Genesis 6: Fallen Giants

Genesis 6 is the prelude to the flood story. Humankindhas spread across the land and immediately turns to evil.“The LORD saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth,and how every plan devised by his mind was nothing but evil all the time”וַיַּרְא יְהוָה כִּי רַבָּה רָעַת הָאָדָם בָּאָרֶץ, וְכָל-יֵצֶר מַחְשְׁבֹת לִבּוֹ רַק רַע כָּל-הַיּוֹם (Genesis 6:5)God regrets having created man, and instead decides towipe them out. The opening verses of this chapter are difficult to understand:“The sons of the Elohim saw how beautiful the daughtersof men were and took wives from among those that pleased them”וַיִּרְאוּ בְנֵי-הָאֱלֹהִים אֶת-בְּנוֹת הָאָדָם, כִּי טֹבֹת הֵנָּה; וַיִּקְחוּ לָהֶם נָשִׁים, מִכֹּל אֲשֶׁר בָּחָרוּ (Genesis 6:2)“It was then, and later too, that the Nephilim appearedon earth—when the sons of Elohim cohabited with the daughters of men, who bore them offspring. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown”הַנְּפִלִים הָיוּ בָאָרֶץ, בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם; וְגַם-אַחֲרֵי-כֵן, אֲשֶׁר יָבֹאוּ בְנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים אֶל-בְּנוֹת הָאָדָם, וְיָלְדוּ לָהֶם--הֵמָּה הַגִּבֹּרִים, אֲשֶׁר מֵעוֹלָם אַנְשֵׁי הַשֵּׁם (Genesis 6:4)What are these sons of Elohim? Until this point, thisword has only been used to refer to God. Later on in Tanach, the word almost always refers to God or gods of other nations. Using this understanding, this verse is troubling as it implies some sort of divine beings on earth cohabiting with humans reminiscent of pagan mythology. The commentators are equally disturbed by that meaning.Some commentators refer to these sons of Elohim asmessengers divinely inspired to aid the people. This reading maintains the translation of Elohim as God but interprets the word “sons” as metaphorical. Others move even further away from the divine idea and explain that there areinstances in Tanach where this word actually refers to leaders or judges. This matches with the end of verse 4, which can be read to imply that these sons of Elohim were heroes of old and men of renown.With both of these interpretations—divine messengers andleaders—these verses then refer to corrupt individuals using their power for sexual domination, something that is still a major issue unfortunately. The lesson we can take from this is clear: when religious leaders, authorityfigures, or famous people use their position of power to dominate and abuse others, and when they use their power to do whatever they want simply because they want to without regard for anyone else, this perverse behavior so angers God that it is the catalyst for the destruction of the world.