The Rise and Fall of the Nephilim (14 page)

I will never again pass by them; 9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.’”

(Amos 7:7-9)

In essence, God was calling himself the standard by which Israel needed to measure up. The plumb line falls straight and true due to the laws of gravity and nature. Anything that deviates from the plumb is considered by God to be “off the mark.” The pact made by the Watchers to impregnate human women constituted a rebellion against the laws of heaven that knocked the plumb completely off the wall. And, as we shall see in
Chapter 8
(in the section entitled “The Assembly of the Sons of God”), their sin was against the supreme king of the Divine Council of the gods—a deed worthy of divine consequences. This links the Nephilim, “those who were cast down,” with the fallen angels of the “War in Heaven” described in The Book of Isaiah. In the passage, God is assuring Isaiah that their Babylonian oppressors will be brought down to size. The following passage speaks of the Babylonian king, but many have attributed this to the fall of Lucifer, even though the passage does not implicitly say that:

“12 How you have fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon [one of the most
sacred mountains to the Cana’anites]
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
to the depths of the pit.”

(Isaiah 14:12-15)

The trouble with many of these Old Testamental prophecies is that they seemingly start talking about one thing, but then click over, mid-sentence, into making spiritual word pictures of a completely different notion or event altogether. It’s rather like having a talk about your backyard birdfeeders over a cup of coffee with a friend, then watching his eyes turn to a fervent, glossy stare as he begins to speak to you about the “wings of the black raven spreading their shadow over your soul….” (This actually happened to me, once, so don’t laugh.) At any rate, God seems to lapse into prophetic mode while seemingly relating information about something completely different—and usually without warning or notice. The casual reader of these prophetic passages of scripture would have to draw the conclusion that the passage is either complete in its thoughts about the king of Babylon, or that the God who delivered the message has a—and I mean no disrespect nor blasphemy by this—attention deficit disorder problem when transmitting hidden meanings in the midst of what is a completely different description altogether on the surface. Also interesting to note in this passage: The reference to the “mount of Assembly” here contains a veiled reference to the Divine Council.

“10 ‘Then they took wives, each choosing for himself; whom they began to approach, and with whom they cohabitated; teaching them sorcery, incantations… (and) all the secret things which are done in the heavens.’”

(1 Enoch 7:10)

This is the real sin of the Watchers laid bare. They shared “powerful forbidden secrets” with mankind, and as Enoch says,
“men were not born for this.”
As we saw, each of the leaders of the Watchers taught some specialized field of knowledge, such as astronomy, the manufacture of goods, the dying of textiles, the making and application of cosmetics, and so on. And certainly, although the teaching of such things
as sorcery and astrology may have been viewed as ungodly and taboo at the time, despite these things having taken place long before Mosaic Law and written prohibitions, one of the Watchers, Penemuel, stands accused of something as simple as “teaching men to understand writing, and the use of ink and paper.” This seems to be a very out-of-place prohibition, for even Enoch himself is described as a “scribe of righteousness,” and is credited in the Muslim Qur’an with being the inventor of mathematics, writing, and astronomy.
¹

Berossus of Babylon, a third-century
BCE
Hellenistic-era Babylonian writer
²
born near the beginning of Alexander the Great’s reign, an astronomer and priest of Bel Marduk, speaks of the half-man or half-fish god, Oannes, as having engaged in similar forms of activity as the Watchers. He would rise up out of the sea each morning and teach unknown arts and knowledges, only without the inherent prohibition of those said knowledges being forbidden by a superior deity or set of theological rules. So, setting aside the Watchers’ acts of cohabitation with and impregnation of human women, the Book of Enoch tells us that the teaching of forbidden knowledge to humanity seems to be the overt crime committed by the Watchers. If you read between the lines and root out the unwritten subtext of the book, it would almost seem as if the hidden message is that “knowledge begets evil.”
³
Like the Amish and the Pennsylvania Dutch who shun technological advance, believing it distracts them from a closer walk with God and is the source of all the world’s sins and woes, the author of the Book of Enoch is telling us that “higher understanding” was contrary to primeval man’s true nature, and resulted inevitably in corruption, judgment, and eventual punishment. It’s like handing a child a loaded gun: He may have some concept of what the thing does, but he can create a world of havoc and tragedy when wielding it on his own.

But, of course, we have the opposite side of the argument from more conservative, evangelical theologians who, if they even broach the topic of the Watchers and the Nephilim at all, will quickly point out how they believe these beings were part of the Luciferian fall after the War in Heaven. And, as if God had no control over his creation,
these minions of Lucifer set about a campaign to infiltrate the human bloodline and thereby infect the pure blood of the human race, leaving no possibility for the pure human bloodline of the prophesied Messiah to ever take hold. The great sin, then, of the Watchers was not just the teaching of ancient, forbidden wisdom, but an all-out assault on the one and only begotten Son of God, who had not yet been conceived. However, were this the stratagem incorporated by the fallen demonic minions of Satan, then they waited seven long generations to begin their tactical.

The Book of Enoch is more of an accurate record of how the Watchers were
perceived
within a framework of antediluvian worship of God than it is a reflection of who the Watchers really
were
or what they really
did
. In these accounts of the “fallen” caste of Watchers, we are given very little insight as to what their intent was, or into their personalities or their motivations. We only know that they lusted, sought out, and carried through with a plan that they were convinced was something they should carry out, but that would also bring down the wrath of God on their heads. This is why Shamyaza was second-guessing his decision, and why he looked pleadingly to the others of his kind to bolster him in his decision. They, in response, joined in with him and set the pact in concrete. Their devilish intent and malicious bloodplay are ascribed later by scholars and researchers who parse the texts with ecclesiastical intent, or who are merely disingenuous with the context when it falls outside their theological or denominational beliefs. Never once in the passages about the Watchers does it say they descended with intent to thwart the bloodlines of the coming Messiah, but that very sin has been ascribed to them by later interpreters of the text. It is axiomatic that people have an innate fear and mistrust of those whom they perceive as knowing more than they do, and most certainly of those who wield a greater power over them. It is also a given (just ask Machiavelli) that people fear, resist, and rise against any brand of change that accompanies new knowledge and new ideas. This is precisely what the Watchers
brought to the ancients—change, revolutionary and evolutionary concepts, and knowledge; the sweet, fruity filling of forbidden knowledge baked within the pie crust of taboo and prohibition.

But the corruption seems to go far beyond the mere transmission of knowledge and wisdom. The offspring of the Watchers were guilty of grievous crimes against mankind that Enoch equates to the “whole earth being filled with blood,” and the souls of those who perished at their hands crying in some dreadful ghostly complaint to gain the attentions—if not the vengence—of God.

“5 Thou hast seen what Azazyel has done, how he has taught every species of iniquity upon earth, and has disclosed to the world all the secret things which are done in the heavens. 6 Shamyaza also has taught sorcery, to whom thou hast given authority over those who are associated with him. They have gone together to the daughters of men; have lain with them; have become polluted; 7 And have discovered crimes to them. 8 The women likewise have brought forth giants. 9 Thus has the whole earth been filled with blood and with iniquity.
10 And now behold the souls of those who are dead, cry out.
11 And complain even to the gate of heaven.
12 Their groaning ascends; nor can they escape from the unrighteousness which is committed on earth. Thou knowest all things, before they exist. 13 Thou knowest these things, and what has been done by them; yet thou dost not speak to us. 14 What on account of these things ought we to do to them?”

(1 Enoch 9:5-14)

Naturalness of awareness is synonymous with wisdom—true wisdom. And true wisdom holds a true power, not to oppress or manipulate, but to enlighten and illuminate; it’s a power that is innate in every single being. In ancient times, however, wisdom was synonymous with power, and power especially for those who did not possess it was more often than not perceived to be synonymous with
oppression.
⁴
Indeed, the Nephilim were accused of such when it was written:

“12 All the earth has been corrupted by the effects of the teaching of Azazyel. To him therefore ascribe the whole crime. 13 To Gabriel also the Lord said, Go to the biters, to the repro- bates, to the children of fornication; and destroy the children of fornication, the offspring of the Watchers, from among men; bring them forth, and excite them one against another. Let them perish by mutual slaughter; for length of days shall not be theirs…. 18 ‘Destroy all the souls addicted to dalliance, and the offspring of the Watchers, for they have tyrannized over mankind. 19 Let every oppressor perish from the face of the earth; 20 Let every evil work be destroyed…’”

(1 Enoch 10:12-13, 18-20)

As is common in apocalyptic Jewish texts, as well as mythological tales from around the world, the oppressors in the tales are ascribed attributes of enormously epic proportion. In the Book of Enoch, the offspring of the Watchers, the Nephilim, are described as a race of giants who committed acts against both mankind and nature to monstrous, mythic degrees:

“11 Then they took wives, each choosing for himself; whom they began to approach, and with whom they cohabited; teaching them sorcery, incantations, and the dividing of roots and trees. 11 And the women conceiving brought forth giants, 12 Whose stature was each three hundred cubits. These devoured all which the labor of men produced; until it became impossible to feed them; 13 When they turned themselves against men, in order to devour them; 14 And began to injure birds, beasts, reptiles, and fishes, to eat their flesh one after another, and to drink their blood.”

(1 Enoch 7:11-14)

They consumed birds and fish, “devouring their flesh one after another and drinking their blood.” This resembles the highly exaggerated claim of a peasant tenant who watches his feudal overloads feast
on fatted calves and flambéed fowl while he and his family subsist on the broth of roots and bark, with a side helping of gruel—and then he makes up horrible stories about it to exaggerate his classist angst. However, most major religions and countless legends and mythologies speak of a time when giants walked the Earth. Why would diverse and widely separated traditions all make the same outrageous claims unless it had some basis in truth? All myth and legend have at their primordial headwaters some kernel of fact and truth. And if that truth was not there at the core, what are the odds that all these traditions could concoct such similar stories?

In the Watchers we see an emerging prototype of
Satan
, the adversary, deciver, accuser, liar. We can also see a variation on the theme of Original Sin. Just as with Eve and the forbidden fruit, the sin of the Watchers involved a specific combination of infractions, having to do with both disobedience and knowledge. And in a very real sense, Cain, the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, became the first of the Nephilim.

If one were to look behind the mythic elements of the story of the Watchers, there are many various historical events that could come to the forefront in ways to explain the spread of such incredible tales. But what ought to intrigue us beyond all fanciful stories is the persistence of the myth itself; the ongoing story of a race of gods and their descendants, who somehow come to be perceived as demonic.

The Watchers. They first appear on the scene in Sumer.
Shumer
, it seems, literally means the “land of the Watchers.” For American author Zecharia Sitchin, they are alien beings whose specific task is to orbit the earth, monitoring events on earth. For Sitchin, the Watchers are not a race or a species; they are merely a job specification. Their colleagues had abandoned their ships and had landed on Earth—they continued to orbit the Earth. Those who did land, either mated or genetically engineered mankind into its present form. As a consequence, mankind worshipped the Watchers as gods.