Who are the Sons of God and Daughters of Men?
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Who are the sons of God and the daughters of men in Genesis 6:1-4 and Job 1:6 and where does this scene take place?
In Job 1:6 we read, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.” This scene appears to take place where God lives, and that is in heaven. Psalm 11:4 says, “The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.” The phrase “sons of God” is also used in Job 2:1, and in Job 38:7 which says, “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” In Job, it is presumed that “sons of God” means some kind of spiritual being since Satan was among them, they came before God, and they were present at the creation to shout for joy. These certainly do not appear to be men. However, is Genesis 6:1-4 speaking about the same group?
Genesis 6:1-4 says the following:
And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 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.
What is similar about both passages is the phrase “sons of God.” Some conclude that since it means spiritual beings in Job that it must mean some kind of spiritual being in Genesis 6 also, but I don’t believe that to be the case. First, the sons of God in this context are marrying and having children with the daughters of men. However, Jesus made it clear that angels do not give and take in marriage. “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven” (Matthew 22:30). So these “sons of God” cannot be angels. Second, the context of Genesis 6 is clearly the wickedness of men on earth. Given the context, we should assume that the “sons of God” are men and not angels of some kind. Third, notice also that when the sons of God had children with the daughters of men that the offspring were men. Fourth, the giants that are mentioned also seem to be men. Giants are mentioned in other places in the Bible most notably to be dwelling in Canaan when the children of Israel sent spies there (Numbers 13:33), and there is also Goliath who was described as a giant in 2 Samuel 21:22.
So who were the sons of God and daughters of men? There is an interpretation that is much more consistent with the context than saying that these are angels. Instead, I believe we should say that they were men who were of the line of Seth. You will notice that those mentioned in the seed line of Abraham are not the only children of Seth. Genesis 5:7 says, “And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.” The daughters of men I believe to be daughters of the children of Cain whose family is listed in Genesis 4:16-24. Seth’s family is then listed in Genesis 4:25-5:32. So you have two families represented up to this point. There are the sons of God represented in the family of Seth, and there are the daughters of men who are the female offspring of the children of Cain and his family. What we learn from this study is that we have to look at words and expressions in the context that they are given and not assume that just because a phrase is used one way in one context that it means the same thing in another context.