Genesis the Hebrews or Israelites Were God\'s

Genesis

The Hebrews or Israelites were God's chosen people, whom He delivered from bondage to Egypt, to whom He revealed His law and with whom He established a covenant through Moses on Mount Sinai. Up to the 10th line of patriarchs after Moses, the Hebrews remained pure in their form of worship and in their lives. But in the 500th year before the Deluge, their descendants greatly multiplied, and so did much violence, division, lust and arrogance when the spirits of hell possessed these descendants and worked iniquity through their inherent weaknesses (Dolphin 2003). This also happened because the descendants of two separate lineages, one from God through Adam and Eve's third child, Seth and the other, a female descendant through the murderer Cain - merged in violation of God's command that His Chosen People (through Seth's line) should not be equally yoked, or interbreed, with unbelievers.

The "sons of God" were the descendants from the pure line of worshipers, beginning from Seth, down to Moses and his patriarchs, last of whom was Noah, whom God saved from the Deluge. The "daughters of men" were the descendants of the sinful line of mortals from Cain, with whom the descendants of Seth lived on the earth at that time. But there were also descendants from the line of Seth who were only descendants by blood, not by faith, and so lived waywardly and in disobedience to God's law (Bratcher 2004). Transgressors far outnumbered those from the pure line of worshippers until, as Genesis says, God's patience ran out, regretted that He had created man and decided to destroy him through a great flood.

Some researchers claim that many of these "sons of God" or "sons of god" were nobles and other men of rank who were accorded with obedience, respect and awe deserved only by the one Almighty God. Lawlessness was not only demonstrated in the lives of these descendants in the form of violence and self-seeking, but also in the form of sheer lust. Article 2 of Genesis says that these sons of God (or god) found the daughters of (sinful) men fair, lusted after them and took them as wives from among those they chose. It was indiscriminate sexual craving that drove these men to do so, not the rational consideration of the responsibilities of the marital state that takes much reflection and careful steps. Rather, it was the sinful appetite that led these descendants to take the daughters of sinful men, with marriage as thin cover-up for the desecration.

Seeing how mortals had abandoned Him and His laws to yield to the cravings of mortal flesh, God reduced the longevity of human beings to 120 years, which was then considered a full generation. Article 3 also says that the Lord "shall not always strive with man (Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 2000) for that he also is flesh." This means that God's Spirit is still in the most ignominious mortal despite his degenerate condition, because man's very existence depends not only in God alone, but in His striving with man itself to choose what is right for him. But the carnal or natural man does not, and cannot, receive teachings and stirrings from the Spirit of God, because these appear foolish to their spiritual blindness (1 Cor 2:14). They become incapable of reason and will remain in this state unless and until grace regenerates the spirit of their minds. For his excellent endowment (of reason), which puts man much higher than other created things in the universe, men before the Deluge (as very many today) forfeited the advantage and behaved as though they were lower than animals. He ignored God's appointed order in creation to the extent of disturbing that order and transforming the Divine image into that of the flesh, rather than the flesh being conformed into the image of God, the Creator. For this, God decided to alienate man on account of his free choice.

An outcome of the sinful inter-breeding between the "sons of God (or god)" and the daughters of men was the emergence of giants or Nephilims, abnormal offspring of degenerate sexual unions. The mixed breed erased that line drawn by God Himself between His chosen people and unbelievers and resulted in perverted human characteristics, such as extreme height and bulk. It reflects that the human condition is deteriorating and needs regeneration by the Spirit of God.