Commentary - Genesis 6:1-4

Bird's-eye view

Genesis 6:1-4 is one of those passages that modern sensibilities tend to skate over, embarrassed by the sheer strangeness of it all. But we must not do that. This is the inspired Word of God, and it sets the stage for one of the most significant events in biblical history: the global flood. What we have here is not a quaint myth, but a record of a profound and grotesque rebellion. The sin that precipitated the Flood was not simply that men were behaving badly, like going to nightclubs too often. The sin was a high handed, cosmic treason. It was a satanic attempt to corrupt the human seed, the very line from which the Messiah would come, by mixing it with something alien and demonic.

Paul tells us that the story of Abraham's two sons is an allegory (Gal. 4:24), and so is this. We have two lines developing on the earth: the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. Here, the seed of the serpent makes an audacious play to corrupt and swallow up the seed of the woman entirely. This passage describes an unnatural union between celestial beings and human women, resulting in a monstrous offspring. This was not just a failure of godly men marrying ungodly women; it was a far deeper perversion. God's response is therefore not an overreaction. It is a necessary, world-cleansing judgment to preserve the line of promise and to show that He will not tolerate such cosmic rebellion. He is preparing the world for a new beginning, a reboot, with Noah and his family.

Outline

Context In Genesis

This short, dense passage is the hinge upon which the entire pre-flood narrative turns. We have just come from the genealogies of Cain and Seth in chapters 4 and 5. Those chapters established the two lines descending from Adam: the ungodly line of Cain, marked by murder, arrogance, and godless culture-building, and the godly line of Seth, in which men began to "call upon the name of Yahweh." But here in chapter 6, the boundary between the holy and the profane is not just blurred; it is grotesquely violated. This is not simply about the line of Seth failing; it is about a direct, supernatural assault on the line of humanity itself.

This event provides the direct justification for the global judgment that follows in Genesis 6:5-8 and unfolds in chapters 7 and 8. The wickedness that God sees is not just general human depravity; it is the specific, monstrous fruit of this unholy union. The world had become polluted at a genetic and spiritual level, and God's action was one of radical, cleansing surgery to save the patient, which is to say, His redemptive plan for mankind.

Key Issues

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 1 Now it happened, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them,

The stage is set with a simple statement of fact. Humanity, which is to say, the line of Adam, is doing what God commanded it to do: be fruitful and multiply. The world is filling up. But this multiplication, which ought to be a sign of blessing, becomes the occasion for a unique and terrible temptation. The phrase "daughters were born to them" is straightforward, but in the context of what follows, it highlights the vulnerability of the human race. The daughters of Adam are about to become the target of a sinister plot.

v. 2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were good in appearance; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.

Here is the heart of the transgression. The identity of these "sons of God" (bene elohim) is the interpretive key. The popular view in many respectable circles is that this refers to the godly line of Seth intermarrying with the ungodly daughters of the line of Cain. But this reading is thin and doesn't account for the gravity of the text. For one, why are all the men on one side ("sons of God") and all the women on the other ("daughters of men")? Why not "sons of Seth" and "daughters of Cain"? The text says "daughters of men," meaning daughters of Adam, of humanity in general.

The phrase bene elohim is used elsewhere in the Old Testament to refer to celestial beings, or angels (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7). This was a rebellion of fallen angels. They saw the beauty of human women, and it stirred a lust in them that was entirely outside their created purpose. This was not a romantic attraction; it was a predatory conquest. "They took wives for themselves, whomever they chose." This is the language of arrogant power, of taking what you want without regard for God's created order. This was a direct echo of the Fall, where Eve saw that the fruit was "good for food" and "a delight to the eyes," and she took it. Here, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were "good," and they took them. It is the sin of the eyes, leading to the sin of the grasp.

v. 3 Then Yahweh said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever because he indeed is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be 120 years.”

God's response is immediate. The word "strive" can also mean "remain" or "rule in." God's Spirit, the source of life and order, will not indefinitely inhabit a creature so given over to corruption. Man is "flesh," mortal and weak, and has become a vessel for this profound defilement. God is setting a boundary. The judgment will not be immediate, but it is now appointed. The "120 years" is not a new, reduced lifespan for individuals. Many men after the flood lived far longer than that. Rather, this is the countdown to the Flood. God, in His longsuffering, is giving the world 120 years of warning. Noah will be preaching for this entire time, building the ark, a visible testament to the coming judgment. This is a period of grace, a final opportunity for repentance, which, tragically, no one outside Noah's immediate family will take.

v. 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

Now we see the fruit of this unholy union. The Nephilim. The word itself likely means "the fallen ones." They were giants, a monstrous hybrid race. This is not what happens when a believer marries an unbeliever. This is something else entirely. The text explicitly links their existence to the angels coming in to the daughters of men. The result was a race of "mighty men," heroes of a sort, "men of renown." But their renown was like that of Lamech or Cain, a renown built on arrogance, violence, and defiance of God. They were the ancient world's supermen, a demonic counterfeit of the godliness and glory man was intended to have in Adam. The phrase "and also afterward" has caused some confusion, but it likely refers to other giants, like the Anakim, who appeared after the flood and were called Nephilim by way of analogy, much like we might call a modern tyrant a "Nero." The original Nephilim were wiped out in the Flood. Their existence was a primary reason for the Flood. God would not allow this corruption of the human line, this satanic end-run around His plan of redemption, to stand.

Key Words

Bene Elohim, "Sons of God"

This Hebrew phrase is central to the passage. While it can be used in a broader sense, its specific usage in places like Job (Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7) clearly points to angelic or celestial beings who are part of God's heavenly court. The New Testament writers, particularly Peter and Jude, understood this event in Genesis 6 as a sin of angels who "left their proper dwelling" and pursued "strange flesh" (Jude 6-7, 2 Peter 2:4). To interpret "sons of God" here as merely the line of Seth is to ignore the weight of both Old Testament usage and New Testament commentary, and it domesticates a truly terrifying event.

Nephilim

From the Hebrew root naphal, meaning "to fall." They are thus "the fallen ones." The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, renders this as gigantes, from which we get our word "giants." These were not just tall basketball players. They were the unnatural, monstrous offspring of the union between fallen angels and human women. Their presence on the earth was a sign of how deeply creation had been corrupted, a physical manifestation of a spiritual rebellion. They were a biological dead end, a perversion that God had to excise from the world through the Flood.

Application

First, this passage teaches us the profound seriousness of sexual sin. The sin here is not just fornication; it is a violation of God's created order in the most fundamental way. It is a reminder that our sexuality is not a toy. It is tied to creation, to procreation, to the very image of God, and to the line of promise. When we tamper with God's design for sexuality, we are playing with fire from another world.

Second, we see the tenacity of the evil one. Satan's goal from the beginning has been to attack the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15). Here, he attempts a direct biological corruption of that seed. This is part of the long war against Christ. The clash is between God's plan to restore humanity through the Messiah and Satan's desire to create his own counterfeit humanity, an ubermensch in defiance of God. We should not be surprised when we see modern attempts, through technology or ideology, to redefine what it means to be human. It is the same old strategy.

Finally, we see the glorious and severe mercy of God. The Flood was a terrible judgment, but it was also an act of preservation. By cleansing the world, God preserved the human race and the line through which Christ would come. God will not let His ultimate purposes be thwarted. He is patient, granting 120 years for repentance, but His judgment, when it comes, is decisive. Our hope is not in our own ability to withstand the wiles of the devil, but in the God who judges the world in righteousness and who, through the ark of Christ, saves His people from the flood of His wrath.