The Watchers (Aramaic, עִירִין iyrin) is a term found in the Old Testament Book of Daniel, and later sources, which is connected to angels. In Daniel, these are obedient angels, in the Book of Enoch they are referred to as fallen angels.
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In Daniel 4:13, 17, 23 there are three references made to a the class of "watcher, holy one" (watcher, Aramaic `iyr, holy one Aramaic qaddiysh). The term is introduced by Nebuchadnezzar who describes how he saw "a watcher, a holy one come down (singular verb) from heaven." The singular verb indicates that "a watcher, a holy one" are two titles for the same being or class of being. Nebuchadnezzar then describes how in his dream the watcher says that Nebuchadnezzar will eat grass and be mad and that this 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." After hearing the king's dream Daniel considers for an hour and then responds:
Daniel 4:23 And whereas the king saw a watcher, a holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and [let] his portion [be] with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him; KJV
The presentation in Daniel of these "watchers, holy ones" may be a depiction of Babylonian religion, that is an attempt by the author of this section of Daniel to present Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian gods recognising the power of the God of Israel as "Most High."[1] The version of this dream and its interpretation differs from the Aramaic of the Massoretic Text to the Greek of the Septuagint. For example in the Aramaic text it is ambiguous who is telling the story of verse 14, whether it is Nebuchadnezzar himself, or the watcher in his dream.[2]
The term "Watchers," is common in the Book of Enoch found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Book of the Watchers is the name for one section of the book (1 Enoch 6-36). It occurs in the Aramaic fragments in the phrase irin we-qadishin, "Watchers and Holy Ones", known from Aramaic Daniel.[3] The Aramaic irin "watchers" is rendered as "angel" (Greek angelos, Coptic malah) in the Greek and Ethiopian translations, although the usual Aramaic term for angel malakha does not occur in Aramaic Enoch.[4] The dating of this section of 1 Enoch is around 2nd-1st Century BCE. This book is based on one interpretation of the Sons of God passage in Genesis 6, according to which angels married with human females, giving rise to a race of hybrids known as the Nephilim. The term irin is primarily applied to disobedient Watchers who numbered a total of 200, and of whom their leaders are named, but equally Aramaic iri ("watcher" singular) is also applied to the obedient archangels who chain them, such as Raphael (1 Enoch 22:6).
The watchers story in Enoch derives from the sixth chapter Genesis, where the "Origin of the Nephilim" is described and the "Sons of God" who beget them are mentioned:
Here, the "sons of God" are given no specific name or erections; they could represent fallen angels, heavenly beings that mate with human women. The Book of Enoch regards these as the same angels who are referred to as the Benei Ha-Elohim (Eng. Sons of God) in the Book of Genesis. According to this belief, their sins filled the Earth with violence and the world was destroyed as a result of their intervention.
In the Book of Enoch, the watchers are angels dispatched to Earth to watch over the humans. They soon begin to lust for human women, and at the prodding of their leader Samyaza, they defect en masse to illicitly instruct and procreate among humanity. The offspring of these unions are the Nephilim, savage giants who pillage the earth and endanger humanity. Samyaza and associates further taught their human charges arts and technologies such as weaponry, cosmetics, mirrors, sorcery, and other techniques that would otherwise be discovered gradually over time by humans, not foisted upon them all at once. Eventually God allows a Great Flood to rid the earth of the Nephilim, but first sends Uriel to warn Noah so as not to eradicate the human race. While Genesis says that the Nephilim remained "on the earth" even after the Great Flood, Jude says that the Watchers themselves are bound "in the valleys of the Earth" until Judgment Day. (See Genesis 6:4 and Jude 1:6, respectively)
There are 20 leaders in the Book of Enoch also called 1 Enoch the section that mentions them reads:
| “ | 7. And these are the names of their leaders: Sêmîazâz, their leader, Arâkîba, Râmêêl, Kôkabîêl, Tâmîêl, Râmîêl, Dânêl, Êzêqêêl, Barâqîjâl, Asâêl, Armârôs, Batârêl, Anânêl, Zaqîêl, Samsâpêêl, Satarêl, Tûrêl, Jômjâêl, Sariêl. 8. These are their chiefs of tens." - R. H. Charles translation, The Book of the Watchers, Chapter VI. | ” |
These are the leaders of 200 angels in 1 Enoch that are turned into fallen Angels because they took wives, mated with human women, and taught forbidden knowledge.
A reference to the "fall of the watchers from heaven" is found in Hebrew in the Damascus Document 2:18 echoing 1 Enoch 13:10.[15]
The term "Watchers" appears also in some other Enochic texts counted among the "Old Testament Pseudepigrapha," specifically in the Book of Jubilees (Jub. 3:15, 5:1), and Slavonic Enoch.
The Greek term egrḗgoroi (ἐγρήγοροι)) or Grigori is transliterated into Slavonic in the Second Book of Enoch. In 2 Enoch 18 (Slavonic Enoch) the "Grigori" (egregoroi) are located in the fifth heaven, and from among them 200 princes fall.[15]
The Zohar makes reference to the "watchers" of Nebuchadnezzar's dream.
Some early Christian writers accepted the interpretation in the Book of Enoch of the sons of God in Genesis and made reference to "watchers." Generally, later theologians, such as Augustine, interpreted the Genesis "sons of God" as referring to the descendants of Seth and the "daughters of man", in turn referring to the descendants of Cain.[16][17] This "Sethian" interpretation is found in Byzantine and Syriac traditions such as the Kitab al-Magall.[18]
Clement of Alexandria, influenced by Hellenistic cosmology, attributed the movement of the stars and the control of the four elements to angelic beings. Sinistrari attributed bodies of fire, air, earth, and water to these beings, and concluded that the "watchers" were made of fire and air . Cardinal Newman, writing in the mid-19th century, proposed that certain angels existed who were neither totally good nor evil, and had only "partially fallen" from the Heavens.
In modern times various writers have written on 1 Enoch's story of the fallen angels for the mass market.[19][20]
Later Judaism and almost all the earliest ecclesiastical writers identify the "sons of God" with the fallen angels; but from the fourth century onwards, as the idea of angelic natures becomes less material, the Fathers commonly take the "sons of God" to be Seth's descendants and the "daughters of men" those of Cain.—Jerusalem Bible, Genesis VI, footnote.