There are many references to "Sons of God" in the Bible, Torah, Koran, Apocrypha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and in the legends of the Babalonians and Sumerians. All of these references paint different portraits of their exitstance and meaning.
"Watchers", "Cheribim", "Sons of God", "Seraphim" and "Nephilim" are descriptions used for these beings. "Niflheim" is the name of the underworld ruled by "Hel", the Norse Goddess of death. But the root NFLis what is actually translated from Hebrew into English. "And there were giants on the earth in those days..." The word is misstranslated. NFL does not mean "giants", it means "cast out" in Hebrew. So, therefore, the Nephilim are "those who were cast out". Cast out of what? And why would Norse sources have the same word that ancient Hebrew does? I don't know. I'm still reseaching.
Teraphim were household gods that usually had a statue. These were personal gods that were worshiped by a family for minor things. They did not intrude on the Great Gods' powers, but where seen as important to the survival of a family. Lamech chased after Issac when he left with his wifes, and Rebecca took Lemech's teraphim.
Some of the earliest references are in Genesis, where God seems to be talking to others around Him about Man's fate from eating the fruit of the Garden of Eden. This implies that there were beings with God in the beginning. The story of Eden is a retelling of the older Sumerian tale of how humans came to being See "The 7 Tablets of Creation". Job also tells of God talking to others, whom we interpret as not human. The book of Eziekiel also has some interesting things to say about the Servants of God, as does Isaiah 6:2-6:7. Seraphim means fiery ones. They are represented as "standing" above the King as he sat upon his throne, ready at once to minister unto him. Their form appears to have been human, with the addition of wings. This word, in the original, is used elsewhere only of the "fiery serpents" ( Num 21:6,8; Deu 8:15; Isa 14:29; 30:6) sent by God as his instruments to inflict on the people the righteous penalty of sin.
The Dead Sea Scrolls relate a story of Lemach, Noah's father, accusing his wife of sleeping with "The Watchers", because the baby Noah was so beautiful. This story corroborates the Genesis narration of Sons of God being on the earth during Noah's time, and of finding the daughters of Man inviting. Sumerian tales tell of the same occurrence.
The Epic of Gilgamish talks about the creation story of the Sumerians, relating in the Flood story how the gods that were on the Earth at the time climbed back up into the sky, so as not to drowned. This seems to be a reference to the Sons of God story in Genesis.
Ancient Egyptian creation myths explain the Flood story with an interesting naration
of the many gods "climbed back up into Heaven" to escape the Flood. Sounds a bit
like the Sons of God trying to get back into Heaven after the Flood to me. This
could be interpreted as another reference to the existance of beings
other than God. The Sumerian Flood story meantions that the gods were hungry, and grately to the Sumerian Noah for cooking them food. It was then that they decided to give civilization to Man.
This makes the sentence in Genesis "and God smelled the savory meat of Noah's sacrifice, and pledged to never try to kill off Man again with a flood."
Could "the gods" have been mortal? You decide.
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