God’s Word for You

Genesis 6:4 Heroes of old

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Thursday, October 22, 2026

4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

I have no complaint at all about the NIV’s translation here, and I have pored through each word. First, let’s consider that Nephilim is a plural, and seems to be taken from an active verbal root. It comes from a word meaning to “fall upon” others (such as in Joshua 11:7). There are speculations about other possible derivations, but this one seems to fit the context the best.

The idea that they were “giants” comes from the Greek Septuagint via the Latin Vulgate, where γίγαντες turns right into gigantes and then into the King James Verion’s “giants.” But while there were indeed giants living in the world in the years between Moses and David (such as Og, king of Bashan, and Goliath the hero from Gath), this idea in the Greek translation is a mistaken idea that these men were Titans like those of Greek mythology, the product of the gods of Olympus marrying human women. That’s just a myth. This is a true text, and angels and demons do not conceive children, Titans, giants, or otherwise. These were ruthless killers, “men of renown” meaning strong military conquerors and oppressors.

The term “heroes of old” includes the word gaborim, “mighty men.” Some readers may recall that in the last chapter of Proverbs, I translated this word as “hero” or the feminine adjective “heroic,” since it applies to a believing heroic wife admired for her very many excellent attributes. She brings her husband nothing but good all her life (Proverbs 31:12), sets about her work vigorously, with strong arms (31:17), makes a profit in her trading and also gives to the poor and needy (31:18,20). When a believer is heroic, she or he is admired and loved. When an unbeliever is a hero, it costs many lives; he subdues even kings.

Moses has focused our attention on the loss of faith of this line of human beings to their terrible sins. As Professor Jeske writes: “In just four verses (Genesis 6:1-4), Moses has chronicled the inexorable progress that sin made in the that pre-flood world—sin against both the First Table of the Law and against the Second Table.”

First, we saw in chapters 4-5 that the godly line who observed true worship, abandoned it and began to follow their own lusts (6:1-2). This meant that they also disobeyed their parents, since godly parents would have warned them against taking spouses from outside the family of believers. Next, they permitted their sensual desires to take over in place of believing thoughts in the matters of marriage and sex. And finally, in this verse, Moses carefully points out that the fathers of these violent tyrants were “the sons of God.” It was from the godly line that these Nephilim came into the world.

In this passage, we easily see sin and its results. The law condemns, and in this case, the text shows us the results of sins as well as the sad realization that we are talking about the sins of those who knew the gospel and who should have known better. Their children and descendants fell into terrible violence. Where, then is the gospel? We need to bring it from other parts of the Scriptures. For example, let’s look at a portion of Isaiah 64.

When we sin and continue to sin, and the law convicts us of those sins, we are led by the fear of God’s wrath to cry out, “How then can we be saved?” (Isaiah 64:5). “We all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away” (64:6). The sinner even realizes the frightening truth: “You have hidden your face from us on account of our sins” (64:7).

But the Lord still holds out the gospel for those who are crushed by his holy law. We pray, “Do not be angry beyond measure, O Lord; do not remember our sins forever” (64:9). And the believer confesses: “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. You are the potter; we are all the work of your hands” (64:8).

“The gospel is this: The Son of God, Christ our Lord, himself assumed and bore the curse of the law and paid for all of our sins, so that through him alone we reenter the good graces of God, obtain forgiveness of sins through faith, are freed from death and all the punishments of sin, and are saved eternally.” So our Formula of Concord teaches (from Romans 4:25; 2 Corinthians 5:21, and so on). For where faith in Christ is renewed in the heart, it is nothing less than saving faith, for our Lord Jesus has saved us with his promises, his actions, his innocent death, and glorious resurrection. Whenever we are stabbed in the heart by passages that uncover our own sinfulness, let the medicine of Christ’s love restore us, renew us, and revive us to everlasting life.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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