Texts in Conversation
Genesis 6 describes divine beings called “sons of God” who sleep with human women and father giants. Judges 13 uses loaded language about a divine messenger who “came to” Manoah’s wife when she was alone, echoing that older tradition.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 6:2
Hebrew Bible
1 When humankind began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humankind were beautiful. Thus they took wives for themselves from any they chose. 3 So the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain in humankind indefinitely, since they are mortal. They will remain for 120 more years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days (and also after this) when the sons of God would sleep with the daughters of humankind, who gave birth to their children. They were the mighty heroes of old, the famous men.
Judges 13:6
Hebrew Bible
5 Look, you will conceive and have a son. You must never cut his hair, for the child will be dedicated to God from birth. He will begin to deliver Israel from the power of the Philistines.” 6 The woman went and said to her husband, “A man sent from God came to me! He looked like God’s angel—he was very awesome. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name. 7 He said to me, ‘Look, you will conceive and have a son. So now, do not drink wine or beer and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. For the child will be dedicated to God from birth till the day he dies.’” 8 Manoah prayed to the Lord, “Please, Lord, allow the man sent from God to visit us again, so he can teach us how we should raise the child who will be born.” 9 God answered Manoah’s prayer. God’s angel visited the woman again while she was sitting in the field. But her husband Manoah was not with her.
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Notes and References
“... Both the use of the root b-w-’ and the simultaneous insistence that nothing sexual occurred between the angel and the woman appear to be directed at combating the view—or, really, the mythical tradition—according to which a creature not of this world, a divine being, had sexual relations with Manoah’s wife: he “came” to her, and from this union was Samson born. It is as though the storyteller reassures us: “True, the angel did indeed ‘come’ to Manoah’s wife, but do not make the mistake of thinking that the verse speaks of him coming to a woman in the sexual meaning of the word: it speaks simply of his appearing before her.” ...”
Shinan, Avigdor and Yair Zakovitch
From Gods to God: How the Bible Debunked, Suppressed, or Changed Ancient Myths and Legends
(pp. 189-191) The Jewish Publication Society, 2012
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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