Friday, February 19, 2021

Rabbi Simeon b. Yohai (Johai) Arguing that "Bene HaElohim" in Genesis 6 should be translated as "sons of the judges" in Bereshit Rabbah 26:5

In his Fallen Angels: Soldiers of Satan’s Realm, Jewish scholar Bernard Bamberger noted the following:

 

R. Simeon b. Johai (second century) cursed those who translated bene haElohim literally as “sons of God.” The proper rendering, he said, was “sons of the judges,” which agrees substantially with the Targum. We are not entirely sure who was the specific object of R. Simeon’s curse, but he clearly wanted to preclude any supernatural interpretation of the passage (B[ereshit]R[abbah] 26.5). (Bernard J. Bamberger, Fallen Angels: Soldiers of Satan’s Realm [Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1952], 91)

 

The relevant text from Bereshit Rabbah (26:5), based on Gen 6:2, reads thusly:

 

That the sons of God(bene elohim) saw the daughters of men, etc. (vi, 2). R. Simeon b. Yohai called them the sons of nobles; [furthermore], R. Simeon b. Yohai cursed all who called them the sons of God. R. Simeon b. Yohai said: If demoralisation does not proceed from the leaders, it is not real demoralisation. R. 'Azariah said in R. Levi's name: When the priests steal their gods, by what can one swear or to what can one sacrifice ?

 

Now why are they called the sons of God? R. Hanina and Resh Lakish said: Because they lived a long time without trouble or suffering. R. Huna said in R. Jose's name: It was in order that men might understand [astronomical] cycles and calculations. The Rabbis said: It was in order that they might receive their own punishment and that of the generations that followed them. (Midrash Rabbah: Genesis [trans. H. Freedman and Maurice Simon; London: the Soncino Press, 1939], 213)