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Home , Nephilim, Offspring (Angel)

CHAPTER SIX

"THEY MIGHT BE ": HUMAN- OFFSPRING

This chapter investigates the relationship between humans and by considering the portrayals (deriving from Gen 6: l-4) of angels having sexual relations with human women. In a number of texts these relations resulted in viable offspring: angel-human hybrids that came to be known as the Nephilim, Giborim, or giants. The "taking of wives" in the Gen 6 narrative and subsequent inter­ pretations was understood as a euphemism for sexual relations that led to hybrid offspring. The term "hybrid" will be understood to mean, "the offspring of two animals [or beings] of different species or vari­ eties."1 This term regularly has the connotation that the two entities involved are incongruous-that is, do not regularly or naturally join. The evidence in this chapter indicates that a union between angels and humans was not considered natural. They were distinct beings (or species) from the creation onward. The angels' descent to earth was a transgression of the natural order that represented a significant problem. It was even considered by some interpreters to be the source of evil in the world.

6.1 Genesis 6:1-4 in the

Prior to the short story of the "" in Gen 6: 1-4 are the creation (chaps. 1-2), the story of and their expul­ sion from the garden of Eden (chaps. 3-4), and then a list of the generations after Adam up to the mention of and his three sons (chap. 5). With seemingly no connection to the preceding mate­ rial, chapter 6 abruptly interjects this short tale of the "sons of God" and the daughters of men:

1 The Concise O:iford Dictionary, 9th ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998) 665. The words in brackets are mine. 198 CHAPTER SIX

[1] When men (1J1tlii1] began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, [2] the sons of God [CI'i1'?tlii1-'J:J] saw that the daughters of men [lJ1tlii1 n1J:J] were fair; and they took to wife (Ci'tDJ m'? lnp'l] such of them as they chose. [3] Then the Lord said, "My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for he is flesh, but his days shall be a hundred and twenty years." [4] The Nephilim [CI''?::lJi1] were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God (CI'i1'?tlii1 'J:J] came in to the daugh­ ters of men (Ciitlii1 n1J:J], and they bore children to them, these ~1Di1] (were) the mighty men (C1'1:JJi1] that were of old, the men of renown. Immediately after this short account, it is said that the Lord looks upon the earth, sees that humans are wicked, and repents of his cre­ ation (6:5). This connection with the evil of the age and the flood is central in later interpretations. The flood narratives follow, when God purifies the earth of the first, wicked humans. Only those of Noah's family survive (chaps. 6-9). So, already in the Hebrew Bible tradition, the descent to earth and taking of wives by divine beings seems to have precipitated a upon the earth. A brief outline of the Gen 6: 1-4 narrative will be helpful, since (a) the passage itself is rather brief and not logically well structured, and (b) subsequent traditions pick up on particular parts of the passage: 1. Humans are said to increase in number upon the earth (6: 1a). 2. Daughters are born to the humans (6:lb). The "sons of God" then see that the daughters are pleasing to the eye (6:2a), and they "take wives" from among the human females (6:2b). 3. Then the Lord says that his spirit (n11) will not remain in humans for longer than 120 years (6:3). 2 No apparent rationale is given for the sudden limitation, especially since it is already clear that humans are mortal (Gen 3: 19), nor for the specific maXImum duration of life (120 years). This verse interrupts the story, and it is sometimes omitted in subsequent interpretations.

2 The significance of the term "spirit" here is not entirely clear. It seems to rep­ resent the life force (breath) that God gave to humans. However, "spirit" is a term sometimes used to refer to angels, especially in some of the . On this see A. Sekki, 1he Meaning qf Ruah at Qymran (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1989) 145-171. If the "sons of God" were to be understood as humans, then this might suggest that God's spirit does not remain in them because of their action. However, virtually all subsequent interpretations seem to suggest that these beings are angels.