6:1-2<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, Who were these \u201csons of Elohim\u201d? Here the Torah is actually making use of the Book of Enoch, which describes these events as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters.<\/em> Y’hudah (Jude) writes of these events saying:<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the angels who did not keep their first estate, but left their own habitation, he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;<\/em> And of which Kefa writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed; they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries,<\/em> In the Rabbinic literature Shemikhazah and Azazel are called \u201cUzza and Azael\u201d. According to the tradition found in the Zohar above, when YHWH was creating man, He intended him to be head over all celestial beings. Certain angels (being lead by Uzza and Azael) maligned YHWH saying \u201cwhat is man that you should remember him\u201d (Ps. 8:5(4)). saying that man would sin through his wife. YHWH responded by saying that if they were on earth like man they would sin worse than man, sinning thru many women, not just one. YHWH then cast them down to earth. (Zohar 1:23a, 25b; 2:207b-208a)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6:3<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 3 And YHWH said: My Spirit shall not abide in man forever. For that he also is flesh; therefore shall his days be a hundred and twenty years. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan to this verse has:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have I not given My Holy Spirit in them, in order that they should have good works, but behold, they have corrupted their works?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n therefore shall his days be a hundred and twenty years.<\/em><\/strong> A common interpretation of this verse is that man’s lifespan was limited from this time forward to 120 years. However Rashi interprets “I will keep my temper for 120 years. If they have not repented by then, I will bring a flood on them.”<\/em> and then adds: “if you object that from the birth of Japheth to the flood was only 100 years, remember that the Torah is not written in chronological order. This decree was issued 20 years before Noah begot children.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 6:4<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 4 The N\u2019filim were on the earth in those days and also after that, when the sons of Elohim came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. The same were the mighty men that were of old–the men of renown. N’filim<\/em><\/strong> Literally “fallen ones”, refer to the “sons of Elohim” who had fallen, not to their offspring. See comments to Gen. 6:1-2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n and they bore children to them. The same were the mighty men that were of old–the men of renown.<\/strong><\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n The fallen angels impregnated human women with offspring known as giants:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives from all, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them sorcery and spellbinding,\u00a0 and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants.<\/em> At the flood the giants became evil spirits on the earth:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8 And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, and on the earth shall be their dwelling. \u00a0<\/em>
2 That the sons of Elohim saw the daughters of men, that they were fair. And they took them wives, whomsoever they chose.
(Gen. 6:1-2 HRV)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
2 And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: \u2018Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.\u2019<\/em>
3 And Shemikhazah, who was their leader, said unto them: \u2018I fear you will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.\u2019<\/em>
4 And they all answered him and said: \u2018Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.\u2019<\/em>
5 Then they all swore together and bound themselves by imprecations upon it.<\/em>
6 And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Yared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by imprecations upon it.<\/em>
(1Enoch 6:1-6)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
as S\u2019dom and \u2018Amora and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.<\/em>
Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of rulers.<\/em>
(Jude 1:6-8 HRV)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
(2Peter 2:2-10 HRV<\/em>)
The Zohar gives even more detail:
\u201cOf the Nefilim it is said: \u201cand the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair\u201d (Gen. 6:1f)<\/strong>. These form a second category of the Nefilim, already mentioned above, in this way: When God thought of making man, He said: \u201cLet us make man in our image, etc.\u201d i.e. He intended to make him head over the celestial beings, who were to be his deputies, like Joseph over the governors of Egypt (Gen. 41:41). The angels thereupon began to malign him and say, \u201cWhat is man that You should remember him (Ps. 8:5(4)), seeing that he will assuredly sin before You.\u201d Said God to them, \u201cIf you were on earth like him, you would sin worse.\u201d And so it was. For \u201cwhen the sons of God saw the daughters of man\u201d<\/strong>, they fell in love with them, and God cast them down from heaven. These were Uzza and Azael; from them the \u201cmixed multitude\u201d derive their souls, and therefore they also are called nefilim, because they fell into fornication with fair women.\u201d<\/em>
(Zohar 1:25b)<\/em>
\u2026Uzza and Azael actually opposed it [the creation of man]. For when the Shekinah said to God \u201cLet us make man\u201d, they said, \u201cWhat is man that thou shouldst know him? Why desirest thou to create man, who, as thou knowest, will sin before thee through his wife, who is the darkness to his light, light being male and darkness female?\u201d The Shekinah answered them: \u201cYou yourselves shall commit the very crime of which you accuse him\u201d; and so it is written, \u201cand the sons of God saw the daughters of man that they were comely\u201d, and they went astray after them and were degraded by the Shekinah from their holy estate.\u2019 Said the colleagues: \u2018Rabbi, after all, Uzza and Azael were not wrong, because man was really destined to sin through woman.\u2019 He replied, \u2018What the Shekinah said was this: \u201cYou have spoken worse of man than all the rest of the heavenly host. If you were more virtuous than man, you would have a right to accuse him. But whereas he will sin with one woman, you will sin with many women, as it is written, \u2018and the sons of God saw the daughters of man\u2019<\/strong>– not a daughter, but daughters; and further, if man sinned, he was ready to repent and to return to his Master and repair his wrong.\u201d \u2018<\/em>
(Zohar 1:23a)<\/em>
They therefore went to R. Simeon and laid the matter before him. In reply he cited to them the verse: \u201cWhat is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him?\u201d (Ps. 8:5). \u2018The exposition of this verse\u2019, he said, \u2018is that it was uttered by those in charge of the world at the time when God expressed His intention of creating man. He called together various companies of heavenly angels and stationed them before Him. He said to them: I desire to create man. They exclaimed, \u201cMan abideth not in honour\u201d, etc. (Ps. 44: 13). God thereupon put forth His finger and burnt them. He then set other groups before Him, and said: I desire to create man. They exclaimed, \u201dWhat is man that thou shouldst remember him?\u201d What is the character of this man, they asked. He replied: Man will be in our image, and his wisdom will be superior to yours. When He had created man and he sinned and obtained a pardon, Uzza and Azael approached Him and said: We can plead justification against Thee, since the man whom Thou hast made has sinned against Thee. He said to them: Had you been with them you would have sinned equally, and He cast them down from their high estate in heaven.<\/em>
(Zohar 3:207b-208a)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Gen. 6:3 HRV)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Gen. 6:4 HRV)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
2 And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand cubits, and there were not born upon the earth children of their strength.<\/em>
(1En. 7:1-2)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
9 Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies; because they are born from men and from the set-apart Watchers is their beginning and primal origin; they shall be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits shall they be called.<\/em>
10 [As for the spirits of heaven, in heaven shall be their dwelling, but as for the spirits of the earth which were born upon the earth, on the earth shall be their dwelling.]<\/em>
11 And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble: they take no food, but nevertheless hunger and thirst, and cause offenses.<\/em>
12 And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them.<\/em>
(1En. 15:8-12).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"