Page 10 - BCCA4
P. 10
"To allege that 'giants' were the results of such sexual unions is once again
to go beyond any data we possess in Scripture. Did the angels procreate
without the use of natural bodies? Or did they already possess natural bod-
ies? Or did they create for themselves natural bodies by the use of some
mysterious, intrinsic, but rebellious power? Any and all answers to such
questions would be purely speculative" (InterVarsity Press, Downes Grove,
Illinois, pages 106-107).
COMMENT: "Purely speculative" indeed! Linking the Nephilim to the result
of unions between angels and human women is highly speculative and has,
in fact, no basis in Scripture.
4. Notice that a different rendering of Genesis 6:1-4 by Ferrar Fenton
shows just how speculative this notion is:
"But when corrupt Men increased upon the surface of the Earth, and sons
and daughters were born to them, then the sons of God admired the
daughters of Men who were beautiful, and they took to themselves wives
from all they desired. Consequently the EVER-LIVING said 'My spirit shall
not call to man for ever, for he is sinful flesh, but they shall have a hundred
and twenty years.' The Nephalim were upon the earth in those days, and
ALSO AFTERWARDS when the sons of God came to the daughters of
man, and they [the sons of God] bore to them [the daughters of
man] mighty men, who were men of renown of old" (The Bible in Mod-
ern English, "The Five Books of Moses," 1901).
COMMENT: This rendition clearly states that the Nephilim were alive (on
the earth) BEFORE the union of "the sons of God" and "the daughters of
Men" -- therefore the Nephilim could NOT have been the result of this un-
ion! The offspring of this union were the "mighty men, who were men of re-
nown of old" -- totally different people to the Nephilim. The phrase "The
Nephalim were upon the earth in those days, and also afterwards
when the sons of God came to the daughters of man" is a interjectory
statement similar in style to numerous other ones found in the Bible.
5. Now, regarding the other two views of this Genesis passage (religiously
mixed races and the sociologically mixed races), what does the Bible dic-
tionary Insight On the Scriptures have to say?
"Many commentators hold that these 'sons of God' were themselves human
[so far, so good!] being in reality men of the line of Seth [oops, heading into
the ditch!]. They base their argument on the fact that Seth's line was that
through which godly Noah came, whereas the other lines from Adam, that
10 | P a ge