“Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.’” Genesis 6:1-3.
“There were giants 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.” Genesis 6:4.
The word used for giants in Genesis 6:4 has the meaning of fallen ones, or to fall on.
The following is a partial account of 10 of the 12 spies sent into the land of Canaan to see what it was like.
“And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, ‘The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.’” Numbers 13:32-33.
The giants that are mentioned above are the Nephilim and are similar to the giants who perished in the flood mentioned in Genesis 6:4. This post-flood account confirms that there were actual giants living before the flood.
The idea that the word giant meant “to fall on” tells us that because these men were so huge and strong they would fall on others, that is to say, they would fall on men to rob them, or just brutalize them.
It is felt by some that these giants would, because of their great height and strength rush upon men with great violence and oppress them in a cruel and tyrannical manner.
Think of that, there is no sheriff in town, only these evil men doing their own will.
That these people were enormous is attested to by fossilized footprints found in various places such as in the Paluxy River Bed near Glenrose, Texas.
There are photos of these footprints in a book called “The Genesis Flood” by John C. Whitcomb, Jr. and Henry M. Morris; printed 1975, by The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co.
The photos are on page 175, showing two extremely large footprints with a man’s barefoot on one of them. The appearance is that it might be possible to get two normal feet into one print.
The length of the print is around 15 inches or more, about the distance from your elbow to the tip of your middle finger. Footprints have also been found in Arizona, California, and New Mexico.
Brutes of this size can be very frightening especially if they have no moral compunctions about robbing someone or beating them up. Lawlessness during this period must have been pandemic.
I have met men like this, not giants, but very large and extremely strong, they were mercurial and treacherous, especially while drinking.
The structure of verse 4 indicates that these giants are not the offspring of the angels and women, but they were the products of normal male and female relations.
The Bible also speaks of giants (Nephilim) after the flood with no indication that they were the product of angels and women.
Goliath of Gath was the nine foot nine inch giant (see, 1 Samuel 17) who faced off with David long before David became king in 1010 B.C.
However, I think that Goliath would have been considered the runt of the litter if he had been born before the flood.
There are two other groups mentioned in verse 4 that will interest you. When the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men, “…they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”
These mighty men, who were of old, because of the wording, are said to be military men. Think of that, there were military men before the flood, meaning that there were wars before the flood, just as we have been having ever since the flood.
If there were wars this means that there was misery, killings, spoils, and every sort of debauchery that goes on after war.
In Genesis 4:22 it says of one of Cain’s descendents, Tubal-Cain, that he was, “…an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron.”
A craftsman can make weapons of war just as easily as a bronze flute, or horn; probably to a greater profit than a musical instrument. These men did not beat each other with clubs; they had swords and spears, if not more advanced weaponry such as catapults.
It is important that you do not think the word war while you read this; you must think of the atrocities going on in the warfare in the Middle East right now and then think WAR. These are not inarticulate cave men in these passages, they are godless men given to great cruelty.
The second group in verse 4 are the “…men of renown.” These men were those of great wealth or power; perhaps it is they who hired the military men to expand their territory to gain them even more power on the earth. Or even to kill giants?
Both of these groups are the sons of fallen angels and the daughters of men. It seems as if you could almost use the word demi-gods to express what set these men apart from the ordinary offspring of men.
“These were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” This verse is written as if we are expected to know who the writer is talking about.
Notice that the verse says, “These were the mighty men who were of old…” not, “These were mighty men who were of old”. The word “the” implies that we know what or of whom God is talking about.
Indeed it is possible that we do have an inkling at least; when Noah’s sons exited the ark and had children of their own, their children must have asked them why God had destroyed the world, and what was it like.
These men of old, men of renown must have come up in their stories, and over time and in repetition they became gods and demi-gods, quite possibly with names like; Baal, Molech, Zeus, Ares, Mercury, Hades, Tammuz, even Orion the Hunter.
God warned the children of Israel not to fraternize with the people in the land of Canaan when they took it over, not to intermarry or worship their false gods.
“So the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons; and they served their gods. So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord [Yahweh]. They forgot the Lord their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs.” Judges 3:5-7.
“…but they [children of Israel] mingled with the Gentiles and learned their works; they served their idols, which became a snare to them. They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood. Thus they were defiled by their own works, and played the harlot by their own deeds.” Psalm106:35-39.
Deadly, Evil and Wicked, Genesis 6:4 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 9-3-14, updated on 11-13-21.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.