You’re going to cut yourself with that grammatical mishandling of the text.

Do a word search of sons of God in Job. Same “bane elohiym” found in Genesis. Now read this verse cause it debunks without question any other view but that of Angels/Watchers. ok 4 verses.

Job 38:
4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare , if thou hast understanding. 5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest ? or who hath stretched the line upon it? 6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened ? or who laid the corner stone thereof; 7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Yahweh sure does know how to end the argument by clearly stating the Bane elohiym (sons of god) were present AT CREATION! So they cannot be men unless you believe they were created before creation!

Also take a look at Doug Van Dorn’s post below as he’s right on the money with ANE (Ancient Near Eastern) Culture studies. What trips up most all Christians on this view is our English Translations. The ESV did some good stuff by including the texts found in Qumran into the translation. Especially since now we have a complete Deuteronomy thanks to Qumran. I would also recommend reading the Book of Jasher since 60+% of Jasher relates to the Genesis timeframe. Jasher however, is not scripture but a Biblically recommended history book in Joshua and 2 Samuel. However, the 2 Samuel reference is not found in the current book of Jasher, possibly lost to history.

http://www.godawa.com/chronicles_of_the_nephilim/Articles_By_Others/Van%20Gemeren%20%20The%20Sons%20of%20God%20in%20Gen%206.1-4-Evangelical%20Demythologization.pdf

http://www.quodlibet.net/articles/mallinson-nephilim.shtml

and a pdf will come up titled Divine Kingship and Genesis 6:1-4.

The main thing is whether you see the non-biblical material as having influenced Scripture (which is how liberal scholars see it), or you see the non-biblical material as reflecting biblical revelation to one degree of distortion or another.

I was hoping to hear Ms. Cefalu interact with the Divine Council, which is really the theological epicenter of the supernatural view, and is the reason almost all ANE scholars now take this approach. Kline wrote about the Council from time to time, but never focused on it. Though he takes the natural (human) view of the passage, I do find that the dynastic king theory he presents, which is itself his own unique take on a very old Rabbinical view, to be compatible with either a natural or supernatural take on the sons of God. I also know that there are supernatural answers for all of the points brought up in this interview, though your guest actually admitted that her interpretation leaves a few questions (such as, on the reading that there were already giants on the earth when the sons of God took the daughters of men, then why mention them at all)?

At any rate, I highly recommend the work of Dr. Michael Heiser (he works for Logos right now) on this topic, especially his bibsac article on Deuteronomy 32:8-9. It will give a perspective that is, well, pretty different from either the Sethite or Klinian view of this text.

Thanks again for the interview.

Douglas Van Dorn

Uwe,

Demon possession is one thing, but the “wacky” views to which I referred are indebted more to Greek mythology than God’s revelation.

With due respect, that looks more like Glaser’s Razor.

In the Kline quote above he is saying – despite not holding to the angelic view – that it IS a merit of the angelic view [preternatural intrusion] that it poses an interesting parallel between it and the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity – Jesus – into human flesh. I.e. the embodiment of demonic spirits in human flesh is a classic *counterfeit* of the Incarnation of Jesus as human. Satan is all about counterfeit. And Kline goes on to remark that it is seeing *more* into the passage because it brings out the severe degree of the titanic crisis that it was such that it caused God to bring on the Flood to answer it. 

To me this insight cements the angelic reading.

By the way: I suspect wacky means means fearing God alone, and not the world or the world’s opinions.

“Sons of God” = Sons of Seth

“Daughters of Men” = Daughters of Cain

“It has been a merit of some who have thought that they found in this passage a preternatural intrusion into earthly history, a sort of pseudo-messianic embodiment of demonic spirits in human flesh, that they have sensed more fully than the advocates of the traditional exegesis, the titanic, one might almost say the eschatological, character of the ancient crisis.” 

I read yesterday that Amos 2:9 apparently teaches that these giants eventually rose to heights of 24 to 36 feet. That’s an “interesting” hermeneutic. I can’t speak for the veracity of this report, but I also heard that Cotton Mather identified Nephilim bones in North America. It turns out they were mastadon remains.