There is a mysterious and fascinating passage in the book of Genesis which mentions giants and “sons of God” having offspring with the “daughters of men”.  What is this all about?  Let’s have a look at the passage in question.

Gen 6:1  Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them,
Gen 6:2  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.
Gen 6:3  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.”
Gen 6:4  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.

Four questions naturally come to mind when reading Gen 6:1-4.

1. Who were the sons of God?
2. What does it mean that man’s days shall be 120 years?
3. Who were the giants?
4. Who were the mighty men?

Let’s answer each of these four questions by using Scripture alone.

1.  Who were the sons of God?

The term “sons of God” is used here in Genesis 6:2; it’s used three times in Job (Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7) and several times in the New Testament.  In the New Testament “sons of God” always refers to Christians – God fearing and obedient people.  In the book of Job the context clearly indicates that “sons of God” are angelic beings, since they enter directly into God’s presence.  So two possible meanings for the phrase “sons of God” in Genesis 6:2, are “Godly men” and “angels”.

Godly men

Could the “sons of God” in Genesis 6:2 refer to “godly men” or “Christians”?  Reading the next few verses in Genesis 6 it’s clear there weren’t any godly men at that time, except Noah.

Gen 6:5  Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Gen 6:6  And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
Gen 6:7  So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
Gen 6:8  But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

So “sons of God” in Genesis 6 cannot refer to “godly men”.

Angels

Could the “sons of God” in Genesis 6:2 refer to angels?  These “sons of God” were marrying.  The verse in question says that they took wives for themselves. 

Gen 6:2  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.

But angels don’t marry.  Jesus Christ said:

Mat 22:30  “For in the resurrection they [those who are resurrected] neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.

Christ clearly said that angels do not marry.  So the “sons of God” in in Genesis 6:2 cannot refer to angels.

There is also another reason the “sons of God” in Genesis 6:2 cannot be angels.  It goes against the principal God established at creation that each kind reproduces after its own kind. 

Gen 1:11  Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.
Gen 1:12  And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Gen 1:24  Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind“; and it was so.

The idea of angels and men crossbreeding goes against this principal.

For these reasons “sons of God” in Genesis 6:2  cannot be angels.

If the “sons of God” were neither Godly men nor angels, what were they?  There is another possible meaning.

Sons of rulers

The Hebrew term for “sons of God” in Genesis 6:2 is ben elohim.  The Hebrew word elohim can mean God but can also mean judges or rulers or mighty ones.  An example where elohim means judges is found in Exodus 22:8-9.

Exo 22:8  “If the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall be brought to the judges [elohim]to see whether he has put his hand into his neighbor’s goods.
Exo 22:9  “For any kind of trespass, whether it concerns an ox, a donkey, a sheep, or clothing, or for any kind of lost thing which another claims to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges [elohim]; and whomever the judges [elohim] condemn shall pay double to his neighbor.

The judges here were rulers.  So the term “sons of God” in Genesis 6:2 can mean the “sons of judges” or the “sons of rulers”.  As we have ruled out the possibility of the term “sons of God” meaning godly men or angels, the only possible meaning left is “sons of rulers”. 

So, we have come to the logical conclusion that the “sons of God” in Genesis 6:2 were “sons of rulers”.  These rulers and their sons were evil and corrupt because the earth was full of wickedness.  As sons of rulers, they were in a position of power and able to take beautiful wives for themselves.

We now come to the next question.

2.  What does it mean that man’s days shall be 120 years?

Gen 6:3  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.”

Some think that “his days shall be 120 years” is a pronouncement that men and women wouldn’t live to be older than 120 years.  However this can’t be so as some of the patriarchs who lived long after this pronouncement lived longer than 120 years.  For example, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived 175, 180 and 147 years respectively.

The 120 years must refer to the time left before God sent the flood which destroyed the world except for those on Noah’s ark.  The earth was full of wickedness.  God was giving mankind 120 years to repent before sending the flood.  During this 120-year period, Noah no doubt preached to them, exhorting them to repent, as indicated in 2 Peter.

2 Pet 2:5  and [God] did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;

The 120 years refers to the time God gave mankind to repent of there sins before sending the flood.

We now come to the last two questions which we will examine at the same time.

3.  Who were the giants?  4.  Who were the mighty men?

Let’s take a closer look at Genesis 6:4.

Gen 6:4  There were giants [nephil] 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 [gibbowr] who were of old, men of renown.

The Hebrew nephil means bully, tyrant or giant.  TheHebrew gibbowr means strong, mighty, or brave men.  Strong’s concordance also gives “giant” as a possible meaning.  So this verse is telling us there were giants on the earth in those days and their children were known as “mighty men”.  No doubt this is because the children were giants also and being naturally stronger due to their size became known as “might men”.

How tall might these giants have been?  King Og was the last of the giants.  This was after the flood, but it gives an indication of the size of the antediluvian giants.

Deu 3:11  “For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the giants. Indeed his bedstead was an iron bedstead. (Is it not in Rabbah of the people of Ammon?) Nine cubits is its length and four cubits its width, according to the standard cubit.

King Og’s bed was 9 cubits long, so king Og was probably about 8 cubits tall.  A cubit is an ancient linear unit based on the length of the forearm, from elbow to the tip of the middle finger, which is about 20 inches.  Thus king Og was about 12 feet tall.  So king Og was about twice the height of an ordinary man.

So the giants in Genesis 6:4 were men, probably about twice as high as ordinary men.  The mighty men, who were the offspring of the giants, were probably giants too.

Summary

In a world filled with wickedness in which there were giant men and where men were running around killing each other with swords and spears, it is only natural that the stronger men – the giants – would become the rulers.  The sons of these giant rulers chose whatever beautiful women they wanted as wives, as they had the power to do so.  Their children were also giant and naturally mighty men.

Here is a clearer translation of Genesis 6:1-6 with commentary in brackets

Gen 6:1  Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them,
Gen 6:2  that the sons of rulers [who were giants] saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
Gen 6:3  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.  [That is, there will be 120 years until the flood.]”
Gen 6:4  There were giants [about twice as high as ordinary men] on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of rulers [who were giants] came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men [who were giants] who were of old, men of renown.