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Watchers in
the Old Testament
"When men began to increase on earth
and daughters were born to them, the divine beings saw how
beautiful the daughters of men were and took wives from among
those that pleased them. The LORD said, ’My breath shall
not abide in man forever, since he too is flesh; let the days
allowed him be one hundred and twenty years.’ It was then, and
later too, that the Nephilim appeared on earth - when the
divine beings cohabited with the daughters of men, who bore them
offspring. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown."
- Genesis 6:1-4
This is the only account of the
watchers in the Bible. Isaiah 14:12-15 talks of the fall of the
"day-star, son of morning," which implies that there was a revolt,
and the "day-star" was cast into the abyss, but this may be a
reference to early Canaanite or Phoenician myths. One other possible
reference is Psalm 82.
"God standeth in the
Congregation of God (El)
In the midst of Gods (elohim) He judgeth
All the foundations of the earth are moved.
I said: Ye are Gods,
And all of you sons of the Most High (Elyon)
Nevertheles ye shall die like men,
And fall like one of the princes (sarim)
Psalm 82:1, 5-7
The parts of the Psalm I have
left out are the parts that refer to wicked earthly rulers, but it
is agreed upon by many scholars that this part of the Psalm refers
to the fallen angels. While Genesis 6 tells that
angels married women, it does not condemn this as a sin. Psalm 82
tells that the elohim sinned, but does not tell how (i.e. it
does not mention that they married women). It may have been that the
angels sinned by reproducing. Certain passages in Jewish Midrash
talk of how angels are immortal and do not need to reproduce.
Because humans are not, they must reproduce in order to achieve
immortality in their descendents.
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Watchers in
Jewish Midrash
This is a passage from Jewish midrash in which Hannah
is praying for a child at Shiloh:
"Lord of the Universe! The
celestials never die, and they do not reproduce their kind.
Terrestrial beings die, but they are fruitful and multiply.
Therefore I pray: Either make me immortal, or give me a son!"
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Watchers
in 1 Enoch
A different
interpretation of this passage concerning the sin of the angels was
that they revolted against God, and because of this, they were cast
down. Apocrypal texts give more complete accounts of the fall
of the angels. (For more about texts found outside the bible, see
Pseudepigrapha & Enoch)
1 Enoch gives an account of the
fall of the Angels from heaven. Chapter 6 talks of how the angels
saw and lusted after the daughters of men.
"In those days, when the children of
man had multiplied, it happened that there were born unto them
handsome and beautiful daughters. And the angels, the children
of heaven , saw them and desired them; and they said to one
another, ’Come, let us choose wives for ourselves from among the
daughters of man and beget us children.’ And Semyaz,
being their leader, said unto them, ’I fear that perhaps you
will not consent that this deed should be done, and I alone will
become (responsible) for this great sin.’ But they all responded
to him, ’Let us all swear an oath and bind everyone among us by
a curse not to abandon this suggestion but to do the deed.’ Then
they all swore together and bound one another by (the curse) And
they were altogether two hundred;"
- 1 Enoch 6:1-7
The angels descended on Mount Hermon
during the days of Jared. There were 19 leaders mentioned in 1
Enoch, who were also called ’the chiefs of ten.’ Once
they reached the earth:
"they took wives unto themselves,
and everyone (respectively) chose one woman for himself, and
they began to go unto them. And they taught them magical
medicine, incantations, the cutting of roots, and taught them
(about) plants. And the women became pregnant and gave birth to
great giants whose heights were three hundred cubits.
These (giants) consumed the produce of all the people until the
people detested feeding them. So the giants turned against (the
people) in order to eat them."
- 1 Enoch 7:1-5
The Angels then taught women
charms, enchantments, the cutting of roots, and the knowledge of
plants. They taught men how to make various weapons and armor, and
also arts and sciences. These acts led to an increase in lawlessness
and warfare. The men of earth then cried out to heaven, and the 4
archangels (Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and
Gabriel) cried out to God. In response, God sent
Uriel to
warn Noah that there would soon be a flood that would destroy the
wickedness on earth.
Raphael was commanded to bind Azazel hand and foot, and to cast him
into the a hole in the desert (Duda’el) that the Lord had made.
Raphael threw rugged and sharp rocks and covered Azazel’s face so
that he would not see light. Michael was commanded to bound
Semyaza
and his associates in the valleys of the earth. They will remain
there until the day of judgment when he will be cast into the fire.
The race of giants produced from this union gave way to a brood of
evil spirits. The evil spirits most likely are the departed spirits
of the giants, themselves. These spirits are not material or
corporeal beings, but they torment mankind because they have
proceeded from them. According to 1 Enoch, these spirits will not be
punished until the day of judgment, in contrast to the Watchers, who
are punished both before and on the day of judgment.
"But now the giants who are born
from the (union of) the spirits and the flesh shall be called
evil spirits upon the earth, because their dwelling shall be
upon the earth and inside the earth. Evil spirits have come out
of their bodies. Because from the day that they were created
from the holy ones they became the Watchers; their first origin
is the spiritual foundation. They will become evil upon the
earth and shall be called evil spirits. The dwelling of the
spiritual beings of heaven is heaven; but the dwelling of the
spirits of the earth, which are born upon the earth, is in the
earth. The spirits of the giants oppress each other, they will
corrupt, fall, be excited, and fall upon the earth, and cause
sorrow. They eat no food, nor become thirsty, nor find
obstacles. And these spirits shall rise up against the children
of the people and against the women, because they have proceeded
forth (from them).
- 1 Enoch 15
1 Enoch 19 also gives a variation to the
origin of demons. It implies that demons were already in existence
during the time of the fall of the angels. According to
1 Enoch
10-16, the demons are the spirits which go forth from these angels.
"Here shall stand in many different
appearances the spirits of the angels which have united
themselves with women. They have defiled the people and will
lead them into error so that they will offer sacrifices to the
demons as unto Gods, until the great day of judgment in which
they shall be judged till they are finished."
- 1 Enoch 19:1
1 Enoch 85-90 gives a similar account of
the fall of the angels. In these passages, a star (either Semjaza or
Azazel) fell from heaven and began to pasture among the oxen
(mankind). A number of stars then fell and were transformed into
bulls. They began to cover the cows (the angels married mortal
women), who then gave birth to elephants, camels, and asses (the
giants). The oxen then became restless and began to fight, but they
became prey to the wild beasts. The archangels then appear in the
disguise of men. One seizes the first of the fallen stars and casts
it into the abyss. A second gives the elephants, camels, and asses a
sword so that they will slay each other. A third archangel stones
the other fallen stars and casts them into the gulf. The story then
goes on to describe the Maccabean revolt, which leads to a
description of the final struggle between good and evil.
It seems that there is a threefold aspect to the sin of the Watchers
in these accounts. First, it was a defilement of the essence of the
angels to marry and engage in sexual acts with human women. Second,
these unions between the angels and mortal women were considered
evil, themselves. Because of the Nephilim and and evil created by
these unions, God caused the great Flood of Noah’s time. Finally,
the angels sinned because they taught humanity and revealing the
secrets of the natural universe which God did not intend for man to
know.
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Watchers
in The Book of Jubilees
The Book of Jubilees gives another account of how the Watchers fell
that is similar to 1 Enoch. It explains that the Watchers originally
descended to the earth to teach mankind and do what is just, but
they ’sinned with the daughters of men because these had begun to
mix with earthly women so that they became defiled.’ (Jubilees 4:22)
Malalael "named [his son] Jared because during his lifetime the
angels of the Lord who were called Watchers descended to earth to
teach mankind and to do what is just and upright upon the earth" -
Jubilees 4:15
Jubilees also says that they were sent by God, Himself.
"Against his angels whom he had sent
to the earth he was angry enough to uproot them from all their
(positions of) authority"
- Jubilees 5:6
Jubilees tells an account of the fall of
the angels similar to that of 1 Enoch. God was displeased with the
angels because of their lust for the daughters of men. The union of
the angels and women is said to be the Nephilim.
"For it was on account of these
three things [fornication, uncleanness, and injustice - see
Jubilees 7:20] that the flood was on the earth, since (it was)
due to fornication that the Watchers had illicit intercourse -
apart from the mandate of their authority - with women. When
they married of them whomever they chose they committed the
first (acts) of uncleanness. They fathered (as their) sons the
Nephilim.
- Jubilees 7:21-22
In Jubilees, Mastema is the chief of the
spirits. As God commanded the angels to bind all the evil spirits,
Mastema came and asked the Lord that some of the spirits might be
allowed to remain with him to do his will. God granted his request
and allowed one tenth of the spirits to remain with Mastema, while
the other nine parts would be condemned.
"When Mastema, the leader of the
spirits, came, he said: ’Lord creator, leave some of them before
me; let them listen to me and do everything that I tell them,
because if none of them is left for me I shall not be able to
exercise the authority of my will among mankind. For they are
meant for (the purposes of) destroying and misleading before my
punishment because the evil of mankind is great.’ Then he said
that a tenth of them should be left before him, while he would
make nine parts descend to the place of judgment."
- Jubilees
10:8-9
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Watchers
in 2 Enoch
2 Enoch also mentions a group of angels called
the Grigori, who are
similar to the Watchers. Their prince is called Satanail. A
difference in this account as compared with the two previous
accounts is that only 3 angels came down to earth to take wives and
beget giants.
"These are the Grigori, who with
their prince Satanail rejected the Lord of light, and after them
are those who are held in great darkness on the second heaven,
and three of them went down on earth to the place Ermon, and
broke through their vows on the shoulder of the hill Ermon and
saw the daughters of men how good they are, and took to
themselves wives, and befouled the earth with their deeds, who
in all times of their age made lawlessness and mixing, and
giants are born and marvellous big men and great enmity. And
therefore God judged them with great judgment, and they weep for
their brethren and they will be punished on the Lord’s great
day."
- 2 Enoch 18:3-4
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Watchers
in Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
In the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, the fall of the angels
is mentioned twice. One is only a brief reference stating that the
Watchers "changed the order of their nature." (Naphtali 3:5) The
second is in Reuben, where he accuses womankind of seeking to
ensnare men.
"Thus they allured the Watchers
before the Flood, for as these continually beheld them, they
lusted after them and conceived the act in their mind; for they
changed themselves unto the shape of men and appeared to them
when they were with their husbands; and the women, lusting in
their minds after their forms, gave birth to giants, for the
Watchers appeared to them as reaching up to heaven."
(Reuben 5)
In this account, the writer denies that
there was a physical union between the angels and mortal women. He
says that the real fathers of the giants were humans, but the giants
were conceived from the mutual passion from angels and women.
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Philo’s
Commentary on Genesis 6
Philo of Alexandria (20 B.C.E.-50 C.E.) wrote a commentary of
Genesis 6 called Concerning the Giants. In it, he emphasized that
the passage was not a myth.
"And when the angels of God saw the
daughters of men that they were beautiful, they took unto
themselves wives of all of them whom they Chose."{#ge 6:2.}
Those beings, whom other philosophers call demons, Moses usually
calls angels; and they are souls hovering in the air.
And let no one suppose, that what is
here stated is a fable, for it is necessarily true that the
universe must be filled with living things in all its parts,
since every one of its primary and elementary portions contains
its appropriate animals and such as are consistent with its
nature; --the earth containing terrestrial animals, the sea and
the rivers containing aquatic animals, and the fire such as are
born in the fire (but it is said, that such as these last are
found chiefly in Macedonia), and the heaven containing the
stars: for these also are entire souls pervading the universe,
being unadulterated and divine, inasmuch as they move in a
circle, which is the kind of motion most akin to the mind, for
every one of them is the parent mind. It is therefore necessary
that the air also should be full of living beings.
And these beings are invisible to
us, inasmuch as the air itself is not visible to mortal sight.
But it does not follow, because our sight is incapable of
perceiving the forms of souls, that for that reason there are no
souls in the air; but it follows of necessity that they must be
comprehended by the mind, in order that like may be contemplated
by like.
- Philo, On the Giants II: 6-9
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Names
and Misdeeds of the Watchers
Names and Misdeeds of the Fallen Angels (aka the Five Satans) in
1
Enoch 69:4-12. (1 Enoch gives other lists of the names of the fallen
angels as well.) This passage is odd because it mentions angels that
are not mentioned elsewhere.
-
Yeqon - "one who misled all the
children of the angels, brought them down upon the earth, and
perverted them by the daughters of the people"
-
Asb’el - "one who gave the children
of the holy angels an evil counsel and misled them so that they
would defile their bodies by the daughters of the people"
-
Gader’el - "he who showed the
children of the people all the blows of death, who misled Eve,
who showed the children of the people (how to make) the
instruments of death (such as) the shield, the breastplate, and
the sword for warfare, and all (the other) instruments of death
to the children of the people"
-
Pinem’e - "demonstrated to the
children of the people the bitter and the sweet and revealed to
them all the secrets of their wisdom. Furthermore he caused the
people to penetrate (the secret of) writing and (the use of) ink
and paper"
-
Kasadya - "he who revealed to the
children of the people (the various) flagellations of all evil -
(the flagellation) of the souls and the demons, the smashing of
the embryo in the womb so that it may be crushed, the
flagellation of the soul, snake bites, sunstrokes, the son of
the serpent, whose name is Taba’ta"
Names of other fallen angels:
-
Semyaz
-
Aristaqis
-
Armen
-
Kokba’el
-
Tur’el
-
Rumyal
-
Danyul
-
Neqa’el
-
Baraqel
-
Azaz’el
-
Armaros
-
Betryal
-
Basas’el
-
Hanan’el
-
Tur’el
-
Sipwese’el
-
Yeter’el
-
Tuma’el
-
Tur’el
-
Rum’el
-
Azaz’el
- 1 Enoch 69:2
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