בראשית פרק ו

(1) When men began to increase on earth and daughters were born to them, (2) the divine beings saw how beautiful the daughters of men were and took wives from among those that pleased them.— (3) The LORD said, “My breath shall not abide in man forever, since he too is flesh; let the days allowed him be one hundred and twenty years.”— (4) It was then, and later too, that the Nephilim appeared on earth—when the divine beings cohabited with the daughters of men, who bore them offspring. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown.

(5) יהוה saw how great was human wickedness on earth—how every plan devised by the human mind was nothing but evil all the time. (6) And יהוה regretted having made humankind on earth. With a sorrowful heart, (7) יהוה said, “I will blot out from the earth humankind whom I created—humans together with beasts, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I regret that I made them.” (8) But Noah found favor with יהוה.

(1) בני האלהים THE SONS OF ELOHIM — The sons of princes and rulers (Genesis Rabbah 26:15). Another explanation of בני האלהים is that these were princely angels who came as messengers from God: they, too, intermingled with them (the daughters of men). Wherever the word אלהים occurs in the Scriptures it signifies authority, and the following passages prove this: (Exodus 4:16) “and thou shalt be his (אלהים) master”, and (Exodus 7:1) “See, I have made the (אלהים) a master.” (2) כי טבת הנה THAT THEY WERE FAIR — Rabbi Judan said, “It is written here טבת, for when they were being made to appear “good” by being decked out to be taken beneath the marriage canopy one of the lords would come and carry her off first (Genesis Rabbah 26:5). (3) מכל אשר בחרו OF ALL WHOM THEY CHOOSE — even if it were a married woman or a man or an animal (Genesis Rabbah 26:5).

(1) The sons of the rulers. According to this rendering those who were charged with establishing justice trampled it openly. (2) And they took for themselves wives. By force. From whomever they chose. Even married women. Nevertheless, Scripture cites only violent crime (v. 11) as the reason for the flood because it is prohibited by reason alone. My spirit will not continue to judge. Or, “My spirit will not remain within man forever because he is flesh.” If man had sanctified himself, then My spirit would indeed have remained within him. But because he allowed his physical nature to predominate, My spirit will not remain within him. His days shall be. Hashem would nevertheless grant them time to repent.

מכל אשר בחרו, as they were extremely intelligent, they selected for themselves wives who were equally intelligent or almost so, so that their children would enjoy the genetic benefits of their superior intelligence and physical strength.

(1) לא ידון רוחי באדם MY SPIRIT SHALL NOT STRIVE AGAINST MAN — My Spirit shall not be in a state of discontent and shall not strive with Myself because of man. (2) לעולם ALWAYS — for a long time. Behold, My Spirit has been contending within Me whether to destroy or whether to show mercy: such contending (deliberation) shall not be forever — meaning, for a long time. (3) בשגם הוא בשר FOR THAT HE ALSO IS FLESH — This is the same as בְּשָׁגַּם — that is to say: because this quality is also in him viz., that he is only flesh, and yet he does not humble himself before Me; what would he do if he were of fire or of some other resisting matter! Similarly we find שַׁ for שָׁ, (Judges 5:7) עד שַׁקמתי דבורה “Until I Deborah arose”, where it is the same as שָׁקמתי; so also (Judges 6:17) שַׁאתה מדבר עמי “that it is thou who talkest with me”, where it is the same as שָׁאתה — so also here. (4) והיו ימיו וגו THEREFORE HIS DAYS SHALL BE etc. — For 120 years I will be long-suffering with them, and if they repent not I shall bring a flood upon them. If, now, you object, saying that from the birth of Japheth until the Flood there were only 100 years, remember that there is no “earlier” or “later” in the Torah (events are not always related in chronological order) (Pesachim 6b): the decree (regarding the Flood) was issued twenty years before Noah had any children — so we find in Seder Olam. There are many Midrashic explanations of the words לא ידון but this is transparently its plain sense.

(1) לא ידון רוחי באדם לעולם בשגם הוא בשר, it is intolerable that there will continue the argument, strife before Me allowing (the angels?) to claim that although seeing that man has been endowed with divine qualities he must be punished, whereas his close ties to physical earth must be considered as excuses for his conduct, entitling him to continued mercy, and indulgence by Me. (2) והיו ימיו, he will be given a certain length of time within which to repent his sins; (3) מאה ועשרים שנה, during which time Noach would have time to construct the ark, and by doing so rebuking and warning people of what is in store for them. (compare Sanhedrin 108)

(1) ‘BESHAGAM’ (FOR THAT ALSO) HE IS FLESH. It is as if beshagam were written beshegam with a segol under the shin. And Rashi explained: “This quality is also in him, that he is only flesh, and yet he is not humble before Me. What would he do if he were made of fire or some hard substance.” This explanation has neither rhyme nor reason.Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained that G-d said, “My spirit will not abide in man forever because of this violence and also because man is flesh, and when he reaches a certain age he disintegrates.” Ibn Ezra thus understands the verse as if it said, gam beshehu basar (also because he is flesh). But what need is there for stating this contention when it is known that they were but flesh. and death had been decreed on them, as it says, For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return?The correct interpretation appears to me to be that G-d said: “My spirit shall not abide in man forever because man also is flesh as all flesh that creepeth upon the earth in the forms of fowl and cattle and beast, and it is not fitting that the spirit of G-d be within him.” The purport is to state that G-d made man upright to be like the ministering angels by virtue of the soul He gave him. But he was drawn after the flesh and corporeal desires; he is like the beasts that perish, and therefore the spirit of G-d will no longer be sheathed in him for he is corporeal and not godly. However, He will prolong for them [this withdrawal of spirit] if they repent. The sense of this verse is thus similar to [the verse in Psalm 49]: So He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

(1) הנפילים THE GIANTS — Thy were called נפילים because they fell (נפלו) and caused the downfall of (הפילו) the world (Genesis Rabbah 26:7). (2) In Hebrew the giants are usually called בימים ההם .ענקים IN THOSE DAYS — In the days of the generations of Enosh and the sons of Cain (Genesis Rabbah 26:7). (3) וגם אחרי כן AND ALSO AFTER THAT — Although they witnessed the destruction of the generation of Enosh when the Ocean rose and flooded a third part of the world, yet the generation of the Flood did not humble itself and take a lesson from them (Genesis Rabbah 26). (4) אשר יבאו WHEN [THE SONS OF GOD] CAME IN, they (the women) bore children, giants like them (the fathers) (Genesis Rabbah 26:7). (5) הגבורים MIGHTY — in rebellion against God. (6) אנשי שם MEN OF RENOWN (literally, men of name) — Men who bore distinctive names: עירד, מחויאל, מתושאל being so named because these names have reference to their destruction, for they were wiped out and torn out from the world (מחוי-אל would signify “wiped-out-by-God”, מתושאל “Torn-out-by-God). Another explanation is that they were men of devastation (אנשי שם-מון) — who devastated the world (Genesis Rabbah 26:7).

(1) [THE NEPHILIM.] They were so named because anyone who saw them lost heart at their huge stature. (2) [AFTER THAT.] After the flood. Behold, the sons of Anak (Num. 13:33) were originally from the family of the sons of God.

(1) THE NEPHILIM. Rashi comments: “[They were called nephilim because] they fell (naphlu) and caused the downfall (hipilu) of the world.” This is found in Bereshith Rabbah. The masters of language say that they [the Nephilim] were so called because the heart of man fell from fear of them. The same applies to the word ha’eimim. (2) IN THOSE DAYS. Rashi comments: “in the days of the generation of Enosh. AND ALSO AFTER THAT. Although they witnessed the destruction of the generation of Enosh when the ocean rose and flooded a third of the world, still they did not humble themselves and take a lesson from them.”Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained: “also after the flood, since the sons of Anak were of the family of bnei ha’elohim.” If so, we must say that either the wives of Noah’s sons were of their [the Nephilim’s] descendants and resembled them or that ibn Ezra will accept the statement of the Rabbi who advanced the interpretation that Og escaped from the flood, to which Rabbi Abraham will add that others too escaped with him [since the verse states: “The ‘Nephilim’ — (in the plural) — were in the earth…and also after that”, which Ibn Ezra interprets as meaning after the flood].The correct interpretation appears to me to be that Adam and his wife are called bnei ha’elohim because they were G-d’s handiwork and He was their father; they had no father besides Him. And he [Adam] begot many children, as it is written, And he begot sons and daughters. Now these men, first to be born of a father and mother, were of great perfection in height and strength because they were born in the likeness of their father, as it is written concerning Seth, And he [Adam] begot a son in his own likeness, after his image. And it is possible that all the children of the first generations — Adam, Seth, Enosh — were called bnei ha’elohim because these three men were in the likeness of G-d. But then the worship of idols commenced, and there came upon men a weakness and slackness.And so they said in Bereshith Rabbah: “This is the book of the generations of Adam. Are not the first ones toldoth (offspring)! But what are they? [They are in the image and likeness of] G-d. They raised a question before Aba Kohen Bardela: ‘Adam, Seth, Enosh?’ At first, he was silent, but then he said to them: ‘Up to here [Seth] they were in the image and likeness of G-d; after that, Kenan, vexers.’”Now when men began to multiply and daughters were born to them, the men of these first generations were in their strength, and because of their great desire they would choose the beautiful women of tall stature and good health. Now first Scripture tells that by force they took them unto themselves as wives, and afterwards it tells that they came in a promiscuous manner to the daughters of men who were not of that high degree, and the matter was not known until they begot children for them, and everyone recognized that they were not the offspring of other people but that they had been born to these bnei ha’elohim because these children were very tall. They were, however, inferior to their fathers in height and strength, [This is the meaning of the name Nephilim — inferior ones], just as the word Nephilim is used in the expression: I am not ‘nophel’ (inferior) to you. Still they were mighty men in comparison with the rest of the people. And Scripture tells that this happened in the first generation to those who were called bnei ha’elohim because they were of absolute perfection, and it is they who caused the daughters of men to beget nephilim (inferior ones); and also after that, for the nephilim themselves begot nephilim from them.The meaning of the expression, that were of old, is that after the flood, the men, upon seeing the mighty, would remember these nephilim and say: “There have already been mightier men than these in the ages which were before us.” They were the men of renown in all generations afterward. This is a fitting explanation of this chapter. But the Midrash of Rabbi Eliezer the Great, in the chapters concerning the angels that fell from their place of holiness in heaven — as is mentioned in the Gemara of Tractate Yoma — fits into the language of the verse more than all other interpretations. But it would necessitate delving at length into the secret of this subject.