The Watchers

Adam’s Aftermath

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² The sons of the gods saw that the daughters of the humans were good.

וַיִּרְא֤וּ בְנֵי־הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־בְּנ֣וֹת הָֽאָדָ֔ם כִּ֥י טֹבֹ֖ת הֵ֑נָּה

We’re still talking about “the sons of the gods” from Gen 6:2; as I promised last time (perhaps to the dismay of some of you), today we’re going to revisit our old friend Enoch, who grabbed so many electrons a few weeks ago when we were reading Genesis 5. What’s Enoch got to do with Genesis 6, you ask?

Remember — first — that the last time we ran into ha-elohim (“the gods”), Enoch was walking around with them. The obvious meaning of the phrase when we encountered it in Genesis 5:22 was that Enoch was “walking around with God”; that was only obvious, however, because lots of us had read ahead and knew that Noah and Abraham walked around with God. Now, I for one have recalibrated.

There’s more to it, though. These “sons of the gods” were watching “the daughters of the humans.” That’s how they saw that the human women were “good.” So now it is time for us to meet some more of Enoch’s friends: The “Watchers.” Daniel, introduce us to them, please:

^{Dan 4:10} In the vision of my mind in bed, I looked and saw a holy Watcher coming down from heaven.