The Increase of Wickedness on Earth: This passage explains why God had to judge the inhabited earth with a deluge (6:9–8:22). It has two distinct sections: a description of the rapid increase in population, when the sons of God married daughters of men (vv. 1–4), and God’s response to human violence (vv. 5–8).

The first section reports the population explosion, presumably spurred by the extraordinary marriages between the sons of God and the daughters of men. During that era superheroes are said to have lived in the land. This passage is as enigmatic as it is intriguing. Its brevity, combined with a possible disturbance in the order of the verses, contributes to its obscurity. The first two verses speak of mixed marriages taking place after the population had begun to increase. Verses 3 and…