The earliest embellishments of this biblical legend are found in The Book of Jubilees 5:1-13 and 1 Enoch 6-14. The Book of Jubilees does not specify how many angels descended from heaven to earth. In 1 Enoch it says that there were 200 angels, instead of only two, Shemhazai (also known as Aza) and Azazel. In 1 Enoch Shemhazai is described as the overall leader, along with sixteen other leaders among the rebellious angels, including Azazel. In many ways, this legend of the fallen angels is the Promethean myth in Judaism, in that the angels divulge not only dark secrets of heaven, but secrets of the natural universe, which God had never intended for humans to know.
As for the fate of the women who went astray with the fallen angels, 1 Enoch 19:2 reports that they were transformed into sirens. This is a rare reference in a Jewish text to the sirens of Greek mythology. This is the interpretation of R. H. Charles in his translation of 1 Enoch. Ephraim Isaac translates this passage in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha as, “And the women whom the angels have led astray will be peaceful ones.” Considering the context of retribution, the interpretation of R. H. Charles seems more plausible.
The time for this myth is said to be the days of Jared (1 Enoch 6:6). Jared was the father of Enoch, and the myth of the fallen angels is set in the generation before Enoch, but it is nevertheless an integral part of the myth of Enoch found in 1 Enoch.
Sources:
The Book of Jubilees 4:15, 5:1-3, 5:5-7; 1 Enoch 6:1-10:16, 14:9, 19:2; Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 12.
583. THE GIANTS OF OLD
The Sons of God took wives for themselves, and the women gave birth to great giants, the giants of old. Their height was three thousand ells. The giants quickly devoured all of the resources of humans. And when people could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured them. And they began to sin against birds and beasts and reptiles and fish, and to devour one another’s flesh and drink the blood. Then the earth made accusation against the lawless ones.
The fallen angel Shemhazai fathered two sons, Hiwa and Hiya, who consumed a thousand oxen, a thousand camels, and a thousand horses daily. Before long the air was foul with the smell of carcasses. That is when God decided to cleanse the earth with the Flood.
Some say that these giants, produced by the spirit and the flesh, are the evil spirits who dwell on earth, who pursue us relentlessly till this day.
Still others describe the creation of the giants in this way: the angels transformed themselves, taking the shape of men, and appeared to the women while they were with their husbands. And the women did not think of their husbands, but lusted in their minds after the forms of the fallen angels, and as a result they gave birth to giants.
This myth elaborates on the origin of giants, called Nefilim, found in Genesis 6: The Nefilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same were the mighty that were of old, the men of renown (Gen. 6:4). The Nefilim are generally understood to refer to the ancient giants. They are said to be the offspring of the Sons of God, who were understood to be fallen angels who came to earth and seduced the daughters of men. The giants were born out of this union. This myth also provides the origin of the giants thought to dwell in the Land of Israel (Num. 12:31-33).
While most accounts about the Nefilim attribute their birth to the mating of the Sons of God and the daughters of men, Zohar 1:37a attributes their birth to Samael having copulated with Eve, “injecting her with slime,” after which “she bore Cain,” whose features differed from other humans, and the Nefilim issued from the seed of Cain. See “How Cain Was Conceived,” p. 447.
An interesting alternate myth is found in the Testament of Reuben, where these giants were said to be born not by human women having intercourse with angels, but out of their fantasies about the angels, when they appeared to the women as handsome men as they had sex with their husbands. This myth offers insight into rabbinic thinking, with the belief that fantasizing about someone else while having sex with one’s spouse could have unexpected consequences. Here the fantasies are attributed to the women, but the rabbis, the creators of these myths, must have suspected this because of their own sexual fantasies. It was believed that every time a man had a sexual fantasy, he had intercourse with Lilith, and the results of this union were mutant demons, half human and half demon. See, for an example of a Hasidic fantasy, “The Woman in the Forest,” p. 219. For more on demonic offspring, see “The Cellar,” p. 220.
In this myth, the giants are conceived by the union of angels and human women, while in Greek myth the giants are said to have sprung from a union between Earth and Tartarus (Hades). See Graves, The Greek Myths, 4a.
Sources:
1 Enoch 7:1-6, 15:8-9; Testament of Reuben 5:6; Philo, Quaestiones et Solutiones in Genesim 1:92.
584. A LECHEROUS SPIRIT
King Solomon captured the demon Ornasis and made him reveal the names of all the other spirits and demons. One by one Solomon called them up and interrogated them. One of the spirits he invoked came forth in the shadowy form of a man with gleaming eyes. “Who are you?” King Solomon asked. The spirit replied, “I am a lecherous spirit of a giant who died in a massacre in the age of giants.” Solomon said, “Where do you dwell?” The spirit replied, “I live in inaccessible places. I seat myself near the dead in their tombs and at midnight I assume the form of the dead. If I encounter anyone, I cause him to be possessed by a demon.” And when he heard these things, King Solomon locked up that demon, just like all the other demons he had called forth.
King Solomon questions a series of demons and spirits in The Testament of Solomon, which is a kind of demonic bestiary. One of the spirits who comes forth is this lecherous spirit who once was a giant in the time of giants alluded to in Genesis 6: The Nefilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown. Here “Nefilim” are understood to be giants. See “The Giants of Old,” p. 458. For other stories about giants, see “The Giant Og,” p. 461. For the frame story in The Testament of Solomon about the capture of Ornasis, see “The Vampire Demon,” p. 227.
Sources:
The Testament of Solomon 17.
585. THE LAIR OF AZAZEL
The generation of the Deluge learned the ways of evil from the fallen angel Azazel. He taught men how to make deadly weapons and women how to arouse the desires of men. They followed his teachings until the whole earth became corrupt. Therefore, at the time of the Deluge, God commanded the angel Raphael to bind Azazel hand and foot and cast him into the darkness. Therefore Raphael made a hole in the desert Dudael, beyond the Mountains of Darkness, and cast Azazel there, chained upside down in the dark.
Even there, Azazel did not repent, but was consumed by thoughts of revenge. Using the power of dreams, he sought out an evil sorcerer, and commanded him to come to him. First this sorcerer had to find his way to the Mountains of Darkness. There he was met by a demon in the shape of a cat, with the head of a fiery serpent, and two tails. The magicians then took a bowl containing the ashes of a white cock, and cast the ashes at the catlike demon. Then the demon led him to the place where Azazel was chained. There he lit incense and stepped on the chain of Azazel three times. Then he closed his eyes, fell to his knees, and worshipped the fallen angel. That is when Azazel began to speak, revealing the darkest mysteries for fifty days. By then there was none among the living with a greater mastery of evil. Bowing farewell, the evil sorcerer was led out of the Mountains of Darkness by the catlike demon with the head of a fiery serpent. He, in turn, revealed the secret of where Azazel was hidden to other sorcerers, who sought out the fallen angel, and were tutored by him in the ways of evil. Thus did the black arts make their way into the world.
The myth of the Sons of God and the daughters of men also provides one more useful identification—that of the mysterious identity of Azazel. In Levi
ticus 16:8, 10, and 16 there are references to sending a scapegoat to Azazel on Yom Kippur: But the goat, on which the lot fell for Azazel, shall be set alive before Yahweh, to make expiation with it and to send it off to the wilderness for Azazel (Lev. 16:10). This Azazel is usually identified as another name for Satan. Even today, Israelis tell someone to “Go to Hell!” by saying “Lekh le-Azazel!” Thus the myth of the descent of the two angels provides an explanation as to the identity and punishment of Azazel, the angel who refused to repent and thus was chained upside down in a canyon, where he continued to plot evil deeds.
Nachmanides, in his commentary on Leviticus 16:8, writes that the scapegoat is sent to “the prince who rules over places of destruction,” a demon or a fallen angel known as Azazel, also known as Samael. This suggests that the goat is not sacrificed to God, but to some other divine entity named Azazel. The purpose of sending the scapegoat is to bribe Satan, the Accuser, the prosecutor of the Jewish people, to be silent on Yom Kippur, through this gift of the people’s sins in the persona of the goat. The problem, of course, is that the offering of the scapegoat to Azazel could be construed as an idolatrous act. Nachmanides solves this problem by asserting that the scapegoat is not given to Azazel by the Jewish people, but by God, as a reward for his cessation of his activity as Accuser on the Day of Atonement. Hyam Maccoby considers the gift to Azazel of the scapegoat a remnant of paganism, i.e., the worship of the god of the desert.
While 1 Enoch singles out Azazel for punishment in the desert Dudael, the version of this legend found in Emek ha-Melekh identifies both Aza (Shemhazai) and Azazel as being chained together there. This contradicts most versions of the legend, in which Shemhazai repents, and hangs himself (or is hung by God) upside down between heaven and earth, while it is Azazel alone who remains unrepentant, and takes on a role quite similar to that of Satan. Here the myths of Satan, Lucifer, Azazel, and Samael all converge in the story of a heavenly outcast who comes to rule the underworld.
Some sources, such as Zohar 2:157b, interpret the references to “Azazel” in Leviticus as referring to a mountain called Azazel, not a fallen angel. This mountain was said to be a great and mighty one, and below it are unimaginable depths, where no one has ever gone. There the Other Side has unshackled power. It is clear that the offering of the scapegoat in this ritual is the remnant of some kind of sacrifice to an evil god in order to placate it.
All in all, the myth of the Sons of God and daughters of men is quite useful in the way it provides midrashic explanations for many problems: the identity of the Sons of God in Genesis 6; the reason for the corruption of the generation of the Flood; the origin of giants; an astrological explanation for the star that Istahar became and the constellation of Orion, linked to Shemhazai when he hung himself upside down; as well as the identity of Azazel. The original biblical myth only provided a few of these explanations, but the rabbinic embellishments added many others, as well as some memorable stories about lustful angels and the brave virgin Istahar—whose Babylonian prototype was not exactly noted for her chastity.
Sources:
1 Enoch 8-10; Emek ha-Melekh 108b.
Studies:
Ritual and Morality: The Ritual Purity System and Its Place in Judaism by Hyam Maccoby.
“Azazel in Early Jewish Tradition” by Robert Helm.
586. THE GIANT OG
When all of the animals had boarded the ark, the giant Og, King of Bashan, swore to Noah and his sons that if they would take him with them on the ark, he would be their servant forever. What did Noah do? He let the giant sit on the roof of the ark, and bored a hole in the roof, and passed the giant his daily food through it. That is how Og, alone among the giants, escaped from the Flood by riding on top of the ark, as it is said, Only King Og of was left of the remaining Refaim (Deut. 3:11).
Later, as King of Bashan, Og became an enemy of Israel. He is said to have uprooted a mountain and held it over the heads of the Israelites. The mountain was large enough to kill all of them at once. But God sent a swarm of rock-eating ants against him, who bored through the mountain, so that it fell from his hands and slipped over his neck. Because his teeth jutted out, he could not remove it. Then Moses, who was ten feet tall, jumped another ten feet into the air and struck Og on the ankle with a hammer (others say with a lance or a nail) and knocked him down. And because of the weight of the mountain he could not rise again and perished. As for the mountain, when Og fell down dead the mountain fell off his shoulders, and it was about to fall upon Israel. But Moses prayed to God, and some say he took a small tree and placed it under the mountain and prevented it from falling upon the people, while others say that thanks to God the mountain was suspended between heaven and earth.
It is said that Og’s skeleton was found by Abba Shaul. Abba Shaul, who buried the dead, once saw a deer and chased after it. The deer entered a hole in the ground and he followed it down the hole. The hole led into the thigh bone of a skeleton. He chased the deer for three miles inside the thigh bone, and it still didn’t come to an end. So he gave up and turned back. Later, he learned that was the skeleton of Og, King of Bashan.
But some say that Og managed to survive, and in his wanderings he came to Poland in the winter. Not used to such cold weather, Og looked for a tailor, and when he found one, he demanded that the tailor make him a coat to keep him warm. He asked the terrified tailor how long it would take to make the coat, and the tailor, seeing the size of the giant, said it would take about a week. Og got angry and said that if the coat wasn’t ready in a week, he would trample the town to dust. The frightened tailor gathered all the people of the town together and told them of the giant’s demand. So the inhabitants scurried off to neighboring towns and brought back every tailor they could find. An army of tailors then set to work on the giant coat, finishing just in time. Suddenly they heard the giant approach. With nowhere else to hide, they jumped inside the pockets of the coat. Og picked up the coat, put it on, and placed his hands into the pockets to warm them, squeezing all the tailors together. Then, warm for the first time since coming to Poland, Og lay down to sleep and the terrified tailors escaped. But thereafter every one of them had a pale face. And that is why tailors have pale faces. As for Og, some say he is still wandering the earth.
The origin of giants is recounted in Genesis 6:4: It was then, and later too, that the Nefilim appeared on earth. The Nefilim are understood to be giants who were the offspring of the mating of the Sons of God and the daughters of men recounted in Genesis 6.
The story about the giant Og and Noah’s ark serves to explain how giants were able to survive the Flood. It is also one of several tales about the giant Og, who was slain by Moses. Og is also identified as the King of Bashan who was the last of the remaining Refaim, understood to mean “giants,” as stated in Deuteronomy 3:11.
Most of the tales about Og portray him as an enemy of Israel, but in this childlike story about Og and the ark, Og is a friendly if demanding giant. In other accounts Og holds a mountain over Israel, threatening to crush them. He even engages in combat with Moses. According to one of these accounts, in Bereshit Rabbah 42:8, it was Og who told Abraham that his nephew Lot had been captured (see Genesis 14:13), in hope that Abraham would be slain when he went off to fight the kings who had captured Lot, for Og hoped to marry Sarah. See the commentary on “God Offers the Torah to Israel,” p. 264 for more about Og’s role as an enemy of Israel.
The combat between Moses and Og recalls that between David and Goliath. David defeats Goliath with a sling, a child’s weapon. In the case of Og, the giant is defeated by the smallest of opponents, the ants, who burrow through the mountain he intends to use to crush Israel, causing it to collapse on him. Moses then completes the conquest by leaping up and striking a blow to Og’s ankle, killing him. The moral of this story, like that of David and Goliath, seems clear: little Israel, a tiny nation, is able to defeat much greater adversaries. This is possible because of God’s support, and because of the bravery and unity the people show i
n the face of adversity. This moral is emphasized by the ants, tiny creatures who, by working together, defeat a giant.
Sources:
Targum Pseudo-Yonathan on Genesis 14:13; B. Berakhot 54b; B. Niddah 24b;Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 23; Deuteronomy Rabbah 1; Midrash Aggadah, Hukot; Midrash Tehillim 136; IFA 7249.
587. NOAH AND THE RAVEN
The first bird that Noah called upon to go forth from the ark and search for land was the raven, as it is said, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent out the raven; it went to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth (Gen. 8:6-7).
But was the raven willing to go? Some say that when Noah called upon the raven to go forth from the ark, the raven was incensed. It began to argue with Noah, saying, “Of all the birds in the ark, why do you pick on me? Your Master hates me since He commanded you to bring seven pairs of the clean creatures into the ark, but only one pair of the unclean, like me. You hate me because you could have chosen any one of the species of which there are seven pairs, but instead you chose me. What if the Angel of Heat or the Angel of Cold should smite me, wouldn’t the world be short one kind? So why is it that you chose me? Or do you desire my mate?”
Others say that when Noah sent forth the raven to determine the state of the world, it went forth to and fro (Gen. 8:7) until it found a carcass of a man upon the summit of a mountain. It settled there and did not return to the ark. That is when Noah called upon the dove, and sent it forth.
One of the requirements that God gives to Noah concerns the beasts he is to bring into the ark: Of every clean beast you shall take seven and seven, each with his mate; and of the unclean beasts, two and two, each with his mate (Gen. 7:2). This passage seems to allude to the system of Kosher laws, based on Leviticus 11:47.
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