Understanding Sin and Evil #5: Enoch and the Watchers Traditions

In this action-packed episode, we will discuss:

The status of Enoch and the Book of Enoch in Second Temple Judaism
The popularity of the solar calendar in the Second Temple period and at Qumran
The traditions of the Watchers in the Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 1-36)
The retelling of the Watchers story in the Animal Apocalypse

There are at least 3 versions of the Watchers story: the Asael tradition, the Shemihaza tradition, and an interwoven tradition regarding the teaching of magic. Listen to learn more!

As we explore the Book of the Watchers, I will pay particular attention to the following questions for each thread of the Watchers tradition:

What was the Watchers’ sin?
Did the Watchers’ actions cause human sin, or “just” physical destruction (in the form of the giants and their violence)?
Did the Watchers’ actions lead to the Flood?
Did the Watchers’ actions have repercussions after the Flood?

Note: I am not asking these questions regarding the biblical account — only regarding the way this account is interpreted in the Book of Enoch.

19 Responses to "Understanding Sin and Evil #5: Enoch and the Watchers Traditions"

Daniel Herman says:

January 28, 2016 at 3:55 am

Another fantastic installment! Thank you. I am so glad i am able to sit in on your “class”!!! After listening to this i really want to see a flow chart that shows roughly when in time the various mystical elements enter into the consciousness of the people. I have encountered SO many elements of this information in my OWN traditions and studies. This seems to be very close to the origins of when this stuff “made it” into the church of the day, and then seems sanctioned henceforth. Very interesting, i must re-listen… Thanks again.
1. Miryam Brand says:
  
  January 28, 2016 at 9:59 am
  
  Thank you!
2. Chris says:
  
  January 30, 2016 at 6:20 am
  
  I’d like to point out that just because we first see certain traditions written about at certain times doesn’t necessarily mean that’s when they came into being. I’m certainly not advocating accepting ideas on the grounds that they “might possibly” be true, but I think to try and create a timeline of when certain ideas cropped up based on what we have left of the past is making claims beyond the scope of the information available to us.
  
  For example, the children of the watchers sound very much like the Greek Titans in their myths. If I’m not mistaken, the Titans myth significantly predates the second temple period. Maybe the idea entered the Jewish world as a result of the Alexandrian exportation of Hellenism, or maybe the Genesis account and the Titans myth are actually two different accounts of an actual historical event (like they say in Hollywood, “based on a true story”). Maybe even both are the case to a certain extent. The truth is, the further back we go, the more dramatically scarce our sources of information become.
  
  I guess my point is let’s be careful not to mistakenly think we know things regardless of in which direction. After all, that’s the real problem with the “stuff that made it”, right? In any case, you are definitely right that she does help bring clarity to many traditions that have been passed down over the ages.
  1. Miryam Brand says:
    
    February 1, 2016 at 11:19 pm
    
    Well put.
  2. Dan Herman says:
    
    February 13, 2016 at 5:24 pm
    
    Chris, i agree absolutely with your point on the Greek “titans” myth. Thats actually what i was getting at, but perhaps stated it unclearly. What i meant was i would like to see roughly when in time certain earlier traditions find thier way into the biblical culture. This is not to state the origins of said traditions, but rather thier flow through time. But i certainly see your point, and appreciate your comments.
David Sidebottom says:

January 30, 2016 at 3:11 am

Wow! This is deep! That was a lot of fascinating information, you made so many good points that I forget half of them, I’m going to have to listen to that again. lol

Hey thanks for taking the time to expound on these subjects! Shalom!
1. Miryam Brand says:
  
  January 30, 2016 at 10:57 pm
  
  Thank you!
Chris says:

January 30, 2016 at 6:13 am

IIRC, I remember reading things in other pseudepigrapha which implied a sort of coming restoration of the “original” solar calendar, which would seem to indicate that at least those who wrote the work(s) were not keeping it. I haven’t read or discussed this stuff much in a few years so I’m very fuzzy. I seem to remember something about a group of Jews being hidden by God or angels somewhere on the Euphrates river to be revealed again at the “end of days” to correct our calendars and scriptures (or something to that effect.) The collection I have that I would have been reading from is Charlesworth’s “The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha” (both volumes).

Every time the I think of the concept of makeup, even just casually, my mind always goes back to this story. I think that speaks to the power of its imagery! I think it’s sad that there are people (some of whom I know well) who will then latch on to this stuff as if it’s scripture, not understanding what it is or where it came from. They don’t even realize Enoch isn’t a single cohesive work. Should the subject ever come up again, I think I’ll refer people to this series to help put a proper perspective on the issue. You do a very good job of just laying out the information without the typical unnecessary confusion surrounding it.
1. Miryam Brand says:
  
  February 1, 2016 at 11:10 pm
  
  Hi Chris. First of all, thank you.
  Second, regarding the “original” solar calendar, you are probably thinking of the Astronomical Book of Enoch (found in 1 Enoch 72-82), where there are two references to a change in calendar:
  The first, in 72:1, says that the “regulations” of the sun, moon, and stars will actually not change, “for each year of the world and forever until the new creation shall be made which will last forever.” This actually implies that the solar calendar is currently correct. (The “new creation” is not mentioned again in the Astronomical Book.
  The second, however, is probably what you are referring to. In 80:2-8, the angel Uriel states that “in the days of the sinners the years will become shorter” and explains how the moon and even the stars will change their course. 80:2-8, which is likely an editorial interpolation, is probably explaining an observed deviation from the “perfect” 364-day calendar set forth in the Astronomical Book. (Remember that the “age of sinners” in Second Temple literature is nearly always referring to the present age – whenever that may be – for the author and the reader.
  I’m not sure about the hidden group of Jews – I’ll have to take out my Charlesworth. 😉
Lee says:

January 31, 2016 at 9:35 pm

Riveting, I’m just really loving these pod casts. The watchers seem to have become embolden in there continued rebellion of the order and goodness of Elohim. In the beginning they lead by temptation and suggestion and now they are engaging directly with mankind. Disobedience of a child, is a crime of ignorance but the crime of adults, the truth knowing , is a crime of rebellion. So, there is a punishment that must fit the crime lesson in these writings both for the Watchers and mankind’s guilt . The watchers by knowing all the evils that could plague mankind had more guilt and needed to be stopped in their unbridled desire for evil before a complete destruction of everything. They seem to increase in eagerness to bring this damning knowledge to mankind, however I don’t think they would know or had known the results of the offspring of a Watcher + mankind mix. This tells me the watchers are limited to the amount of knowledge they possess and their carelessness of that knowledge . In the first temptation evil suggest to our first parents that they would have an all knowing knowledge by the taste of good and evil as a beginning and later the lie deepens and seems to drive to an expectation at some point of a complete knowledge possessed by both the watchers and mankind. We learned in the first lessons that desire or sin lay’s at the door in wait of our permission to partake in it’s leading away from righteousness, goodness and the order of Elohim. The absolute vanity of being or taking the place of the Creator is insanity because we know that only the Creator has this ability to be all knowing but the blindness of misplaced desire’s engage us into a deceptive darkness that leads to destruction, a results of the mixing of watchers and human disaster consuming everything. The wisdom of the Creator reveals truth in the ways of righteousness and His mercy. The desire that lay at the door I think is freewill Elohim has given to both Watcher and mankind the control of that desire in a known or unknown choice. We can allow a knowledge to come by goodness or by evil. Right choice becomes the power of life or death. I choose life if my desire has not deceived me :).
1. Miryam Brand says:
  
  February 8, 2016 at 11:58 pm
  
  Thanks for listening!
Ludek Brown says:

February 1, 2016 at 3:22 am

Thank you Miryam for these podcasts! I have a question. What is your understanding of how these spiritual beings, the angels, impregnated the physical beings, the daughters? Shalom!
1. Miryam Brand says:
  
  February 1, 2016 at 12:30 pm
  
  Hi Ludek,
  I wish I had a good answer for you, but I don’t. The best answer I can give you is the classic Rabbinic answer to a puzzling, perhaps unanswerable question: צריך עיון (tzarich iyun) “it requires (further) investigation.”
Charles says:

May 6, 2016 at 4:53 am

This is my first time hearing about “Mastema.” The meaning of that name seems like another one of those things that echoes from the garden. Is there a cognate or figurative association between the Hebrew word “mastema” (Hosea 9:7-8) and “ayvah” (Genesis 3:15) since they both convey a sense of enmity or hostility? Ahvah (enmity, hostility), in Gen. 3:15, is what Adonai placed between the serpent and the and the woman, and between the serpent’s seed and the woman’s seed.
1. Miryam Brand says:
  
  July 4, 2016 at 8:25 am
  
  Hi Charles. I like that as an idea, but there is no clear cognate or figurative association between the two words. “Ayvah” (איבה), itself not a very common word, seems to indicate enmity between people (or between people and snakes 😉 ). It doesn’t appear at all in Hosea, where we find mastema. Mastema, on the other hand, is associated very closely with sin in the Hosea passage where it appears: in 9:7 “on the greatness of your sin, and great is (the) mastema, and in 9:8 “mastema is in the house of his God” regarding how Ephraim has gone wrong in its worship.
  
  Keep your comments coming — I do eventually answer. 🙂
  
  Miryam
Rafael Diniz de Souza says:

July 21, 2019 at 4:59 pm

Dear Dr. Brand,

First of all tanks for this precious work, I’m amaze of your knowledge and dedication. May Hashem reward you, and continue to bless you.

I have one question about the book of Enoch, I hope you have an answer for me.

I hear from your work that the Quran version have variations if compare to the later Etiopic version. Can I ask you if the description of the giants size is one of the diferences between the versions? Because the etiopic version it seems very exaggerated about the size of the giants.

Thank you in advance, and best reguards from Brazil! ??
1. Miryam Brand says:
  
  July 21, 2019 at 5:16 pm
  
  Hi Rafael,
  
  Fragments of Enoch were found at Qumran, but nothing that contradicts the account of the giants’ size specifically. It may be interesting to you to learn more about the Qumran fragments of the Book of the Giants, which seems to tell the story from the giants point-of-view. 😉
  
  Glad to have you as a listener, and greetings from Jerusalem!
Rafael Souza says:

August 26, 2019 at 3:10 pm

Dear Dr. Brand,

I continue to appreciate your material and also your book. I would like to ask you a question: In what portion from the Book of Enoch is it stated that Enoch is the son of man? I noticed this detail in one of your comments, but couldn’t find it.

Best Reguars.
Rafael
1. Miryam Brand says:
  
  August 28, 2019 at 5:13 pm
  
  Hi Rafael,
  
  That is in the Similitudes of Enoch, chapters 37–71.
  The Similitudes of Enoch is an independent work included in the Book of Enoch, consisting mainly of three “parables” that describe the mysteries Enoch sees and his predictions regarding the future. It describes the ascent of Enoch to heaven, his visions of cosmological and heavenly phenomena, and the punishment of the Watchers, and in particular Enoch’s revelation of the Final Judgment and the Messianic Age. The Similitudes emphasizes the role that the messiah, the “Son of Man” or “Chosen One,” will play in the Final Judgment and the age that follows; the “Son of Man” is finally revealed to be Enoch himself.
  
  I hope that answers your question!

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