Sons of God in the context of "Seth"

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⭐ Core Definition: Sons of God

Sons of God (Biblical Hebrew: בְנֵי־הָאֱלֹהִים, romanized: Bənē hāʾĔlōhīm, literally: "the sons of Elohim") is a phrase used in the Tanakh or Old Testament and in Christian Apocrypha. The phrase is also used in Kabbalah where bene elohim are part of different Jewish angelic hierarchies.

The root for this phrase based on research may have originally referred to a group of supernatural beings ("sons of the gods"), and lesser divinities in Canaanite religions. They would be interpreted as angels or watchers in the later periods of Second Temple Judaism, or instead as the righteous offspring of Seth by others starting from the 2nd-4th Century CE.

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Sons of God in the context of Son of God

Historically, many rulers have assumed titles such as the son of God, the son of a god or the son of heaven.

The term "Son of God" is used in the Hebrew Bible as another way to refer to humans who have a special relationship with God. In Exodus, the nation of Israel is called God's firstborn son. Solomon is also called "son of God" (2 Samuel 7:14, 1 Chronicles 28:6). Angels, just and pious men, and the kings of Israel are all called "sons of God" (Genesis 6:2-4, Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7).

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Sons of God in the context of Book of Giants

The Book of Giants is an apocryphal book which expands upon the Genesis narrative of the Hebrew Bible, in a similar manner to the Book of Enoch. Together with this latter work, The Book of Giants "stands as an attempt to explain how it was that wickedness had become so widespread and muscular before the flood; in so doing, it also supplies the reason why God was more than justified in sending that flood." The text's composition has been dated to before the 2nd century BC.

The Book of Giants is an antediluvian (pre-Flood) narrative that was received primarily in Manichaean literature and known at Turfan. However, the earliest known traditions for the book originate in Aramaic copies of a The Book of Giants among the Dead Sea Scrolls. References to the Giants mythology are found in: Genesis 6:1-4, the books of Enoch (Ethiopic, Slavonic, Hebrew, Greek), Jubilees, Genesis Apocryphon, 2 and 3 Baruch (Slavonic), the Damascus Document, and visions in Daniel 7:9-14. This book tells of the background and fate of these antediluvial giants and their fathers, the Watchers (called grigori in the Slavonic 2 Enoch), the sons of God or holy ones (Daniel 4:13, 17) who rebelled against heaven when—in violation of the strict "boundaries of creation"—they commingled, in their lust, with the "daughters of men."

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Sons of God in the context of Fallen angel

Fallen angels are angels who were expelled from Heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" does not appear in any Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven. Such angels are often described as corrupting humanity by teaching forbidden knowledge or by tempting them into sin. Common motifs for their expulsion are lust, pride, envy, or an attempt to usurp divinity.

The earliest appearance of the concept of fallen angels may be found in Canaanite beliefs about the bənē hāʾĔlōhīm ('sons of God'), expelled from the divine court. Hêlêl ben Šāḥar is thrown down from heaven for claiming equality with ʻElyōn. Such stories were later collected in the Hebrew Bible (Christian Old Testament) and appear in pseudepigraphic Jewish apocalyptic literature. The concept of fallen angels derives from the assumption that the "sons of God" (בני האלוהים‎) mentioned in Genesis 6:1–4 or the Book of Enoch are angels. In the period immediately preceding the composition of the New Testament, some groups of Second Temple Judaism identified these "sons of God" as fallen angels.

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