But where did the Nephilim come from, in the first place?
chapter 5
The Watchers
“I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel…”
—The Creature, from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
“The desire of excessive power caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge caused men to fall.”
—Francis Bacon
Enoch, a book found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, called them “The Watchers,” these non-earthly beings who seemed to hold some sort of superior capacity over the inhabitants of the earth. The writer of 1 Enoch even subtitles a section of the book, “The Book of the Watchers”: 1 Enoch 6-36. In the Aramaic the Watchers are the Irin, which is translated as “angel” (Greek angelos; Coptic malah) in the Greek and Ethiopian translations, although the commonly used Aramaic term for angel, malakha, never appears in the Book of Enoch, which is written in Aramaic. Irin is a word also found in the Old Testament’s historical/prophetic Book of Daniel, where three times throughout the book the author links them directly to God’s holy angels. It is in the Book of Daniel that the great Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar falls into a period of madness upon seeing a “Watcher, a holy one (singular) come down from heaven” and appear to him in a dream and prophesy. The singular form of the word in this context suggests that “a Watcher” and “a Holy One” are two different titles for the same entity or caste of entities.
In the Book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar goes on to describe the message delivered to him in his dream, wherein he is told that he will be reduced to madness and shall crawl upon the ground as a beast, eating grass, and that this divinely ordered punishment is “by the decree of the Watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones” in order that “the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men.” Nebuchadnezzar then falls into an undefined period of mental illness and temporal insanity after which, when he comes back to his full senses, he states:
“34 At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. 35 All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?’ 36 At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.”
(Daniel 4:34-37)
It appears that the Watchers had made their point. And it is also clearly indicated by this passage that the Watchers themselves existed long after the rebellion of Shamyaza and his followers on Mount Hermon, and were a caste who, in their non-rebellious station, were emissaries of God or of a much higher, superior being. If nothing else, it is abundantly clear that the Watchers are here in this passage again established as being part of a hierarchy who answered to a superior authority.
In the Book of Enoch, the Watchers are angels who have been dispatched or assigned to the earth to “watch over” its inhabitants, but in the process of conducting their duties, they become enamored with human women. The passage in Genesis says they “lusted” after the women of the earth, which results in one en masse act of rebellion in which they follow the prodding of their leader, Shamyaza, and illicitly instruct human beings in all types of arts and practices not yet naturally developed by humans. And they, of course, enter into intimate relations and sexual procreative activity with the inferior humans. The draw for these beings to interact and have intercourse with human women must have been either a very strong urge, if they indeed were angelic or superior in nature, or it was the act of beings who had a definitive purpose and goal of interbreeding.
Whether they were divinely appointed emissaries part of an orderly caste of angels that held responsibility over mankind, or a race of infiltrators perceived by the earth’s population as gods and spirit beings, they seemingly had the ability to choose and impregnate whomever they wished. And having had such ability clearly indicates that they were much higher on the cosmic food chain than the humans they were able to subjugate and influence at whim. The great theological question looms around whether or not they were part of the biblical accounts of fallen angels or only labeled as such in the perception of those who first beheld and intercoursed with them.
After their offspring, the Nephilim, are conceived, the Watchers carry on a systematic instruction of humans in the arts of herbology, cosmetics, mirrors, weaponry, sorcery, and other technical advances that would otherwise have taken a much longer period of time for humans to develop on their own. It gives humanity a foisted-upon boost that would not otherwise have happened in such a short period of time. This ongoing teaching was carried out by Shamyaza and the 200 Watchers who were there dwelling among the humans along with him.
There are 20 leaders of the Watchers mentioned in the Book of Enoch:
“7 And these are the names of their leaders: Samlazaz, their leader, Araklba, Rameel, Kokablel, Tamlel, Ramlel, Danel, Ezeqeel, Baraqijal, 8 Asael, Armaros, Batarel, Ananel, Zaqlel, Samsapeel, Satarel, Turel, Jomjael, Sariel. These are their chiefs of tens.”
(1 Enoch—The Book of the Watchers 6: 7-8
According to the Book of Enoch, the Watchers who took wives, had sexual intercourse with them, producing offspring, and taught forbidden knowledge became part of the caste of fallen angels. Enoch lists their leaders by specific names. And take specific note of how many of these beings bear the name of their maker, Elohim, denoted by the “El” at the end of the name (Other such great archangels who bore the name of God, ranking them as “Sons of God [bene haElohim] are Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael, but they were not part of the fallen caste.):
Araqiel
(also Arakiel, Araqael, Araciel, Arqael, Sarquael, Arkiel, Arkas) taught humans the signs of the earth. However, in the Sibylline Oracles, Araqiel is referred to not as a fallen angel, or Watcher, but as one of the five angels who lead the souls of men to judgement, the other four being Ramiel, Uriel, Samiel, and Azazel.
Armaros
(also Amaros) in 1 Enoch taught men the resolving of enchantments and the casting of spells.
Azazel
taught men to make knives, swords, and shields, and how to devise ornaments and cosmetics.
Baraqel
(Baraqiel) taught men astrology and the divining of the stars.
Bezaliel
is also mentioned in 1 Enoch, but is left out of most translations due to damaged manuscripts and problematic transmission of the text.
Chazaqiel
(sometimes Ezeqeel) taught men the signs of the clouds, the art and science of meteorology, and the prognostication of weather.
Gadriel
also taught the art of cosmetics.
Kokabiel
(also Kakabel, Kochbiel, Kokbiel, Kabaiel, and Kochab) is a high-ranking, holy angel, but, in general apocryphal lore and also in 1 Enoch, he is a fallen Watcher, resident of nether realms, and commands 365,000 surrogate spirits to do his bidding. Among other duties, he instructs his fellows in astrology.
Penemuel
taught mankind the art of writing with ink and paper, and taught “the children of men the bitter and the sweet and the secrets of wisdom.
Sariel
(also Suriel) taught mankind about the courses of the moon and tidal influences, at one time regarded as forbidden knowledge.
Shamyaza
(also Shemyazaz, Shamazya, Semiaza, Shemhazi, Semyaza, and Amezyarak) is one of the leaders of the fall from heaven, and the instigator of the pact to cohabit with human women.
Shamsiel
onc
e a guardian of Eden, served as one of the two chief aides to the archangel Uriel (the other aide being Hasdiel) when Uriel bore his standard into battle, and is the head of 365 legions of angels and also crowns prayers, accompanying them to the fifth heaven. He is referred to as one of the Watchers. He is a fallen angel who teaches humanity the signs of the sun.
“1 ‘And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms 2 and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. And they 3 became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed 4 all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against 5 them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and 6 fish, and to devour one another’s flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.”
(1 Enoch 7:1-6)
A Rebellion Against Heaven
So the Watchers, some 200 in number, swore an oath to one another on the slopes of Mount Hermon in northern Israel, making a pact to descend to the earth, take human form, and take wives from the daughters of men. Ignoring, for a moment, the obvious mythical, mystical aspect of angelic beings—and this seems such an inconsequential thing in current cultural mindset, where we no longer have great prohibitions against intermarriage among the races except in racially entrenched pockets of modern civilization—and one would think that this sort of inter-breeding on the part of (even mythological) characters is rather innocuous. There is almost a “who cares?” aura about it, until you consider the far reaching ramifications of the actions of the Watchers—especially if they are in any form true events that have been recorded. Just as we have “changed” the role of God as our civilized tendencies have evolved, we ascribe modern thinking to ancient prohibitions and deeds. Note what God said of himself to the prophet Amos in the pages of Old Testament scripture:
“7 This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the Lord said to me, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘A plumb line.’ Then the Lord said, ‘Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel;
I will never again pass by them; 9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.’”
(Amos 7:7-9)
In essence, God was calling himself the standard by which Israel needed to measure up. The plumb line falls straight and true due to the laws of gravity and nature. Anything that deviates from the plumb is considered by God to be “off the mark.” The pact made by the Watchers to impregnate human women constituted a rebellion against the laws of heaven that knocked the plumb completely off the wall. And, as we shall see in Chapter 8 (in the section entitled “The Assembly of the Sons of God”), their sin was against the supreme king of the Divine Council of the gods—a deed worthy of divine consequences. This links the Nephilim, “those who were cast down,” with the fallen angels of the “War in Heaven” described in The Book of Isaiah. In the passage, God is assuring Isaiah that their Babylonian oppressors will be brought down to size. The following passage speaks of the Babylonian king, but many have attributed this to the fall of Lucifer, even though the passage does not implicitly say that:
“12 How you have fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon [one of the most
sacred mountains to the Cana’anites]
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
to the depths of the pit.”
(Isaiah 14:12-15)
The trouble with many of these Old Testamental prophecies is that they seemingly start talking about one thing, but then click over, mid-sentence, into making spiritual word pictures of a completely different notion or event altogether. It’s rather like having a talk about your backyard birdfeeders over a cup of coffee with a friend, then watching his eyes turn to a fervent, glossy stare as he begins to speak to you about the “wings of the black raven spreading their shadow over your soul….” (This actually happened to me, once, so don’t laugh.) At any rate, God seems to lapse into prophetic mode while seemingly relating information about something completely different—and usually without warning or notice. The casual reader of these prophetic passages of scripture would have to draw the conclusion that the passage is either complete in its thoughts about the king of Babylon, or that the God who delivered the message has a—and I mean no disrespect nor blasphemy by this—attention deficit disorder problem when transmitting hidden meanings in the midst of what is a completely different description altogether on the surface. Also interesting to note in this passage: The reference to the “mount of Assembly” here contains a veiled reference to the Divine Council.
“10 ‘Then they took wives, each choosing for himself; whom they began to approach, and with whom they cohabitated; teaching them sorcery, incantations… (and) all the secret things which are done in the heavens.’”
(1 Enoch 7:10)
This is the real sin of the Watchers laid bare. They shared “powerful forbidden secrets” with mankind, and as Enoch says, “men were not born for this.” As we saw, each of the leaders of the Watchers taught some specialized field of knowledge, such as astronomy, the manufacture of goods, the dying of textiles, the making and application of cosmetics, and so on. And certainly, although the teaching of such things as sorcery and astrology may have been viewed as ungodly and taboo at the time, despite these things having taken place long before Mosaic Law and written prohibitions, one of the Watchers, Penemuel, stands accused of something as simple as “teaching men to understand writing, and the use of ink and paper.” This seems to be a very out-of-place prohibition, for even Enoch himself is described as a “scribe of righteousness,” and is credited in the Muslim Qur’an with being the inventor of mathematics, writing, and astronomy.1
Berossus of Babylon, a third-century BCE Hellenistic-era Babylonian writer2 born near the beginning of Alexander the Great’s reign, an astronomer and priest of Bel Marduk, speaks of the half-man or half-fish god, Oannes, as having engaged in similar forms of activity as the Watchers. He would rise up out of the sea each morning and teach unknown arts and knowledges, only without the inherent prohibition of those said knowledges being forbidden by a superior deity or set of theological rules. So, setting aside the Watchers’ acts of cohabitation with and impregnation of human women, the Book of Enoch tells us that the teaching of forbidden knowledge to humanity seems to be the overt crime committed by the Watchers. If you read between the lines and root out the unwritten subtext of the book, it would almost seem as if the hidden message is that “knowledge begets evil.”3 Like the Amish and the Pennsylvania Dutch who shun technological advance, believing it distracts them from a closer walk with God and is the source of all the world’s sins and woes, the author of the Book of Enoch is telling us that “higher understanding” was contrary to primeval man’s true nature, and resulted inevitably in corruption, judgment, and eventual punishment. It’s like handing a child a loaded gun: He may have some concept of what the thing does, but he can create a world of havoc and tragedy when wielding it on his own.
But, of course, we have the opposite side of the argument from more conservative, evangelical theologians who, if they even broach the topic of the Watchers and
the Nephilim at all, will quickly point out how they believe these beings were part of the Luciferian fall after the War in Heaven. And, as if God had no control over his creation, these minions of Lucifer set about a campaign to infiltrate the human bloodline and thereby infect the pure blood of the human race, leaving no possibility for the pure human bloodline of the prophesied Messiah to ever take hold. The great sin, then, of the Watchers was not just the teaching of ancient, forbidden wisdom, but an all-out assault on the one and only begotten Son of God, who had not yet been conceived. However, were this the stratagem incorporated by the fallen demonic minions of Satan, then they waited seven long generations to begin their tactical.
The Rise and Fall of the Nephilim Page 9