This post continues a series that started with “In Beginning”.
When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, 2the sons of God saw that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose.
3Then the LORD said, “My spirit shall not abide in mortals forever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred twenty years.”
4The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.
Obscure passages of scripture become the source of much speculation. Outside the scripture there are many writings that inquire into the world of angels and demons, but the Bible lacks interest in such things. The scripture is focused on humans in this world and in the faithfulness of God.
There are references in the Bible to Satan as the father of lies, and we hear of demons being exorcised, but there is precious little about the ranks of angels and their origin. The scripture doesn’t waste our time on such things – as curious as humans tend to be. God doesn’t gossip: God doesn’t want to talk to me about other people, God wants to talk to me about me (and to us about us).
So what shall we do with this strange text about the “sons of God” sleeping with the “daughters of men.” And why is this divine word limiting human life to 120 years stuck in the middle?
Honestly, we must admit we don’t know much about what these words meant 2,500 years ago (something we always have to keep in mind as we stand before the scripture). We are listening in on the cultural ideas of the ancient world where stories of the gods cavorting with humans and of ancient heroes, half god and half human, are familiar stuff. But the biblical writers aren’t interested in this particular story; they are framing a larger narrative of the world careening off kilter. And the ultimate testimony to the world’s degradation is the transgressing of all boundaries – including the boundaries between the heavens and the earth. Heavenly beings and humans cavorting in the creation of something other than humans born of God’s divine image does not lead to honored heroes but an unthinkable corruption of God’s good world. Our text’s very next sentence is: The LORD saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5)
The biblical imagination experiences the world of power as the world of great kings and their armies, so such language and imagery is used of God. Here the context leads to the suggestion that God’s soldiers and servants are betraying their responsibilities to guard and protect. They are pursuing their own desires. They are cops and soldiers gone off the rails. God acts to set limits, but ultimately God regrets having made humanity.
And the LORD was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. (Genesis 6:6)
The narrative means to carry us with it into a recognition of a broken world. It bids us share God’s grief.
Grief and horror are the proper response to police officers shooting persons of color in the back, to corrupt officials lining their own pockets at the public expense, to rape and pillaging by invading soldiers, to starving children and bombs dropped on aid workers in an unconstrained war. It grieves God to the heart. It should grieve us. And it should lead to something new.
PS: notice the presence of the word “took”. This is not about mutual love but taking.
Wondrous God
Creator of a good and precious world,
help us know your grief
and lead us from brokenness
into the light of your grace.
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Photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Sons_of_God_Saw_the_Daughters_of_Men_That_They_Were_Fair,_by_Daniel_Chester_French,_modeled_by_1918,_carved_1923_-_Corcoran_Gallery_of_Art_-_DSC01065.JPG, Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
© David K Bonde, 2024, All rights reserved.
Holy Seasons 
