What the Bible says about Men of Renown
(From Forerunner Commentary)
The opening verses of Genesis 6 have been a stumbling block for many Bible readers through the ages. Instead of scouring the Bible for scriptural clues to their true meaning, many have allowed their imaginations and faulty reasoning to invent sometimes wild and fantastic interpretations of them. They either ignore or do not realize that God's Word contradicts their readings of this passage.
Many people believe that these “sons of God” were fallen angels who married beautiful, earthly women—“daughters of men.” This fanciful idea sounds familiar, a echo of classical mythology, in which the “gods” seduced human women, who afterward bore demigods who grew up to be “mighty men” and “men of renown.” It is a common theme in those Greek and Roman tales.
The basic idea of this interpretation is that, as a result of these unions between angels and women, the children produced were called Nephilim, a Hebrew word that means “giants.” Apparently, through their natural gifts inherited from their angelic fathers, these half-angel/half-human beings became powerful, famous men, doers of great exploits. We have only to recall the stories of Hercules, Perseus, or Achilles to understand this explanation of these verses.
It is surprising how many people across the breadth of religiosity believe this pagan understanding. It almost seems as if they want to believe it, not because it is true, which it is not, but because it is sensational and exciting like the old mythological stories that tickle the fancy rather than speak the truth.
John Reiss
Can Angels Marry Women?Related Topics: Can Angels Marry Women? | Giants | Greek Mythology | Men of Renown | Nephilim | Sons of God
An often overlooked fact that precludes angels from being the fathers of these men of renown is that angels cannot reproduce. Jesus tells us in Mark 12:25 that in the resurrection, human beings will be like the angels in heaven, who “neither marry nor are given in marriage.” His statement very clearly contradicts the angelic interpretation of Genesis 6:2, which states that the “sons of God” (benē hā'ĕlōhīm) married the “daughters of men” (benôt hā'ādām).
In Genesis, a principle that surfaces early is that a created kind only reproduces after its own kind. This physical law means that one class of creature can mate and reproduce among its own class: Cats can only mate with other cats and produce kittens; dogs can only mate with other dogs and produce puppies—but cats and dogs cannot produce a strange hybrid of their very different species. This principle is established scientific fact.
That humans are fleshly, physical beings is evident in Genesis 2. In Genesis 2:7, Moses writes, “The LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground.” Later, when God formed Eve out of Adam's rib (verse 21), Adam exclaimed about her, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” The carnality or fleshiness of humanity is made countless times throughout Scripture.
Yet, Psalm 104:4 confirms that God “makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire,” and Hebrews 1:14 confirms this fact: “Are [angels] not all ministering spirits . . .?” (emphasis ours throughout). Since human beings are composed of flesh and angels of spirit, they cannot be of the same kind. Angels cannot impregnate mortal women and produce anything. It is not possible for two distinct kinds to mate and reproduce.
Further, were angels and human females able to reproduce, their children would not be human but some weird hybrid, half-angel/half-human. God, however, tells us that the progeny of the “sons of God” and “daughters of men” were human. Where is this? In the very context!
Notice verse 1: “Now it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth . . .” and also verse 3: “And the LORD said, 'My Spirit shall not strive with man forever.” And Moses writes plainly in verse 4 of the children who were born to them, these “giants”: “Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” The children of these unions were not angels, not hybrids, but men.
Genesis 6:4 points out that these giants were the result “when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men.” A phrase like this is a common term in the Old Testament for sexual intercourse (Genesis 16:4; 29:23, 30; 30:4; 38:2, 9; 38:18; etc.). Such a description of the process of human insemination eliminates any so-called spiritual—or even “magical”—conception that would supersede the normal human method of impregnation.
“Giants” is the translation of the Hebrew word nephilim. The Greek translation is gigantes, from which we derive the English word, “giants.” However, the Hebrew word seems to have its roots in naphal, which means “to fall,” and some translations render it “fallen ones.” The sense may be that such “men of renown” fell in battle or fell upon their enemies. Another sense is that they were a “fallen” form of humanity, that is, they had declined far from what God wanted men to be.
Verse 4 is not the only place where the word nephilim appears in the Bible. The same author, Moses, recording the words of the spies he had sent out, writes in Numbers 13:33: “And there we saw the giants [nephilim], the sons of Anak, which come of the giants [nephilim], and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”
These Nephilim were the sons of Anak, son of Arba (see Joshua 15:13-14; 21:11). Easton's Bible Dictionary identifies the Anakim as “probably a remnant of the original inhabitants of Palestine before the Canaanites, a Cushite tribe from Babel, and of the same race as the Phoenicians and the Egyptian shepherd kings.” If this is so, the giants in Moses' day were descended from Cush, not fallen angels. The Nephilim were human.
John Reiss
Can Angels Marry Women?Related Topics: Anak | Angels as Ministering Spirits | Angels Cannot Reproduce | Bene Ha Elohim | Can Angels Marry Women? | Men of Renown | Nephilim
"Giants" is the Hebrew word nephilim, which has little or nothing to do with being tall and muscular but refers to cultural leadership. God is describing the culture immediately before the Flood. Nephilim has to be seen in that context. These Nephilim - giants not in size but in influence - were establishing evil, deceitful, violent, and enslaving leadership. They were "men of renown," which literally means they were men of name. In other words, they had a reputation, but that term is used in a derogatory sense. These were not good characters.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Where Is the Beast? (Part Two)Related Topics: Giants | Men of Renown | Nephilim | Pre-Flood Culture | Pre-Flood Society | Sons of God