book of 1 enoch: the watchers

  "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-elohim1 (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 earth.2  Meanwhile the Watchers are busy teaching humans the full spectrum 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.

 That’s the core story: the actual text is quite a bit more complex and confusing.

These fascinating writings were for many centuries condoned and promoted by the official Church authorities and were indeed considered mainstream.  For many centuries a popular bit of official canon, the Book of 1 Enoch was later banned by Church bosses who decided the harrowing account conflicted with the sanctioned view of angels. The church fathers concluded that the heavenly host does  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 an official book 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.3 Having sorted out the superfluous elements, the core of the story is as follows.

The setting is “in the days of Jared”4 

at the peak of Mt. Hermon.5 

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 (human women). 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 (7,500 cubits) tall, or a little over two miles.6 These giants are the same Nephilim as mentioned 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. Soon we find them sinning 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.7 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.

CONTEXT: The somewhat disjointed Watchers story line incorporates many popular mythical elements of early Genesis, although most are only mentioned in passing in the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew/Christian text in turn taps into earlier Mesopotamian legends such as the apkallu, who are demi gods more or less corresponding to archangels. Many of the fallen angel and Satan tropes are more prevalent in 1 Enoch than in Genesis, yet major events such as the Great Flood get only passing attention.

The Watchers narrative also expands on topics associated with the Garden of Eden, especially the sharing of arcane forbidden knowledge with humans.  We also find the Niphilim giants embedded in the 1 Enoch story.  The Watchers themselves can be thought of a guardian angels associated with the heavenly council of El, similar to the board of directors described in Job 1: 6-22. Unfortunately the Watcher angels go rogue and end up destroying humanity.

Ultimately, this work is part and parcel of writings that are the foundation of Jewish Apocalypticism, which in turn is the origin of the Christian End of Days scenario. It is also referenced in the brief but apocalyptic Book of Jude, which precedes Revelation.

“The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect and righteous, who will be living in the days of tribulation, when all the wicked and godless are to be removed. And the earth shall be wholly rent in sunder and all that is upon the earth shall perish, and there shall be a judgement upon all.”

- 1 Enoch 1

A lot of the material in the Book of 1 Enoch is referenced across the spectrum of scriptural, apocryphal and traditional material. It is likely that many people believe it is in the Bible, but either it no longer is, or never was. 

For your homework, consider the arbitrary nature of biblical truth. 

NOTES: 

1. Benei ha-elohim is a Hebrew term that literally means sons of god. Elohim is a plural version of El, the original god of the Old Testament but it can also refer to the pantheon of deities headed by El.

2. This part is actually in the Book of Genesis. It simply doesn't get discussed much in most mainstream religious circles.

3. When adults teach children stories at a young age as if they are true, the myths become familiar and not subject to the same skepticism they would normally warrant: Stopping the sun, virgin birth, parting the waters, talking donkeys, etc. 

 4. Jared is an obscure fifth generation descendant of Adam. So in terms of an Old Testament timeline, this event is before the Flood.  

5. Mt. Hermon is on the border of Syria and Lebanon near Damascus. 

6. If the offspring are this size, it is challenging to imagine the how large the Watchers themselves are, or how the mating process works.

7. It is of interest that in the spectrum of forbidden knowledge, the Watchers make sure to share the skills of doing your makeup and decorating the body with jewelry etc. The text suggests that these practices are responsible for the general worldwide debauchery that ensues.

8. The question here, as elsewhere, is: why isn’t the all-knowing god aware of the situation down in his creation. 

this omniscience gap is consistent with other appearances of El in the Bible in which he takes on anthropomorphic form and relies on informants to let him know what's going on. For example, he has to send spies to Sodom and Gomorrah in order to determine if they are as evil as all the gossip holds (the answer turns out to be hell yes). These Old Testament scenarios suggest a cosmology more like that of Greek gods.

********* Lamech: We don't know why he doesn't just tell Noah, the guy who has to build the ark. Also, there is no further mention of a giant animal cruise liner or the Flood itself after this. 

**********Why is all mankind being punished when they are the victims of the Lord's own rogue angels? God probably sees it otherwise.

*********** In Genesis 5:24 we are told that Enoch walked with god so faithfully, the he was taken up to heaven without dying. Only Elijah was also granted this status. “Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.” An ancient reader of the Watchers would most likely been familiar with the Book of Genesis.

************ Pulling out the calculator, we see that Methuselah, who is mostly famous for his longevity, would have lived even longer except for the Flood. "Sorry Grandpa! Had to save the possums."

************* There is an elaboration on this thought in the Book of Jubilees, as well as Qumran prayers and incantations that disparage the evil spirits as “bastards.”  

*************“ Look, clouds in the vision were summoning me, and mists were crying out to me; and shooting stars and lightning flashes were hastening me and speeding me along, and winds in my vision made me fly up and lifted me upward and brought me to heaven.  

And I went in until I drew near to a wall built of hailstones; and tongues of fire were encircling them all around, and they began to frighten me.  

And I went into the tongues of fire, and I drew near to a great house built of hailstones; and the walls of this house were like stone slabs, and they were all of snow, and the floor was of snow. 

- 1 Enoch 14: 8 – 10

Reference to  Numbers 13:33