Genesis 6:1When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.
4The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. (NIV)
The sons of Seth view: The sons of God are godly humans from the line of Seth [cp. Gen 4.26] who procreated with the daughters of wicked men from the line of Cain. And their children, the Nephilim, were great, giant, mighty kings/warriors.
- Genesis 4:26 does not say only Seth and his sons ''called on the name of the Lord'';
- The text doesn’t say “the daughters of humans” were all evil, ungodly women from Cain only; And why would godly, faithful sons of God go after faithless, ungodly women?
The text distinguishes “sons of God” from humankind in v.1 (which would include family of Seth or Cain) and clearly states the “daughters of humankind” are human women in general, not just Cainites.
The word adam in vv.1-2 is given two totally different meanings, i.e., v.1 broad ref. to all humans and v.2 narrow ref. to some daughters of wicked humans only. This would mean the sons of some humans took the daughters of other humans;
At this time there is no command against marrying certain persons, e.g., Jews and Gentiles later.
The concept of Israel’s sonship refers to the relationship between YHWH and his people, and not to the piety of the persons involved.
The point of the language of Gen 6:1-4 is a sexual relationship, not matrimony. The wives...marriage idea comes from English translations. The Hebrew translated wives is simply the normal plural for women (nashim).
The “taking/going in to women” is a biblical euphemism for sexual relations not exclusively used for marriage. The "taking" of a woman elsewhere means illicit sexual relationship (Gen 38:2; Lev 18:17; 20:17, 21; 21:7), as can "coming/going in to" (Gen 38:2; 39:14; Lev 21:11; Judg 16:1; Amos 2:7).
Who are the Nephilim, aka Giants?
Humans do not reproduce a whole race of giants who go on to form whole nations, e.g., Num. 13; King Og up to 13 feet; Goliath up to 10 feet!
The LXX gigantes, "suggests they understood the Nephilim to be the offspring of the angel marriages, for in Greek mythology the gigantes were the product of the union of earth and heaven. And this is the way most modern commentators understand the term." (WBC)
Had Gen 6:4 intended to convey that Nephilim = the sons of God it would read:
“The Nephilim were on earth in those days, and also afterwards, who came to the daughters of men so that children were born to them."
Can angels procreate?
In Matt 22:30 Jesus means holy angels and should not contradict angels who sinned, disobeyed by taking women in Gen 6; Jude-Peter;
Angels are spirits but the word doesn’t mean no body! They can also become physical, see Gen 18-19; 32;
The Hebrew for angel, malak is not used in Gen 6 but benei elohim elsewhere means angels from heaven, Job 38:7; cp. son of gods/God is a malak in Dan 3:25-28!
