Sons of god (Hastings' Dictionary)

This expression is nsed in Scripture in two distinct senses. l'"or one of these see articles Adoption, and GOD (CHILDREN OF). The other is found in six passages : Gn C, Job 1« 2' 38' (all o-,-iSi<(n) •}? ; LXX in first three ol i.yyt\oi. ToC dtov, in last i-f^e\oi iiov), Pi> 29' 89' W (both o''?t< -11; LXX viol Otov) ; cf. in the 598 SOOTHSAYER, SOOTHSAYING SOOTHSAYER, SOOTHSAYING fing. Dn 3™ ri^^-i;, RV 'a son of the gods.'

The meanin" is ' sons of tlie 'ilohim or 'dim ' in the sense of niem))ers of that class or race (cf. ' sons of the prophets ' = members of the projilietic guiki) of which God Himself is the preeminent '£/dhim (see A. B. Davidson's note on Job 1"). Hence the expression is practically synonymous \vith ' angels ' (cf. LXX above). The only passage where any difficulty has been felt (and that only for dogmatic reasons) about interpreting the phrase in this way is Gn 6'^. On^elos, Beresh. rah.

, Saadya, Ibn Ezra, et at., take it to mean there 'sons of princes,' 'uitghty men'; Theod., Chrj-s., Jerome, Aug., Luther, Calvin, Hengsten- berg, et al., understand by 'the sons of God' the ^>ious (Sethite) portion of the human race, which IS opposed to the (Cainite) 'daughters of men.' Neither of these interpretations suits either the context or the usage of the Heb. phrase.

The interpretation ' angels ' is coiTectly taken in Jude and 2 P 2, in the Books of Enoch and Jubilees, as well as by PhUo, Jos. {Ant. I. iii. 1), and most of the older Church Fathers. J. A. Selbie.