The Saga of the Book of Enoch: Crisis in the days of Jared. The Descent of the Watchers

Revision: 3/25/18

The Saga of the Book of Enoch
Crisis in the Days of Jared: The Descent of the Watchers

1. The Watchers serve God in heaven (Job 38:7)

Sometime before the earth was created, God’s messengers, the angels, were created. The bible gives us scant information about the angels. Today, much of what we assume we “know” about the angels is conjectural. Much of what has been hypothesized by the church about God’s angels is now accepted as fact but does not have a biblical basis. For example, it is assumed that those angels who have remained faithful and did not follow Lucifer when he rebelled, have been tested and are now impeccable, in other words, incapable of sin. Another assumption about the angels commonly held by christians today is that they are somehow all-knowing concerning the program of God for humanity and creation, and are therefore incapable of being wrong. Finally, it is assumed that angels are pure spirit without material body. These assumptions, were apparently not common among christians before Greek thought became predominate in christianity.

These assumptions about angels were foreign not only to the writer of the Book of Enoch, but also to many other Jewish writers before and after the christian era. In the New Testament, Jude and Peter seem to corroborate this. In the Dead Sea Scroll caves, numerous Jewish writings also refer to angelic carnality; among them, "The Book of the Giants", "The Book of Jubilees", and the "Testament of Amram". {Top}

2. The Watchers arrive on earth (Enoch 6:1)

A large portion of the Book of Enoch deals with a worldwide crisis which came about as a result of the sins of a group of 200 angels described as "Watchers", (a term also used in the biblical Book of Daniel). The sin of these Watcher angels which precipitated the crisis is said to have occurred "in the days of Jared”. It may be assumed however that the Watcher angels who sinned were already on earth prior to the crisis they caused. It may also be assumed that other Watcher angels who did not participate in their sin were present in those days. {Top}

3. The Watchers desire the daughters of men (Enoch 6:2)

The chain of events leading to the destruction of all the living on earth by flood, began sometime between 1,194 and 1,033 years before the flood. At that time a group of 200 Watcher angels became enticed by “the daughters of men” and desired to take them as wives. At this juncture in the disastrous chain of events the Watchers had not yet acted upon their desires; we may assume the opportunity for a change of mind and turning from sin was still afforded them. {Top}

4. The Watchers desire to beget children (Enoch 6:2)

Part and parcel with the desire for human wives, the Watcher angels also desired to have children we are told. After having acted as the watchers and recorders of all things in the human realm, these watchers became envious of certain of the activities of humanity and wished wives and children. {Top}

5. Semjaza convinces the Watchers to act (Enoch 6:3)

Mount Hermon is the locale in the Book of Enoch reported as a gathering place for this group of Watcher angels. On one such occasion, they were gathered there when discussion arose concerning the taking of human wives. After this discussion decision was made to proceed to take wives as they wished from among humanity. Before departing from Mount Hermon, one of their number, by the name of Semjaza, challenged the others to take an oath to stick with their decision; Semjaza’s contention was the other’s may very well change their minds and Semjaza did not want to be the only one to experience the punishment that would result from the act. They all agreed to proceed. {Top}

6. The Watchers swear to act (Enoch 6:5)

Before leaving Mount Hermon, this group of Watcher angels agreed to Semjaza's advice and took an oath one to another to not break with their plan to proceed with the taking of human wives. {Top}

7. The Watchers take wives (Enoch 7:1)

The Watcher angels proceeded to act upon their plan. The relevant passage in Genesis and the passages in Enoch do not report whether the angels sought human agreement to their plan. The phrase “They took as their wives any they chose,” from Genesis seems to imply they did so without human consent. Women were likely taken against their will into relationships with the angels. {Top}

8. The Watchers defiled by fornication (Enoch 7:1)

Despite the fact the angelic action was described as “taking wives”, there is no doubt left that such action was not sanctioned by God and was therefore deemed fornication. It is at this point Enoch reports the Watchers became defiled. The implication being there had remained opportunity for the Watchers to repent until they had consummated their relations with women. Once the Watchers had thus defiled themselves, the die was cast and there was no turning back. {Top}

9. The Watchers beget children (the Giants) (Enoch 7:2)

The scripture and Enoch’s book report the Watcher angels’ offspring were called “nephilim”. The word itself is subject to some debate regarding its meaning. It is commonly assumed the word should be translated “giants”. This is because the offspring of the Watchers were typified by mutations, one of the most common being giantism. Other types of mutations were apparently also common. In chapter 85 of Enoch's book, using allegorical language Enoch refers to women giving birth to the Giants in this way, "all of whom became pregnant, and brought forth elephants, camels, and asses". A rabbinic writing from the inter-testamental period corroborates this view; the Book of Jubilees 7:22, reads, "And they begat sons the Naphidim, and they were all unlike..."

The Watchers began taking human wives more than 1,000 years prior to the flood of Noah’s time. We should note polygamy was the norm for human relations in that era; it is very likely each of the angels had numerous wives and continued to take wives throughout the millennium as it progressed. The stage was now set… the angels would cause the planet to be overrun with their grotesque offspring. {Top}

10. The Watchers' millennial reign (Enoch 9:1-2)

As if falling away from God were not enough, the Watchers add to their guilt by interposing themselves in the role which should alone be reserved for God; the Watchers impose themselves over mankind. In this role, and at the behest of Azazel, one of their number, they begin to systematically disseminate their teachings to mankind on a number of subjects. In addition to relating true information apparently, they also begin a program of disinformation and the inculcation of the occult among humans. The cummulative result of the Watchers' indoctrination of the human race was the subjugation and oppression of all of humanity; the teaching of the Watchers resulted in, "much blood being shed upon the earth, and all lawlessness being wrought upon the earth".

Their rule over mankind was to last a millennium. {Top}

11. The Giants oppress humanity (Enoch 7:3)

Meanwhile, the offspring of the Watchers began to come into their own in the world of men. Unlike Adam and Eve whom the scriptures tell us fell from innocence, and unlike the Watchers, who we are also informed fell from God’s grace, the Giants seem to have been bad from the beginning. Being the offspring of both fallen humanity and fallen angelic beings, the Giants are never spoken of as having fallen from God’s grace and are never given an opportunity to repent or to obey God. In agreement with this picture the Giants are shown in the Book of Enoch as oppressive of humanity from the start. The human race is exploited and used to fulfill every desire of the Watcher offspring. {Top}

12. The Giants consume humans (Enoch 7:3)

Perhaps it was a natural progression for the Giants, but not satisfied with exploiting the resources of humanity, the Giants we are told turned on them and began to feed upon them as well. {Top}

13. The Giants corrupt all of nature (Enoch 7:5)

The corruption of the world proceeded from bad to worse as we are told the Giants, not satisfied with ruling over and consuming humanity, begin to sin against the animal kingdom in ways which lead to the corruption of the entire world. {Top}

14. The Giants commit cannibalism (Enoch 7:5)

Devoid of all natural compassion, the Giants take to exploiting one another as well and devolve into cannibalism of each other, and the drinking of one another's blood. {Top}

15. Enoch sent to preach to the Watchers (Enoch 12:4)

Enoch having been born 1033 years before the flood, had cause throughout his life to interact with the Watchers, both those fallen and those who had not. The judgment of God against the Watchers and their children having been determined, Enoch is sent to preach God's decree to the sinning angels at Mount Hermon. {Top}

16. Condemnation of the Watchers and the Giants decreed by God (Enoch 12:5)

Enoch declares God's decree and pronounces God's judgment against the Watchers and their offspring.

God has decreed Azazel will be the first to be bound and cast into an abyss in the desert. After this, the Giants will be judged; they will be incited to civil war and wipe each other from off the planet. The Watchers are doomed to look upon this slaughter and will be helpless to stop it. With the decimation of the Giants complete and fresh before the eyes of the Watchers, the Watchers will be bound in chains and cast into the abyss, as was Azazel before them. They will remain there for a period of seventy generations, after which time they will be finally judged and cast into eternal flames. {Top}

17. Enoch sent by the Watchers to petition God (Enoch 13:4)

After hearing God's decree, the Watchers are greatly troubled and request Enoch to petition God on their behalf. Enoch records the requests of the Watchers in writing. {Top}

18. The Watchers petition God for forgiveness (Enoch 13:4)

The Watchers request that God forgive their sins. {Top}

19. The Watchers petition God for longevity for the Giants (Enoch 13:6)

The Watchers request mercy from God upon their offspring; they request the Giants not be judged but rather allowed to live out their full length of days. {Top}

20. Enoch sent a vision from God (Enoch 13:7)

Enoch puts the petition of the Watchers in writing and sets out to speak to God on their behalf. Along the way he takes rest and while reading the Watchers' petition, Enoch sleeps and beholds a dream. {Top}

21. The Watchers' requests denied by God (Enoch 14:4)

Knowing the Watchers' requests, God sends Enoch a vision in which He relates His refusal to grant the Watchers' requests. {Top}

22. Condemnation of the Watchers and the Giants decreed by God (Enoch 14:7)

Enoch is informed again of the sure condemnation and judgment of the Watchers and their children. {Top}

23. Enoch affirms God's decree to the Watchers (Enoch 13:9)

Enoch returns to Mount Hermon to the sinning angels. Upon arriving at the meeting Enoch finds the angels weeping with regret for their fate and that of their children. Enoch declares his vision. God’s judgment is set. The Watchers are not to be forgiven and the Giants are not to be granted an extension of their lives. Azazel is to be bound, the Giants are to be destroyed and the remaining Watchers are to be bound in the abyss until the final judgment. {Top}

24. Enoch raptured (Enoch 70:1)

Some time after these events, 669 years before the flood, Enoch is caught up, translated alive by God into heaven. {Top}

25. Azazel bound in the abyss (Enoch 10:4)

God’s decree against the Watchers begins to be carried out about 120 years before the flood. The wretched condition of the world has persisted more than five centuries since Enoch initially pronounced God’s judgment to the Watchers. Azazel is bound in chains and cast in darkness into an abyss in the desert and covered with rocks. {Top}

26. The Giants incited to civil war (Enoch 10:9)

With the remaining sinning Watchers still free, Gabriel incites the children of the Watchers to war; civil war breaks out among the Giants about 120 years before the flood. For more than a century the war will rage until the Giants are wiped from off the planet. {Top}

27. The Giants stoned from heaven (Enoch 88:3)

In order to speed the process of their destruction, angels throw stones from heaven upon the Giants on earth. {Top}

28. The Watchers witness the Giants decimation (Enoch 14:6)

Throughout the duration of the Giants civil war, the Watchers not yet bound in the abyss are witness to the destruction of their children and are utterly powerless to stop it. {Top}

29. The Giants condemned to become evil spirits (Enoch 15:8)

Once dead, the unique origin of the Giants, which made them angelic-human hybrids, leads to the pronouncement of a unique judgment upon them. As disembodied spirits they are doomed to roam the earth as evil spirits. In this role they will hunger and thirst yet not eat or drink; they will serve as a source of trouble for sinful humanity until the final judgment. {Top}

30. The Watchers bound in the abyss (Enoch 10:11)

After the judgment of of the Giants has been thus established, and with their destruction fresh before their parent's eyes, Michael binds Semjaza and casts him into the abyss; the rest of the sinning Watchers are also bound and cast into the abyss with Azazel and Semjaza, who went before them. {Top}

31. The flood of Noah's day (Enoch 10:2)

In the year the deluge comes, Methuselah, the son of Enoch, dies. Noah and his family enter the ark. The flood submerges the planet and destroys all life except for Noah and those saved from judgment with him in the ark. {Top}

32. The Watchers and the Giants judged (Enoch 54:6)

After the birth of Jesus, the seventieth generation from Methuselah, the devil sets out to destroy the son of God in order to prevent God’s plan from being completed. Jesus is indeed killed, but this serves to complete rather than thwart God’s plan. Jesus, seventieth from Methuselah, rises from the dead and ascends victorious into heaven to the throne of God.

Jesus returns from heaven and sets up his kingdom on earth, bringing God’s plan for the world to consummation.

After a millennial reign of Christ on earth, the Son of Man is seated on His Throne of Glory and the final judgment takes place. {Top}

33. The Watchers and the Giants thrown in the lake of fire (Enoch 54:6)

The Watchers and the Giants are taken from the abyss and thrown into the flames of hell forever. {Top}

The Four Abodes of the Watchers

In their descent, the Watchers pass through four abodes in descending order:
1. The Heaven
2. The Earth
3. The Abyss
4. The Lake of Fire {Top}

Enoch 10:7 "And heal the earth which the angels have corrupted, and proclaim the healing of the earth, that they may heal the plague, and that all the children of men may not perish through all the secret things that the Watchers have disclosed and have taught their sons".

Revision: 3/25/18

The Saga of the Book of Enoch Crisis in the Days of Jared: The Descent of the Watchers

A. Millennial Reign of the Watchers

B. Crisis of the Watchers' Offspring

C. Ministry of Enoch

D. Judgment of the Watchers and their Offspring

E. Chronicle of the Watchers' Descent

Read the Book of Enoch online: Read.TheBookofEnoch.Info

Visit the Enoch Information Website: Study.TheBookofEnoch.Info

The Saga of the Book of Enoch
Crisis in the Days of Jared: The Descent of the Watchers