such relationships with humans. If Gen 6:2 is referring to angelic-human relationships, it is the only time in Scripture.
Second, the text does not say the Nephilim are the offspring of these forbidden relationships, only that they were ‘on the earth in those days’. The fact that the Nephilim were also on the earth ‘afterwards’ (i.e. after Noah’s flood had wiped out everyone except Noah) suggests the Nephilim are simply men, albeit with standout abilities.
Rather, the context of Gen 6 suggests the ‘sons of God’ were descendants from the godly line of Seth (Gen 5), while the ‘daughters of men’ were descendants from the ungodly line of Cain (Gen 4:17-24). God’s followers are called ‘sons of God’ elsewhere in Scripture (e.g. Deut 14:1), and God forbids believers to marry non-believers elsewhere in Scripture too (e.g. Deut 7:3; 2 Cor 6:14-18). These verses do not require the ‘fantasy’ interpretation many bestow upon them. Yet it suggests that Noah’s flood was due to unevenly yoked marriages.
As such, the Nephilim are simply heroic humans who roamed the earth before and after Noah’s flood.
