1 Enoch 8:1

Pseudepigrapha

1 And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals 〈of the earth〉 and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures. 2 And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjâzâ taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, Armârôs the resolving of enchantments, Barâqîjâl, (taught) astrology, Kôkabêl the constellations, Ezêqêêl the knowledge of the clouds, 〈Araqiêl the signs of the earth, Shamsiêl the signs of the sun〉, and Sariêl the course of the moon. And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven . . .

Tertullian On the Apparel of Women 2.10

Patristic

But, if the self-same angels who disclosed both the material substances of this kind and their charms — of gold, I mean, and lustrous stones — and taught men how to work them, and by and by instructed them, among their other (instructions), in (the virtues of) eyelid-powder and the dyeings of fleeces, have been condemned by God, as Enoch tells us, how shall we please God while we joy in the things of those (angels) who, on these accounts, have provoked the anger and the vengeance of God? Now, granting that God did foresee these things; that God permitted them; that Esaias finds fault with no garment of purple, represses no coil, reprobates no crescent-shaped neck ornaments; still let us not, as the Gentiles do, flatter ourselves with thinking that God is merely a Creator, not likewise a Downlooker on His own creatures.

 Notes and References

"... Whether Justin drew directly from the Book of the Watchers is impossible to say with certainty, but it seems most likely that he was dependent upon something closely akin to the work we know by that name. The book’s early composition and widespread circulation from the second century bce on (as documented in Qumran manuscripts), its early translation into Greek, its use as an authoritative source in some of the earliest Christian writings (Jude, 1 Peter, 2 Peter), and Tertullian’s express dependence on “the Scripture of Enoch” for the same traditions (On the Apparel of Women 2-3; see also Apology 22; On Idolatry 4) make it the most likely conduit of the Watchers myth to Justin. Dependence on oral transmission and written materials now lost except as embedded in the extant Enochic works cannot be excluded, but neither should it be privileged over a well-documented literary channel, especially in view of the detail and specificity with which Justin’s presentation of the myth parallels that in the Book of the Watchers ..."

Chesnutt, Randall D. "The Descent of the Watchers and its Aftermath According to Justin Martyr" in Harkins, Angela Kim, et al. (eds.) The Watchers in Jewish and Christian Traditions (pp. 167-180) Fortress Press, 2014

 User Comments

Do you have questions or comments about these texts? Please submit them here.