Who Are The Sons of God in Genesis 6? Part 1

this is part 1 of a five-part series entitled who are the sons of God in Genesis 6 now this is an extremely controversial issue and there's a lot of disagreement within circles of those who are involved in biblical studies and it's an issue that's essentially one that even causes great consternation among people because of the the difficulties with the interpretations that are involved so part one focuses on the meaning of an article and a noun together that's the man ha Adam in Hebrew it means tha and then man in Genesis 6:1 so this is going to set the foundation for us for the rest of the study but before we get into the question of who are Adam the man or whatever of Genesis 6:1 we need to prepare for the study first of all let's talk about the two major views that are out there there there are two views that are predominantly held by people as to who are the sons of God in Genesis chapter 6 found in check verse 2 and in verse 4 the first view is that these Bonet ha Elohim and that's the Hebrew term for the sons of God these Bonet ha Elohim are evil angelic beings who were permitted to take on human flesh and live among human beings who had descended from the line of Adam that's the first view the second view is that these Bonet ha Elohim the sons of God instead were human beings from the godly line of Seth who was the son of Adam and born to Eve after the death of Abel according to Genesis 425 whom his brother Cain had murdered now most proponents of this second view the view that the sons of God were the quote/unquote godly line of Seth most of them more or less came to this view as a result of a sense of consternation over the plausibility over the the the ability to stomach the view that these could be evil angels in Genesis 6:4 why because it seems ludicrous it seems terrible it seems unethical it seems impossible that angelic beings could somehow take on human flesh and take women from ever from whomever they would choose and cohabitate with them and create an offspring a-line that's not something that's otherwise done in human history after the great flood of Genesis 6 to 8 so that being the case it's difficult for many people to consider that the view that the view that these could be evil angelic beings well there is a number of sources read I should say recent sources on this subject that I want to kind of make you aware of so that you can look into this question further if you want to study it more thoroughly the most recent book that's come out on this subject and by the way the title is the sons of God in Genesis 6 1 through 4 it's written by a german-speaking scholar named yo op dode ins is published by Brill 2019 this book is a very thorough study on this on the question of who are the sons of God in Genesis 6 so if you're looking for a thorough bibliography of modern sources and in many cases even ancient sources you can go to his book and find pretty much whatever you're interested in looking at on this subject then there is a an almost as a recent book 2015 book by a man named Michael hi sir it's entitled the unseen realm and it's published by LexA min 2015 and that book it's not limited to the to the issue of the sons of God in Genesis 6 but includes a considerable treatment of this passage so you may want to look into hi sirs book + hi sir a four-minute follow-up video that he did much more recently on just specifically the issue of the sons of God and I believe it's about a four-minute video or so between four and five minute video and you'll want to look at his view and of court and what he has to say and of course thankfully he does end up with the right view in this video which is that these evil angels are that these sons of God are evil angels another more recent video in fact was produced in November of 2019 was produced by Peter Gentry from one of the Southern Baptist seminaries Peter is a dear friend and colleague we know each other from the city of Toronto where we fellowshipped a number of times that's where I did my PhD and is where he he did his earlier he has an excellent 16 minute video on the question of the sons of God and it's worth saying for certain and he also comes to the view that I hold which is that the sons of God are evil angelic beings so that's a more recent source then there's also a an unpublished paper that I have uploaded to my academia.edu web page and you're welcome to to go and view it or download it for free and view it and distribute it not a problem where I go into the the arguments for why the sons of God in Genesis 6 should be the evil angels sure should be evil angels but should not be some alleged godly line of Seth so that is a another tool that you can go to to be able to study this issue further alright now let's jump into the question itself of who are ha Adam the man who is or who are ha Adam of Genesis chapter 6 beginning in verse 1 and essentially what we want to do is a study it's like a word study of this noun with in this case with an article to see how it's used especially in the book of Genesis and especially in the context leading up to chapter six so this is going to give us the launching point by which we're going to interpret in a much more informed way the sons of God in Chapter six of Genesis but before we get into this question let's actually do a couple other things let's go over the outline briefly for Genesis 6 1 through 7 because you can divide it into 3 logical parts according to the verses that are there the first part of the outline includes the actors and their actions and this is in chapter 6 verses 1 & 2 and so that's the first part the second part of the outline is the consequences for mankind meaning the consequences of this evil act that takes place and that's in verse 3 so it's just one verse for the second part of the outline and the third part of the outline is an elaboration of their actions and their subsequent judgment and that we find in verses 4 through 7 of Genesis chapter 6 alright so that's the outline now let's let's get into the text a little bit because we have to get into the text before we can deal with some of the textual issues such as what does it mean when Moses says the man Haddam beginning in verse 1 of chapter 6 so I'll give you my translation beginning with verse 1 of chapter 6 and going through verse 7 says this now came to pass that the man that is the race of mankind and you'll see in my translation that I have for you on the screen that this is in brackets because I'm interpreting interpretive ly giving you what I think is a better understanding of the Hebrew term as it's to be used in its context so it came to pass that the race of mankind began to increase on the surface of the earth and daughters were born to them verse 2 then the sons of God the B'nai saw or looked at the daughters of mankind that they were beautiful so they took women for themselves that is from the race of mankind daughters of the man from all whom they had chosen verse three so he who is said and of course he who is is the Covenant name of God as it's meant to be understood and therefore should be translated into English not giving you a transliteration or another English word that's not what it means the meaning of this word it's a it's a singular masculine masculine singular participle and it means he who is the one who goes on existing so he who is the one who goes on existing said my spirit will not contend with the race of mankind forever of whom indeed he is flesh thus his days will be 120 years the fallen ones and that's from the Hebrew word Nephilim which does not mean Giants were on the earth in those days and afterwards also when the sons of God were going into the daughters of the man and sired offspring to them they that is the sons of God the Fallen ones were the powerful ones keep from Hebrew Ghibelline not mighty ones but powerful ones who were from eternity mail which if your translation reads men it's a it's an improper translation that's not what it says males of renown then the second paragraph which is beginning with verse 5 now he who is saw that great was the wickedness of mankind on the earth and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the day long so he who is was grieved not repentant but grieved that he had made the man or the race of mankind on the earth and he got hurt to his heart it's a very passionate expression of the feelings and emotions God had while he was looking at this atrocity that was going on on planet Earth so he hurt to his heart verse 7 then he who is said I will wipe away the race of mankind whom I have created now it's the judgment from upon the surface of the ground from mankind to animal to creeping thing to bird of the sky because I am grieved that I have made them that's what we have at the end of this part of the narrative God's utter grief at the situation for how mankind had corrupted itself on earth this then can take us into the question that we want to answer which is what is the meaning of Haddam in Genesis 6:1 and I'm going to try to persuade you that the way to identify Haddam is to see them here in this reference and the other references in chapter 6 as humanity as a whole in other words Adams entire line that's who's being focused on here so the article plus the noun that is the Hebrew article ha equivalent to English though plus the Hebrew noun Adam which in English is Adam or man or mankind is used consistently in the first two chapters of Genesis that's before our narrative our portion that we're trying to to resolve in the first two chapters of Genesis is used to refer to the first man who was formed and the word has translated the man most often in 20 in chapter 2 verse 20 be the new American Standard first translates ha Adam as Adam and here's how it reads the man gave names to all the cattle into the birds of the sky into the end to every beast of the field but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him in Genesis 3:17 Moses begins making specific references to this first man without the definite article essentially the equivalent of using Adam as a name and from this point forward in the new American Standard translation the update version at least every time Adam is named in Genesis there is no direct there's no definite article ha the that you find in Hebrew this includes chapter 5 verse 1 chapter 5 verse 3 and chapter 5 verse 4 every reference is without an article the other three references to Adam in the Hebrew Bible also are an arthritic 'el with it and those include first Chronicles 1:1 job 31 33 and Hosea 6 7 therefore from Genesis 3 and forward in the Hebrew Bible anytime Adam is named his name does not contain the direct or the definite article in Hebrew that's important that signifies us it's a flag telling us this is almost undoubtedly a reference to to Adam as a man no longer as the first man and certainly not a reference to Adam as the line of Adam that is humanity in general all who derived from Adam so the final time that hadam is used in genesis of the first man seems to be in 324 where God quote drove out the man that is Adam the individual from the Garden of Eden by the time that Moses reaches chapter 6 verse 1 ha Adam now refers to the race of mankind whose progenitor was Adam Adam was the first of this race but this term ha Adam is used regularly as humanity as a whole but here in Chapter six the text states that ha Adam with the article began to increase on the surface of the earth certainly the author was not stating that Adam began to increase on the surface of the earth because the very next verse chapter 6 verse 2 notes that the sons of God saw or looked at the daughters of Adam since the earth already was populated with Cain Seth and their offspring such as Seth son eNOS eNOS who we read about in 426 the reference to ha Adam here must be to the entire Adamic race everyone who would derive from Adam himself as you look at the beginning of chapter 6 looking at verse 1 where it says now it came to pass that the man began to increase on the surface of the earth the way it should be understood is the race of mankind all who derived from Adam began to increase on the surface of the earth and daughters were born to them then the sons of God the B'nai saw the daughters of the man that is the race of mankind that they were beautiful and they took women from them for themselves and all whom they had chosen so that's it for the first part of our series next we'll be jumping into part 2 which is the meaning of the sons of God in chapter 6 verses 2 and verse 4 and that of course has Rama Rama fication z-- for all of the passage in Genesis chapter 6 you

Channel: TheBibleSeminary

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Keywords: Sons of God, Genesis 6, Evil Angels, Genesis, Who are the Sons of God, Fallen Angels, Who are the Sons of God in Genesis Chapter 6, ha adam, Genesis 3:17, bene ha elohim, adam, Houston Texas, Were the sons of God in Genesis 6 fallen angels? Who were the Nephilim?

Id: MR5TyrnP8Xg

Length: 17min 38sec (1058 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 13 2020