The situation the reigned on earth before the flood in Noah’s day was not pretty. We had a demonic invasion of sorts. Genesis 6:2 says, “…the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.” Thus we are introduced to what is probably the most debated passage in the Bible. Who are these “sons of God” who had sex and children with the “daughters of man?” Let me begin by saying, “I don’t know.” But I have an opinion (as usual). I believe they are fallen angels. Peter and Jesus’ brother Jude both refer to them during the time of Noah as angels who left their own domains. There are other good reasons to think so. But since angels are spirit beings they cannot procreate. They have to take on the bodies of real men. Thus I see them as Kent Hughes does, “fallen angels commandeering the souls of men (demon-possession, in modern parlance), and these demonized men marrying the daughters of other men.” These became known as the “Nephilim.” The represent the arch-enemies of God and God’s people. The interesting passage is in verse 4. It says, “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them.” The practice continued after the flood it seems and the results of those ungodly unions were the “Anakim.” The giants that occupied the land of Canaan that scared the Israelites away. Goliath was one of the latest of the Anakim that is referred to in the Bible along with his four brothers. They all represent the arch-enemies of God and God’s people. Michael Heiser’s book on the “Unseen Realm” is very interesting on this issue.1
In this chapter we see two things that serve as preludes to God’s judgment on the earth which comes a few chapters later in the form of a universal flood that wipes out all life except that saved by Noah and his family. The first is sexual perversions as mentioned. The second is violence. It began back with Lamech who is the first bigamist and ended up killing a young boy. Sex and violence! Lamech even bragged about it. As a result chapter 6, verse 5, tells us that “God’s heart was filled with pain.” Genesis 6:6 says, “And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”
I remember when Mike Tyson bragged about an upcoming fight. He said he would kill his opponent and that he would do anything because he was a convicted rapist! (sex and violence). By the way, this is the guy who bit off Holyfield’s ear. Sex (not biblical sex) and violence are indeed glorified in our society. Both of them fill God’s heart with pain. Sex is a gift from God and is proper inside the bounds of holy matrimony. That’s what Jesus said. But the sex as we see it displayed and viewed in our society is not a pretty thing to God.
1 Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, First Edition. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 44.