The Sons of God and the Daughters of Men (6.1-4)

Genesis 6.1. The function of these verses is to link the genealogy of Adam in the preceding chapter with the following event. Chapter 5 focuses only on the sons born before the flood, while Genesis 6.1 focuses on the daughters born to men. To say the least, Genesis 6.1-4 has been and appears to remain a baffling passage of Scripture. Some questions that are often asked include: Does this story indicate the reason for the judgment that follows the story, i.e., the flood? Who are the sons of God? What does it mean for God to say “My spirit shall not contend with man forever…”? Who are the Nephilim? Are they the same or different from “the mighty men?” Were the Nephilim contemporary with the mentioned cohabitation or the product of such cohabitation? There have been many answers to questions such as these.

The author of Genesis 1-11, traditionally held to be Moses, intended to produce a readable story for the first readers. This story was to demonstrate the increase of wickedness that occurred after the fall of man. He had interest in the reader knowing that God had created everything good and that nothing evil could be laid at the feet of God. Evil had not come from God but had occurred when man decided to disobey God.

The effects of evil started with Adam and Eve, continued with Cain with the murder [click to continue…]

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