Biblical Demonology: Part 4 – Semjâzâ and Azâzêl

In this section we take a brief look at the fallen angels mentioned in Fall 3, the Genesis 6:1-4 account of the Watchers and the women.

The two main culprits in this case, as said previously, were Semjâzâ and Azâzêl, and seem to have been in a hierarchical organisation of heavenly beings responsible for, and / or teaching humans about, parts of the creation.

Semjâzâ

This is the first being noted in 1 Enoch 6:3. He is said to have taught pharmaceutical enchantments from plants (1 Enoch 8:3). He was also said to be the leader of 20 [1] named beings (v7), themselves assumed to each be in charge of a unit of 10 beings under them (to make the total 200 Watchers which fell (v6). Their names (according to Charles) and meanings (as best we can determine from various text translations) are listed below, as are their listed teachings:

Name	Meaning [2]	Teachings [3]
Semîazâz	“My name has seen”
Arakîbâ / Araqiêl	The earth is power / a stronghold	signs of the earth
Râmêêl	Burning ashes of God	volcanic activity
Kôkabîêl	Star of God	Constellations
Tâmîêl	Perfection of God (?)
Râmîêl	Thunder of God
Dânêl	God is my judge
Ezêqêêl	Shooting star of God	Knowledge of clouds (meterology?)
Barâqîjal	Lightning of God	Astrology
Asâêl / Azâzêl (?)	God has made	Mining / metsllurgy- specifically for jewellery, makeup, idols and warfare. [4]
Amârôs / Ḥermānî [5]	The one of Hermon
Batârêl / Matârêl	Rain of God
Anânêl	Cloud of God
Zaqîêl	Winter of God
Samsâpêêl / Shamshiêl	Sun of God	Signs of the sun.
Satarêl	Moon of God
Tûrêl	Mountain of God
Jômjâêl	Sea (or Day) of God
Sariêl	Moonlight of God	Signs of the moon
Yĕhaddî ̉ēl [1]	God will guide.

These 20 and the 200 as a whole were the ones who left their heavenly realm and descended upon Mount Hermon (1 Enoch 6:6), took wives of the daughters of men and defiled themselves with them. This defiling of the Watchers came through the sexual relations with them, thus leaving their “first estate” (Jude 6; 1 Enoch 15:3). We shall consider the union of the Watchers and human women in the next part of the series.

Azâzêl

Azâzêl is mentioned in Chapter 8:1 as the one who taught warfare due to metallurgy / mining as well as human ornamentation with jewellery and makeup for seduction purposes which led to fornication..

Some Greek fragments contain ‘First Azael, the tenth of the archons‘ [6] – archon being the principalities that Paul talks about [7].

Some believe that the Enochic material is derived from the Greek myth of Prometheus who brought fire from the gods (fire being necessary for smithing and mining). However, scholars such as Annus (2010) have shown there are earlier precedents for the material, based in the Mesopotamian accounts of the apkallu. Given the similarities, it’s possible that the Greek myth drew its sources too from the Mesopotamian root stories.

Rebellious Teachings

All these beings seem to have been beings charged with responsibilities over various parts of the creation, and they may well have been originally responsible for teaching humankind the correct way to use this knowledge, e.g. plants for medicinal purposes rather than hallucinogenics in some shamanic practices, metallurgy for ploughshares rather than swords and so on.1 Enoch 82:9-20 lists many other angels responsible for various parts of the created order. It seems that, like human beings are given responsibility for looking after various parts of the earth, the heavenly beings are also responsible for parts of the creation: thrones, dominions, principalities, powers as Paul says in many places in the New Testament [7]. It’s likely that they worked in tandem with humans for some of them if some were assigned as teachers of such things? In any case, their original roles were perverted and they taught things which were destructive for humans and creation.

Western Christianity generally has one fall (the Edenic) which has led to the total depravity of humanity and the creation. The Second Temple teachings used by Jesus and the Apostles seem to teach that whilst humans did indeed sin by taking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil when instructed not to, it is the fallen Watchers who brought the destructive chaos into the world, and with humans created violent offspring who would later teach idol worship.

Judgement of the Watchers

The rebellion of the Watchers in producing mayhem, illegitimate sons with human women and bloodshed did not go unnoticed. In 1 Enoch 9 petitions are made to God by humans suffering under the giant offspring and the archangels Michael, Uriel, Raphael and Gabriel witnessing the chaos. At this point, God issues the command to Raphael to bind Azâzêl and to Michael to bind Semjâzâ and his minions – all are then imprisoned within the underworld (see Tartarus in 2 Peter 2:4) until the day of judgement when they will be cast into eternal fire. Azâzêl is bound and sent into an opening in the desert of Dûdâêl (1 Enoch 10:4), Semjâzâ is bound and sent into the valleys of the earth (v12). Both locations are places of wilderness, dry, arid places, reminiscent of Jesus’ description of where unclean spirits go (Luke 11:24); they are metaphors of the underworld, as we see in the famous Psalm 23:4: ‘the valley of the shadow of death’.

The judgement order of these two beings, firstly Azâzêl, then Semjâzâ, may give clues as to the identity of Azâzêl: the corruption of the whole earth and all sin ascribed to him (1 Enoch 10:8). Despite Semjâzâ being said to be the leader of the rebellious group of the 200 Watchers (1 Enoch 8:7), Azâzêl is said to be the leader of the host (of Watchers) in 1 Enoch 54:4-6 (Heiser wonders if there is an implied rivalry between these beings [8]). In the latter verses we read that these hosts are led by Satan (named as such) and are currently held in the ‘abyss of complete judgement’ (referring back to 1 Enoch 10) where, at the end of time, all will be thrown into the ‘burning furnace’ (cf Matthew 25:41).

Conclusion

The pre-Flood story of Genesis 6:1-4 assumes much of the reader. Knowing what the ancients believed about the background to the Genesis 6 account gives a way of understanding how evil proliferated amongst the human race and destructive behaviours were taught to us. Indeed can such activity be being repeated, as evil ends are sought from increased knowledge of the cosmos:

• the use of technology to enslave and destroy rather than assist life,
• biological processes used for warfare means rather than healing,
• financial systems which enslave the poor and build bigger barns for the uber rich,
• human psychology abused to create followers of evil causes,
• weapons systems which can destroy the world many times over…

If Wink (1988) is right in his assumption about groups having their own “angel” derived (or possibly attracted to / brought from within) from the ethos of the organisation, maybe there are human-produced “giant” offspring as in the days of Noah? Could they be the mega corporations and ideologies, which have huge power over vast proportions of humans, economically and politically, consuming vast portions of the earth’s resources, drunk on the blood of humankind and unchallengable by mortals?

Next Time we explore the objections for the “sons of God” that followed Semjâzâ and Azâzêl to the earthly plane. Were “sons of God” merely Sethites (a predominant view, from the time of Augustine, Aquinas to today), noble / divine kings, or heavenly beings. If the latter, how could they procreate with humans? What about the defilement of these beings and what is the link to the judgement of Sodom and Gomorrah that Jude makes?

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Bibliography

Annus, A. (2010), On the Origin of the Watchers: A Comparative Study of the Antediluvian Wisdom in Mesopotamian and Jewish Traditions, Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha. Vol 19 No. 4, pp. 277-320.

Heiser, M. S. (2019), A Companion to the Book of Enoch: A Reader’s Commentary, Vol. 1, Crane, Mo: Defender Publishing.

Nickelsburg, G. W. E. (2002), 1 Enoch: 1: A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch (Hermeneia: A Critical & Historical Commentary on the Bible), Augsberg Fortress.

Wink, W. (1988), The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millenium, New York, NY: Galilee.

Footnotes

[1] The Charles translation of 1 Enoch contains only 19 names, whereas the Nickelsburg translation has 20 names.The last name, Yĕhaddî ̉ēl is found in Nickelsburg. For the technical reasons behind this, see Heiser (2019: 60-62, 70-71)

[2] Heiser, 62-71.

[3] 1 Enoch 8:3

[4] Note this is not the same being as Leviticus 16 Azazel, despite similar sounding names. 1 Enoch 65:7-8 discusses the metallurgy elements in further detail.

[5] Charles uses Amârôs from the Ethiopic translation; Greek texts use Pharmaros and Arearôs; Nickelsburg uses Ḥermānî from the Aramaic (Heiser, 2019:67).

[6] Nickelsberg, 188.

[7] Rom 8:38; 1 Cor 15:24; Eph 1:21, 3:10; Col 1:16, 2:10,15; 1 Pet 3:22.

[8] Heiser, 94.