There is one view point that fits the scripture perfectly, however. And as we'll see later in this book, it was accepted as truth by ancient Jewish scholars and becomes apparent with careful study of the scriptures. This view maintains that the "sons of God" are angels. As creations of God, these creatures (like mankind) bear a family relationship in that they were created by God and, therefore, can be viewed in a sense as being his sons.
Since, as will be documented later in this book, angels are always referred to as being males, this also explains why there are only couplings between the "sons of God" and human females, with "daughter of God"/human male unions missing from the equation. The theory that all the angels mentioned in this story might be lumped into a general category of "sons of God" fits well with this passage.
The Hebrew phrase translated as "sons of God" is ben Elohim.3 Ben can mean actual offspring, including sons and grandsons; however, it also means people representing a family or nation.
It's possible to prove this phrase means angels by inspecting the other points where it is used in the Bible. When such a search is conducted, one finds that throughout the Bible, this phrase is never used to refer to mankind or human individuals. Instead, it is reserved for supernatural beings that are more powerful than humans but not as powerful as God. In short, the phrase refers to angels.
"Sons of God" appears in four other passages of the Old Testament. In Daniel, after the three Jewish captives have refused to bow down to an idol and are thrown into the "fiery furnace", a fourth figure appears in the flames to protect them from harm. This figure is described as one that appears like the "son of God."
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counselors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the son of God.4
While one might argue that the figure in the fiery furnace with the three Jewish heroes was Jesus Christ, he had not yet been revealed to the Jews as the only begotten Son of God.5 Thus, it only makes sense to view this "son" as an angel. (Interestingly, most modern versions translate this passage so it reads that this being appears to be "like a son of God" or like "a son of the gods.")
Job contains two similar occurrences of this phrase. Both are nearly identical:
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.6
Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord.7
Since men don't appear before God on an appointed day (other than the appointed day of Judgment), it's obvious in this passage that this must refer to the angels.
In the other passage in Job, God asks of Job:
Where west thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?8
Because no human being was present during these events, this phrase can only apply to angels.
The New Testament refers to the followers of Christ Jesus as "children of God" or the "sons of God."9 However, these phrases are separated from those of Genesis and Job by several millennium and are written in Greek rather than Hebrew. In effect, the passage of time and the change of viewpoint brought about by the birth of the Messiah in human form caused a flip-flop of positioning: Men became the sons of God while angels took the role of mankind's servants. In effect, the positions of these two creations of God are reversed from the Old Testament to the New.
Both Christian and Jewish scholars in the early centuries of the Church also maintained that the sons of God in Old Testament passages were, in fact, angels.
For example, Jewish historian W. F. Allbright said of this passage:
The Israelites who heard this section recited unquestionably thought of intercourse between angels and women.10
Likewise, the early church leaders including Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Athenagoras, Tertullian, Lactantius, Eusebius and Ambrose all agreed with this conclusion.11 The AnteNicenes wrote that these angels made:
...impure love of virgins, and were subjugated by the flesh.... Of those lovers of virgins therefore, were begotten those who are called giants....the angels transgressed, and were captivated by love of women and begat children.12
Josephus, the secular Jewish historian who lived through the fall of Jerusalem in the first century AD, noted this tradition in his Antiquities of the Jews. Here he tells that traditionally it is believed that fallen angels and women produced children with super human strength. He also notes that these creatures were known for their evil acts. He linked these creatures to Greek mythology:
For the tradition is that these men did what resembled the acts of those men the Grecians called giants.13
When we realize that the sons of God in Genesis are angels, then it becomes apparent that they came to Earth, committed a great sin in mating with human women (the daughters of men), and that they had an evil offspring who are described as giants.
In the Hebrew language of the Bible, the word translated here as "giant" or "giants" is Nephiyl or Nephil, with the plural being Nephilim. The word nephiyl means literally a "feller", an old English word that connotes a "bully" or "tyrant"14 as well as a large being.
Thanks to the writings of Josephus, it becomes clear that it may be possible to uncover previously lost Jewish traditional beliefs about these beings. By carefully examining the mythology of the Greeks about these giants, it becomes possible to uncover previously lost facts about the offspring produced by the union of humans and angels. While obviously not as much credence can be placed in the Greek myths as other sources of information, as we will see later in this book, the clues to be discovered in mythology can be employed to ""fill in the gaps" and provide important bits of information to a careful researcher.
Before going any further, it should also be noted that the Nephilim were much different from those suffering from the physical ailment known as gigantism. Gigantism is caused by hormonal problems or injections of artificial growth hormone. This condition is caused by a pituitary problem and can be genetically transmitted.
Those suffering from this disease are very weak, not strong.15 This trait alone demonstrates the difference between gigantism as a disease of human beings and the offspring produced from an angel/woman union. The Nephilim are described as "mighty men", a title that appears to be added to the Bible just so there'd be no confusion in later generations about what was being talked about. This point alone makes the Nephilim quite different from those suffering from gigantism.
Furthermore, as we'll see later, this superhuman strength is an important clue that proves the giants seen in historical accounts were also very different from the modern ailment of gigantism.
Gigantism and Nephilimism are two very different things.
