The Watchers: The Angels Who Betrayed God [Book of Enoch] (Angels & Demons Explained)

while not necessarily canonical work of the major religions The Book of Enoch is certainly an interesting read the text itself dates back to 300 BC and is noted as being more of an ancient Jewish text but us maintain a place in some modern Christian and Jewish traditions Enoch himself which the book is named after is referenced in the book of Genesis and his detail as being an ancestor of Noah one of the most prominent figures in the Book of Enoch are the Watchers angelic being is described as being both the sons of God and the

sons of heaven in Chapter 7 many believe that the watchers refer to as the grigory in Enoch 2 were angels who watched over the human race and would serve as earthly guides for their very first humans they were tasked with the observing of human development but were restricted from interfering with mankind regardless of how compelled they felt to do so Enoch tells us in Chapter 7 the human men and women had multiplied and that the daughters of man were beautiful and elegant it's understood that their beauty was so great that they caught the attention of

the watchers these sons of God if you will the watchers conversed amongst each other in this chapter and decided to take the women for themselves impregnating them with their seed thus going against the intended purpose of watching and directly interfering with the life of mankind the leader of these angels known as some jhaza sometimes pronounced samyaza tells the watchers that they should reconsider their choice and that it would be him who suffered for such a crime against God however the other angels wear him down and tell him that together they will face the punishment and

they will each accept responsibility for any repercussions it's noted in total that there were 200 of them and together they descended upon earth to take the women as their wives the Book of Enoch even names the prefix of the Watchers here each of whom would teach the mortal woman sorcery in Conte shion's and the dividing of roots and trees what's implied here is that the Watchers divulged information about the heavens and life itself their God had not intended for a man to know and so by doing this the Watchers not only betrayed God by copulating

with his creations but also by corrupting them with knowledge that was not meant for them the women then gave birth to the children of the Watchers and what they spawn are essentially a hybrid of Angel and human the Nephilim as they are sometimes referred to as there's some debate as to what the Nephilim are but when we look at Genesis 6 1 through 4 it tells us that the Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also after words when the sons of God which we might say are the Watchers went to the daughters

of men and had children with them the Nephilim are also described as heroes of old and men of renown however in Enoch the spawn of the women are known as Giants and that these Giants began to consume all that man had built the Giants or Nephilim then began to kill men and when they were tired of that they began killing each other the journalist chaos we learn in Chapter eight that entity known as Azazel who is presumed to be a watcher teaches man the use of swords knives and warfare much as the Watchers taught mankind

the secrets of heaven incarnations and sorcery as they saw also teaches mankind the use of paint stones and dyes so that man can manipulate the world and alter it in 82 we learn that these acts by Azazel caused impiety to increase fornication multiplied and that these transgressions corrupted all of man's ways the rest of the chapter tells us that the other Watchers taught mankind astrology science astronomy and that with their presence men were destroyed and their Christ reached the heights of heaven in Chapter nine Archangel Michael Gabriel Raphael and Uriel look down from heaven and

realize what was going on on earth in this chapter they go before God and seemed to pin most of the blame on Azazel saying you have seen what Azazel has done how he has taught every species of inquiry upon earth and has disclosed the world all the secret things which are done in the heavens they also blamed some jhaza saying he has taught the mortals sorcery and then he and his watchers have copulated with the women creating ungodly Giants they ask God what he will have them do to bring restoration upon earth in Chapter ten

God then sends Uriel to seek the son of Lamech which is Noah and tells him to conceal himself to explain to him what is about to take place in that all of the earth shall perish in a flood and that everything which has come to be will be destroyed he tells Uriel to tell Noah how to escape the flood and how it is his seed that will remain in all of earth God then tells Archangel Raphael to bind Azazel by hand and foot and to cost him into the darkness by opening the desert which is

in due Dale a region of the underworld he tells Raphael to throw upon him pointed stones and to cover him in the darkness so that as asel will remain there forever devoid of all light on the great day of judgment God is set a task Raphael with casting Azazel into the fire God tells Archangel Gabriel to destroy the Nephilim the Giants or the offspring of the watchers by telling them against one another he intends for them to perish by mutual slaughter God finally tells Archangel Michael to confront the leader of the Watchers some jhaza and

to tell him that he and his allies who had fornicated with the women that they are polluted and at their sons whether their own angelic sons or the sons they had fathered with the mortal women will be slain before their eyes for seventy generations then after witnessing the butchering of their offspring they will be taken to the lower depths of Hell where they will meet fire and be locked away forever by chapter 12 we are told that Enoch was engaged by the Watchers and that they called him Enoch the scribe it appears that God tells

Inuk to relay his message to the Watchers but they will never ever have peace as a result of what they have done there seems to be an inconsistency here because Archangel Michael would have no doubt already done this as God had asked him to do so in the previous chapter it could be that Enoch is told to do this so as to exemplify God's message in that the watchers are being told by both the Archangels who are above them and by the mortals who were beneath them by having Enoch tell them their fate it shows

the Watchers that they are no longer above mankind in God's eyes for they are being told their fate by a man thus putting them on the same level and maybe even above them in Chapter 12 5 through 7 he stays then the Lord said to me Enoch scribe of righteousness go to the waters of heaven who have deserted the lofty sky and a holy everlasting station who have been polluted with women and have done as the sons of men do by taking to themselves wives and who have been greatly corrupted on earth that on the

earth they shall never obtain peace and the mission of sin for they shall not rejoice in their offspring they shall behold the slaughter of their beloved shall lament for the destruction of their sons and shall petition forever but shall not obtain mercy and peace in chapter 13 it's interesting that Enoch only seems to confront Azazel the apparent main culprit in all of this despite the leader of the watch has been some jhaza it's possible that while some jars are only sought to fornicate with the women and share some secrets of the heavens he did not

share the malice that Azazel did in teaching men about warfare notice Azazel does not appear to take interest in the mortal women but seems only intent on teaching man about swords knives and the altering of the world which was already designed perfectly as God intended in chapter 13 4 through 5 Inuk states that he speaks to all of the watchers together and that they all became terrified and trembled he goes on to say that the Watchers begged him to give God their regrets and their repentance for what they had done because they themselves could no

longer ascent to heaven nor bring themselves to look upon the skies out of disgrace so inna prays for them until he falls asleep only for him to have a dream and vision of punishment and he is told to reprove the watchers by telling them of what he saw once he awakens he approaches them and relays them of his dream reprimanding them for what they have done in chapter 14 Enoch explains that when he spoke he was speaking with the word and voice of God in this voice he tells them that they will not be granted

forgiveness as they had requested and that it will never be allowed into heaven again and that they will be bound to earth for as long as the earth injurers never knowing of peace the fate of the Watchers though doesn't necessarily feel complete we understand that they were bound for seventy generations under the earth and will remain there until the day of judgment where they are to be cast away into the lowest deaths to burn in the fires by this logic some would therefore believe that the watchers are still there underground imprisoned at the bottom of

the earth waiting to be cast into the fires of hell in the end times we actually get a glimpse of where the Watchers may have been banished to in enoch chapter 21 where we see Enoch gets something of a personal tour of the heavens and other otherworldly areas in the universe in 21 - he states and there I beheld neither tremendous workmanship of an exalted heaven nor of an established earth but a desolate spot prepared and terrific by 21:5 inna tells us that he beheld the operation of great fire blazing and glittering in the midst

of which there was a division columns of fire struggled together to the end of the abyss and deep was their descent in 21 6 rock angel Uriel who accompanies Enoch through this terrible place asks him why are you alarmed and amazed at this terrific place at the sight of this place of suffering this he said is the prison of the Angels and here they are kept forever while the waters are never specifically mentioned here one can imagine that this would be the sort of place that God would keep those that had betrayed him in a

place of suffering in the second book of Enoch we see a collection of stories there sees Enoch ascent through several layers of heaven but it is at the fifth heaven that in and discovers the grigory a race of angels that were human in appearance their size greater than the greatest of giants but their faces with it an expression silent this layer of heaven was also the least magnificent out of all the layers that Enoch had seen thus far which he described as having no service it's understood that the grigory in this text of the Book

of Enoch - actually the same as the Watchers in the Book of Enoch one inner asks the angels who accompanied him through the heavens who the grigory are to which the angels reply that they Grigory once led by a prince named Satan all and that they like the Watchers went down to earth against God's wishes took the women on earth and had their way with them and caused chaos with her offspring what's striking here is that their leader is not noted as being some jhaza but instead Prince certain all this is not explored further but

there are those that believe that based on the similarity of the name and the role in which certain all takes this is a form of satan himself reasons that support this include that in chapter 29 of The Book of Enoch to Satan Oh is mentioned again along with his angels as being cast out from a great height similarities can be drawn between revelation 12:9 in the Bible where Satan is cast out of heaven and therefore great height as it reads Satan who deceives the whole world was cast to earth and his angels were cast out

with him but furthermore in the same chapter it's understood the certainer attempted to place his throne higher than the clouds above earth that he might become equal to God's power this reminds me of Isaiah in 1413 where Isaiah appears to be addressing Satan quoting him as saying I will ascend to the heavens I will raise my throne above the stars of God of course you may also consider this to be coincidental and not exactly evidence for the linking of Satan all to Satan in any case Enoch proceeds to pray for the grigory but is quick

to understand they are damned and that God's contempt for them is absolute he is noted as intending for them to be buried underground for ever and ever Enoch also notes that at some point the grigory break into song and that their voices carry up to the Lord in a pitiful fashion it shows us that the grigory are now withered and broken that they can't even sing convincingly enough to warrant God's attention the fact that they try to sing at all might show us that they have remorse and sing out of desperation in the hope that

God will free them from their bounds additionally you might also say that the lack of conviction in their voices is a sign of the disingenuine that they are not sorry and are only appeasing to God so as to attain egress it goes without saying that the law around the Watchers is fascinating and helps to provide a compelling narrative despite being a non canonical text the story despite being thousands of years old a stone with several themes of betrayal morality desire and ambition it helps to convey another perspective of how sin purged the world it also

provides another layer as to why God might have destroyed the world with the flood so as to rid the Nephilim and to cleanse the land which had been corrupted by the Watchers it also gives us some more intriguing and profound characters to examine such as semjaza the leader of the watchers who understood his duty and intended to stick by it only to succumb to the peer pressure of his companions and surrender it also gives us as asel the watcher who appears to take the most blame for the incident and shows us the extent of his

wickedness that he sought to teach man about weapons and warfare in a time where was not needed we're also treated in this text to comprehend the power of the Archangels such as Gabriel who is sent to destroy the Nephilim and Raphael who directly opposes as asel and defeats him in essence you might say that the first chapters of enoch tease us with the concept of angels fighting angels and serves to show us the potency of evil that it can corrupt even those born out of goodness but do let me know your thoughts in the comments

below about the Watchers and whether you have any more stories about them from other religious texts do you think that these sorts of texts should get more attention however HAP's even be taught as doctrine for the lessons that they contain let me know also what sort of videos you'd like to see next on this new angels and demons series don't forget to give this video a thumbs up and if you haven't already be sure to subscribe and hit that Bell icon to keep notified until the next time guys