Shalom, Trekson.
I hope you're aware of the traditional view on the Genesis 6:1-4 passage, namely that the term meant that they were men of "noble birth," sheiks.
Genesis 6:1-2
Sons of Elohim and daughters of men: -- Opinions have differed greatly as to the meaning of the name "Sons of God," or rather of "Elohim." The rabbis, as was natural, from their love of the marvellous, took for granted that the fallen angels are meant; since "nephilim" is derived from the verb "to fall." Hence Apocryphal Jewish literature assumes this constantly, while not a few writers of the most opposite schools still support this explanation, which, nevertheless, seems fanciful and ungrounded. The giants are not said to have been "the sons of Elohim," and their name may as fitly be explained as referring to their "falling upon" their fellow men as by any mysterious connection with the rebel angels. Nor does the name "sons" of "Elohim" necessarily refer to angels at all; for the word "Elohim" is used elsewhere in Scripture of men. Thus, in Ps 82:1, we read that God "judges in the midst of the Elohim," who are shown in the next verse to be those who "judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked." The name is evidently given them from their office, in which they represented, in Israel, the supreme judge of the nation -- Jehovah. Jewish interpreters generally adopt this meaning of the passage, believing that the "great" or "mighty" sons of Cain are contrasted with the lowlier daughters of Seth. It is, moreover, very doubtful if the word be ever applied in the Old Testament to angels. On the other hand, it is continually used of heathen idols, and hence it may well point in this particular case to intermarriages between the adherents of idolatry and the daughters of the race of Seth, and a consequent spread of heathenism, far and near, with its attendant violence and moral debasement. If, however, by "the sons of Elohim" we understand the worshippers of Jehovah, the "daughters of men" would mean those of the race of Cain. This interpretation, indeed, is now very generally adopted, and seems the most natural. We should, then, read "the sons of the godly race" took wives of "the daughters of men." The children of such marriages sadly increased the prevailing corruption. They became "gibborim," or fierce and cruel chiefs, filling the world with blood and tumult. It was to prevent the final triumph of evil, Scripture tells us, that the deluge was sent from God.
(C. Geikie, D. D.)
(from The Biblical Illustrator Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006 Ages Software, Inc. and Biblesoft, Inc.)
Genesis 6:2; Genesis 6:3; Genesis 6:4
Genesis 6:2
That the a sons of God saw the daughters b of men that they [were] c fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
(a) The children of the godly who began to degenerate.
(B) Those that had wicked parents, as if from Cain.
(c) Having more respect for their beauty and worldly considerations than for their manners and godliness.
Genesis 6:3
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always d strive with man, for that he also [is] flesh: yet his days shall be an e hundred and twenty years.
(d) Because man could not by won by God's leniency and patience by which he tried to win him, he would no longer withhold his vengeance.
(e) Which time span God gave man to repent before he would destroy the earth, 1 Peter 3:20.
Genesis 6:4
There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare [children] to them, the same [became] mighty men which [were] of old, men of f renown.
(f) Who usurped authority over others, and degenerated from that simplicity, in which their father's lived.
(from Geneva Notes, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2003, 2005, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Genesis 6:1; Genesis 6:2; Genesis 6:3; Genesis 6:4
Genesis 6:1
And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
When men began to multiply. This is a general statement relative to the increase of the human family, without any intimation of the precise period to which it refers. Some writers have maintained that in the times immediately preceding the flood, the world was as densely populated as it is in the present day. But all calculations of the numbers of mankind founded on modern statistics, and applied to estimate the probable amount of the antediluvian population, are utterly fallacious. So far from its having been so great as has been surmised, the awfully corrupt and disordered state of society which widely prevailed must have been unfavourable to population, or have rapidly diminished it; and, accordingly, there are Scriptural data to warrant the belief that it was comparatively small. Noah, in the 600 th year of his life, reckoned his whole family as consisting of eight persons; so that, if this was an average number from one man, the race could not have multiplied very fast, and we may see why the merciful Creator determined that it should not, in order that the judgment inflicted by the deluge should not be so severe as it would have been if the whole earth had been inhabited.
Further, the Scriptures represent the existing race of mankind as having been all within the reach of Noah's warning voice and actions (cf. Heb 11:7, with 1 Peter 3:19-20; 2 Peter 2:5); and the most rational supposition is, that the area occupied by mankind was bounded by a circumference not very distant from the central abode of the first parent.
And daughters were born unto them. They are particularly mentioned because the seductive influence of their beauty and manners was one principal cause of the antediluvian apostasy and debasement.
Genesis 6:2
That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
The sons of God saw the daughters of men. This is a difficult passage, and various modes of interpreting it have been proposed:
(1) An opinion extensively adopted is, that the "sons of God" denote angels, "daughters of men," women generally; and that the transaction referred to was, that the angels who had been appointed to guard Eden and perambulate the world, becoming enamoured with women, mingled familiarly in their society, and cohabited with them. This view is of great antiquity, having been entertained, according to Josephus, in the later ages of the Jewish Church, and eagerly adopted by Justin, Athenagoras, Clemens Alexandrinus, Tertullian, and Lactantius, whose semi-pagan imaginations were dazzled by the rhapsodical legends of the Apocryphal book of Enoch. Being strenuously opposed at a subsequent period by Chrysostom, Augustine, and others, it was long exploded in the Christian Church as a wild and revolting fiction, until it was revived in modern times, and supported on various grounds by Rosenmuller, Gesenius, Kurtz, Tuch, Knobel, and Delitzsch, in Germany; and by Govett ('Isaiah Unfulfilled'), Maitland ('False Worship'), and others (Birks' 'Difficulties') in England, not to speak of Milton, Byron, and Moore, all of whom enlisted it in the service of poetry.
The alleged application of the name "sons of God" to angels in the poetical book of Job (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; and perhaps Dan 3:25), which is thought to have been written by Moses; the Septuagint version [which has hoi, angeloi tou Theou, the anqels of God]; the supposed testimonies of Peter (1 Peter 3:19-20; 2 Peter 2:4) and Jude (Jude 6-7) in favour of this view, referring, as some imagine, to a class of fallen angels who, unlike Satan and his followers, are, because the enormity of their crimes, reserved in chains until the judgment-day; and the assumption that an extraordinary outrage must have been perpetrated before a judgment so awful as the flood would have been inflicted, are the grounds on which this opinion is rested by its supporters. But Keil, Faber, and others, have successfully shown that angels are not designated "the sons of God" in any part of the Pentateuch; that there is no reference to angels in this passage; still less in Peter, where, by 'the disobedient spirits in prison,' and the angels that kept not their first habitation, as also in Jude, where by the allusion to Sodom and Gomorrah, Balaam and Korah (Jude 7-11), it is proved that the apostles had in view only erring, sinful men.
Moveover, not to dwell on the impossibility (Matt 22:30; Mark 12:25; Luke 20:36) of angels having such a carnal intercourse as is alluded to, and on the likelihood that Divine Providence would have immediately interposed rather than have deferred the judicial punishment of so enormous a violation of natural order for 120 years, the entire context of this passage refers to men as having corrupted their ways, and being, by the withdrawal of God's Spirit, doomed to punishment. For these and other reasons, this opinion as to the connection of angels with women is generally opposed by orthodox divines as contrary to all sound notions both of philosophy and religion.
(2) Another interpretation of the passage, which has been suggested in our own day, proceeds on the hypothesis that there were other varieties of mankind in existence beside the descendants of Adam; and, in accordance with this view, the following translation is proposed:-`And it came to pass, when the Adamites (literally, the Adam) began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,' 'the sons of °Elohiym'-the sons of the gods-the other races, saw the daughters of the Adamites that they were goodly, and they took them wives of all which they chose ('Genesis of the Earth and of Man'). That °Aadaam, with the Hebrew article, is used as the name of an individual, see the note at Gen 5:1-2. The term is, indeed, frequently used generically for mankind, but never to denote a distinct race of human beings; and accordingly it is not found in the plural, which it would have been if applied to a race. It might naturally have been expected, that in some ancient version this interpretation, if right, would have been found, but not one has been discovered to give the smallest countenance to such a view; and therefore, until some stronger evidence shall be adduced than what the world has yet seen, to prove that mankind are not all descended from one pair, the theory respecting the existence of a race called the Adamites, as separate from other human creatures, must be rejected.
(3) The most correct, and now the most prevalent, view of this passage-the view supported by Chrysostom and Augustine in ancient, and by Luther, Calvin, Hengstenberg, Keil, Faber, etc., in modern times-is that by "the sons of God," are meant the Sethites principally, but including also those other descendants of Adam who professed the same religious views and feelings:
'That sober race of men, whose lives
Religious titled them the sons of God.'
And by "the daughters of men," women of Cainite descent, including such as might have joined their degenerate society from other branches of the Adamic family. Pious people, professors of the true religion, who truly reflected the divine image, were "the sons of God (°Elohiym)," and were called by that name long before the theocracy had brought the Israelites into the special relationship of the Lord's (Yahweh's) children (Ex 4:22-23; Deut 14:1; 32:5; Ps 73:15; 82:6; Isa 63:16; Hos 1:10), or the idea attached to the name had received its full development in the Christian Church (John 1:12; Rom 8:14,19; 1 John 3:1-2).
Moveover, that the Hebrew word °Aadaam, with or without the article, is often used to denote a particular class, in contradistinction to men in general-men of worldly, irreligious character-will appear from the following passages (Judg 16:7; 18:28; Ps 73:5; 1 Cor 3:4). The meaning of the clause under notice, then, is that the professedly religions class of the antediluvians, consisting principally of Sethites, with some others-a class who, by their principles and practice, had long kept themselves separate from the world-began gradually to relax their strictness, and to abandon their isolated position, by cultivating acquaintance, and then forming alliances, with "the daughters of men" in general, the Cainite and other women of similar character. This is what is referred to by Jude, when he says (Jude 6) that they kept not [teen heautoon archeen] their primitive dignity as sons of God, and the original excellence in which they were created, but left [to idion oiketeerion] their own proper situation (Bloomfield). The interpretation of the phrase, "sons of God" now given connects the present passage with Gen 4:26, from which it is divided by the insertion of Gen 5, which seems a distinct document; and the two verses thus viewed throw light upon each other, as well as upon the course of the following narrative.
They took wives of all which they chose. The Hebrew verb, laaqach, to take, with °ishaah (Gen 19:15; 1 Sam 25:43), and sometimes without it (Gen 34:9,16; Deut 20:7; 1 Chron 2:21), signifies to take in marriage. From this usual import of the term, therefore, the marriages which the Sethites formed with the Cainite women were legitimate connections; and as female beauty has always exercised a powerful influence over the minds of men in the choice of their wives, there was no impropriety in allowing that element of attraction to have weight in forming the matrimonial relation then, any more than now. But the Sethites seem, in their admiration of external charms, to have paid no regard to the will of God respecting religious principle and character; and as intermarriages with unbelievers and profane women have in all ages been productive of numerous evils (Gen 27:46; 28:1; Ex 34:16; 2 Cor 6:14), it must be concluded that the sacred historian had such consequences in view when he took such a prominent notice of the manners which formed a characteristic feature of the latest antediluvian age.
Mixed marriages between parties of opposite principles and practice must necessarily be sources of extensive corruption. The women, irreligious themselves, would, as wives and mothers, exert an influence fatal to the existence of religion in their household, and consequently the later antediluvians sank to the lowest depravity. But the phrase "took them wives of all which they chose evidently implies something very different from the simple exercise of a free choice; and it seems a conclusion perfectly warranted by the terms of this passage, that the practice of polygamy had widely spread. until it became the chief cause of that universal corruption and violence which ensued. In connection with this, it may be added that the Hebrew °Elohiym sometimes signifies 'the great, the mighty' (Ps 29:1; 82:1,6; John 10:34), and the Hebrew °aadaam, as distinguished from °iysh, denotes the poor, humble, and common people (Ps 49:1-2; Isa 2:8-9); so that we may consider the passage still further as implying that the princes, or sons of the chief men, broke through the restraints of social and domestic order, by taking, in profligate and violent licentiousness, numbers of beautiful women from among the humbler classes to fill their harems.
Genesis 6:3
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
And the Lord said. There is nothing said either of the time when or the parties to whom this communication was made. But it is supposed that the words which follow are a traditional fragment of Enoch's prophecies (Jude 14-15).
My Spirit shall not always strive with man. The Hebrew [yaadown], 'my Spirit shall not be made low in man; i.e., the higher and divine nature shall not forever be humiliated in the lower, shall not ever descend from heaven and dwell in flesh forever (Gesenius). Others, as De Wette, Maurer, Knobel, and Delitzsch, render it, 'My spirit (the divine breath which was breathed into him at creation) shall not judge or rule in man forever;' i.e., they shall not live so long as their ancestors. But "my Spirit" seems rather to refer here to the Holy Spirit; and in that view there are two interpretations given to this clause. The Septuagint, the Syriac, the Chaldaic, and the Vulgate [reading yaadowr] render it 'my Spirit shall not always dwell or remain with man,' as threatening to forewarn them that the Shechinah, or divine presence, which had hitherto continued at the gate of Eden, and among the Sethites, would be withdrawn from the world. The other interpretation is that given in the King James Version, and it seems most in accordance with the context: "shall not strive," namely, by bringing a charge of guilt against them judicially by the external ministry of His servants, until at length the trial of the world is brought to a close by Noah condemning it through his faith (Heb 11:7). Christ, as God, had, by His Spirit inspiring Enoch, Noah, and perhaps other prophets (1 Peter 3:9; 2 Peter 2:5; Jude 14), preached repentance to the antediluvians; but, as they had continued incorrigible, He would withdraw the services of His prophetic messengers, who had been sent to admonish and warn them, and would come to employ any further efforts for reclaiming a people who resisted the most powerful means of conviction, giving them over to a reprobate mind (Hos 4:17; Rom 1:28), and letting merited vengeance take its course (cf. Isa 63:10; Acts 5:9; 7:51; Eph 4:30; 1 Thess 5:19).
For that he also is flesh. 'The objection,' says Keil, 'to this explanation is that the gam, rendered also, introduces an incongruous emphasis into the clause. I therefore prefer to regard it as a plural suffix with the infinitive of shaagah, 'in their erring (that of men) he (man as a genus) is flesh;' i.e., men have proved themselves, by their erring and straying, to be flesh, given up to sensuality, incapable of being ruled by the Spirit of God, and led back to the divine goal of their life. The term "flesh" is used in the sense which it commonly bears in the New Testament-the nature of man as corrupted and degraded by the predominance of debasing lusts and unbridled passions (John 3:6; Rom 8:5-7; 13:14).
Yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. Josephus, and most of the old commentators, with Tuch, Baumgarten, Hupfeld, Knobel, Ewald among the modern, consider these words as intimating that the life of man, instead of being, as hitherto, continued to a patriarchal longevity, was to be reduced to a comparatively brief period; that the withdrawal of the vivifying Spirit of God, in consequence of human transgression, would render man a frail, short-lived creature on earth, and hence, the duration of his mortal existence would be limited to 120 years. This explanation, however, is objectionable, on the ground that it is not consistent with the facts of the sacred history; because the age of many of the post-diluvian patriarchs exceeded that specified time-namely, Noah and his sons lived much longer after the flood - Arphaxad, 530 years (Gen 11:13); Salah, 403 (Gen 11:15); Eber, 430 (Gen 11:17); Abraham, 175 (Gen 25:7); Isaac, 180 (Gen 35:28); Jacob, 147 (Gen 47:28); and after the time of Moses the life of man was gradually shortened, and reduced further and further, until it was fixed at the normal standard of threescore years and ten.
Therefore, the 120 years cannot refer to any alteration in the length of human life, but to a respite granted to mankind from an awful judgment, and to the limitation of the season of grace to that number of years. This is the opinion of Onkelos, Luther, Calvin, Ranke, Keil, Kurtz, and Hengstenberg. It accords with the tenor of Scripture, which describes the period allotted for repentance and reformation as "the long-suffering of God in the days of Noah" (1 Peter 3:19-20); and well might it be designated a period of "long-suffering," for, as has been well observed, the probationary term afforded to the antediluvians was three times greater than the time of trial to the Jews in the wilderness, and to the same people after the crucifixion until the destruction of Jerusalem. It may be inferred from data in this history, that the announcement of the predicted doom of the antediluvian race was made to Noah in the 480 th year of his age, after which he became "a preacher of righteousness."
Genesis 6:4
There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
There were giants in the earth in those days [Hebrew, ha-Npiliym]. The Nephilim were in the earth in those days. The marked manner in which they are introduced to our notice is sufficient to prevent them from being identified with "the sons of God," or considered as the offspring of these; because they are described as already in existence and well known at the time when the Sethites began to intermarry with the other branches of the Adamic family. Who, or what, then, were the Nephilim? In the only other passage where the word occurs (Num 13:32-33) it clearly means giants, being derived, as Havernick suggests, from the mutually related roots of three verbs, yielding the fundamental idea of huge, extraordinary size. Nor can it be deemed incredible that in the antediluvian age, when, from the remains of quadrupeds and other inferior animals, we see that they were of an immensely larger type than the existing race of them exhibits, the physical powers and stature of Adam's descendants should have been greatly superior to the present standard of humanity. The analogy of nature would require that 'man among the mammoths' should, in physique, have borne some proportion to the magnitude of his bestial contemporaries.
Also, archaeology shows from the traditionary fables of the classical poets, as well as from the colossal monuments that are extant, that there were people in remote times of Cyclopean strength; and whether this may be predicated of mankind generally, or was the characteristic peculiarity of a certain class only, various circumstances contribute to warrant the conclusion, that in the world before the flood there were Titans distinguished by corporeal stature and energies far above the present scale. But although the idea of gigantic power does underlie the language of the sacred historian, the term Nephilim seems to bear a deeper significance; and if etymology may guide us, it describes a class of men of worthless and at the same time of violent character. It is commonly traced to naapal, to fall, and considered to signify either fallen ones, apostates, or falling upon others. In the first sense many of the fathers applied it to designate fallen angels. But it evidently describes a particular class of men, and hence, the latter meaning is preferable, intimating that the Nephilim were marauding nomads-men of a violent, overbearing, lawless character-who abused their bodily powers to obtain their selfish ends; who were constantly roving from place to place in quest of plunder, and, emerging suddenly from their retreat, made attacks both on the property and the lives of men (cf. Josh 11:7; Job 1:15; 16:14; 22:15, where they are called mteey ... 'aazew, associated in wickedness).
And also after that - afterward went in [Hebrew, yabo°uw]. The use of the future intimates the continuance of the relationship.
The same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown - literally, these were the heroes who from ancient times were men of renown [Hebrew, hagiboriym, mighty men: a term descriptive of any superiority, physical or mental, Gen 10:9]. Robbers and tyrants who despoiled and oppressed the peaceful inhabitants were already existing in the world; and it was not at all wonderful that among the descendants of Cain numbers should be found addicted to deeds of rapine and bloodshed. Whether the Sethite husbands, having broken through the restraints of religion, settled in infidelity, or, slaves to female influence, they abandoned all care of their households to their worldly and godless partners, a progeny was reared under them, utter strangers to everything sacred and good, without either precept or example to control the outbursts of juvenile passions. Each succeeding race became worse. But the mixed marriages that became so frequent produced a vast increase of violent and lawless characters like the Nephilim-persons of reckless ferocity and audacious impiety, who spread devastation and carnage far and wide, and by the terror which their name inspired, obtained such lasting notoriety that in subsequent ages of ignorance and idolatry they were exalted by different nations, under various names, into the demigods of pagan mythology.
(from Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Allow me to give you one more: This is from my notes on the subject:
Please direct your attention to Genesis chapter 4 to the record we have of the first murder. Qayin (Cain) slew his own brother Hevel (Abel) out of envy and bitterness that he allowed to grow in his heart despite being warned of God to let it go. When God confronted Cain about his sin, Cain lied and God replied, "What hast thou done?! The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the GROUND! And now art thou cursed FROM THE EARTH, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; when thou tillest the GROUND, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a FUGITIVE and a VAGABOND shalt thou be IN THE EARTH!" (Gen. 4:1-12)
Cain replied, "My punishment is greater than I can bear (greater than I deserve). Behold, Thou hast driven me out this day FROM THE FACE (SURFACE) OF THE EARTH; and FROM THY FACE SHALL I BE HID; and I shall be a FUGITIVE and a VAGABOND IN THE EARTH; and it shall come to pass, that every one that FINDETH me shall slay me." (Gen. 4:13-14)
The LORD in His pity for Cain then said, "Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any FINDING him should kill him. (Gen. 4:15)
Cain then went out FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nowd ("wandering"), on the east of Eden. (Gen. 4:16)
Then, Cain and his wife had a son and called his name Chanokh (or Enoch). Then, Cain built a city and called the name of that city "Chanokh" after his son. Then, we are told of six more generations that his son produced. What if this city is not on the surface of the earth? What if Nod, a place of Wandering, was a CAVERN SYSTEM where he could hide? (Gen. 4:17)
We are next told of an interesting story, the first recorded incident of killing in self-defense:
Genesis 4:16-24
16 And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.
18 And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.
19 And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.
20 And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.
21 And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.
22 And Zillah, she also bare Tubal-cain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.
23 And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.
24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.
KJV
The problem is that God never truly intervened for Lamekh (Lamech) as He did for Qayin (Cain). I believe that either he and his family were driven out of Chanokh and out of the cavern system at this time or they fled for their lives. In either case, they were forced out into the full sunlight which they had never had to deal with in the past. We read that Yaval (Jabal) was "the father of such as dwell in tents" and that his half-brother, Tuval-Qayin (Tubal-Cain), was "an instructer [sic] of every artificer in brass and iron." Why did they live in tents? After years without the sun, their skin was quite blanched and more susceptible to sunburns. Where did Tuval-Qayin get his knowledge of brass and iron? In Chanokh within the caverns, he had learned to work metals, even in alloys since brass is an alloy.
Now, some of you are going to turn me off (or may have already turned me off) thinking that this is all fanciful thinking and conjecture. I don't deny that this is conjecture, but if you will bear with me, I think you will find that there is merit to this idea, and that it fits many facts.
Meanwhile, on the surface--in the light of the sun, under the blue skies (heavens), and "under the face of God"--Adam has another son and named him "Shet (Seth)" as a substitute for Hevel (Abel):
Genesis 4:25-26
25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.
26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.
KJV
Now, I've heard some preachers say that this was when people began to pray; however, Adam was already familiar with speaking to God and receiving answers. A few preachers will even suggest that this was when people started to "get saved." But that is not what this verse is talking about. Looking carefully at the Hebrew words, one will discover that this was when people started to use the name of the LORD as a talisman or a good-luck charm! They began to tack his name onto their own to ward off evil, and they became prideful that they were allowed to be in the LORD'S presence.
Looking again carefully at the passage in Genesis 6,
Genesis 6:1-8
1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face (SURFACE) of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
2 That the sons of God (a term applied to themselves as a term of prejudice) saw the daughters of men that they were fair (tov "good"); and they (forcefully) took them wives of all which they chose (desired).
3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
4 There were giants (n'faliym "tyrants") in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men (g'boriym "champions" [like Goliath] or "heroes") which were of old, men of renown (famous or popular men).
5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
KJV
Now we can see what so enraged the LORD! He hated the tyranny, the slavery ("white" slavery, if you'll forgive the pun), and injustice to fellow human beings, but when you compound that with the fact that the rest of the population made them out to be heroes and champions and to make them popular as well, this was the last straw!
Now, granted this has been conjecture, but one may notice that it does fit the facts and gives a plausible explanation as to how these "sons of God" could be the progeny of Shet (Seth) and still act like anything but "sons of God" in spite of the fact that they were called "the sons of God." It was a term of PREJUDICE!
