Another tidbit from my Bible Introduction. Old news for a lot of you, I know. But it’s fun to write this kind of thing up for college students, who have never heard of such a thing!
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One of the most mysterious and even bizarre stories in Genesis happens right at the beginning of the flood narrative, where we are told that the “sons of God” looked down among the human “daughters,” saw that they were beautiful, and came down and had sex with them leading to the Nephilim. The word Nephilim means “fallen ones.” According to Numbers 13:33, the Nephilim were giants. So what is going on here in Genesis? Apparently there were angelic beings (the “sons of God”) who lusted after human women, cohabited with them, and their offspring were giants. It is at that point that God decides to destroy the world. The situation was too weird even for him.
This brief episode has parallels in other ancient mythologies. It is common in Greek myths, for example, for one of the gods to find a particular woman irresistibly attractive, to come down in human guise, have sex with her, and to produce an offspring that is something more than mortal. One of the most famous stories about such a liaison involves the king of the gods, Zeus, who sees a gorgeous woman, Alcmena, and decides he has to have her. Her husband, Amphytrion, is a general in the Greek army who is away at war. Not able to control himself, Zeus comes to Alcmena in the spitting image of Amphytrion himself. Alcmena assumes that he has returned from battle, and welcomes him with open arms and takes him to bed. Zeus enjoys the festivities so much that he orders the constellations to stop in their paths, so as to prolong the night.
When he finally has his fill (even Zeus can have too much of a good thing), and the constellations begin again to move, he returns to heaven. As it turns out, Amphytrion returns home – dismayed and distraught that Alcmena is not overjoyed at seeing him after his long absence, not understanding, of course, that she thinks she has just spend a wild night frolicking with him.
In any event Alcmena has been made pregnant by Zeus. And who is her child? None other than the demi-god Heracles (in Latin: Hercules).
JUL
I hope your writing is progressing well! The opening chapters of Geneis seem to contain many adaptations and reversals of old Mesopotamian myths from Adapa and the South Wind, Atrahasis, the Epic of Gilgamesh and Enuma Elish. I’ve often wondered if the Genesis account of the sons of God and the daughters of men contains an echo of the opening of the Gilgamesh Epic in which Gilgamesh (himself at least half divine through the union of human king Lugalbanda ang the goddess Ninsun) is “rampantly exercising droit de seigneur over all the nubile maidens in Uruk” (in Henrietta McCall’s memorable phrase in “Mesopotamian Myths”, British Museum Press). But I’m no expert – perhaps there is a closer allusion somewhere in the Mesopotamian mythology? Interestingly, I’ve also read that one of the scrolls found at Qumran names Gilgamesh as one of the resulting nephilim. Any further information on that?
Interesting idea. I will, of course, be talking about these other ancient Near Eastern texts in my book (well, Atrahasis, Gilgamesh, and Enuma Elish), though not at great length, since its an Intro on the entire Bible for a one-semester course for 19 year olds! But your idea is an interesting one, and Gilgamesh is certainly much older than Genesis. My hunch is that this is the *kind* of story that lots of people had heard….
I find this tidbit fascinating. Any suggestions for further reading on these Genesis mysteries? Thank you.
Hmmm… Good question. Apart from scholarly commentaries (which you certainlly would NOT want to buy and read!) nothing comes to mind. If I think of anything, I’ll post it.
Allow me to recommend the notes and commentaries included with Robert Alter’s translations of the Hebrew Bible. He deals with textual problems and controversies of interpretation and explains his own choices. For the “Books of Moses” see http://www.amazon.com/Five-Books-Moses-Translation-Commentary/dp/0393333930/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342061572&sr=1-1&keywords=robert+alter+five+books+of+moses
I also highly recommend his work on 1st & 2nd Samuel, The David Story, my own favorite part of the Hebrew Bible.
College students love to hear about sex, especially wild sex. Although I am far past college age, I can hardly wait for your commentary on the Song of Songs.
The sad and frustrating thing is that evangelical/fundamentalist Christians would have no problem believing that this story about Zeus is pure mythology, but when it comes to this story in Genesis, these same christians, who also believe in biblical inerrancy, believe it is 100% historical fact on the level of events such as the assassination of Abraham Lincoln or the Berlin wall falling down.
Bart, I have a very quick question that I’m embarrassed to ask because it reveals how ignorant I am, but I’ll ask it anyway. Which came first? The Greek mythology such as this one involving Zeus, or the the Genesis mythology? Thanks in advance! I love the blog!
Actually it’s a great questoin, and probably impossible to answer — both because there are so many debates about the dating of the sources of Genesis and because Greek mythology, originally, was oral in form. My guess would give it to the Greeks, but maybe someone here on the the blog has better insights.
I would think that the myths were probably contemporary with each other? Myths do change over time and really only become static when they are written down, so it is probably impossible to figure out when, in the oral tradition, these myths would have been recognizable to us. However, if we start with the idea that some myth is based on historical events it might help clarify a time frame. Abraham is generally considered a historical figure with scholars dating him (based on Hebrew Scriptures & archaeology ) to the time frame of 2000-1500 BCE. If we assume that the creation myths in Genesis predate Abraham, then we can stretch their origins back prior to the 2000-1500 BCE time period.
The earliest mention of Zeus in writing appears in the Mycenaean Linear B in the 14th century BCE. No stories exist (to my knowledge), just a mention of his name. Archaeology is revealing that there may have been a temple from around this time period dedicated to Zeus cult activity. Again, we could assume an oral tradition that predates the physical evidence and since the Mycenaean civilization began about 1900 BCE, this puts the possible origins right about the time scholars think Abraham lived.
If you try to use the first written accounts of the myths in their known forms as a starting date, they are also very contemporary. The Kingdom of Israel first started writing scripture down in about the 8th century. The Mycenaean Civilization collapsed before recording the tales (as far as we know). But, Ancient Greek writers such as Hesiod and Homer recorded their accounts in the 8th-7th century BCE. Seems like it is a dead heat as to whose myth came about first, but I think I’m rooting for Team Genesis as the earlier one.
I wish I could source my post with references, but it is just the accumulated knowledge of several years of reading and listening to materials such as Teaching Company courses, the occasional article from a scholarly journals and mainstream periodicals like National Geographic and Archaeology.
Do you have to be careful of your copyright for your books?
Not sure what you mean? You mean can I quote chunks from them? I suppose I can before they are copyrighted!
Last November I participated in NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month). They said publishers didn’t want authors to publish in any other sources including the internet because they would not be able to copyright those materials.
Yes, that’s probably true.
Wait a minute. I have read two explanations. One, Sons of God are the descendants of Seth, and the women were the descendants of Cain. This is the conservative Christian interpretation…which figures, since it sounds rather racist (bordering on Mormon theology of the mark of Cain) . Plus it doesn’t really make much sense. Since, supposedly, we are all descendants of Seth, so how come Giants? Then, the other is the Sons of God are fallen angels, who bred giants. This makes sense only if you connect old Greek mythology of Gods impregnating human females, resulting in specially empowered humans. Likely source, unlikely reality. I still think it could lie in oral tradition, of Neanderthals and humans interbreeding. OK, maybe wacko. But Neanderthals and humans co-habitated the areas of Israel. Nephilim could be translated bully, as in robust neanderthal, not giant. And everyone knows that our illustrious relatives found fossils of dinosaurs, and called them dragons or monsters. It is likely that 1000BC, humans inhabiting Israel found neanderthal fossils, and connected the dots…we all know brutes chase after good looking women. The ultimate human fear…loss of their good looking women
. Tell that to your college students. They can all relate to that…as their girlfriends are stolen by football players.
What do you think of the attempts to get Bible classes taught in public high schools?
Have you reviewed the textbook The Bible and Its Influence published by the Bible Literacy Project? If yes, what is your opinion of the book?
I’m of mixed feelings about hte Bible in public schools. I think it should definitely be taught. But the problem (an insurmountable problem, especially here in the South) is the *teachers*!! (i.e, it should be taught historically; but no way it will be in many parts of the country).
I’m afraid I haven’t read the book. Sorry! You’d be amazed at what I haven’t read!
I’m a little confused by your take on the Nephilim story. You say the Nephilim were the offspring of the sons of God and the daughters of men. But verse 4 says “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days–and also afterward–when the sons of God went to the daughters to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.” It’s not clear that the Nephilim were the offspring as they “were on the earth” already when the sons of God and daughters of men had children.
How is this possible? Also, how did the the Nephilim survive the flood as it seems to imply in the part of the verse that says “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days–and also afterward…”? In any case, I can see a fundamentalist Christian having an easier time explaining these 4 verses than some of the other things you have discussed…Christians have bigger fish to fry. (The sons of God can be a euphism for the sons of Adam?). I’d like to hear your quick final take on this story as it can be extremely useful in the “Bible stories as mythology” argument.
I think when it says they were on earth in those days, it is normally interpreted (whether rightly or wrongly, I don’t know) as meaning that they were on earth because that’s when they came into the world, as a result of the union of the divine and mortal beings. Why they were around later is a great quesiton, since the point of the flood, in part, was to wipe them out. But no one has (or at least should) called Genesis internally consistent!
“… we are told that the “sons of God” looked down among the human “daughters,” …, and came down and had sex with them …. Apparently there were angelic beings … who lusted after human women,….”
ET’s? Umm, Bart, perhaps you’ve been watching Ancient Aliens on the History Channel too much?
I’ve never seen it! But maybe I should….
If you do, you might want to keep a large salt shaker within easy reach
From Wikipedia: “Some writers have proposed that intelligent extraterrestrial beings have visited Earth in antiquity or prehistory and made contact with humans. Such visitors are called ancient astronauts or ancient aliens. Proponents suggest that this contact influenced the development of human … religions…. that deities from most, if not all, religions are actually extraterrestrials, and their advanced technologies were wrongly understood by primitive men as evidence of their divine status.”
One of the “experts” commenting in the episodes is Erich von Däniken (Chariots of the Gods).
Regards . . . . .