Subject: The Sons of God in Genesis 6:1-4 |
Bible Note: Greetings Disciple! I really don't know to what the phrase "and afterwards too" refers. I was doing some reading on this passage and several possibilities arise concerning the identity of the "giants". 1) The giants could be the offspring of the union referred to between the Sons of God (regardless of the view taken concerning their identity) and the daughters of men. 2) The giants could be a seperate but contemporary group with the offspring mentioned above. 3) The giants could be a reference to no group in particular, but simply tall men. Which view one adopts will determine whether the phrase "and afterwards too" can possibly refer to a time after the flood. Option 1 would work, but the passage only mentions one such union. We would have to assume that a second union occurred after the flood. This wouldn't be as huge a problem if the Sons of God were men, but would be more difficult if they were angels (simply because we would have to assume two distinct events rather than one). Option 2 would not seem to work at all, since all but Noah and his family perished during the flood. Option 3 would work simply because the term is descriptive not identifying any particular ethnic group. But, there are other possibilities as well. Perhaps the phrase "and afterwards too" refers not to the flood, but to the period of time (120 years?) between that time and the flood. I simply don't know for sure and there doesn't seem to be enough evidence to decide one way or the other. I do think that both you and Jesusman have done an excellent job presenting your cases (I think both make sense). I'm just not sure that it matters much either way! :-) Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |