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8 The Watchers Traditions in the Bo Book of ok of the W the Watchers atchers and the Animal A Animal Apocal pocalypse ypse Karina Martin Hogan The most striking and influential traditions in the Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 1–36) are the myths about the rebellion of the Watchers. The term “Watchers,” meaning “wakeful ones” (Aramaic ‫)עירין‬, glossed as “sons of Heaven” in 1 En. 6:2, refers to a class of angels, mentioned in the Bible only in Dan. 4:10, 14, 20.1 Even within the Book of the Watchers it is sometimes used of the holy angels in heaven (e.g., 12:2-3, 20:1). Nevertheless, in the phrase “the Watchers traditions,” the Watchers are understood to be those angels who violated the boundary between heaven and earth, both by procreating with human women and by revealing heavenly secrets to human beings. Traditions about the rebellion of the Watchers are concentrated in chapters 6–16 of the Book of the Watchers. Two basic myths of angelic rebellion are intertwined in chapters 6–11, while chapters 12–16 connect the combined myths with the figure of Enoch and offer abstract reflections on the implications of the Watchers’ transgressions.2 The remainder of the Book of the Watchers is only tangentially related to the Watchers myths. Chapters 1–5, consisting mainly of a theophany and a 1. See John J. Collins, “Watchers,” in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, ed. K. van der Toorn, B. Becking and P.W. van der Horst, 2nd ed. (Leiden: Brill, 1999), 893–95. Early extra-biblical uses of the term “Watcher(s)” include Jub. 4:15; CD 2:18; 1QapGen 2:1,16; 4Q534 1ii+2, 15; T. Reu. 5:6-7; T. Naph. 3:5. For a discussion of the Watchers traditions in the Qumran texts, please see Samuel Thomas’s essay in this volume. 2. John J. Collins, “The Sons of God and the Daughters of Men,” in Sacred Marriages: The DivineHuman Sexual Metaphor from Sumer to Early Christianity, ed. Martti Nissinen and Risto Uro (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2008), 259–74, esp. 268–69 on the “metaphysical implications” of the myth. 107 judgment speech, serve as an introduction to the Book of the Watchers but focus mainly on the judgment of humankind (the Watchers are mentioned only in 1 Enoch 1:5). The introductory chapters present sin as a violation of the order of creation and provide an eschatological context within which to interpret the Watchers myths as a warning to humankind. Chapters 17–19, which relate the first of Enoch’s journeys, are more closely connected to the Watchers traditions, in that Enoch’s destination is the abyss where the rebellious Watchers are being held until the final judgment. Enoch also visits the place where the fallen Watchers are imprisoned as the first stop on his second journey (in 21:7-10), but the myths of the Watchers are not a primary focus of chapters 20–36. Author and Audience of the BOOK OF THE W ATCHERS The Book of the Watchers is a composite text that was completed by the late third century bce, while the earliest traditions in the book are possibly as early as the late fourth century.3 The identity of the authors of the Book of the Watchers is unknown, but it has been proposed that they were part of a priestly movement that emerged in the fourth century bce in opposition to the Zadokite priesthood that controlled the Second Temple in Jerusalem.4 Although this hypothesis has not been universally accepted, a number of scholars have nevertheless seen a critique of the Jerusalem priesthood in parts of the Book of the Watchers, especially chapters 12–16.5 While it seems likely that 3. George W.E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1: A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch, Chapters 1–36; 81–108, Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001), 7. 4. Gabriele Boccaccini, Roots of Rabbinic Judaism: An Intellectual History, from Ezekiel to Daniel (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002). See the critiques of this hypothesis by James C. VanderKam, “Mapping Second Temple Judaism,” in The Early Enoch Literature, JSJSup 121, ed. G. Boccaccini and John J. Collins (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 1–20, esp. 15–20; and John J. Collins, “‘Enochic Judaism’ and the Sect of the Dead Sea Scrolls,” The Early Enoch Literature, 283–99. 5. David W. Suter, “Fallen Angel, Fallen Priest: The Problem of Family Purity in 1...

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