In the "Book of Enoch", the archangels are also known as "The Watchers". What is the ancient aramaic word for archangels in the "Book of Enoch"? is it correctly interpreted to mean archangels or "The Watchers"? Does the ancient text refer to them as archangels? Are they high ranking officials ("Chief princes") like Michael the Archangel? The reason why I ask is that I plan on posting an interesting question regarding this subject matter on Yahoo answers. I know for sure that a Jehovah's Witness will question the ancient aramaic word for archangel and blow it off as meaning something else. Thank you. I would look it up in the Strong's Lexicon but of course the words from "The Book of Enoch" has been excluded from that lexicon. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
In the "Book of Enoch", is the word archangels (the Watchers) correctly interpreted as such from the ancient aramaic language?
by I_love_Jeff 5 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Leolaia
1 Enoch was written in originally in Aramaic, and then translated into Greek in the first century BC. Arkhaggelos is a Greek word, not an Aramaic word....I think the earliest instance of the word in fact is in the Greek translation of the book. Here are the two passages containing the word:
"And on hearing this, the four great archangels (hoi tessares megaloi arkhaggeloi) Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel looked down from the sanctuary of heaven upon the earth and saw much bloodshed upon the earth. All the earth was filled with the godlessness and violence that was done on it. And entering in, they said to one another, 'The spirits of men grown, making petition saying, "Bring in our judgment to the Most High" '. And approaching, the four archangels (hoi tessares arkhaggeloi) said to the Lord, 'You are the God of gods and Lord of lord and King of kings and God of men' " (1 Enoch 9:1-4).
"These are the names of the holy angels of the powers: Uriel, one of the holy angels, who is in charge of the world and Tartarus, Raphael, one of the holy angels, who is in charge of the spirits of men, Raguel, one of the holy angels, who pursues the world of the luminaries, Michael, one of the holy angels, who has been put in charge of the good ones of the people and over chaos, Sariel, one of the holy angels, who is in charge of the spirits who sin against the spirit, Gabriel, one of the holy angels, who is in charge of Paradise and the serpents and the cherubim, and Remiel, one of the holy angels, whom God has put in charge of those who will rise. These are the seven names of the archangels (arkhaggelòn onomata hepta)" (1 Enoch 20:1-8).
It is difficult to tell whether the three instances of arkhaggeloi here have Aramaic equivalents in the original because the relevant manuscripts have lacunae in all three places. The lacunae in 9:1 and 20:8 however are too short to likely have had an Aramaic equivalents of the phrase. The second instance in 9:4 is debatable, depending on whether two angels were named (Raphael and Michael) or four; there would be space if only two were named. Most likely arkhaggelos, a Greek neologism, was incorporated into the text when the book was translated into Greek.
This word however may well render an Aramaic expression. Milik, the original editor of the Qumran fragments, believed it occurred in the original text and thought it translated the Aramaic `yry' rbrby' w-qdshy' "chief watchers and holy ones". Compare the description of Raphael in 1 Enoch 22:6 as "watcher and holy one (`yr' w-qdysh')" (4QEn e 2 2:5). There is actually a very close parallel to this in the Genesis Apocryphon (1QapGen). In one fragment we read: "In a vision I saw, was shown, and informed of the deed of the sons of heaven and how all [...] ... and I hid this mystery in my heart and did not make it known to anyone. [...] ... to me by a great watcher (`yr' rb'), to me by a messenger, by an emissary of the Holy One" (1QapGen 6:13). Milik's reconstruction also has the support of Daniel. In the Aramaic portion, `yryn "watchers" is the word for angels (Daniel 4:12) and a hendiadys expression similar to 1 Enoch 22:6 occurs in v. 10 where one of the angels is referred to as a "watcher and holy one" (`yr w-qdysh). In the Hebrew portion, shrym "princes" is the word for angels and Michael is once called "the great prince" (h-shr h-gdwl) in 12:1 and once called "one of the chief princes" ('chd h-shrym h-rshnym) in 10:13. The first expression is reminiscent of `yr' rb' from 1QapGen and the second is reminiscent of `yry' rbrby'. "Chief prince" in Daniel 10:13 is the obvious precursor to the Greek arkhaggelos.
Incidentally, it is noteworthy that the description of Michael in Daniel 12:1 as "the great prince who protects your people" corresponds closely to what is said about Michael in 1 Enoch 20:5: "Michael, one of the holy angels, who is in charge of the good ones of the people". It should be noted that the Enochic statement is older than the Danielic one (the Book of Watchers dating to the third century BC whereas the Hebrew apocalypse of Daniel dates to c. 164 BC). Also Michael is mentioned in 1 Enoch 24:6 as the "one of the holy angels" and the "leader" of the holy angels; so while he is the member of a group of archangels in ch. 20 (Greek), he is the leading member of that group. The group of fallen angels offers a close parallel. In ch. 6, Shemihazah is described as "their leader" (r'shyn) in v. 3, 7 (cf. rshnym in Daniel 10:13), and then the other angels named are subject to each other in rank, while each were also leaders (arkhai in Greek, rbny in Aramaic) themselves over other angels (v. 7).
I don't see the point in doing a Yahoo Answers question, personally.
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pseudoxristos
Some may suggest a link between the Watchers and the fallen angels in the Flood account along with the angels in Jude 1:6. Wikipedia has an interesting article that brings up this connection which would suggest that the Watchers and the Archangels are not the same. Later in the article it says that the Aramaic iri ("watcher" singular) is also used to refer to Archangels such as Raphael. I think that it would be hard to argue that the Watchers and the Archangels are one in the same.
I doubt that Witnesses will consider any references to extra-biblical literature as valid and will refuse to acknowledge that any thing other than the Watchtowers point of view should be considered.
pseudo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watcher_(angel)
Watcher (angel)
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Fallen angels
Main article: Fallen angel
In the Book of Enoch, the Watchers (Aramaic. ???????, iyrin), are angels dispatched to Earth to watch over the humans. They soon begin to lust for human women, and at the prodding of their leader Samyaza, they defect en masse to illicitly instruct and procreate among humanity. The offspring of these unions are the Nephilim, savage giants who pillage the earth and endanger humanity. Samyaza and associates further taught their human charges arts and technologies such as weaponry, cosmetics, mirrors, sorcery, and other techniques that would otherwise be discovered gradually over time by humans, not foisted upon them all at once. Eventually God allows a Great Flood to rid the earth of the Nephilim, but first sends Uriel to warn Noah so as not to eradicate the human race. While Genesis says that the Nephilim remained "on the earth" even after the Great Flood, Jude says that the Watchers themselves are bound "in the valleys of the Earth" until Judgment Day. (See Genesis 6:4 and Jude 1:6, respectively)
The chiefs of tens, listed in the Book of Enoch, are as follows:
“ 7. And these are the names of their leaders: Sêmîazâz, their leader, Arâkîba, Râmêêl, Kôkabîêl, Tâmîêl, Râmîêl, Dânêl, Êzêqêêl, Barâqîjâl, Asâêl, Armârôs,Batârêl, Anânêl, Zaqîêl, Samsâpêêl, Satarêl, Tûrêl, Jômjâêl, Sariêl. 8. These are their chiefs of tens." - R. H. Charles translation, The Book of the Watchers, Chapter VI. ” The book of Enoch also lists leaders of the 200 fallen angels who married and commenced in unnatural union with human women, and who taught forbidden knowledge. Some are also listed in Book of Raziel (Sefer Raziel HaMalakh), the Zohar, and Jubilees.
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Books of Enoch
In the Books of Enoch, the first Book of Enoch devotes much of its attention on the fall of the Watchers. The Second Book of Enoch addresses the Watchers (Gk. Grigori) who are in fifth heaven where the fall took place. The Third Book of Enoch gives attention to the unfallen Watchers. [22]
The use of the term "Watchers" is common in the Book of Enoch. The Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 6-36) occurs in the Aramaic fragments with the phrase irin we-qadishin, "Watchers and Holy Ones", a reference to Aramaic Daniel. [23] The Aramaic irin "watchers" is rendered as "angel" (Greek angelos, Coptic malah) in the Greek and Ethiopian translations, although the usual Aramaic term for angel malakha does not occur in Aramaic Enoch. [24] The dating of this section of 1 Enoch is around 2nd-1st Century BCE. This book is based on one interpretation of the Sons of God passage in Genesis 6, according to which angels married with human females, giving rise to a race of hybrids known as the Nephilim. The term irin is primarily applied to disobedient Watchers who numbered a total of 200, and of whom their leaders are named, but equally Aramaic iri("watcher" singular) is also applied to the obedient archangels who chain them, such as Raphael (1 Enoch 22:6).
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Leolaia
Wikipedia has an interesting article that brings up this connection and suggests that the Watchers and Archangels are not the same.
I'm not sure quite what you mean here since it states that "Aramaic iri ("watcher" singular) is also applied to the obedient archangels who chain them, such as Raphael". What makes it a little confusing is that the book also uses the term "watchers" unqualified to refer to the disobedient angels. Maybe qualification with "holy" distinguishes the good angels from the bad.
I would critique the article for dating the Book of Watchers to the "2nd-1st Century BCE". This date is much too late. The authoritative commentary by Nickelsburg states that "the book was a whole was completed by the middle of the third century B.C.E." (p. 7). 4QEn a , for instance, dates "to the first half of the second century B.C.E. but ... aspects of its orthography and the confusion of letters may indicate that it was copied from a MS. dating from the third century at least" (p. 9). So the phrase "watchers and holy ones" in the Book of Watchers is probably not a reference to the Aramaic apocalypse of Daniel as claimed by the article; most likely the Danielic text was either contemporaneous or later than the Enochic work.
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dog is god
I was pretty stunned that someone I know named her cats after archangels. Not the naming part but that there were more than one. Does any of the accepted 66 books name more than one?
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pseudoxristos
Leolaia,
I'm not sure quite what you mean here since it states that "Aramaic iri ("watcher" singular) is also applied to the obedient archangels who chain them, such as Raphael".
Looking back at my post, I should have phrased that first sentence a little differently. Maybe more like the article put it; "The term irin is primarily applied to disobedient Watchers...".
As you brought out, the qualification "holy" is probably used to distinguish the good and bad angels. I wish that there was more support for the idea that the 7 "holy angels who watch" (in chapter XX) were archangels while the rest (200 in chapter VI) were just "watchers", but unfortunately I don't think the text can be forced to support this idea conclusively. It seems that the idea of archangels is a later concept that is being forced back into the text of Enoch.
Another interesting point I noticed, is that chapter VI mentions the "chiefs" of the "two hundred; who descended". Although I'm not familar with the underlying text, I would think that the reference here to "chiefs" (or chief angels) would have a very similar meaning to "archangels".
pseudo
CHAPTER VI.
1. And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. 2. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.' 3. And Semjâzâ, who was their leader, said unto them: 'I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.' 4. And they all answered him and said: 'Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.' 5. Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. 6. And they were in all two hundred; who descended ⌈in the days⌉ of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. 7. And these are the names of their leaders: Sêmîazâz, their leader, Arâkîba, Râmêêl, Kôkabîêl, Tâmîêl, Râmîêl, Dânêl, Êzêqêêl, Barâqîjâl, Asâêl, Armârôs, Batârêl, Anânêl, Zaqîêl, Samsâpêêl, Satarêl, Tûrêl, Jômjâêl, Sariêl. 8. These are their chiefs of tens.
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CHAPTER XX.
1. And these are the names of the holy angels who watch. 2. Uriel, one of the holy angels, who is over the world and over Tartarus. 3. Raphael, one of the holy angels, who is over the spirits of men. 4. Raguel, one of the holy angels who †takes vengeance on† the world of the luminaries. 5. Michael, one of the holy angels, to wit, he that is set over the best part of mankind ⌈⌈and⌉⌉ over chaos. 6. Saraqâêl, one of the holy angels, who is set over the spirits, who sin in the spirit. 7. Gabriel, one of the holy angels, who is over Paradise and the serpents and the Cherubim. 8. Remiel, one of the holy angels, whom God set over those who rise.