Samyaza

Also known as Shamhazai, Aza, Ouza, Semjaza, or Amezyarak.

He’s a fallen angel of apocryphal Abrahamic traditions & also Manichaeism as the leader of the Watchers.

According to the Book of the Watchers (1st section of 1 Enoch), Samyaza was a high-ranking angel who got caught up with the “daughter of men.” He talked 200 other angels to come down to Earth to marry some mortal/human women. Samyaza knew fully the severity of these actions. He was afraid that he was going to suffer the consequences alone & be held solely responsible.

To make absolutely sure that everyone equally shared in the consequences, Samyaza made his comrades swear an oath on Mt. Hermon. This was to make absolutely sure that everyone would share the same fate. While Samyaza is the actual leaders, he & his Watcher associates (like Azazel) taught humans a lot of things that weren’t meant for human beings to know:

  • Sorcery & Incantations:
    • Samyaza specifically taught the “cutting of roots” & the “resolving of enchantments.”
  • Comsmetology & Warfare:
    • Other Watchers taught the making of swords, jewelry, & cosmetics makeup.
  • Astrology:
    • Humans were taught the signs of the sun, moon, & stars.

The “side effects” of the spicy adult time between the Watfhers & human women were called the Nephilim/Giants.

In the Enochian tradition, these “giants” were massive beings who consumed the earth’s resources. Eventually, they began to prey on humanity. The resulting chaos & bloodshedis given as the Great Flood, as the Earth cried out to the Archangels for intervention.

In the Book of Giants, Shemyaza (or Sahmizad in the Manichaean version) sires 2 sons, they battled Leviathan together. They’re not portrayed as heroic. But boasting about their own victory. A symbol of royal failure to keep one’s power in this world. After the defeat of the Leviathan, Shemyaza & his kids are slain by the 4 punishing angels.

The Babylonian Tulmud has 1 singular mention of the name Samyaza. The text portrays him as the grandpa of King Og, the king of Bashan & the last of the Raphaim known for his gigantic height & strength (Deuteronomy 3:11).

Upon the command of God, the Archangel Michael was sent to bind Samyaza & his associates. According to 1 Enoch 10: Samyaza was forced to watch the Nephilim (his kids) slaughter 1 another. He was bound/tied up & thrown into “the valleys of the earth” (or under the hills) to remain in darkness until the day of Final Judgment. At the end of time, he’s to be led away to the “abyss of fire.”

In some Midrashic traditions, Samyaza is portrayed with a touch of tragedy or repentance. One legend suggests he repented & suspended himself between Heaven & Earth – forming the constellation Orion.

In legend, Azza (another name for Samyaza) is the seraph tempted by the maiden Ishtar to reveal to her the Explicit Name of God. In Solomonic lore, the story is that Azza was the angel who revealed to the Jewish king the heavenly arcana. Thus making Solomon the wisest man on earth.

Of the 2 groups of angels headed by Metatron, 1 of the groups (the angels justice) were under the ruleship of Azza, who had this time hadn’t yet fallen.

According to rabbinic tradition, Azza is suspended between Heaven & Earth with Azazel as punishment for having had carnal knowledge of human women. He’s said to be constantly falling, with 1 eye open & the other closed, to see his plight & suffer the more. It’s said that he now hangs head down, & is the constellation of Orion.

Uzza (another name for Samyaza) is the guardian angel of the Egyptians. Before the Fall, Ouza (another name for Samyaza) was the rank of Seraphim.

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Book of Enoch

This is an ancient Jewish apocalyptic religious text. The author of this book, by tradition, is the patriarch Enoch. Enoch was the dad of Methuselah (the oldest man in the Christian & Hebrew Bible) & the great-grandpa of Noah.

The Book of Enoch has some quite unique passages on the origins of demons & the Nephilim, why some angels fell from Heaven, an explanation of why the Genesis Flood was morally necessary, & a prophetic explanation of the 1,000-year reign of the Messiah.

3 books are traditionally attributed to Enoch, including the distinct works of 2 Enoch & 3 Enoch.

1 Enoch isn’t considered to be canonical Scripture by most sects of Judaism & Christianity. Although it’s a part of the biblical canon used by the Ethiopian Jewish community, Beta Israel. As well as the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church & the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

The older section of 1 Enoch is dated to circa 300-200 BCE. The latest part (Book of Parables) is probably from circa 100 BCE. It’s believed that Enoch was originally written in either Aramaic or Hebrew. The 1st languages used for Jewish texts. No Hebrew version is known to have survived.

Copies of the earlier sections of 1 Enoch were preserved in Aramaic among the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Qumran Caves. The full Book of Enoch survives in its entirety only in the Ge’ez translation. Ge’ez is an ancient South Semitic language. The language originated from what’s known as Ethiopia & Eritrea.

The 1st part of the Book of Enoch describes the fall of the Watchers, the angels who sired angel-human hybrids called the Nephilim. The rest of the book describes Enoch’s revelations & his visits to Heaven in the form of travels, visions, & dreams.

The book consists of 5 major sections:

  • The Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 1-36)
  • The Book of Parables of Enoch (1 Enoch 37-71; sometimes called the Similitudes of Enoch)
  • The Astronomical Book (1 Enoch 72-82; sometimes called the Book of the Heavenly Luminaries or Book of Luminaries)
  • The Book of Dream Visions (I Enoch 83-90; sometimes called the Book of Dreams)
  • The Epistle of Enoch (1 Enoch 91-108)

The most extensive surviving early manuscripts of the Book of Enoch are in Ge’ez. Also, there are manuscripts used by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church to prepare the deuterocanonicals from Ge’ez into the targumic Amharic in the bilingual Haile Selassie Amharic Bible.

Judging by the number of copies found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Book of Enoch was widely read during the Second Temple period. Today, the Ethiopian Beta Israel community of Haymanot Jews is the only Jewish group that accepts the Book of Enoch as canonical & still preserves it in its liturgical language of Ge’ez. It plays a central role in worship.

However, the Book of Enoch was excluded from both the formal canon of the Tanakh (the Jewish/Hebrew Bible) & the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament, the earliest Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew). Also from the writings known today as the Deuterocanon.

By the 5th century, the Book of Enoch was mostly excluded from Christian biblical canons. It is now regarded as Scripture only by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church & the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

The Book of Enoch was considered as Scripture in the Epistle of Barnabas & by some of the early Church Fathers (like Clement of Alexandria & Tertullian) who wrote circa 200 that the Jews had rejected the Book of Enoch because it purposely contained prophecies about Jesus.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) don’t consider 1 Enoch to be part of its standard canon. Although it believes that a purported, “original” Book of Enoch was an inspired book.

The Book of Moses (1st published the 1830s by the Mormon Church) is part of its standard works & has a section that claims to contain extracts from the “original” Book of Enoch.

This section has a number of similarities to 1 Enoch & other Enoch texts, including 2 Enoch, 3 Enoch, & The Book of Giants. The Enoch section of the Book of Moses is believed by the Church to contain extracts from “the ministry, teachings, & visions of Enoch.”

Though it doesn’t have the entire Book of Enoch itself. The Mormon Church considers the potions of the other texts that match its Enoch excerpts to be inspired while not rejecting but withholding judgment on the remainder.

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