Two Kinds of Heavenly Involvement

The biblical material now gives us two different kinds of scene. Genesis 6 concerns the taking of human women and extraordinary offspring. Deuteronomy, Psalm 82, and Daniel concern the arrangement, judgment, and conflict of nations.

Both may involve heavenly beings. That common feature should not obscure the difference between the actions described. Producing a lineage and exercising authority over a people are different claims, with different evidential problems.

The distinction helps us avoid forcing every supernatural account into the Watcher story. A national power need not be a parent of heroes. A rebel associated with primordial generation need not be the governor of a later nation.

We can compare the two kinds of involvement while leaving their relationship open. The sources distinguish them more clearly than they explain a sequence connecting them. That will allow a more careful reading of the many roles collected under the Greek name god.