Why does the Torah need to inform us that the B'nei ha'Elohim saw the beautiful women?
Sanhedrin 108a: 1. To teach us that the sin of the Dor ha'Mabul began with the eyes - which are compared to water. 1
See Torah Temimah, citing Sanhedrin, ibid., and note 2, who elaborates.
Who were the 'Bnei ha'Elohim,' who took the beautiful women as wives?
Rashi #1, Targum Onkelos and Targum Yonasan: They were the sons of princes and judges 1 (aristocrats). 2
Rashi #2: Hashem's celestial messengers (even they were guilty of sinning).
Rashi #3 (in Yoma 67b) 3 : Uza and Aza'el, two destructive angels who came down to earth in the days of Na'amah (Tuval Kayin's sister [to teach man that is possible to serve Hashem even in this lowly world - Oznayim la'Torah, citing a Midrash]).
Rosh: They were the B'nei Sheis, who were giants of fearful appearance.
What does the Torah mean when it writes "Ki Tovos Heinah"?
Rashi: It means when they were making themselves up (to get married, as if the word was written "Tavas'), one of these strong men would come and rape her first.
Ramban: "Ki" means (not 'that,' but) "when", in which case the Pasuk means "when they were beautiful;" they chose for themselves the beautiful women, who they took by force.
Targum Yonasan #1: It refers to "u'Vanos Yuldu Lahem" in Pasuk #1, which means 'beautiful daughters', to whom the strong men helped themselves.
Targum Yonasan #2: Not only were they naturally beautiful, but they aroused the men by applying eye-paint and rouge and walking with uncovered skin.
Rosh: Initially, the B'nei Sheis would not marry girls from Kayin, since they were murderers and adulterers. They now began to marry the more upright girls from among them.
What does "... from whoever they chose" come to include?
Rashi: Even married women, males and animals. 1
Ramban: Even married women.
Rosh: Refer to 6:2:2:5. Finally, the B'nei Sheis married [even evil] girls from Kayin.
See Sifsei Chachamim.
The Gemara (Kidushin 13a) writes that one who supervises marriage or divorce proceedings, without sufficient expertise in these areas, is worse than the generation of the Flood. He is likely to permit married women to marry others, who will then father children in adultery. But in our Rashi, we learn that the generation prior to the flood was also guilty of adultery?
Mizrachi: Mizrachi raises this question, and concludes that the two sources seem to conflict.
Gur Aryeh: In cases of adultery, there is no guarantee that she will conceive in sin; in fact the Halachah is that we may usually assume that any child is from the husband (Sotah 27a). An adulterer is afraid of being caught, and cannot sin with regularity. But when an incompetent ruling allows a married woman to marry another, they believe themselves to be married, and will certainly conceive in sin and produce Mamzerim.
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "'That they were good ('Tovos') - [The word 'Tovos'] is written without the letter[s] 'Vav'. When they would beautify a bride, and she was adorned for her Chupah...." The Torah constantly spells words without a 'Vav'; why should we learn from it specifically here?
Gur Aryeh: From context, we would expect the Torah to write "Yafos Henah" (they were beautiful). It chooses the word "Tovos" (they were good), to convey that the officers came specifically just as they were "Metivin" (i.e. making her up) for her Chupah. 1
Gur Aryeh: The Midrash interprets this way, despite that "Tov" is a state-of-being (they are good), and "Meitiv" is an action directed towards another (they were adorning [her]). Chazal base their Derashah on the Chaser spelling, "Tavas," which is in the past tense - they came at the one-time event when she was so adorned, i.e. her wedding.
Rashi writes: "'.... From all that they so chose' - Even married women; even males and animals." How can we derive all these; perhaps they only took the lesser evil of the three (i.e. married women)?
Gur Aryeh: The verse has already said that they would abduct "Benos ha'Adam," i.e. unmarried women. The preceding phrase, "they took Nashim," refers to married women. "From all that they so chose" shows that they acted as they pleased, even taking males and animals. 1
Gur Aryeh: Rashi lists "married women" here, even though its source is earlier in the verse. It was not because the officers thought it a trivial sin; rather, they acted as they pleased, and were not concerned in the least about the relative severity of their actions, be they punishable by Chenek or by Sekilah.
