"Proceed against the bastards and the reprobates, and against the children of fornication and destroy the children of the
Watchers from amongst men. – 1 Enoch 4:12.
The Book of 1 Enoch is a highly entertaining but officially unauthorized account of the deeds of the fallen angels of Biblical legend. Unless you consider the tales to be literally true, the Watchers stands as nascent example of the fantasy and science fiction genre.
The narrative tells how two hundred benei ha-elohim* (sons of God) or Watchers get together and take nice-looking human women as involuntary wives, impregnating them with two mile tall monsters called Niphilim, who proceed to wreak unimaginable havoc on the earth.** Meanwhile the Watchers are busy teaching humans the full spectrum of of forbidden knowledge. The giants start killing and eating humans, who complain to God. Enoch the holy scribe appears suddenly and documents the torture and punishment of the bad angels and later describes a golden age of varying durations. Some of the “good” archangels take him on a tour of the main locations in the Universe.
The actual text is quite a bit more complex and confusing but that’s the main story.
These fascinating writings were for many centuries condoned and promoted by the Church and in fact were considered mainstream. Although it had once a popular bit of official canon, the Book of 1 Enoch was later banned by Church bosses who decided that the harrowing account conflicted with the official view of angels, specifically that they do not engage in sexual intercourse. However, 1 Enoch was preserved by the Ethiopic church and reintroduced to the modern world in the 18th century. It remains part of the Ethiopic Bible and can also be found in free standing translations.
STORY LINE
This literary work is a hot mess of wild poetry, repetition and contradictions, but ultimately not so different from other scriptural material.***. Having sorted out the superfluous elements, the core of the story is as follows.
The setting is “in the days of Jared”**** at the peak of Mt. Hermon.*****
The Watchers themselves are angels. Bad angels.
Led by head Watcher Semjaza, two hundred evil angels/Watchers conspire to mate with the comely daughters of men (humans). Acknowledging there are likely to be consequences, the perpetrators form a pact to share the punishment among them equally.
The rebels choose the best looking human babes and go about impregnating them. They teach the women charms, incantations, makeup tips and other arcane knowledge of the natural world. The women birth a race of giants who stand 3000 ells (3,000 cubits) tall, or a little over two miles.****** These giants are the same Nephilim as in the Book of Genesis. They have kids called the Elioud who are a part angel hybrid race of their own. Like the Nephilim, the Elioud are both knowledgeable and evil.
These monsters quickly become a big problem. First they eat all of mankind’s food, then they begin to eat mankind. They begin to sin against birds, beasts, reptiles and fish, although the nature of the sins is not specified. They devour one another's flesh and drink the blood of other giants.
Yet they also teach mankind a wide range of science, military skills, astrology, sorcery and divination.******* The humans cry out to Heaven and get the attention of several "good" archangels: Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel look down from heaven and see a ton of blood being shed upon the earth, and “all lawlessness being wrought upon the earth.” They notify God about the situation.********
El doesn’t hesitate, but instructs his archangel posse to summon Noah's dad********* and let him know some bad shit is going down soon in the form of a world-ending flood.**********
Next, God has bad angel Azazel bound and thrown into a most unpleasant place called Dudael, where he is to be imprisoned until the final judgment, at which point he is to be cast into eternal fire – pre-judged as it were. All of the sin and knowledge sharing is to be blamed on Azazel. The giant children of the Watchers are ordered to destroy each other in battle. Their remnants will eventually be drowned in the Flood.
ENTER ENOCH, THE RIGHTEOUS SCRIBE
At this point we are finally introduced to Enoch, who has apparently been hidden at an undisclosed location while all this bad stuff went down.*********** Biblically, Enoch is mentioned in Genesis as the son of Jared and the father of Methuselah.***********
As a “righteous scribe” Enoch will be our first person narrator; he will guide us through the rest of the meandering saga. He is also something of an emissary between God and the fallen Watchers.
First, Enoch tells the Watchers what they already know: they are screwed from now to eternity. He carries a plea for mercy to the Lord from the imprisoned but unrepentant angels. He personally writes up the memorandum and makes a journey in order to read it directly to El, Lord of Hosts. This side trip is described in evocative if somewhat repetitive language.
In the next chapter he issues a detailed reprimand to the Watchers and advises them that their petition will not be granted.
God rather pointedly notes the following:
“Go and say to the Watchers of heaven, who sent you to petition in their behalf, ‘You should petition in behalf of humans, and not humans in behalf of you.”
- 1 Enoch 15:2
Following that thought, he reminds the angels that he didn’t create female versions of the watcher/angels because they were supposed to be spirits looking out for humans. They have pretty well blown that gig.
Unfortunately, now their unclean spirits are going to continue roaming the Earth harassing humans and causing random desolation until the day of judgement.************ In addition, the “wives” of the bad angels are going to become sirens.
Enoch then travels with archangel tour guides around all of creation: Heaven, Earth and the underworld. Uriel shows us Tartarus where the Watcher/stars are imprisoned until the end of days. He visits Hades inhabited by a hierarchy of dead souls, ranked by their respective sins and their future prospects. While the souls of the righteous also have to wait for the end of days in Hades, they at least have a supply of cool refreshing water. Also wandering around it the spirit of Abel, looking for justice against his brother Cain.
Our scribe sees the foundations of the earth and the four winds. There is a lot of fire in these visions.************
Enoch goes to the Mountain of God where a throne awaits judgement day. A key feature of this mountain is a fragrant tree species, of which he encounters many. Eventually he gets to see the Tree of Knowledge, which caused so much trouble in Eden, although Adam and Eve are not referenced. After judgment however, the fruit of this tree will be available to the pious and righteous.
After numerous variations on the Christian concept of Hell, eventually he arrives at the ends of heaven and earth.