Book of Enoch
Enoch was a seventh-generation direct descendant of Adam and was born in 3382 BC (see Appendix). Although the
Book of Enoch
is not part of the canon of the Old Testament, fragments of it were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are reckoned to date back to circa 300 BC. Even though this book is not part of the Old Testament, nevertheless it is quoted in the New Testament by Jude, who was the brother (or half-brother) of the Messiah. Enoch writes extensively regarding both the fallen angels, whom he refers to as the “Watchers,” and the Apocalypse. The following quotes are from the Book of Enoch and I shall offer comment as we go through it.
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It is important to consider these excerpts in the light of the information we have already covered.
And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. 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.”
And Semjaza, 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.” 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.”
Then swore they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. 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. And these are the names of their leaders: Semiazaz, their leader, Arakiba, Rameel, Kokabiel, Tamiel, Ramiel, Danel, Ezeqeel, Baraqial, Asael, Armaros, Batarel, Ananel, Zaqiel, Samsapeel, Satarel, Turel, Jomjael, Sariel.
These were their chiefs of ten.
Book of Enoch VI 1-8
Jared (born 3544 BC) was the father of Enoch and was 162 years old when his son was born. This would place these renegade angels on Earth around the time many experts believe the Great Pyramid was built. It would also allow plenty of time, about 1,000 years, for the population of the Earth to become polluted and corrupted by them prior to the Flood in 2348 BC.
And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants.
And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh and drink the blood.
Then the Earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.
Book of Enoch VII 1-6
This passage copperfastens all the prior Scriptural evidence, which states that fallen angels came to Earth and bred with ordinary women, who then gave birth to giants, who become the
“heroes of old, mighty men of renown.”
In a previous chapter we surmised that the fallen angels, the
Nephilim
, interfered in some way with the animals and birds of the Earth, for it seemed unusual that Yaweh would pronounce judgment against
“the beasts, the creeping things and the fowls of the air”
(
Genesis 6:7
)
.
Yet, here again in the Book of Enoch, we are told that these reprobate angels began to “
sin against birds and beasts and reptiles and fish ...”
The context of this passage is sexual sin, for how else can you “sin” against such creatures. Is this another allusion to genetic engineering? Is Enoch here intimating that these
Nephilim
were involved in creating the half-human, half-animal creatures which appear in numerous images in many countries during this same era?
Also note that it was these angelic beings who taught them “enchantments and charms and the cutting of roots,” i.e. witchcraft, black magic, call it what you will. It is all proceeding from the same source. “And made them acquainted with plants.” Could this mean that they introduced them to cultivating and producing drugs such as opium and heroin? For such could not possibly emanate from Yaweh. We are also told here how these giants, the offspring of the
Nephilim,
began to devour one another's flesh and to drink blood. This fits in with many of the stories of the Greek gods who, we are told, indulged in all these activities.
And Azazel taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals (of the Earth) and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures.
And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways.
Semjaza taught enchantments and (the use of) root-cuttings, Armaros the resolving of enchantments, Baraqijal astrology, Kobabel the constellations, Ezeqeel the knowledge of the clouds, Araziel the signs of the Earth, Shamsiel the signs of the sun and Sariel the course of the moon.
And, as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven . . .
Book of Enoch VIII 1-4
In the naming of these fallen “sons of God” and the things they imparted to men, we find astrology, the constellations, the courses of the sun and the moon. This provides more evidence that the Zodiac and its signs were not merely invented by the imaginations of ordinary men over time, but were known to these fallen “stars,” and the knowledge of them was transferred, along with other magic formulae, to humans. It is also evident that astrology, considered by some to be the false counterpart of astronomy, has its basis in evil and issues from the forces of darkness.
The
Book of Enoch
continues:
And then Michael, Uriel, Raphael and Gabriel looked down from Heaven and saw much blood being shed upon the Earth, and all lawlessness being wrought upon the Earth.
And they said to the Lord of the Ages:
“
Thou seest what Azazel hath done, who hath taught all unrighteousness on Earth and revealed the eternal secrets which were (preserved) in Heaven, which men were striving to learn.
And they have gone to the daughters of men upon the Earth, and have slept with the women, and have defiled themselves, and revealed to them all kinds of sin.
And the women have borne giants, and the whole Earth has thereby been filled with blood and unrighteousness.”
Book of Enoch IX 1-11
Michael and Gabriel we are familiar with. They are named in the Scriptures often, appearing in many places. Uriel and Raphael were never named in the Scriptures and are new to us. In reading this passage we can contemplate the original story from Genesis 6 of how the Earth was filled with violence and blood caused by the giants, or Titans, the
Nephilim
and their offspring. The Book of Enoch adds yet more detail and insight. But what is Yaweh to do concerning this great sin? The story goes on:
Then said the Most High, the Holy and Great One spake, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, and said to him:
“Go to Noah and tell him in my name âhide thyself' and reveal to him the end that is approaching: that the whole Earth will be destroyed, and a deluge is about to come upon the whole Earth, and will destroy all that is on it. And now instruct him that he may escape and his seed may be preserved for all the generations of the world.”
Book of Enoch X 1-3
Enoch had a son whose name was Methuselah, which means “when he is dead it shall be sent” (i.e. the deluge). Methuselah died at the age of 969 in the first month of the Flood year of 2348 BC (see Appendix).
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He was the only man ever to live to such an age. When Methuselah was 187 years old he had a son whom he named Lamech. When Lamech was 182 years old he had a son and called him Noah. Noah literally means
rest, comfort or consolation
. For Noah was to give rest and comfort from the evil deeds which were being perpetrated all around him.
In the beginning of this section devoted to the Book of Enoch we are told that it was “in the days of Jared” that the fallen angels descended on Mount Hermon and began their evil doings. Jared was born in 3544 BC and Noah in 2948 BC, so the activities of the fallen ones, or the “Watchers” as Enoch refers to them, occurred sometime during the 596 years between Jared and Noah. And there is yet another 600 years of Noah's life before the deluge strikes. Ample time for the gods of Greece and Rome and Egypt to erect their temples and other edifices and establish their legends.
And again the Lord said to Raphael: “Bind Azazel hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness; and make an opening in the desert, which is in Dudael, and cast him therein. And on the day of the great judgment he shall be cast into the fire. And the whole Earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azazel: to him ascribe all sin.”
And to Gabriel said the Lord: “Proceed against the bastards and the reprobates, and against the children of fornication; and destroy the children of fornication and the children of the Watchers from amongst men and cause them to go forth; send them one against the other that they may destroy each other in battle, for length of days shall they not have.”
And the Lord said unto Michael: “Go, bind Semjaza and his associates who have united themselves with women so as to have defiled themselves with them in all their uncleanness . . . In those days they shall be led off to the abyss of fire; (and) to the torment and the prison in which they shall be confined forever.
And destroy all the spirits of the reprobate, and the children of the Watchers, because they have wronged mankind.”
Book of Enoch X 4-15
In this passage the past and the future are linked in the same notion. We see the Watchers, the fallen angels, being condemned for their corruption of mankind and sent to a prison which sounds not unlike
Tartarus
, there to be held until a future judgment, which is set at the end of the Apocalypse and will be discussed in the latter part of this book. The Abyss is also mentioned, but this is a future abyss which is spoken of as a place of torment and confinement for all the evil host of heaven and their mentors and the godless in the final chapters of the Book of Revelation.
The Book of Enoch continues with the pronouncement of blessings and joy for the righteous in a future Paradise. But other mentions are made of the angelic host, both good and evil, and it may be beneficial, in light of the thesis thus far, to briefly quote some of these passages.
This next passage is from the Book of Enoch XV and XVI. In it, Enoch is asked by the aforementioned condemned angels to bring a petition to the Most High, asking for their sentence to be remitted. Enoch reads the petition and then falls asleep. In his sleep he has a vison and recounts the words given to him. In this section he quotes the Most High himself:
“And go, say to the Watchers of Heaven, who have sent thee to intercede for them: You should intercede for men, and not men for you.
Wherefore have ye left the high, holy and eternal Heaven, and lain with women, and defiled yourselves with the daughters of men and taken to yourselves wives, and done like the children of Earth, and begotten giants (as your) sons.
And though ye were holy, spiritual (beings) living the eternal life, you have defiled yourselves with the blood of women, and have begotten (children) with the blood of flesh and blood as those (also) do who die and perish.
And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirit and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the Earth, and on the Earth shall be their dwelling.
And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle and work destruction on the Earth, and cause trouble: they take no food, but nevertheless hunger and thirst, and cause offences.
And now as to the Watchers who have sent thee to intercede for them, who have been aforetime in Heaven (say to them): âYou have been in Heaven, but all the mysteries had not yet been revealed to you, and you knew worthless ones, and these in the hardness of your hearts you have made known to the women, and through these mysteries women and men work much evil on Earth.'
Say to them therefore: âYou have no peace.' ”
Book of Enoch XV 2 to XVI 4
Although the Book of Enoch is not part of the canon of Scripture, we feel it is appropriate to quote it at length, for it fits in with the other parts of Scripture which we have discussed so far. Also, it adds to what we know from both the Old and New Testament and fills in many of the blanks with details not found anywhere else.