Troublesome Topic: The Beginning of the Wickedness that Necessitated the Flood

Lesson 1 of 5

It is crucial that we grasp the fact that this passage about the sons of Elohim, the daughters of Adam, and the Nephilim serves as the beginning of the explanation for the reason God found it necessary to destroy almost all living beings and start over. Corruption and violence were rampant, and those things seem to have gotten out of control when a certain mixing began to happen, a mixing which involved marriages between two groups which had not previously agreed to marry. So as you read this passage and consider the possible interpretations, ask yourself which scenario best fits the implied purpose. If it does not fit the purpose of demonstrating the reason for corruption and violence, then it is most likely not the right interpretation.

Gen 6:1-4 reads in such a way as to imply:

1) That there was intermarrying going on between two groups that usually would not join together,

2) That this intermarrying was so widespread as to seem like all of both parties were doing it, thus warranting the language of the passage which speaks in universal terms, not in qualified or restricted terms,

3) God seems to have looked on this intermarrying as a problem, and possibly as a key problem underlying the downward spiral into wickedness which in the end necessitated the world-wide flood. That seems to be the purpose for which this passage is included in the text.

Genesis 6:1

Translation

And it came about that when the adam

began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, (See comment below.)

Paraphrase

Now it so happened that, when the population of mankind on the surface of the earth began to multiply, and girls were born to them as well as boys, although the narrative so far has focused on the males, (See comment below.)

Genesis 6:2

Translation

the SONS OF ELOHIM saw

the daughters of men

that they were desirable

and they took wives for themselves from all whomever they chose. (See comment below.)

Paraphrase

THE MIGHTY AMONG THE FOLLOWERS OF GOD noticed that the young women from the rest of humanity were pleasing to look at and also of good physical stock (either giants or geniuses), and they took wives from any and all family units based only on personal choice. (See comment below.)

The next lesson is: WHO WERE THE “SONS OF ELOHIM”?

Footnotes

1: "the adam":

This word means “red” and “man.” When used with the article as it is here, “the adam”, it is referring to “mankind.” When used without the article, it referred to the man named “Adam.”

2

Once again “adam” is the root word used here, but the context demands that the meaning must be more narrow than the use of “Adam/man” above.

3: “desirable”

Most translations render this word as “beautiful,” but the basic meaning of the word is “good, or pleasant.” While beautiful is a logical option in this context, I feel it is too limiting, it places the emphasis solely on physical beauty, but they may have been considering other physical traits as well, such as size.

4: “whomever they chose”

The first indication of a problem was that these men who had whole-heartedly followed God, began to compromise their principles by taking multiple wives, some of whom were women who were committed to something different. I see two reasons why they were attracted to these women:

The first reason they saw them as “good” is probably that they may have seen that they had a large bone structure, tall and strong. The text does not tell us, but it does imply that the men in question here were large men who wanted to create offspring that would be able to lord it over others because of their size and strength.

Secondly, the women among the followers of God were more likely to cover up and not show much skin or shape, whereas the women who were followers of sinful mankind were calling attention to themselves by showing much more skin and shape. The text says that they “took for themselves all whomever they chose.” This means they did not stop at noticing, or even lusting for these lascivious women, they went on to take them as wives. While the text is not perfectly clear on the matter, it implies that they took more than one of these women as wives.