Wednesday 03/15/17
Message – The Sons of God Part 2
Series: Thru the Bible – Genesis 6
Podcast: Download (109.6MB)
Worksheet – HERE.
Genesis 6
“(4) The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and afterwards, when the sons of God came to the daughters of man, who bore children to them. They were the mighty men of old, men of renown.”
This is a very, very KEY passage in our reaching a conclusion of the three possible interpretations.
Notice that the Nephilim (or Giants) were on the earth BEFORE the “sons of God” came to the “daughters of men”. The Nephilim were therefore NOT the result of this union, but existed PRIOR to it…this is of MAJOR importance!
The offspring of the evil union was mighty men of reputation. This means they were “strong or powerful men of name” – meaning famous or at least very well known. Men of renown or “name” is the same phrase God used of Abram in Genesis 12:2, “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.”
Nothing here lends any more support to one interpretation than another. The only thing it does is dismantle the argument that angels mating with humans created giants which God destroyed in the flood.
This would be obvious on other grounds as well since, Nephilim are recorded in scripture as being born AFTER the flood as well. So if they were the product of Angels mating with humans – then it happened again AFTER the flood and God did nothing about it the second time – See Number 13:33.
God see and judges:
“(5) When the LORD saw that man’s wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time, (6) the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. (7) Then the LORD said, “I will wipe off the face of the earth: man, whom I created, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky–for I regret that I made them.” (8) Noah, however, found favor in the eyes of the LORD.”
This is one of the saddest passages in all of scripture and yet, one of the most hopeful!
Now, it would not be fair to leave out the other supports people use for the “sons of God” being angel’s argument.
Those who support that view claim that, the phrase “sons of God”, clearly refers to angelic creatures when it is used the three other times in the Old Testament – namely:
- Job 1:6, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.”
- Job 2:1, “Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.”
- Job 38:7, “When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
Concerning the first two references – the words “to present themselves before the Lord” means to stand before Him, presenting themselves as if for approval. It hints at an annual place and time when judgment took place.
It “appears” very much like a roll call in the military. The bugle sounds and all the soldiers line up to “present themselves” to the captain for inspection. Is their uniform pressed, shoes polished, rifles cleaned and so on….
We’ve already supposed that an annual inspection before the Lord may have been what Abel and Cain were observing in Genesis 4. That God does not change, and that He later required this in the law calling it the Day of Atonement – would seem to support this possibility as a thing God expected out of man since the fall and was taught to him by Adam and Eve who themselves received it from God. As such the need to “appear” before God annually would have been passed down from the descendants of Seth, down to Noah and onward.
However, do we see a precedence for angel’s presenting themselves annually before the Lord for inspection or any other reason?
I personally know of no place in scripture where any such ritual is ever observed. However, those who support this view would direct our attention to 1 Kings 22:19-23.
1Kings 22:19-23,
“(19) Then Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His right hand and on His left. (20) And the LORD said, ‘Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner. (21) Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will persuade him.’ (22) The LORD said to him, ‘In what way?’ So he said, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And the LORD said, ‘You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.’ (23) Therefore look! The LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the LORD has declared disaster against you.”
A fair reading of this text would not lead us to conclude that this was an annual gathering to present themselves before the Lord. Based solely upon the text, it would seem this gathering was either prompted by the actions of King Ahab OR was an ongoing assembly which never ended where God presides over the actions of mankind continually.
In either case – nothing “annual” is so much as suggested and what is being presented is evidence for a judgment of man NOT angels.
If this is simply angels coming before the Lord for annual marching orders, as is suggested by some commentators – this is again, the sole example of it and therefore cannot be used to prove itself. Such would be circular reasoning.
Regarding the last verse found in Job 38:7, certainly nothing in the words implies either angels OR men and it is admittedly a difficult verse.
The only reference to angels in that verse could be “stars” though that is a bit of a stretch. While we know that the word “stars” is used as a metaphor for angels a few times in scripture, the term “morning star” is only used in reference to Jesus and Lucifer before his fall. Lucifer was NOT an angel, but a covering Cherub. To say that this naturally would extend to angels is not a logical assumption. To compare an angel to a cherub is, so far as we know, like comparing a bird to a horse. They are clearly different species, look different and serve entirely different purposes.
Now this verse is said to be an example of synonymous parallelism – which is a poetic device used in Hebrew literature where two phrases say the same thing in a slightly different way.
IF this is true, then I can see where in this one example the morning stars “could be” angels or Cherubs and that therefore, in this one reference alone, they are called “sons of God” in their unfallen state. The basis for this being called parallelism however, is NOT the structure of the verse but the assumption that stars and sons are the same people. So it is still a weak argument.
So at best this verse could mean that the angels were singing and the sons of God shouted for joy, but it still does not nail down who the sons of God were with any certainty.
Now some of the Septuagint manuscripts translates these verses AND the one in Genesis as angels, and while that does give some support, the Jewish people were clearly divided on the issue since Judaism at large, interprets Genesis 6:2 as princes or nobles.
Jesus and the apostles did in fact use the Septuagint quite a lot, but that was more because they were Greek speaking than because they agreed with every translated word in the text. It is noteworthy, that they also quoted from the original Hebrew many times as well – so their use of the Septuagint is not precisely a broad stroke endorsement of the translation as a whole.
Finally there are 2 more references to look at both of which appear in the tiny book of Jude…
In order to understand this passage, we need to know what Jude was talking about and WHY he brought us angels in verse 6.
Now this gets a little involved, and I am sorry for that, but any objective study of scripture is likely to take you on a noteworthy trek through the scriptures and is necessary for responsible interpretation, so…strap yourselves in.
Let’s read Jude 3-11,
“(3) Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
(4) For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
(5) But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
(6) And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;
(7) as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
(8) Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.
(9) Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
(10) But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.
(11) Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.”
There is a lot here but the message is pretty simple.
Jude is addressing believers who have been infiltrated by unbelievers who themselves are teaching destructive lies, practicing lewd behavior and denying the authority of God.
He later says something similar about these “creepy people” in verses 8-10 by saying they defile themselves, reject authority, speak evil of and accuse those in authority, they corrupt themselves and perish.
So when Jude offers examples of these kinds of people and their behavior he points to three things:
- The Israelites who left Egypt but then walked in unbelief – who God destroyed.
- The angels who did not maintain their God given assignments but revolted by leaving heaven – who God has reserved for punishment (See Matt. 8:29)
- The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah who forsook the God ordained order of sexual conduct having many partners – some of which were of the same gender.
These all are different sins but share a common root – that of rebellion against authority!
The reason those who believe the “sons of God” are “angels” point to these verse is entirely due to a few words in verse 7. In particular the words are “In like manner” & “strange flesh”.
What they are trying to connect theologically, is the sin of the angels with the sins of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. However Jude does that FOR us and reveals that all those in the list held something in common – and it wasn’t the expression of their sin – it was the rebellious root of their sin.
Also, 2 Peter 2:1-11 is a nearly perfect mirror of these verses and it comes to the same conclusion. I will not read it here but you can follow up on it yourselves.
Finally the last example offered is found in Jude 1:14-15,
“(14) Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, (15) to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
No – there is NO mention of angels being “sons of God” here, BUT Jude is here quoting from the non-canonical book of Enoch which of itself is a little problematic since there are GOOD reasons why this book is NOT included it the canon of scripture.
It is in this book of Enoch which Jude quotes from, which mentions the idea that angels mated with human females and they offer this as support for their position.
However, we know that this book mentions things which are CLEARLY not biblical…not the least of which is immediately connected to the passage where angels are said to have mated with human females.
I will read it for you, it is found in Enoch 69:1-11 which is picking up a narrative where angels have interfered with mankind…
“69:1 After this judgment, they shall frighten them and make them scream because they have shown this knowledge of secret things to those who dwell on the earth.
69:2 Now behold, I am naming the names of those angels! These are their names: The first of them is ….(he names the 21 angels)…
69:3 These are the chiefs of their angels, their names, their centurions, their chiefs over fifties, and their chiefs over tens.
69:4 The name of the first is Yeqon; he is the one who misled all the children of the angels, brought them down upon the earth, and perverted them by the daughters of the people. (Here it was Yeqon – not satan that led the rebellion and who perverted the angels by the daughters of the people – rather than the daughters by the angels)
69:5 The second was named Asb’el; he is the one who gave the children of the kodesh angels an evil counsel and misled them so that they would defile their bodies by the daughters of the people. (a second angel who is said to have led in a orgy with human women)
69:6 The third was named Gader’el; this one is he who showed the children of the people all the blows of death, who misled Eve, who showed the children of the people how to make the instruments of death such as the shield, the breastplate, and the sword for warfare, and all the other instruments of death to the children of the people.
(here an Gader’el is credited with deceiving Eve and teaching the sons of Cain metallurgy)
69:7 Through their agency death proceeds against the people who dwell upon the earth, from that day forevermore.
69:8 The fourth is named Pinem’e; this one demonstrated to the children of the people the bitter and the sweet and revealed to them all the secrets of their wisdom.
69:9 Furthermore he caused the people to penetrate the secret of writing and the use of ink and paper; on account of this matter, there are many who have erred from eternity to eternity, until this very day.
69:10 For human beings are not created for such purposes to take up their beliefs with pen and ink.” (Here an angelic leader named Pinem’e is credited with teaching humans the knowledge of good and evil, as well as how to write. Enoch goes on to condemn all writing of one’s beliefs with pen and ink since he claims it is contrary to our God given purpose. Of course he fails to address why it is okay for him to write down his beliefs. Lol)
So you can see this book is loaded with garbage. That isn’t to say that it does not contain several things which are true – thus the quote here in Jude, but that can hardly be considered an endorsement of all this book says.
I might quote from Cicero’s Pro Milone “in times of war the law falls silent” as an endorsement of David and those with him entering the tabernacle and eating the showbread which was only permitted by law for the priests to eat. I might even qualify my quote of Cicero and the title of the book to offer credit and reference, but such could hardly be taken as an endorsement of the rest of his published work.
Some of the accurate statements in Enoch seem traceable to the Old Testament as a source and this one quote Jude uses is one of them – it seems to be taken from a prophecy of Daniel written in Daniel 7:9-11.
Nearly every reputable literary scholar dates Enoch as a book divided up into sections where the first part of the book is dated as being no older than 300BC and the later sections no later than 100BC. So he would be in a position to quote the WHOLE Old Testament – but nothing in the Old Testament could possibly have come from this book.
It has also been suggested that Jude was simply quoting – a quote of a quote – which mentioned the opening phrase of the book of Enoch, “Enoch the 7th from Adam” in order to make a play on the context of his letter.
One last suggestion might be that the contents of the book of Enoch might correspond to the errors being addressed in Jude, which may have led to Jude using the quote as a form of satire or sarcasm to illustrate a point – but I’d have to read the book of Enoch to be sure.
Conclusions:
For the record it is the official belief of this church and your Pastor that the sons of God are in fact the sons of Seth for the following reasons….
- It is the most simplistic and natural conclusion given the evidence of the all texts in Bible which mention “the sons of God” with the possible exception of Job 38.
- There is NO connection between this event and the existence of the giants (Nephilim).
- God’s command was that things were restricted to only reproducing after their own kind. If God commanded this – no one can alter it. See Rev. 3:7
- God is the ONLY Creator – John 1:3; Rev. 4;11.
In order for angels to be able to procreate with humans, angels HAD to have creative power, the ability to break the species barrier which God established by His power and somehow translate “angel” DNA into a physical form encapsulated in genetically compatible sperm. No such power is ever even HINTED at in scripture as belonging to ANY being other than God.
5. We actually HAVE proof that God feels strongly about mixed marriages between the godly and the ungodly. – See Deut. 7:3-6; Ezra 9; 2 Cor. 6:14-18.
a) In fact 2 Cor. 6 says it is a condition of being called God’s sons and daughters!”
6. Hebrews 1:5 says, “To which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you” And again, “I will be to him a Father and he shall be to me a son.”? The intended answer to this rhetorical question is none and never!
Finally, and I saved this until last since it doesn’t have a direct impact on the three interpretations of who the “sons of God” were, but it does directly speak to some of the “support” people offer for the idea that they were angels who mated with humans.
The word Nephilim has more than one meaning. The primary meaning is a bully or a tyrant. If translated into modern phraseology we would translate it as “larger than life“. While it “can” also mean GIANT – it is only used this way metaphorically and in the plural. The Hebrew language however, has at its disposal a word that only means giant Rapha. Therefore, IF this passage in Genesis 6 were intended to cause us to believe these people were actually giants, God (Who dictated Genesis to Moses in the desert) almost certainly would have used that word to avoid confusion.
Given these proofs and the lack of solid, convincing proof for the other two positions, it is the most responsible interpretation of the texts.
For more on this exegesis of Genesis 6:2 see – http://biblehub.com/commentaries/genesis/6-2.htm
…Blessings!
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