Who were the Watchers?

The Book of Enoch

The Second Temple Jewish literature, saw in Genesis 6:1-4 the story of a supernatural rebellion, as we clearly see from Enoch 1- a collection of Jewish texts dating from the last three centuries BCE. According to the book of Enoch, the Watchers (“the sons of God” of Genesis) are clearly celestial, supernatural beings. This book describes the revolt of these heavenly Watchers, which leads to evil on earth and foretells God’s judgment. 
 

The true nature of the Watchers

Moreover, Second Temple Judaism saw in Genesis 6:1-4, not only the story of a supernatural rebellion, but one of the central passages in biblical theology. According to Dr. Heiser, an American biblical scholar, “the unanimous testimony of Second Temple Judaism is that the Watchers are to blame for the proliferation of evil on the earth.” Since the writers of the New Testament belonged to Second Temple Judaism, this supernatural understanding of these verses was part of their theology.
 

Renew your understanding of the New Testament

Now we can better understand several verses in the New Testament such as “…God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell” (2 Peter, 2:4). This verse expresses a theme in New Testament theology – the reversal of the wickedness that the Watchers brought and spread. Enroll in our upcoming Jewish Background of the New Testament course and you will significantly deepen your knowledge of the Jewish theological, historical, linguistic and archaeological backgrounds of the New Testament.