The Rebellion of the Watchers

Chapter 6

1 And when the population of humans had increased during those times, beautiful and attractive daughters were born to them.⁠ 2 And the angels, the children of heaven, saw them and desired them,⁠ and said to each other: 'Come, let us choose wives from among the humans and father children.'⁠ 3 And Semjâzâ, their leader, said to them: 'I fear that you will not actually agree to do this, and I alone will have to pay the penalty of a great sin.' 4 And they all replied to him and said: 'Let us all take an oath, and all bind ourselves with a solemn promise not to abandon this plan but to carry out this act.' 5 Then they all took an oath together and bound themselves with a solemn promise to do so. 6 And there were in total two hundred who descended on the summit of Mount Hermon⁠ in the days of Jared, and they named it Mount Hermon because they had taken an oath and bound themselves with solemn promises there. 7 And these are the names of their leaders:⁠ Samîazâz, 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.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 6:2 and Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.36

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Early Christian

Summary

The Christian theologian Irenaeus draws on the story of angels from 1 Enoch who left heaven to take human wives, using the Jewish text as an authentic and authoritative description of the origins of evil.

Passages

1 Enoch 6:2

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

1 And when the population of humans had increased during those times, beautiful and attractive daughters were born to them. 2 And the angels, the children of heaven, saw them and desired them, and said to each other: 'Come, let us choose wives from among the humans and father children.' 3 And Semjâzâ, their leader, said to them: 'I fear that you will not actually agree to do this, and I alone will have to pay the penalty of a great sin.' 4 And they all replied to him and said: 'Let us all take an oath, and all bind ourselves with a solemn promise not to abandon this plan but to carry out this act.' 5 Then they all took an oath together and bound themselves with a solemn promise to do so.

300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.36

Early Christian

4 Since the Son of God is always one and the same, He gives to those who believe in Him a well of water [springing up] to eternal life, but He causes the unfruitful fig-tree immediately to dry up; and in the days of Noah He justly brought on the deluge for the purpose of extinguishing that most infamous race of men then existent, who could not bring forth fruit to God, since the angels that sinned had commingled with them, and [acted as He did] in order that He might put a check upon the sins of these men, but [that at the same time] He might preserve the archetype, the formation of Adam. And it was He who rained fire and brimstone from heaven, in the days of Lot, upon Sodom and Gomorrha, an example of the righteous judgment of God, that all may know, that every tree that brings not forth good fruit shall be cut down, and cast into the fire.

175–190 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Irenaeus, Against Heresies Book 4

References

"... There is then the evidence from patristic literature. The Epistle of Barnabas, likely an early second century document, directly quotes 1 Enoch 89:56 as Scripture in the 16th chapter, and refers to Enoch as a prophet in the 4th chapter. Justin Martyr (Second Apology 5), Athenagoras (Plea for the Christians 24), Irenaeus (Against Heresies 1.15.6, 4.16.2, 4.36.4), and Clement of Alexandria (Stromata 5.1.10.1-2, Selections from the Prophets 2.1, 53.4), all mid-to-late second century authors, talk about Enoch in terms of information revealed not only in Genesis but also 1 Enoch, and at times refer to characters within 1 Enoch. Yet perhaps the most interesting witness comes from Tertullian in the early third century (On the Apparel of Women, 3.1-3) ..."

Ethan R. Longhenry, The 1 Enoch Conundrum (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2016), 1–5.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

The Rebellion of the Watchers

1 Enoch108 chapters

Compare 1 Enoch 6:2 and Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.36

Summary

Passages

1 Enoch 6:2

Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.36

References

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