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)
