Subject: What is progeny? |
Bible Note: Hi Mark, I may be able to help here. Several years back I did many, many hours of research into this subject, cross referencing and double checking over and over again. Bare with me. This may be a pretty long post. Sorry about that. 1) You asked: "If the 'sons of God' were the sons of Seth, and the 'daughters of men' were the daughters of Cain, then why would their children be any different than any others?" and "But when did a believer marrying a non-believer cause their children to be born 'giants', or whatever else the 'nephilim' were?" First off, how do you know that everybody from Adam to Noah were not "giants". The text in Gen. 6 does not state that only those descended from the "sons of God" and the "daughters of men" were giants. Examine Gen. 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." The way this verse is worded seems to indicate giants already existed when the sons of God took wives from the daughters of men. The hebrew words "n@phiyl" and "n@phil" which refer to what is called "nephilim" simply translate as "giants". Another point here is that all these died in the great flood. Where is there any Biblical evidence that the "sons of God" and the "daughters of men" again had children after the flood? You are aware of course of the "nephilim" that were living in the promised land when Moses led the children of Isreal there over 1,000 years after the flood? Num. 13:33 "the children of Anak". The descendents of Anak (the "Anakims") existed up to the time of King David. Here are some Biblical references to them: Deut. 1:28, 2:10-11 and 20-21, Deut. 3:11 and 9:2, Josh. 11:21-22, 12:4 and 13:12, 15:14, Judg. 1:20, II Sam. 21:16-22 and I Chron. 20:4-8. A close examination of these verses also show that Goliath was one of the descendants of the Anakims (i.e. Nephilim). To kinda sum this up giants existed before the sons of God married the daughters of men and they also existed after the great flood up to the time of King David. This would lead me to believe that the human race has actually degenerated since the flood with short statures as well as shorter life spans (Study the decreased life spans after the flood in Gen. 11:10-32). I know that the saved will need to take the time to "grow up" to the full height (Mal. 4:2). 2) You're other question - "But meanwhile, the whole world, with the exception of Noah's family, was judged wicked, and was destroyed from the earth. Did this 'Godly line' remain Godly through nine generations, only to become completely and entirely corrupt in the tenth generation? Is there any scriptural basis to support that?" Tracing a direct line of Adam's descendents down to Noah you will find that Noah and his 3 sons were the only direct decendents of Adam left alive on the earth when the flood came. Noah's father, Lamech, died 4, 5 or 6 years before the flood at the age of 777, almost 100 years younger than his father Methuselah who died at the age of 969, 1 or 2 years before the flood. which would coincide with Isa. 57:1 - "The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth [it] to heart: and merciful men [are] taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil [to come]." All of Noah's ancesters were dead when the flood came with the exception of Enoch (Methuselah's father) who has never died but was translated, alive, from the earth at the age of 365 (Gen. 5:23-24 and Heb. 11:5). Noah himself was 600 years old when the flood came. |