Decoding the Days of Noah

I am a passionate student of history. My favorite epochs to study are ancient world history and church history with an emphasis on revival periods.

Now, I fully admit that the idea of inter-dimensional beings (aka "fallen angels," "demons" or "aliens") coming down with a plan to intrude upon and usurp God's created order on earth is very strange. The notion that their plan included the creation of a hybrid offspring with human women is out there. I grant you that. The question is…Did this actually happen, as the Bible seems to say?

As strange as this idea might seem, I know from my study of history that virtually every ancient culture on earth, including Sumer, Assyria, Egypt, the Incas, the Mayans, the Aztecs, the Babylonians, the Persians, Greece, India, Bolivia, South Sea Islands, and the Sioux Indians of the United States have detailed oral and written legends of such events. They all have stories about "star people" or gods of some kind who produced offspring on earth. It is also worth noting that virtually every culture mentioned above has a catastrophic flood legend recorded.

For example, in Greek mythology, the Titans were partly celestial, partly terrestrial. They rebelled against their father Uranus, and after a prolonged contest, they were defeated by Zeus and condemned into Tartarus. Atlas and Hercules were also Nephilim. They presumably were the hybrid offspring of the gods mixing with human women.

So, what does the Bible text (Genesis 6) really have to say in the story of Noah? Many students of the Bible have encountered an interpretation of these passages known as "the lines of Seth" view. This interpretation assumes that "the sons of God" refers to the leadership of the line of Seth and the line of Cain. The "sons of God" are thought to be from the line of Seth, and the "daughters of Adam" are thought to be those from Cain. And, according to this view, the sin involved was their failure to maintain separation…the two were not to mix. This theory started in the 2nd/3rd Century A.D. Celsus and Julian the Apostate used the traditional belief, which we call the sons of God/angel view, to attack Christianity. Julius Africanus (and later, Augustine of Hippo) resorted to the Sethite theory as a more comfortable way of dealing with this.

The problem with the Sethite view is that it violates the text. The phrase, "sons of God," is never used of believers in the Old Testament. Furthermore, Seth was not God and Cain was not Adam. Blurring those distinctions imposes on the text. The idea that they were supposed to stay separate is strange because individual lines don't show up until Genesis 11. Isaac was the first one to be told to remain separate, not Ishmael or any of the others. In any case, in chapter 6, "all flesh are corrupted," which includes the Sethites. If they were supposed to represent the good guys, why did they drown in the flood? The inferred godliness of Seth turns out to be wrong because only Enoch and the eight people in the Ark were spared in the Flood.

The real problem is the Nephilim. When believers and unbelievers marry, they do not yield offspring that are physiologically different. The Scripture indicates that the offspring were distinctive: the HaGibborim, the mighty ones. And what made Noah's genealogy so distinctive was that his family tree was uncontaminated with these strange intrusions.

In summary, the Sethite view violates the text itself. It depends on inferred separation that the text does not support. It infers the godliness of the Sethites, which the text does not support. It infers a Cainite subset of the Adamites, which is reading into the text. The result of this is unnatural offspring, which is unexplained by the Sethite view. The New Testament confirms the angel or inter-dimensional being view.  (Learn the Bible in 24 Hours, Missler, pg. 28)

To be continued...