Genesis 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._ There were giants in the earth in those days [Hebrew, _ HA-NªPILIYM_ (H5303)]. The Nephilim were in the earth in those days. The marked manner in which they are introduced to our notice is sufficient to prevent them from being identified with "the sons of God," or considered as the offspring of these; because they are described as already in existence and well known at the time when the Sethites began to intermarry with the other branches of the Adamic family. Who, or what, then, were the Nephilim? In the only other passage where the word occurs (Numbers 13:32-33) it clearly means giants, being derive

4._There were giants in the earth_. Among the innumerable kinds of corruptions with which the earth was filled, Moses especially records one in this place; namely that giants practiced great violence and tyranny. I do not, however, suppose, that he speaks of all the men of this age; but of certain individuals, who, being stronger than the rest, and relying on their own might and power, exalted themselves unlawfully, and without measure. As to the Hebrew noun, נפלים (_nefilim_,) its origin is known to be from the verb נפל (_naphal_,) which is _to fall_; but grammarians do not agree concerning its etymology. Some think that they were so called because they exceeded the common stature; (264) others, because the countenance of men fell at the sight of them, on account of the enormous size of their body; or, because all fell prost

1-7 The most remarkable thing concerning the old world, is the destroying of it by the deluge, or flood. We are told of the abounding iniquity of that wicked world: God's just wrath, and his holy resolution to punish it. In all ages there has been a peculiar curse of God upon marriages between professors of true religion and its avowed enemies. The evil example of the ungodly party corrupts or greatly hurts the other. Family religion is put an end to, and the children are trained up according to the worldly maxims of that parent who is without the fear of God. If we profess to be the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, we must not marry without his consent. He will never give his blessing, if we prefer beauty, wit, wealth, or worldly honours, to faith and holiness. The Spirit of God strove with men, by sending Enoch, Noah, and perhaps others, to preach to them; by waiting to be gra...

Verse Genesis 6:4. _THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH_] נפלים _nephilim_, from נפל _naphal_, "he fell." Those who had _apostatized_ or _fallen_ from the true religion. The Septuagint translate the original word by γιγαντες, which literally signifies _earth-born_, and which we, following them, term _giants_, without having any reference to the meaning of the word, which we generally conceive to signify persons of _enormous stature_. But the word when properly understood makes a very just distinction between the sons of men and the sons of God; those were the nephilim, the _fallen earth-born_ men, with the animal and devilish mind. These were the _sons of God_, who were born from above; children of the kingdom, because children of God. Hence we may suppose originated the different appellatives given to _sinners and saints_; the former were ter...

- The Growth of Sin 3. דון _dı̂yn_ “be down, strive, subdue, judge.” בשׁגם _bāshagām_ “inasmuch, as also.” The rendering “in their error” requires the pointing בשׁגם _b__e__shāgām_, and the plural form of the following pronoun. It is also unknown to the Septuagint. 4. נפילים _n__e__pı̂lı̂ym_ “assailants, fellers, men of violence, tyrants.” Having traced the line of descent from Adam through Sheth, the seed of God, to Noah, the author proceeds to describe the general spread and growth of moral evil in the race of man, and the determination of the Lord to wipe it away from the

EXPOSITION GENESIS 6:1, GENESIS 6:2 AND IT CAME TO PASS. Literally, _it was_;_ _not in immediate sequence to the preceding chapter, but at some earlier point in the antediluvian period; perhaps about the time of Enoch (corresponding to that of Lamech the Cainite), if not in the days of Enos. Havernick joins the passage with Genesis 4:26. WHEN MEN—_ha'adham_, _i.e._ the human race in general, and not the posterity of Cain in particular (Ainsworth, Rosenmüller, Bush)—BEGAN TO MULTIPLY—in virtue of the Divine blessing ...

THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH IN THOSE DAYS,.... That is, in the days before the sons of God took the daughters of men for wives, in such a general manner as before declared, or before the declension and apostasy became so universal; even in the times of Jared, as the Arabic writers n understand it, who say that these giants were begotten on the daughters of Cain by the children of Seth, who went down from the mountain to them in the days of Jared, see Genesis 5:20 the word "Nephilim" comes from a word which signifies to fall; and these might be so called, either because they made their fear to fall upon men, or men, through fear, to fall before them, because of their height and strength; or rather because they fell and rushed on men with great violence, and oppressed them in a cruel and tyrannical manner; or, as some think, because they fell off and were apostates from the true religio...

SONS OF GOD Some hold that these "sons of God" were the "angels which kept not their first estate" (Jude 1:6). It is asserted that the title is in the Old Testament exclusively used of angels. But this is an error (Isaiah 43:6). Angels are spoken of in a sexless way. No female angels are mentioned in Scripture, and we are expressly told that marriage is unknown among angels. (Matthew 22:30). The uniform Hebrew and Christian interpretation has been that verse (Genesis 6:2) marks the breaking down of the separation between the godly line of Seth and the godless line of Cain, and so the failure of the testimony to Jehovah committed

CHAPTER 6:1-8 The Increasing Corruption _ 1. The sons of God and the daughters of men (Genesis 6:1)_ 2. The warning of Jehovah (Genesis 6:3) 3. Increased wickedness (Genesis 6:4) 4. Judgment announced (Genesis 6:7) 5. Noah found grace (Genesis 6:8) The question is who are the sons of God who took the daughters of men. The general view is that the sons of God were the pious descendants of Seth and the daughters of men, the Cainitish offspring. However, there are strong arguments against it. 1. There is no proof in the t

The Angel Marriages. This section belongs to J, but to what stratum is not clear. In its nakedly mythological character it is quite unlike anything else in the history. It is obscure at some points, probably through abbreviation, and the phrase the men of renown implies that a cycle of stories was current about the Nephilim. It does not join on to the preceding genealogy, since the opening words point to a time much earlier than that of Noah. It serves at present as an introduction to the story of the Flood; matters had come to such a pass that nothing but the almost complete extermination of the race could cure the evil. But it does not really lead up to this, for the writer does not imply that these unions resulted in a progeny of monstrous wickedness. It is a kind of coarser parallel to the story of the forbidden fruit; in both the Divinely-appointed limits are transgressed. Here we r...