Year 1, Day 002: “Saw and Took” (Genesis 6:2)

6 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.

Through the Bible: Genesis 4-7

In today’s Bible Recap, Tara-Leigh offers the interpretation that these “sons of God” are fallen angels who intermarried with human women, giving rise to the Nephilim, a race of superhuman half-human, half-angelic beings (see Genesis 6:4)

The notes in the ESV Study Bible give an alternate interpretation, that “sons pf God” were male descendants of Seth who were marrying the ungodly female descendants of Cain.

Just as Tara-Leigh often says, we must hold on to any interpretation of Scripture with an open hand when the text itself gives limited information. I appreciate how the study Bible notes help us keep the focus on the main point:

However one interprets the passage, it is clear that the relationships described here involved sexual sin, as men saw and took any women they wanted.

As I was journaling this morning, the Holy Spirit kept pulling me back to those two words. Saw and took. Saw and took. On a hunch, I did a Blue Letter Bible search on how often those two words appeared in the same verse. And I was struck by how often “saw and took” was in reference to some of the most consequential sins recorded in Scripture:

• Eve  saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate (Genesis 3:6)
• When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife (Genesis 30:9).
• Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and went in to her (Genesis 38:2).
• Achan “saw among the spoil [of Jericho] a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then [he] coveted them and took them” (Joshua 7:21)
• David saw Bathsheba bathing, and he took her into his palace (2 Samuel 11:2-4)

There are plenty of other examples, even if they don’t use the exact words “saw” and “took.” Potiphar’s wife saw that Joseph was handsome, and she wanted him. Amnon, David’s son, saw that his sister Tamar was beautiful, and he raped her.

This is the nature of sin. Particularly with men (though not exclusively), sin starts with a look. The look itself is not necessarily a sin. But as we see so often, what starts with a “look” ends with a “took.”

This is why Scripture warns us not to set before our eyes any vile thing (Psalm 101:3). It’s why Job made a covenant with his eyes not to look with lust at a young woman (Job 31:1). And it’s why the apostle John warned,

¹⁵ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

Father, help me to be vigilant about what I allow in front of my eyes this year. Keep me from allowing a look to become a took!

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