Nephilim... the heroes of old

I am on a plan to read through the Bible this year.  If you are interested, it is at www.ownit365.com.  I've been reading through Genesis and Job and have had loads of questions... more than I can even delve into and even more where I have to just say "ok, the answers aren't clear here... I'm not sure, or God wanted it that way."  One of the most puzzling portions to me has been Genesis 6.

"When men began to increase in number on the earth and the daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.  Then the Lord said, 'my Spirit will not contend with man forever, for his is mortal, his days will be a hundred and twenty years.' The Nephilim were on the earth in those days-- and also afterward-- when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them.  They were the heroes of old, men of renown."


So... who were the Sons of God and what are Nephilim?  I did a little study and this is what I found.

First, who were the sons of God?
Some suggest they were supernatural beings such as angels.  Others say they were godly men descended from Seth who married sinful women descended from Cain.  A better interpretation may be that they were human rulers who emerged as heads of city-states in the ancient Middle East and flaunted their power by having large harems.  Rulers and judges are sometimes called gods or God in the Hebrew text.

Who were the Nephilim?
Nephilim may refer to persons of great physical stature-- giants.  Nephilim is linked to another term that indicates a heroic person with both power and influence.

Here are the other sightings of the word Nephilim in scripture.
Numbers 13:32-33
"And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored.  They said, 'the land we explored devours those living in it.  All the people we saw there are of great size.  We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim).  We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."


So they were obviously big dudes... giants.  But were they half angel?  half fallen angel, half human?  As far as I can tell the Bible is not clear about it.  I guess it isn't essential for us to know or it would have been in more detail... but the angel thing bothers me because I think of angels as non sexual beings.  Maybe there is a lot about angels I don't know.  Don't worry, I'm not obsessing about angels and going off and worshiping angels.  I just wonder if they have human emotions.  Any thoughts out there?  Do you think Shaquil O'Neal would constitute as a giant?  When you are that big you automatically get some respect... ya know?
By the way, Job is a hard read for me.  He has this horrendous day in the beginning and now he is trying to get his friends off of his back and then trying to figure out God.  It makes me confused and sad reading it. I'm sure not as sad and confused as Job felt right?  Do you guys think I can make it through Leviticus?  YIKES!