Genesis 6:1-5
Now it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters we born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh' yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
What is God showing us when He uses this term - daughters of men in Genesis 6?
Let's look at a few more scriptures that can give us a better understanding of this term:
In Deuteronomy 7 Moses gives the Israelites instructions before they entered into the Promised land. They were not to intermarry with the Canaanites.
Deuteronomy 7:3-4 Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. "For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.
The reason God said they were not to marry the daughters of the Caananites is that they (the Canaanites) would turn the Israelites away from following God.
The same thing happened in Genesis 6 where the descendants of Cain(the daughters of men) turned the sons of God away from following God. You are welcome to read more about this here.
Let's look at another example in Numbers 25:
In Numbers 25 the Israelites are close to the Moabite girls. The Israelite men blatantly take these Moabite girls into their tents, this grieves the Lord and disease spreads among the Israelite company. They were also going after the Moabite gods.
Numbers 25-1-3
Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Isreal.
Eventually, Phineas kills an Israelite man who took a Midianite woman into his tent and God's anger is turned back. The disease stops in the Israelite camp.
In 1 Kings 11 we read about the wise King Solomon that made a few mistakes:
1 Kings 11:1-2 But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharao: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites - from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, "You shall not intermarry with them nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love.
Notice how many times in this passage it talks about the heart:
1 Kings 11: 2-8 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord and did not fully follow the Lord as did his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
Apparently Moloch is an idol that has a fire burning on the inside, and they would offer their children to this idol by throwing them into this fire. If Solomon is building these idols, he is most probably also sacrificing children to Moloch.
1 King 11:9-10 So the Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the Lord had commanded.
There is another example of how the daughters of men are turning away the sons of God from following His Vision:
In Ezra 9 we read that they were rebuilding the wall and temple:
Ezra 9:1-2 When these things were done, the leaders came to me, saying "The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, with respect to the abominations of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons so that the holy seed is mixed with the peoples of those lands. Indeed the hand of the leaders and rulers has been foremost in this trespass.
The solution to this was found by sending these daughters/women away from them.
In Romans 8: 14 we read that For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God
In Genesis 6:2 we find these two groups: the sons of God and the daughters of men.
Throughout the Bible, we see that the daughters of men somehow manage to turn the hearts of the sons of God away from following after God.
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