Excerpts of scripture study by Pastor Mark Driscoll
Dec. 1, 2011
Genesis 6:4
“The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.”
A couple weeks ago, I wrote a long post on the Biblical necessity of a historical Adam and Eve. Out of that came some questions on the passage in Genesis that speaks of the Nephilim, a group mentioned only twice in the Bible, in the Genesis passage we'll study today and in Numbers 13:33.
Before we dig into this passage, I want to say that it’s very easy for us to become obsessed with details in the Bible that are secondary and that distract from what God is trying to say to us through his Word. Often we can get involved in debates and study on miniscule details in Scripture in order to distract ourselves from the conviction that God’s Word brings. Such is often the case with verses like Genesis 6:4.
As I’ll point out later, the point of this passage is not the strange mentions of people groups we historically know nothing about. Rather the verse is set in the context of God’s wrath and the Flood that righteously wiped out most of pre- historic humanity. We would be better off focusing on the main point of Scripture instead of deflecting what God is saying by conjecturing on strange and secondary details.
Who are the Nephilim?
The identity of the Nephilim is dependent on how one understands the whole context of Genesis 6:1–4, which deals with the circumstances in the world at that time leading to the judgment of God through the flood. The sinful actions of humanity, including the Nephilim, are the reason given for God being “grieved” over creating humanity.
This passage’s history of interpretation has left scholars with hugely different opinions making consensus difficult. Despite the long history of debate, there are two primary views concerning the Nephilim, which we will investigate here.
View One: A Race of Demi-Gods
The oldest and most widely-held view of this passage is rather simple: Genesis 6:1–4 is the story of certain angels who, seeing the beauty of human women, left heaven to cohabitate with them. Their offspring were the giant Nephilim who were half-angel and half-human. These were the mythological heroes of ancient stories (much like Hercules in Greek literature). However, God did not approve of this intermarriage and sought to wipe out these “demi-gods” with the Flood.
Those who hold such views give the following as support. Firstly, it is by far the oldest perspective on the text. This interpretation first appeared in Intertestamental literature[1] and it was the favored view of the earliest Church fathers (Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origin).[2] In addition, the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate both translate “nephilim” as “giants” (gigantes) with the implication that they were the offspring of angels. Without engaging the broader passage, the conclusion is that angels sinned by sleeping with human women and producing giants.[3]
As popular and ancient as this view is, it has many problems. Primarily, the Nephilim appear again in Numbers 13:33—clearly after the flood was to have washed away all traces of these “demi-gods.” Jewish interpreters struggled with this, and offered two explanations: 1) The Nephilim somehow survived the Flood, 2) Noah and his family were themselves Nephilim.[4] Secondarily, there is nothing in the language concerning the Nephilim that makes them offspring of the Sons of God/Daughters of Men union—in fact quite the opposite. The original Hebrew uses language that doubly removes the Nephilim from the procreation in 6:1–2.[5] The mention of the Nephilim is instead background to the story of the previous verses and not a result. If the Nephilim were not demi-gods, then what were they?
View Two: Giant Warriors of an Heroic Age
As exciting as the idea of demi-gods is for sci-fi geeks and backwoods theologians who draw end-times charts in crayon on the back of ammo boxes, the view held by most modern interpreters is less mythological. Many commentators and scholars will argue that the text is far too ambiguous to draw the conclusion that the Nephilim were the result of angelic-human reproduction.[6] They view the Nephilim, then, as a group of heroic warriors (or “mighty men,” Hebrew: gibborim) who, before the Flood, were famous for their exploits. Some however admit the idea of human giants is not entirely out of the question. As stated above the Septuagint and the Vulgate both take the Nephilim to be giants and translate the word thus. The Jewish and Early Christian tradition also believed them to be very large men.[7] The greatest evidence for the giant stature of the Nephilim lies in the Bible stories of the other “giants” of the Bible— Goliath of Gath most prominent among them. In Numbers 13:33, the Twelve Spies bring their report back to Israel and describe the inhabitants of the land: “And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” The sons of Anak were giants to the Israelites, and Israel believed them to be descended from the original Nephilim. A generation later after Israel failed to confront the giants, Moses reminds Israel not to fear the giants who were a “great and tall people” (Deuteronomy 9:2).
Interestingly, in Deuteronomy 2:11, Moses uses the general term “giants” (rephaim) to refer to all the descendants of the Nephilim in their various family clans. From one of these clans comes the most famous giant in the Bible: Goliath, who is said to come from the giants (rephaim) of Gath—part of a family comprised of mighty warriors all considered giants (1 Chronicles 20:4–8). It is the giants of Canaan (Anak, Goliath, etc.) who paint the best picture of the Nephilim in Genesis 6:4. Thus, by this view, David himself faced and killed one of the descendants of the great Nephilim.
The answer lies somewhere between the two extremes. The Nephilim were not some sort of demi-god like the Hercules of Greek mythology, but neither were they average men. Like Goliath, they were massive warriors who earned respect, fear and renown through their military exploits and gave rise to the stories of the heroes of old.
The point of Genesis 6
While some find it interesting or fun to focus on the mysterious elements of Genesis 6 and speculate endlessly on terms like “Nephilim” and “Sons of God,” it serves as a colossal distraction from the point of the passage.
As pointed out, the context of Genesis 6 is important as it deals with the Flood as a result of God’s anger at humanity’s great sin. The two sins mentioned in the passage resulting in the Flood are sexual dominance and violence, and one can draw a line between the two as the implication is that the “Sons of God” lusted after beautiful women and “took” them to be their wives. Essentially, the context suggests that the sin of humanity that led to the Flood was one of forced marriage at best or violent sexual abuse at worst.
As William Reyborn writes,
A significant point is that these sons of God took what they wanted. There is nothing said about making marriage arrangements with the fathers or relatives of these young women, as in the cases, for example, of Isaac and Jacob. In the light of this, some translations use the term for “married” here; but others avoid using it, and instead use a term like “took,” either in a general sense or in the sense of illicit sex.[8] As a result of this sexual abuse and the continual violence of men, God was “grieved” to his heart and “sorry” that he had made mankind. In his divine wrath, God chose to bring the Flood as punishment, wipe out this wickedness, and begin anew with Noah and his family.
God hates sexual abuse
This tells us something about our heavenly Father. He has holy standards for human sexuality and hates sexual sin—especially when it is violent and abusive towards women. The Bible is expressly concerned with sexual sin and is clear that it is a destructive and especially offensive sin against God and his creation (Matthew 15:19; Romans 13:13; 1 Corinthians 5:1, 11; 6:13, 18; 10:8; Galatians 5:19; Colossians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:5; Jude 1:7).
As Christians, we should be equally grieved and angered by sexual sin, and especially against women.
Old passage, same problems
Today, the sin of sexual abuse is still prevalent in both the US and abroad. This is most clearly seen in the prevalence of global sex trafficking. Here are just a handful of the disturbing stats on the global sex trafficking crisis, according to International Crisis Aid:
• According to University of Pennsylvania, an estimated 300,000 youth in the US are at risk of being sexually exploited for commercial purposes
• The CIA estimates that 45,000 to 50,000 young girls are trafficked into the USA each year
• One in 12 youth experience sexual victimization, including sexual assault and attempted or completed rape
• 1.2 million children are trafficked every year globally, this in addition to the millions already held captive
• The average age of a trafficked child is 12 to 14 years old
• The total market value of illicit human trafficking is estimated to be in excess of $32 billion
Statistics like this should make you very angry, and the Bible is clear that they make God very angry. It’s only by God’s grace and his promise to Noah not to do so that we aren’t wiped out by yet another flood.
Jesus and the hope of redemption
Inherent in the story of the Flood is a story of redemption. Rather than wipe out all of humanity, as God would have justly had the right to do, he chose to preserve his creation through Noah and his family. This foreshadowed the coming redemption through Jesus, as the whole Bible is about Jesus. Mankind is still wicked to the core. Unspeakable acts are still committed globally. Sin is still prevalent. God is still grieved. Thankfully, we have the opportunity for salvation through Jesus’ work on the Cross and his resurrection, and for the world to be redeemed and ultimately restored to the point where God can say about creation, as he did in Genesis 1, that it is good.
The Bible is clear that it is only Jesus who changes the hearts of men. And it is only through Jesus that this broken and sin-soaked world will be changed and redeemed (Revelation 21). Jesus is the hope of the world.
Genesis 6 serves to remind us that we are wicked people deserving of destruction. It should also drive us to immense thankfulness as we realize that we are redeemed people by the blood of Jesus, having received undeserved and unmerited grace and salvation at great cost—Jesus took our destruction upon himself.
Practical ways to fight sex trafficking
There are a number of organizations you can work with to help stop global sex trafficking. One particular organization is Unearthed, which both Pastor Justin Holcomb and myself have been involved with in some of their videos (one of which is below).
Also, practically, if you use porn, thinking it’s OK and doesn’t hurt anyone, you could not be more wrong. First off, it is a sexual sin that grieves God, destroys you (1 Corinthians 6:18), and destroys your family. Secondly, much of the money from pornography, a $97 billion per year industry, goes to help fund sex trafficking. Your clicks and kicks help perpetuate the abuse and exploitation of young children and women.
I encourage you to seek help to break your addiction through your church. Also, I’ve written a resource for those who are enslaved to porn, Porn Again Christian (available in Spanish also), which you can read for free.
References:
[1] Cf. 1 Enoch 6:2; Jubilees 5:1; Dead Sea Scrolls 1QapGen 2:1; Philo and Josephus
[2] Gordon Wenham, Genesis 1–15, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 1 (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1987), 139. [3] A number of scholars hold this view, notably John Skinner, also David Petersen and Loren Stuckenbruck.
[4] Wenham, Genesis, 143; Loren Stuckenbruck, “The ‘angels’ and ‘giants’ of Genesis 6:1-4 in second and third century BCE Jewish interpretation: reflections on the posture of early apocalyptic traditions.” Dead Sea Discoveries 7, no. 3 (January 1, 2000): 358.
[5] Sven Fockner, “Reopening the discussion: another contextual look at the sons of God.” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 32, no. 4 (June 1, 2008): 453.
[6] Cf. John Walton, Genesis, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan , 2001), 296; Gordon Wenham, Genesis, 143; and Sven Fockner, “Sons of God,” 454. [7] Cf. Ephrem’s Commentary on Genesis (Sancti Ephraem Syri in Genesim) for his notes on this, as well as Ben Sira in Sir 16:7.
[8] Reyburn, W. D., & Fry, E. M. (1997). A handbook on Genesis. UBS handbook series (143). New York: United Bible Societies.
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