Sons of God and Daughters of Men
A Non-mythical View of Genesis 6
1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. 3 And the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." 4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. 5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Introduction
Years ago my wife and I bought a copy of the New Paraphrased Bible and used it for our daily table devotions, hoping that it would be easier for the children to understand. And it was, but when we came to Genesis 6, I was quite confused, because the paraphraser had read into the passage so much mythology that I could not reconcile the implications of what he was saying with what I knew the Bible taught about God in general. I knew there needed to be an explanation, and now after so many years I think I understand.The Problem
Probably every born again child of God shakes his head and wonders if there is a contradiction in the Bible when they read this passage which seems to reduce the authority and power of God the omnipotent and only Creator. Heaven forbid that there can be other creators also. That is the problem, that the Almighty God could be reduced to One of many creators. And if so, what can we really trust? I know that faith can work and keep us even when we do not understand, but I also know that faith is not unreasonable or ungrounded. Even blind faith is based on the fact that there is sight and understanding.Conflicting Historical Cultures
As we read the Bible we see the wide disparity between God’s value system and man’s. No doubt this is what God had in mind when He gave us the Bible, that we should recognize how far short we have fallen from the glory of God. And since this is so we should not be surprised when the culture of a nation reflects the fear of the Lord that the individuals of that nation have. History and historians tell us in general terms and in specific instances how the rise and fall of national societies corresponds with their respect for the God of Creation. Abraham and Moses were called to come out of the world that was forgetting God. They were given an authentic account of human history right from the beginning and from the Creator’s point of view. Even though most of the history as Moses would write it was the same in general as the oral traditions and myths of the day, there was a big difference, that God Himself who had seen it all inspired Moses to record the full and correct version of it. As fundamental evangelicals we believe that the Bible in its totality is fully inspired of God and that the writer of each part of it used the very words God gave him.Probably without inspiration Moses would have been confused as to which version of the oral creation stories was the best. His mother would certainly have taught him a lot of Hebrew lore in the 4 years she nurtured him, and no doubt he heard many different accounts during his next 36 years being tutored to be a pharaonic leader. But when he wrote the Torah it was different from anything before it in that it was authenticated by God who had seen it all, and it was written instead of oral, so that it could not be changed by being retold over and over.
However, the other nations did not have this advantage. We are told they did not want to retain God, and according to their histories they did not. Their lore and oral traditions decayed and in many cases were manipulated to the advantage of their leaders. False spiritual leaders soon found that they could exert greater control by keeping the general populace ignorant and superstitious. Egyptian hieroglyphics is an example of this intentional deception, for that picture based alphabet has only recently been understood enough to read what the uninitiated were never expected to know.
The Greek culture also depended on the superstition that its spiritual leaders fostered and made up. One cannot read any part of famous Greek literature without noting how obsessed everybody was with finding wild stories and unseen beings to explain natural events and nature in general. It is one story after another about how ordinary men who won contests or battles became gods to their grandchildren and so on.
In our culture we see Mother Nature is mentioned in ways that subtly teach our children that the earth mother is uncreated and independent from God. Other nations had different cultures with manipulative leaders who feared that the true God would interfere with their moral failures and depose them.
Although Israel was in the midst of all this, the Israelites were to be different. They were to be a testimony to the true God by being like Him. They could have been, and they should have been, but they failed when they forgot the God who made them, the God who brought them out of Egypt and through the forty years in the wilderness.
Eastern and Western Mythology
When we depend on anthropomorphisms, mythological lore and analogous stories about the past, it does not take many oral repetitions before the accounts become suspect. This is probably more so now than in a society that did not generally use written correspondence and records, but over time it happened. And in order to keep their nationalities distinct and different, they needed different stories of their origin and different deities. If we take India as an example and if we did not know the authentic story of creation, how would we distinguish between the multitude of creation myths and creators that we encounter there? There would be no way of telling which one is right among the many. No wonder then that we hear that they are all right..The Greeks had their stories too. Very early their culture became honored as elite and enlightened judging by their literature and the way they despised other cultures as barbarian. And this cultural pride continued after their national fall. In contrast the Romans with all their mighty armies and conquests were considered rude and uncivilized as compared to the Greeks, and this was the opinion of Roman leaders, not only of their enemies.
Our western culture has been influenced greatly by Athenian literature because we have been taught to admire their experiment with democracy and evolution. Freedom first of all from the absolutes of only one God for creation, and then freedom from ever reporting to Him. For this they made up their own myths from altered historic facts, superstitious part truths.
Jewish Orthodox Rabbis
The Jews, however had no such privileges of altering their history. The written words of Moses leave no alternates to the Bible story of Creation and the God who engineered it all, and who still takes a personal interest in everything He has created. The prophets give us plenty of confirmation that those who try to distort the inspired record are fighting against the supreme creator God, and He will judge them.
The orthodox view of angels in Jesus day is presented fairly by Josephus the historian who was almost a contemporary of Paul. The opposing false mystical Cabalistic views are rebuked by Paul in Colossians 2:18 where he says, "Let no man rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and worshipping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind."
Josephus and Philo
Against the background of history of great national powers, and during the rule of Rome we have writers and their books apart from the Bible that survive which show us how great this contrast was seen to be in their day. Josephus and Philo the Jew both lived about that time, and they belabour the differences between superstition and fact, between academics and utility, between God centered values and other (multi) cultures. These books, which are classed as secular history, are based on absolutes; that absolutely nothing is unrelated to God and His purposes and character. In their understanding God was just as much God of the other nations as He was of Israel, and just as interested in their conduct and people.Josephus wrote his long work specifically to those of influence in Rome to show them how superior the Jewish culture and its values were in comparison to Grecian myths. He hoped that they would carefully compare his book on the antiquities of the Jews with the Greek fables, knowing that the Jewish story was not recent nor self contradictory as was Athenian literature. He had seen how Roman leaders were admiring the language and culture of the Greeks whom they had overcome, so he pointed out the antiquity of the Bible as compared to the modern mythical inventions of the Greeks.
Philo in Alexandria the learned centre of the world, also not a believer in Jesus, nevertheless knew how foolish worldly wisdom was. He went to great length and peril of life to make clear the point that teachings that do not allow the one Creator God to be their source and subject are unworthy of being called philosophy. He referred to those writers as sophists and their works as sophistry. Philo-sophistry is based on the supreme lover of wisdom, God Himself, but sophistry is merely man’s (limited) understanding based on humanistic models. The Bible is unique in that it has proved its claim to inspiration. It is not just man’s view of events and actions, but it affirms the unity of God and His creatorship and knowledge of all.
The Dark Ages
During the dark ages there was a general lack of understanding and teaching in the European world. There was a lot of superstition and occult, and in general very little Bible reading. The scientific method and experimentation was also suppressed and taboo, consequently there were almost no improvements or inventions. This fostered more superstition and folklore, and was reflected in everyday life including education and religion. As we study this part of history and the enlightenment we see how greatly this superstition affected even the best writers. In Hans Christian Anderson and his Tales we find innumerable references to the old Greek dark age mythical beings. Naturally so, because that was his background, even though his tales are now seen as too moralistic and creator-like to be politically correct.And to return to our reason for writing this article, we must assume that the translators of the first English Bible were wondering about some of the mythical origins and folklore that were around in their day. They did not have all the knowledge and discoveries we have to even suggest some of the things that are now known about previous societies. Nor of the more modern plant breeding and selections programs that have changed our lives. Not until the Protestant Reformation brought in a different attitude toward God’s dominion mandate, the commission to work and improve all of creation as God’s stewards, did our modern western mindset exist. Now it does.
Modern Plant and Animal Breeding
Today we are aware of the far reaching effects of plant and animal breeding, and how the world is a better place because of it. And of course God did tell Adam to take control of nature and improve on it, to improve on what God has given us without abusing it or attempting to rule Him out. God used the word dominion and Jesus said that His disciples were to occupy until He comes back.There is no logical way to replace the word dominion with the word creation. God did create everything, and Adam’s job and ours is to excel in making it much, much better. Adam had to start out by hoeing weeds, but today there are other areas to be explored in science and now the latest is artificial intelligence.
But sin causes us to err, to deviate from what we should be doing, to excuse ourselves. For instance we wonder from the kind of answer Cain gave to God after killing his brother , whether he wanted to improve on the “have dominion” (Gen 1:28-29) thing by weeding out Abel as a nuisance. If so, then we know he was trying to take the place of God, which is a mark of the Devil. If he had understood and appreciated the difference between human life made in the image of God, and the weeds he had to chop out of his grain he might not have weeded out his brother. That was not the way to change him!
But Where is the Dividing Line?
But Abel was just as much made in the image of God as Cain was, and as such he was entitled to his own free will. In his case he willed to honor God instead of himself even if Cain did the opposite. The good grain that Cain had spent so much time and energy dividing from the weeds was indeed his to manage but it had no free will of its own like his brother did. That meant that although one brother could teach or influence the other he was not permitted to weed him out from living.We all honor Luther Burbank for his years of experimenting and culling to give us bigger and more beautiful roses. Rightly so, and we are thankful for plant and animal breeding that has given us better tasting potatoes and faster growing chickens . But what about genetic engineering of new breeds of wheat, or different kinds of animals, or even a more perfect human breed? Every body is agreed that Hitler stepped over the boundary when he started to build a super race, and God rightly had to punish him for it. Why? Because human life is different from roses or chickens. In no way can the dominion command be interpreted to excuse either Cain or Hitler. Humans are made in the image of God. Human life is sacred to God and it must be to us also.
But before these Reformation changes to progress the Enlightenment period had flooded our western world with much of the Greek culture and mythological literature which no doubt was in the mind of the early translators and teachers of the Bible. Therefore it was only natural that some of it would carry over to the interpretation of Genesis 6 and thus we are back to our original question of whether God is the only Creator.
But I think we can logically and quickly dispel all hints of mythology from the Genesis 6 passage. Quite simply, men were like Hitler, going beyond improving their race, they were attempting to re-create it. and by doing this they overstepped the limits of what God will tolerate. We are not to think of ourselves as creators. God is the only Creator.
Adam Was the First Son of God
Adam and Eve were created in the image of God. One facet of that creation is the ability to procreate, meaning to be a partner in creating. But being a procreator is far from being a creator. God alone is the creator. The independent man knows that if he can become creator he will never need to account to God any more. And this is a common theme for all false religions, even the religion of evolution, and certainly the religion of the preflood world.The Genesis 6 passage tells us that men related the personal worthiness of women to their beauty. Quite plainly that means that the tallest and wittiest blonde beauties were the only ones worthy of living. So they were chosen for the new experiment of creating a super race along with the best male specimens. So let us imagine what might have happened in those days.
In the first place life expectancy was ten times what it is now, probably meaning that both knowledge and experimental opportunity would be greater by the same ratio. And as we now know there would be greater diversity than today because of mutations and so more incidents of dwarfism and also giantism. Of course the giants would be seen as more valuable than dwarfs. And if the controlled experiment allowed many more trials and inbreeding who knows how many less than positive specimens were eliminated as unwanted while the handsome and beautiful giants were re-bred? Does this revolt you? It should, although it is the norm in crop and animal improvement experimentation. But in God’s sight no person is an animal or a plant.
The next step would be selective breeding by choosing and segregating the super models and super men. Not a big thing to do when the life span was almost a thousand years, and each researcher could accumulate hundreds of years of observed data. To me that sounds as intolerable as Hitler’s pursuit of a master race, and God would see it that way too.
The term sons of God does not need to be interpreted as anything more than human beings. Adam was a son of God, and his likeness to God in procreative ability has been passed down to each generation making us all sons of God. That does not mean that the women used in these breeding experiments could not be fooled into thinking that they were breeding with superhuman men. Since they were being taken advantage of in other ways, it is quite possible their gullibility was also exploited to make them think they were with child by a more than human father.
Angels Referred to as Sons of God
In the Book of Job we read that there was a day when the sons of God came before Him in Heaven. They were indeed creations of God, and had characteristics that were like God. They were alive not as a race of angels but as individuals. Yet in the Biblical account of the creation of Angels there is no hint that they ever had any creative or procreative ability. There is plenty of evidence in the Bible that they are curious and jealous of this human ability, and that they attempt to degrade the procreative ability in mankind. Satan is the prime example of wanting to be like God, and would want to be able to create or even seem to create.In contrast to the Greek example of the creation where Chaos was an entity created by the god of evil, we read in the Bible that Satan is the creator of only lies and a state of confusion, not creator of a creature called confusion.
There is no Biblical evidence that even the highest form of angelic creation, the Devil, ever had or will have or can have any ability to create life of any kind. This observation also precludes any pre-Adamic creations, even if taught by well meaning geologists. Such mythical ideas are of course what Satan wants, for we read that he wants to be like God the Creator. He is not worthy of that much respect. He is our enemy and God’s adversary, and he is a liar from the start. When Jesus referred to people as the children of the Devil He did not mean that Satan created us, but he spoke of a character likeness to the father of all lies.
A Genesis 6 Solution
We have to admit that the verses in Genesis 6 do offer challenges of interpretation, however they can be resolved. Our first concern is that any interpretation offered fits in with the whole of the rest of the Bible. Certainly the idea of another creator beside God cannot be allowed. Because of the five thousand years of time distance we just do not know all the details, there are no videos, and the Bible account is very concise. It is not primarily concerned with the details, but with the sinfulness of the people and God’s righteousness in shortening the life span and sending the flood.But because we understand human nature and history we are able to construct a model or models of how their deliberate actions could be carried out, without violating any of the details that we are told in Scripture. If we can imagine different natural experiments, how much more inventive could the actual citizens of that day be when they had productive life spans ten times greater than ours? No doubt Satan and his demons were coaching that generation that was only evil continually just like he was coaching Hitler. They were to blame for we are told that the imagination of the thought of their hearts was only evil continually.
Another plausible scenario would be the greater variety of human differences. Scientists who study genes and reproduction today tell us that as generations go by the more uniform its groups become and with less likelihood of variation. The variations in the human race today have been fairly constant for many generations, but for these differences to be here today means that the DNA possibility was there right from the beginning. Meaning that the incidence of dwarfs and giants and other freaks would be more pronounced in that age. It would not be a big problem for the humanistic mind to imagine that giants are more human than dwarfs, and to go about to breed out the less desirable elements. This they did, and God did not approve of it.
No Accommodation!
Therefore, every time we read or are reminded of this passage in Genesis 6 I hope we think of honoring only the one Creator God; and that we become aware of the temptation to accommodate humanistic mysticism and to resist it; that we become unwilling to allow the Destroyer any credit as a creator; and that we ourselves do not become self deceived as were the pre-flood sinners whom God had to destroy in the flood.- by Don Casselman