HistoricalChristian.Faith

Philoxenus of Mabbug on the Nephilim

Dates: c. 523 Summary: Philoxenus of Mabbug (d. 523), in his ascetic discourses, simply assumes the Sethite reading of Genesis 6. He treats the offending "sons of God" as "the children of Seth," who fell to "the lust of the belly" and so to fornication, and were on that account "rejected from the household of God." For Philoxenus the episode is a moral cautionary tale about gluttony giving rise to lust.

Claims & evidence

The children of Seth fell to lust and were rejected from God's household

Now this is the first lust which conquered the world, and because of it the first transgression of the law took place. And in its train the children of Seth also came to fornication, so that they were rejected from the household of God thereby. For the lust of the belly is the captain of the host of the left side, and to it are fettered all the hosts of sin; and as captains of hosts go forth to war at the head of their companies against the enemy, even so also doth it, as the captain of the host of all wickedness, go forth to war against that which is good.

— 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 -- On Abstinence, source. Philoxenus identifies the fallen "sons of God" with "the children of Seth" without argument, treating the Sethite reading as settled, and uses it to illustrate how gluttony leads to fornication.

Notes

• Philoxenus presupposes rather than defends the Sethite identification, evidence of how established that reading had become in the Syriac tradition.
• His interest is ascetic and moral (the chain from "lust of the belly" to fornication), not the angelic-vs-Sethite identity debate as such.