This chapter begins by telling of the increase in wickedness in the world. Some aspects of this chapter are rather strange, starting with the “sons of God” marrying human daughters. Some take it as referring to angels, citing Job 1:6 & 2:1; Psalm 29:1; and Jude 6-7, along with extra-Biblical Jewish literature.
Others reject this on the grounds that angels cannot marry humans, and that the Bible sometimes refers to men as the sons of God (Deut 14:1; 32:5; Psalm 73:15, Isaiah 43:6; Hosea 1:10; 11:1, Luke 3:38; 1 John 3:1,2,10). Some argue that “sons of God” refers to the descendents of Seth, who were godly, and the daughters to the descendents of Cain who were not.
A further suggestion is that “sons of God” refers to royal figures.
God then declares that since men are wicked their lifespan shall be restricted to 120 years. This is of course still substantially longer than the current life expectancy, and perhaps adds weight to the view that the ages given in Chapter 5 are real. If so, then God’s judgement on man is introduced gradually. This ties in with the character of God who, despite the common picture of Him, is actually extremely reluctant to judge (“slow to anger”).
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