Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“When men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives.“
(Genesis 6:1-2)

This is a contested passage of scripture, leading into another contested passage of scripture, leading into the beginning of the Flood account. It’s a question of what is meant by the two groups in today’s verses, and what is meant by God’s pronouncement of not abiding with humanity forever in tomorrow’s verses. Of this section, the sage Ramban writes: ‘AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN MEN BEGAN TO MULTIPLY ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. When Scripture mentioned Noah and his sons and wanted to begin the account of the flood, it said that as soon as men began to multiply they began to sin, and they continued their sinful ways for many years until Noah was four hundred and eighty years of age. Then the Holy One, blessed be He, decreed against them that “His spirit will not abide in them forever,” but that He will prolong their years until their measure of sin is full, for such is the way of G-d’s judgment.’

The ‘daughters of men’ and the ‘sons of God’. Some view this as human women and angels mating. I don’t see that. Fallen angels have never been called ‘sons of God’. In fact, only human beings have ever been referred to that in scripture. In the Revised JPS, 2023 edition of the Hebrew Scriptures ‘sons of God’ is translated as ‘divine beings’ BUT it also has a footnote: ‘divine beings I.e., the males among them. In contrast to others “sons of God.”’ The sage Radak writes: ‘ויראו בני האלוהים, the sons of the judges, the elite of the species who are here referred to as אלוהים, just as in Exodus 22,27 אלוהים לא תקלל, “you must not curse a judge.” There are numerous similar examples in the Torah of the attribute אלוהים being applied to morally high ranking human beings. Onkelos also translates it in this vein when he speaks of בני רברביא. The explanations offered that the Torah refers to Uzza and Uzael are very far fetched. (compare Torah shleymah on this verse). [The two aforementioned are supposed to have been angels who had voted against the creation of man and who belittled man’s effort to conquer the evil urge. They were supposedly punished by being consigned to earth to experience life on earth by themselves. Instead of proving their superiority, they were the first to succumb to the allurement of physically attractive females. Their request to return to the celestial regions was denied by G’d]’ He goes on to write: ‘את בנות האדם, the daughters of the weaker specimen of the human race. The women were unable to resist the physically superior specimen referred to as בני האלוהים, and as a result if fancied by the latter, they would be taken by them as wives or concubines against their will, and the will of even their husbands. The term אדם next to the term אלוהים simply compares the weak to the strong In the Sifri¸ (Behaalotcha 86) the point is made that when ordinary individuals observed that the judges took the law into their own hands, they reasoned that they themselves would most certainly be able to get away with the same thing, seeing that the judges are supposed to set a good example. Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra understands the expression בני אלוהים, as referring to spiritually superior people, people who knew what G’d expected of them. They chose wives according to what they perceived was suitable for them basing themselves on their reading of astrology. As a result of such careful mating, their offspring were in many instances giants, etc., as we read about at the end of our verse. It is possible that they took women of their choice even against the will of these women.’ Some sages teach that this focus on the physical union also included homosexual unions, and mating between man and beast. This was total moral degeneration. The more they moved away from God’s thinking and God’s moral character, the worship of Him and the keeping Him in His proper place in their lives, the more immoral and degenerate they became until the world was rife with evil thinking, evil speaking, and evil deeds.

Some sages taught both sides of the difference of opinion. The sage Steinsaltz writes: ‘the sons of the great ones [benei ha’elohim] saw that the daughters of man were fair. Some explain that with the proliferation of the human race came the development of a social hierarchy. The term benei ha’elohim refers to members of an upper class that grew apart from the rest of humanity. According to this understanding, the daughters of man were women of the lower classes. According to another interpretation, the sons of God were angels who arrived in this world and were granted human bodies and qualities as a kind of test, which they failed. Although they ceased to be angels, they still retained their supernatural powers alongside their human urges. According to this opinion, the daughters of man refers to mortal women. And they took for themselves wives, from whomever they chose, whether young or old, single or married, without consideration for laws of any kind.’

I personally think the terms both refer to groups of human beings and not angels or supernatural beings. I think the daughters of men were those of Cain’s line. I think the sons of God were of Seth’s line. I think the more righteous decided to focus on physical aspects, not character, and mixed marriages began to be seen (2 Corinthians 6:14). But God consistently warns against that. When the Israelites entered the Land God was giving them, He was giving it to them because He and the Land had rejected the immoral living of those He had previously brought there. To keep that ungodly living away, to stamp it out, He forbade the Israelites from entering marriages with the residents of the Land “that they not teach you to follow all their abominations, which they have done for their gods; so would you sin against Yahweh your God” (Deuteronomy 20:18).

The Torah; A Women’s Commentary sees the passage as a story, a mythical tale, and not an actual happening at all. They write this: ‘The brief story about divine beings and earthly women is unique in the Bible. It reminds one of Greek mythology, which it indirectly opposes. Whereas Zeus’ marriage with women produces heroes such as the venerated Hercules, the Bible portrays such unions as a calamity to be eradicated. The penalty affects human beings alone. Far from gaining immortality, the marriage of heaven and earth reduces human life span. Tikva Frymer-Kensky notes that in the Mesopotamian tradition, the reverse takes place: “Goddesses choose powerful men, particularly kings, as lovers” (Women in Scripture, 2000, p. 177)’

I think it is an actual tale. I think the whole book of Genesis is an actual account. I believe God showed it all to Moses – almost like showing a movie – and Moses recorded it all for our benefit. I think that’s why it is obscure in some places or only mentioning daughters being born when sons would logically have to be born as well. At the direction of Holy Spirit, Moses only recorded what was directly relevant to the incident being described.