Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/247

 of life implanted in man at creation, the tenor of the decree being that this shall not 'abide' in man eternally or indefinitely, but only in such measure as to admit a maximum life of 120 years. There are two difficulties in this interpretation: (a) It has no connexion with what precedes, for everything the v. contains would be quite as intelligible apart from the marriages with the angels as in relation to them. (b) The following words have no meaning: as a reason for the withdrawal of the animating spirit they involve a hysteron proteron; and as an independent statement they are (on the supposition) not true, man as actually constituted being both flesh and spirit (2$2$). (4) The most probable sense is that given by We. (Comp.$7$ 305 ff.), viz. that is the divine substance common to Yahwe and the angels, in contrast to, which is the element proper to human nature (cf. Is. 31$2$): so Ho. Gu. The idea will then be that the mingling of the divine and human substances brought about by illicit sexual unions has introduced a disorder into the creation which Yahwe cannot suffer to 'abide' permanently, but resolves to end by an exercise of His supreme power.—(ii.) We have next to consider whether the 120 years, taken in its natural sense of the duration of individual life (v.i.), be consistent with the conclusion just reached. We. himself thinks that it is not: the fusion of the divine and human elements would be propagated in the race, and could not be checked by a shortening of the lives of individuals. The context requires an announcement of the annihilation of the race, and the last clause of the v. must be a mistaken gloss on the first. If this argument were sound it would certainly supply a strong reason either for revising We.'s acceptation of $3$, or for understanding $3a$ as an announcement of the Flood. But a shortening of the term of life, though not a logical corollary from the sin of the angels, might nevertheless be a judicial sentence upon it. It would ensure the extinction of the giants within a measurable time; and indirectly impose a limit on the new intellectual powers which we may suppose to have accrued to mankind at large through union with angelic beings. In view of the defective character of the narrative, it would be unwise to press the antagonism of the two clauses so as to put a strain on the interpretation of either.

4. The Nĕphîlîm were (or arose) in the earth in those days] Who were the ? The name recurs only in Nu. 13$3b$,

4. ] G ; Aq. ; Σ. ; S ; T$22. 24$. The etymology is uncertain (see Di. 123). There is no,