Saturday Sources: Book of the Watchers

Today I want to excerpt those parts of the "Book of the Watchers" (1 Enoch 1-36) that are potentially relevant to understanding the New Testament. The Enochic literature seems very important to understanding the New Testament context, especially parts of Matthew, 1 Peter, and Jude. I myself have wondered if Jerusalem Christianity had a significant Essene element, although ultimately that is much more the stuff of novels than of historical conclusion.

The Book of the Watchers is a composite piece, stitched together as so much of this type of Jewish literature. Its earliest parts likely go back to the 300's, and I would date the whole prior to the Maccabean crisis. 200BC seems a fair approximation.

I have again highlighted particularly important parallels. The translation is again excerpted from Nickelsburg and VanderKam, the finest English translation of it ever. I have only modified it very, very slightly.
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1:1-9
THE WORDS OF THE BLESSING WHICH ENOCH BLESSED THE RIGHTEOUS CHOSEN who will be present on the day of tribulation, to remove all the enemies; and the righteous will be saved.

And he took up his discourse and said, "Enoch, a righteous man whose eyes were opened by God, who had the vision of the Holy One and of heaven, which he showed me. From the words of the watchers and holy ones I heard everything; and as I heard everything from them, I also understood what I saw.

"Not for this generation do I expound, but concerning one that is distant I speak. And concerning the chosen I speak now, and concerning them I take up my discourse.

"The Great Holy One will come forth from his dwelling, and the eternal God will tread from thence upon Mount Sinai. He will appear with his army, he will appear with his mighty host from the heaven of heavens.

All the watchers will fear and [quake], and those who are hiding in all the ends of the earth will sing. All the ends of the earth will be shaken, and trembling and great fear will sieze them (the watchers) unto the ends of the earth.

The high mountains will be shaken and fall and break apart, and the high hills will be made low and melt like wax before the fire. The earth will be wholly rent asunder, and everything on earth will perish, and there will be judgment on all.

With the righteous he will make peace, and over the chosen there will be protection, and upon them will be mercy...

Look, he comes with the myriads of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all, and to destroy all the wicked, and to convict all humanity for all the wicked deeds that they have done, and the proud and hard words that wicked sinners spoke against him." [quoted in Jude 14].

6:1-2; 7:1-2; 8:1, 4; 9:1, 3-7, 10-11; 10:1-6, 9, 10-13, 15
When the sons of men had multiplied, in those days, beautiful and comely daughters were born to them. And the watchers, the sons of heaven, saw them and desired them. And they said to one another, "Come, let us choose for ourselves wives from the daughters of men, and let us beget children for ourselves"...

These and all the others with them took for themselves wives from among them such as they chose. And they began to go in to them, and to defile themselves through them, and to teach them sorcery and charms, and to reveal to them the cutting of roots and plants. And they conceived from them and bore to them great giants.

Asael taught men to make swords of iron and weapons and shields and breastplates and every instrument of war... (And) as men were perishing, the cry went up to heaven.

Then Michael and Sariel and Raphael and Gabriel looked down from the sanctuary of heaven upon the earth and saw much bloodshed on the earth... They said to one another... "to [us] the souls of men make suit..."

And approaching, they said to the Lord of the Ages, "You are the God of gods and Lord of lords and King of kings and God of the ages. And the throne of your glory (exists) for every generation of the generations that are from of old. And your name (is) holy and great and blessed for all the ages.

"For you have made all things and have authority over all. All things are manifest and uncovered before you, and you see all things, and there is nothing that can be hidden from you. You see what Asael has done, who has taught iniquity on the earth... And (what) Shemihazah (has done) to whom you gave authority to rule over them who are with him...

"And now look, the spirits of the souls of the men who have died make suit... You know all things before they happen, and you see these things and you permit them, and you do not tell us what we ought to do to them with regard to these things."

Then the Most High declared, and the Great Holy One spoke... "Go to Noah and say to him in my name, 'Hide yourself' ... Teach the righteous one what he should do...

To Raphael he said, "Go Raphael, and bind Asael hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness... Throw him there... And on the day of the great judgment, he will be led away to the burning conflagration..."

And to Gabriel he said, "Go, Gabriel, to the bastards, to the half-breeds, to the sons of micegenation; and destroy the sons of the watchers from among the sons of men..."

And to Michael he said, "Go, Michael, bind Shemihazah and the others with him, who have mated with the daughters of men... until the everlasting judgment is consumated. Then they will be led away to the fiery abyss, and to the torture, and to the prison where they will be confined forever... Destroy all the spirits of the half-breeds and the sons of the watchers, because they have wronged men.

14:18-21
And I was looking and I saw a lofty throne; and its appearance was like ice, and its wheels were like the shining sun, and the voice of the cherubim, and from beneath the throne issued rivers of flaming fire. And I was unable to see. The Great Glory sat upon it; his apparel was like the appearance of the sun and whiter than much snow. No angel could enter into this house and look at his face because of the splendor and glory, and no human could look at him...

15:7-9
The spirits of heaven, in heaven is their dwelling; but now the giants who were begotten by the spirits and flesh--they will call them evil spirits on the earth, for their dwelling will be on the earth. The spirits that have gone forth from the body of their flesh are evil spirits...

21:7-10; 22:1-6, 8-13
From there I traveled to another place, more terrible than this one. And I saw terrible things--a great fire burning and flaming there. And the place had a narrow cleft (extending) to the abyss, full of great pillars of fire, borne downward. Neither the measure nor the size was I able to see or to estimate.

Then I said, "How terrible is this place and fearful to look at!"

Then Uriel answered me, one of the holy angels who was with me, and said to me, "Enoch, why are you so frightened and shaken?

And I replied, "Because of this terrible place and because of the fearful sight."

And he said, "This place is a prison for the angels. Here they will be confined forever."

From there I traveled to another place. And he (Uriel) showed me to the west a great high mountain of hard rock. And there were four hollow places in it, deep and very smooth. Three of them were dark and one, illuminated; and a foundation of water was in the middle of it.

And I said, "How smooth are these hollows and altogether deep and dark to view."

Then Raphael answered me, one of the holy angels who was with me, and said to me, "These hollow places (are intended) that the spirits of the souls of the dead might be gathered into them. For this very (purpose) they were created, (that) here the souls of all human beings should be gathered. And look, these are the pits for the place of their confinement. Thus they were made until the time of the day (on) which they will be judged, and until the time of the day of the end of the great judgment that will be exacted from them"...

Then I asked about all the hollow places, why they were separated one from the other.

And he answered me and said, "These three were made that the spirits of the dead might be separated.

"This one has been separated for the spirits of the righteous, where the bright fountain of water is.

"And this one has been created for the [spirits of the] sinners, when they die and are buried in the earth, and judgment has not been executed on them in their life. Here their spirits are separated for this great torment, until the great day of judgment, of scourges and tortures of the cursed forever, that there might be a recompense for their spirits. There he will bind them forever.

"And this one has been separated for the spirits of them that make suit, who make disclosure about the destruction, when they were murdered in the days of the sinners.

"And this one was created for the spirits of the people who will not be pious, but sinners, who were godless, and they were companions with the lawless. And their spirits will not be punished on the day of judgment, nor will they be raised from there."

25:2-6; 26:1-2, 6; 27:1-3
"Then I answered him (Michael)--I, Enoch, and said, "Concerning all things I wish to know, but especially concerning this tree."

And he answered me and said, "This high mountain that you saw, whose peak is like the throne of God, is the seat where the Great Holy One, the Lord of glory, the King of eternity, will sit when he descends to visit the earth in goodness. And as for this fragrant tree, no flesh has the right to touch it until the great judgment, in which there will be vengeance on all and a consummation forever.

Then it will be given to the righteous and the pious, and its fruit will be food for the chosen. And it will be transplanted to the holy place, by the house of God, the King of eternity. Then they will rejoice greatly and be glad, and they will enter into the sanctuary. Its fragrances [will be] in their bones, and they will live a long life on the earth, such as your fathers lived also in their days"...

And I marveled at the mountain, and I marveled at the valley, I marveled exceedingly.

Then I said, "Why is this land blessed and all filled with trees, but this valley is cursed?"

Then [Sariel] answered, one of the holy angels who was with me, and said to me, "This cursed valley is for those who are cursed forever. Here will be gathered all the cursed... Here the godless will bless the Lord of glory, the King of eternity.