They will combine with the seed of man
In Daniel chapter 2, king Nebuchadnezzar has a dream and asks his sorcerers and wiseman to tell him what the dream means. They offer to help but he says he knows they will lie to him because they fear him so he challenges them to tell him what is dream is without him telling them. They tell him it is impossible to do that so he gives the order to have all of his wisemen killed. Daniel was not there when this happened and when the soldiers come to kill him and his friends he asks God step in and tell him the dream and it's interpretation so that he and his friends might live. God does so, Daniel is brought before the king and he tells the king what his dream is and what it means. He tells the king that God gave him a metaphoric vision of the future involving a statue that represents kingdoms throughout time. The last kingdom of earth is described as follows:
Daniel 2:43 NASB
And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.
Daniel 2:43 KJV
And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
Daniel 2:43 ESV
As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.
This is a truly strange verse. Who are "they" that will combine/mingle/mix/marry with human seed? Well if you've been following the blog thus far you already know that we have precedent for angelic seed mixing with human seed that creates giants.
But this vision is of the future (Daniel 2:29), and Daniel came long after the flood which is when the sons of God who committed the sin of Genesis 6 were chained until the end of days (Jude 1, 2 Peter 2).
So we know Daniel is not referring to the original creation of the Nephilim in Genesis 6. Instead he is speaking of a very distant future. He speaks of multiple mighty kingdoms rising and falling throughout time and Daniel 2:43 describes the last one. So if this is the last mighty kingdom of the earth, then we can safely say this is a description of the end times. This concept is rarely, if ever, disputed. Most scholars and pastors teach this passage as such but what very few acknowledge is the likelihood of this being a description of another angelic convergence with human seed. This exegesis, however, is a reasonable one.
We already know it is possible for angelic beings to have intercourse with humans, and Jesus himself refers to the end times as being similar to the days of Noah (when such things happened):
Luke 17:26-30 ESV
Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
But how do we know it doesn't just mean humans are going to combine/mingle/mix/marry each other?
Well logically, people already always have and always will do that, so it would make little to no sense to specify that as being part of the future. One could make the argument that since it says they will not cleave/hold/adhere to one another that his means they won't stay married. This is also a silly claim, however, because divorce has always been an issue as well. The Bible addresses this issue for that reason.
Why Clay and Iron
Clay is always associated with humanity.
Job 10:9
Remember now, that You have made me as clay; And would You turn me into dust again?
Job 33:6
Behold, I belong to God like you; I too have been formed out of the clay.
Isaiah 29:16
You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?
Isaiah 64:8
But now, O Lord, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.
Job 4:18-19
He puts no trust even in His servants; And against His angels He charges error.19 ‘How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Who are crushed before the moth!
These verses are only a small sample of the many that describe humanity as clay. With that in mind, read the verses preceding Daniel 2:43
Daniel 2:40-42 NASB
Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. 41 In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. 42 As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle.
The Iron is described as destructive, tough and strong, in contrast to the weak and brittle clay. Daniel goes on to describe the coming kingdom as a divided one. A kingdom divided between those of iron and those of clay.
Daniel 2:43 ESV
As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.
Coming back to verse 43, we see a clearer picture: A remnant echo of Genesis 6 and the sons of God intermingling with humanity to produce strong, tough, destructive, demigod giants that plagued the world enough to bring about the great flood of judgment. If this truly is the correct interpretation, then this would mean a repeat of the days of Noah, just like Jesus says in Luke 17. It would mean that the creation of angelic human hybrids, a thriving state of evil, and the destruction of the world would be the bookends of humanity's post-edenic journey on earth.