Today I’m beginning to read and publish some of my thoughts on a new book by William Henry titled “The Watchers: Lost Secrets of Ascension, Resurrection and Perfection“. Whether you stumbled upon my blog by accident or were invited here by me personally, I welcome your feedback and input. I seriously do not mind people questioning me or disagreeing with my opinions so long as your comments are respectful. Feel free to leave comments to any blog posting of mine for public debate/discussion or message me privately if you’d like for a one on one discussion. By default, all comments you make must be reviewed by myself before published so please anticipate a short delay before public comments go live.
The “Watchers” is a topic I have long been fascinated by from my days of being a Christian. While I no longer consider myself to be “Christian,” I cannot help continually being fascinated by any story that reminds me of something in the Bible, particularly when that something PRE-dates the Bible and thus may be the “origin” of the story told by the Hebrews. This fascination drives me to continue reading about and discussing with anyone willing to listen, all of the crazy ideas that pop into my head when reading this stuff. I hope you will find it entertaining if not slightly educational as well..
So let’s begin the book discussion. Very early the the author made the following statement:
Foremost among the joyful angels dwelling in this eternal celestial city are the mysterious Watchers, also known as the Angels of the Lord. Referred to in the Old Testament Book of Daniel 4: 13-17, they are a high and illustrious order of ‘Holy Ones’, that sit on the supreme Judgment Council of the Heavenly Court (in Sion), but who come down out of heaven.
The Watchers: Lost Secrets of Ascension, Resurrection and Perfection
William Henry
The English translation “watchers” appears twice in this passage (Daniel 4:13-17) and is translated from the Hebrew or Aramaic word “ir” or “ur” which Strong’s Concordance defines as “waking or wakeful one”. I believe that the point the author makes is an important one, establishing that the “watchers” are
- “holy ones” that are closest to “God” (which is a complex concept in itself),
- that they can pronounce judgements on men,
- and that they can descend or come down to earth from “heaven”.
Extra-biblical sources (that is books no longer considered “scripture” by the modern church), tell us a lot more about the “watchers” than is captured in the modern “Bible”. As an aide, it is frustrating to me that I was once, like many modern Christians, taught to immediately reject any and all books or sources of information outside of the modern canon of books we call the Bible. It is ironic to me that many seminaries teach classes in early church history and introduce many extra biblical sources to upcoming ministers in their pursuit of a ministerial degree, and yet the general public is taught that they have no real value to us today and are discouraged from reading the very same books their ministers and teachers were introduced to. It should be noted that many additional books that the church now rejects as heresy were once considered “scripture” by early believers. Many of these books are even named and/or quoted from in the modern Bible itself but have largely been forgotten or rejected by the modern church…but I digress.
According to the author:
Early mystical Hebrew sects organized them into an Arch-angel hierarchy. According to this system, the Watchers are the highest angels possible and were ruled over by four of their own, the great angels known as Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Ariel. These are among the ‘good’ Watchers we will discuss, as is Metatron, who is the transformed human, Enoch. Then there is Lucifer, Shemyaza and Azalel, the ‘evil’ Watchers who were destined to unleash a storm on humanity.
The Watchers: Lost Secrets of Ascension, Resurrection and Perfection
William Henry
Unfortunately, Christianity has all but dropped the term “watchers” from it’s vocabulary and thus it is not a term I think most Christians are terribly familiar with, nor care much about. Personally I think a ton of insight into the true meaning of certain passages in the modern “Bible” can only be found by understanding what the early believers thought of when they read those words and what the common opinions were about the “watchers” in those days.
The early believers were almost assuredly aware of the various stories and “myths” of the “watchers” (as the early church now calls them) and thus certain passages in the Bible would be seen very much differently through the early believer’s eyes than how modern Christianity sees them today. Modern Christianity has largely been stripped of the knowledge and history of the “watchers” and thus may be missing big keys to a better understanding of their own holy book. This of course is not the fault of the modern believer who was never really been introduced to these topics but if you yourself are one those unfamiliar with the history of the watchers, I urge you to keep an open mind and consider the impact these so called “myths” have on the writings of the Bible.
My question is are these beings watchers or more purely the waken ones. The word watchers has different connotations than a being that is awake, or woken, et cetera. I always wonder how much is lost or missed in translation. I am interested in what “books” were left out of the Bible and why. I am somewhat leary of the motives of men at that time, and how power and self-righteousness may or may not have influenced them explicitly or implicitly. I will say I remain a believer in God, Christ and the Holy Spirit, not so much a believer in religion in many aspects. And I am concerned that the mystical and spiritual are often lost in western culture. I think angels are the mystical whether some are watchers or something else that does not translate well into English. Interested to find out more of your thoughts going forward.
Thanks for your comments. There are a lot of books listed in the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, that we no longer have and are thus presumed “lost books”. The fact that they are listed suggested they were books once available and studied and read as scripture. One of the biggest books both Jews and Christians have rejected today that was common scripture in the time of Jesus is the Book of Enoch. That book was widely circulated and familiar to the early believers, including those who followed the then “Jewish” sect known as “The Way” (which we later called Christians). This book wasn’t rejected until 100 to 300 years after the death of Jesus and it details a LOT of information about the Watchers in it. I believe Jesus quoted from it and thus regarded it as scripture. In addition Paul clearly makes reference to the book which is lost on most of modern Christianity and leaves them confused about some things he said because they don’t realize the book he’s alluding too. Other books in the New Testament also make reference to the Book of Enoch. I hope to cover that in future posts.
As to the question of the watchers and “awakened” or “wakeful ones” I’m not 100% sure. My next post is going to discuss (from the book author’s research) what specific type of angel the watchers were and how they were depicted in the Bible. I feel most modern Christians don’t use the term “watchers” much so they aren’t sure what it is. The accepted “canon” of books the church finally agreed to (hundreds of years after Jesus died), tossed out books that made it clear who the watchers were and what they did. In my opinion, the church wants no part of the watchers story surviving because they don’t like the implications of what it says and means so they just tossed out the books that clarify what and who the watchers are. More to come.