Genesis 6 and the Daughter's of Men

 "Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 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. 3 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.” Genesis 6:1-3

"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 Israel", Numbers 25:1-3

Numbers 25 has the potential to shed light on the "daughters of men" theme in Genesis 6. Verses 1 & 2 of Genesis 6 identifies the specific action of the Sons of God taking daughters for their "wives" that leads to the Lord's response in verse 3 that He will not "strive with man forever". 

Notice in Number 25:1 Israel is committing "harlotry" with Moabite women, but in verse 14 it is a Midianite noblewoman, the daughter of one of the prominent men of median, who is killed. What is going on? Is the Bible confused? Remembering Biblical history, the Moabites were the descendants of Lot (Genesis 19:37). The Midianites were the descendants of Ishmael (Genesis 25:2). It appears that somewhere along the way the Moabites and Midianites created an alliance and are now joined as one tribe. 

In ancient cultures one primary method for creating alliances was through sharing property. One of the major sources of property was women. Numbers 25 is a continuation of the previous chapters where Barak, the King of Moab, hires Balaam to curse the Israelites. Balaam tries several times only to fail. At the end of that story the scene immediately shifts to our current story, where "Israel is joined to the Baal of Peor". In other  words, after Balaam's failure, it appears the Leaders of Moab approached the leaders of Israel and proposed a "peace treaty", which was sealed with the intermarriage of the heads of the clans (vs 14 & 15). This is the only thing that makes logical sense. The reaction of Moses and Aaron when they discover the plan strongly implies they were left out of the conversation.

What does this have to do with Genesis 6? It is a concrete example of how archaic societies used women as pawns to be moved and shared for personal gain. This ties in well with I Samual 8 and with the large harems of David, Soloman and the other kings in the Bible. These societies view women as tokens of power to acquire and/or consolidate property. That is why the first act of Absalom when he drove David out of Jerusalem was to make public display of going into his father's concubines, "And Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the house; and all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.” 22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the top of the house, and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel", 2 Samuel 16:21-22. This also the reason for Solomon's strong reaction when his brother Adonijah, who was first in the line of succession for the Kingdom and was passed over for Solomon, asked to marry David's concubine, Abishag the Shunammite (1 Kings 2:13 - 25). Solomon immediately had Adonijah executed. 

One final example is the sordid story that closes out the Book of Judges. The story covers chapters 19 - 21 and begins with the strange story of the death of a concubine of a Levite from Ephriam. His concubine is abused in the town of Gibeah while he is traveling and, in his role as judge, he calls on the rest of Israel to join him in avenging her death. What appears at first glance to be a noble cause of justice turns out to be the near mass extinction of the Tribe of Benjamin males and the mass extinction of all the females. This results in there being no women available for the tribe of Benjamin to rebuild. Therefore, the Israeli tribes agreeing to massacre all the male and female inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead (they were the only region that did not show up to assist in the fight against Benjamin), gathering up all the virgins and "presenting" them to the Tribe of Benjamin, but there are still not enough females for the men. The final act is for the Israelites to give the Benjamite's permission to raid a festival at Shiloh and kidnap the women they need from there. Oddly, this time the Israelites tell Benjamin they will protect them from retaliation by the men from Shiloh. 

Notice how this story begins with avenging the unsanctioned abuse and death of one woman and ends with the community sanctioned near extinction of the Tribe of Benjamin (21,100 men) and the abuse and abduction of over 1,000 women. This is one of the clearest examples of sacrificial violence without the support of myth (i.e. using the Divine) to disguise it. It is also another classic example of how violence can so easily be compared to a plague, fire or flood. This is why many scholars have come to the belief that one of the purposes of the Bible is exposing how myth is created.   

This story closes out the Book of Judges and the selection appears to be a deliberate attempt to portray the Moses experiment as an abject failure. I Samuel opens with the sons of Samuel committing debauchery with the women of Israel as well as enriching themselves at Israel's expense, providing additional commentary on the classic "Big Man" motif. I Samuel 8 is the turning point where Israel turns from the Moses experiment to that of desiring a king like the other nations.