1 Enoch 89

1 Enoch 89

Verse 1

The first 9 verse tell the story of Noah and the flood, the bulls to represent them are again, two white bulls, a red one and a black one, just like Adam and his sons.  Except the first white bull (Noah) became a man.   Because of this, Noah is not represented as a human being by a bull anymore, but is an actual human being.  This could either mean that he was more reasonable than the typical human (as reasonable as a human is to an ox), or it could be a symbol of God’s choosing and identifying him from the crowd.

Verse 6

So now that the stars were bound and cast into the abyss, the fate of the rest of the beings was as so:

“… while all the oxen and elephants and camels and asses sank to the bottom with all the animals, so that I could no longer see them, and they were not able to escape, but perished and sank into the depths”

Verse 7

And interesting note:

In the R.H. Charles version of the book of Enoch this verse is mistakenly labeled as verse 6; the preceding verse being verse 6 and the next verse being verse 8. 

The verse says that the water torrents were finally removed from the high roof.  So it wasn’t just rain that caused the flood, it was torrents of water.

“… and other abysses were opened…”

Verse 8

“Then the water began to run down into these, till the earth became visible;”

Again one must have an open mind and be familiar with concepts of relativity to understand that maybe the water didn’t only run down into the abysses, but the definition implies just as well that the earth may have floated to the surface through the water.  Just another possibility and perspective.

Verse 10

The verse seems to talk about the repopulation of the earth after the flood.

It interesting how the animals used to represent the generations after the flood are mostly carnivores, while before the flood, even the Nephilim were herbivores. 

Verse 11

This happens until the white bull begets the wild asses, since the asses were also use to represent the Nephilim.

 

The white bull here seems to represent Abraham.  The white bull that Abraham begets seems to represent Isaac, while the wild asses,

[at first, I thought represented Ishmael.  Since there is always a distinction between Isaac and Ishmael and in verse 13 it talks about one (Joseph) of the 12 sheep (sons of Israel) being given up to the asses (Ishmaelites).  But then in verse 16, it talks of a sheep (Moses) who escapes to the wild asses.  Moses had actually escaped to Midian, and although I could not find if the people of Midian were Ishmaelites or not, I actually found out in Genesis 25 that Abraham had a second wife named Keturah (Genesis 25:1) and had 6 sons: “Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah.” (Genesis 25:2)  I think it is reasonable to assume that Midianites lived in Midian (where Moses fled to); and that Midianites descended from Midian (Abraham’s son).  

With this assumption we can conclude that the white bull that Abraham (the white bull) begat can represent Isaac, while the wild ass can represent “the rest of Abraham’s children”, whether they were by Hagar or Keturah.

Verse 12

In this verse, the white bull (Isaac) that came from the white bull (Abraham) begets a black wild boar, and a white sheep.   The black wild boar seems to represent Esau, or Edom; while the white sheep seems to represent Jacob, or Israel.  I assume this because the sheep then begets 12 sheep (which seems to represent Israel’s 12 sons).

Verse 13

This verse tells the story of Joseph, sold into Egypt, in animal form.

That is if we assume the sheep to be Israel’s sons, the asses to be the Ishmaelites (or as we explained in verse 11 reflection, descendants from the non-Isaac sons of Abraham), and the wolves to represent the Egyptians.

Verse 14

This verse then explains how the rest of Israel’s sons eventually joined the sheep (Joseph) with the wolves and lived among them and multiplied.

Here is the end of Genesis represented and breaking into the beginning of the book of Exodus in the Bible.

Verse 15

Tells the story of how the pharaoh began to fear the number of Israelites and began to get rid of them, in animal form.  The Egyptians are represented by wolves, while the Israelites are represented by sheep.

Verse 16

In this verse the sheep escaped from the wolves to the wild asses.  This is a representation of how Moses escaped from the Egyptians to the Midianites (which I explained in verse 11 I assumed them to be descendants of Midian… a non-Isaac son of Abraham).

Verse 41

This verse comes after the sheep that represent the people of Israel, reach the promise land.

As we know, after Israel reaches the promise land, God raises judges among them; then king Saul comes after the judges.

This verse sums up the time of judges by saying that “sometimes their eyes were opened, and sometimes blinded, till another sheep arose and led them and brought them back, and their eyes were opened.”

Verse 42

In this verse the Lord of the sheep doesn’t just raise another sheep to lead them back, but a ram from the sheep.  These rams now represent the kings.  With the first ram being Saul.

Verse 44

In this verse the first ram (king Saul) begins to behave “unseemly”.

Verse 47

This verse tells how Saul pursued David.

Verse 52

This verse seems to be talking about one of the sheep that God sent (or the prophets) it managed to escape and not get slain by the other sheep.

The interesting thing is that, Enoch sees in his vision that God brought that sheep up with him (Enoch), and they hung out together.

This makes me realize that Enoch had been an interactive part of the vision all this time.

Enoch’s part of the vision where he gets taken up to heaven (1 Enoch 87:4) represents just that; the time in his life that he gets taken up to heaven.  And then, everything he sees since then.

Verse 58

After Enoch cries to God about Israel being “devoured”, God “remained Unmoved, though He saw it, and rejoiced that they were devoured and swallowed and robbed and left them to be devoured in the hand of all the beasts.” (1 Enoch 89:58)

Just another example of God’s funny side, it reminds me of that verse in Job 9:23.

June 2, 2012

1 Enoch 88

1 Enoch 88

Verse 1

The star that first fell to the earth was bound and thrown into an abyss.

Verse 2

The angels gave a sword to the (Nephilim) so that they would destroy each other. The earth quaked.

Verse 3

The angels stoned and gathered the rest of the stars and bound them and threw them into the abyss.

June 2, 2012

1 Enoch 87

1 Enoch 87

Verse 1

The verse describes a full out war and turmoil between human beings and the Nephilim, so that “the earth began to cry aloud.”

Verse 2

The verse describes beings that come from heaven who seem to be the seven Archangels.  The verse makes a distinction between four of them and three with them. 

Verse 3

The 3 archangels grasped Enoch and took him to a high place.

Verse 4

So that he would see the rest of the vision.

These last two verses describe an interaction between Enoch and his “vision”, it is hard to say what this part of the vision would represent.  What do the angels represent?  What does the viewer being taken to a high place represent?

For this reason this makes me think that this is the stage in the vision is Enoch’s present moment in which the vision switches from revelation of the past, into revelation of the future.

It would not be too foolish to assume that everything that Enoch has seen in the vision so far is what has happened before him, since Enoch was alive around this time after the population of the earth towards the beginning of the flood.  And as the angel tells him “’Remain here till thou seest everything that befalls those elephants, camels, and asses, and stars and the oxen, and all of them.’”

I then found out in 89:52 that Enoch sees Elijah join him in heaven.  Thus I conclude that this part of the vision actually represents the time he gets taken up to heaven. Since in 1 Enoch 89:52, Elijah actually joins him in heaven like if Enoch had been an interactive part of the vision all along.

It is interesting how Enoch saw all of this (the whole story of the world), and everything he was going to live through (the story of the world), in a vision before he lived through it.

June 2, 2012

1 Enoch 86

1 Enoch 86

Chapter 86 continues the vision from the first population of the earth.

Verse 1

In the first verse, before the many stars fell to the earth, there was one star that lead (Samyaza).  The first star that fell; and leader of the fallen angels that made the pact to desecrate themselves.

Verse 2

The verse tells that this first star begin to live among the humans… that are represented in the vision by oxen.

Verse 3

After a while, many other stars followed that first star and became like and lived among the rest of the oxen.  Just as the rest of the angels made the pact to desecrate themselves lived among the humans.

Verse 4

This verse explicitly describes how the stars (angels) got the cows (humans) pregnant and bore elephants, camels and asses.  I tried to compare the types of animals being described.  Stars are cosmic objects, while elephants, camels, and asses have no cosmic nature.  Thus it makes me think that Nephilim had no divine properties but were just as “cosmic” as human beings (oxen), just like any other animals.  They were not more divine, though they were completely different from any rational being that had ever existed.  Monsters?  Of course, there is nothing to that tells us what property of the being is being represented by the object.

Verse 5

Nevertheless, the oxen feared them.  Maybe the elephants, camels and asses were not necessarily more powerful than the oxen.  But it was something that the oxen were not used to seeing and so they feared them.  As far as the elephants, camels, and asses, they were a new species themselves, and had no “change in the pattern of experience” to fear.

Verse 6

Here, the animals that represent the Nephilim turn against the oxen.

June 2, 2012

1 Enoch 85

1 Enoch 85

The beginning of Enoch’s second vision tells the story of some bulls

A white bull and a heifer… then a black bull and a red one.  The black one gores the red one until it is no longer found.  The black bull left with the heifer.  The cow laments and searches for the red one, but doesn’t find him.  Then the white bull begets another white bull that resembles him.

The story of these bulls seems to resemble the story of the first human beings.

I was confused about what these first bulls represented because in chapter 89 there are also four bulls that dwelled in the vessel that floated over the waters that covered the earth: a red one, a black one, and a white one… and another white one who became a man.  This white one that became a man is referred to as the same white bull from this chapter.  But the four bulls from the vessel seem to represent Noah and his sons while these first four bulls seem to represent Adam and his sons.

Verse 3

I came to this conclusion as I reread in verse 3, “… and behold a bull came forth from the earth, and that bull was white…” and wondered what it meant that it came forth “from the earth”.  I know that in prophetic visions, it is important to take note of where beasts comes from as this can represent different things.  But then I thought simpler and noticed that the first white bull came from the earth and was not born from another bull like all the other ones.  I concluded that this must be Adam, since Adam was also created from the earth.

Verse 5

I do not remember why, but I have always assumed that the necessary incest for the population of the earth right after creation happened between Eve and a son; and not, as many assume, between brothers and sisters.

Verse 5 says that the heifer that came right after the first white bull that rose from the earth (Adam), went with the black bull, after it had grown, and “many oxen proceeded from him which resembled him and followed him.”  If we assume that the heifer is Eve, then this text is saying that the generations of Cain came from Eve and not from a sister.  And thus Eve can rightfully reclaim her name as the “mother of all who live” (Genesis 3:20)

1 Enoch 85:3 Methuselah’s mother is named Edna.

June 2, 2012

1 Enoch 84

1 Enoch 84

After he had the vision in chapter 83, Enoch prays for there to be a remnant among human beings, and for God to save the righteous. 

June 2, 2012 

1 Enoch 83

1 Enoch 83

In this chapter Enoch begins to tells the story of his dream visions to Methuselah, his son.  He had his first vision when he was learning how to write; he says he was sleeping at his grandpa’s house.  As he was dreaming, he yelled out loud saying, “The earth is destroyed!” to which his grandpa comes, and Enoch explains everything.

June 2, 2012 

1 Enoch 80

1 Enoch 80

The first verse restates that which Uriel had shown Enoch about the courses of the heavenly luminaries.  The second verse then begins to talk about what will happen to these:

“In the days of the sinners the years shall be shortened… And all things on the earth shall alter” (1 Enoch 80:2)

“And the moon shall alter her order, and not appear at her time.  And in those days the sun shall be seen and he shall journey in the evening on the extremity of the great chariot in the west and shall shine more brightly than accords with the order of light.  And many chiefs of the stars shall transgress the order prescribed; and these shall alter their orbits and tasks, and not appear at the seasons prescribed to them.”  (1 Enoch 80:4-6)

So the years are shortened, the moon alters its order and so does the sun and the stars.

A lot of prophetic visions deal with this kind of cosmic chaos, and people usually assume that this kind of stuff is impossible; first of all because the cosmos do not revolve around the earth (as was discovered by a certain modern astronomer), but in fact the earth rotates and gives the illusion that the sun goes around the earth.  The language that is used by Enoch in these verses makes it seem like he believes that the sun moves around the earth.

For this reason a lot of people discredit words of prophecy and decide to ignore these ancient messages.  But someone with an open and generous mind would see through  these seeming errors to understand the message… they could even say, what if Enoch DID know that the earth revolved around the sun, but for the sake of the understanding of the people in his time, he decided to use these words.

                The last chapters talked about the courses and phases of the cosmos, this chapter talks about their “perversion”.  The way that these perversions could happen is if the earth’s rotation and revolution was altered. The movement of the stars and the sun would relatively, but definitely, be altered.

                We know that this is not impossible because just a few years ago we had an earthquake that altered the earth’s axis; this alteration definitely affects the length of our equinoxes and solstices, thus affecting our weather patterns: “…  And their seed shall be tardy on their lands and fields and all things on the earth shall alter, and shall not appear in their time: And the rain shall be kept back, and the heaven shall withhold it.  And in those times fruits shall be backward, and shall not grow in their time, and the fruit of the trees shall be withheld in their time.” (1 Enoch 80:2-3)  Also, anyone who studies astronomy would know that the orbits of our planetary system are always changing and not perfectly constant.

We only have to wait until Enoch’s visions manifest themselves in the present.

June 2, 2012

1 Enoch 78

The first two verses of the chapter give the names of the sun and moon.
Sun: Orjares, Tomas
Moon: Asonja, Ebla, Benase, Erae

May 30, 2012

1 Enoch 77

Verses 1-3

The four quarters of the earth:
The east is the first, being the face of heavens as mentioned in chapter 76.
The second is the south, where the Most High will descend.
The third (west) is called the "diminished" because that is where the luminaries go down to apparently.

The north is divided  into three parts:
1) dwelling of men
2) Seas of water, abysses, forests, darkness...
3) Garden of righteousness.

May 30, 2012

1 Enoch 76

The chapter mentions the portals of the twelve winds.
According to the chapter, there are twelve portals (or positions)
from which the wind comes from.

According to this chapter, the "face" of the heavens is the east.
I suppose it is because that is the direction where all the cosmos move from.

There are three portals in each corner of the earth (North/East/South/West).
Four of the portals give winds of blessing, while eight of the portals give off hurtful winds.
The winds of blessing always come from the middle portal of each cardinal direction,
the "side" portals of each direction give off the hurtful winds.

The last verse of the chapter; the author mentions Methuselah as his son, as if he is telling to him what Uriel has showed him.

May 30, 2012

1 Enoch 74

The chapter talks about the lunar year and compares it to the solar/stellar year.

It also mentions the leap years in the solar calendar.

This is evidence that they were aware of different calender systems back then.

May 30, 2012

1 Enoch 73

The chapter describes the moon and its phases.
It gives the amount of light compared to the sun when the moon is full (sun is 7x brighter)
and also the amount of light in certain phases.

It also tells of the moon's course in relation to the sun in each of it's phases and the duration of the phase.

1 Enoch 72

Chapter 72 seems to talk about the course of the sun throughout the year.
It describes how the days become longer and shorter and the sun rises and sets
from and to different positions on the horizon called "portals".

Of course, the author has his own system of terms and frame of reference.

The second half of the last verse of the chapter:
"his light is sevenfold brighter than that of the moon; but as regards size they are both equal."
(1 Enoch 72:37)

It is interesting how the author gave a set multiple comparison of how much brighter the sun is to the moon,
I wonder how he calculated that.

As far as size any closed-minded person would agree that this statement is false because the sun
is obviously much bigger than the moon.  But it is much more possible that the author is
referring to the size of these luminaries in relation to how much of the "sky space" they take up;
and is most likely disregarding the actual size of the luminary in outer space.

May 30, 2012
 

1 Enoch 71

Verse 2

And I saw two streams of fire,
And the light of that fire shone like hyacinth,
And I fell on my face before the Lord of Spirits.

Daniel 7:9-10
"As I looked, thrones were placed and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire.
A stream of fire issued and came out from before him;
a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;
the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened."


Verse 7

And round about were Seraphin, Cherubic, and Ophannin:
And these are they who sleep not
And guard the throne of His glory.

Daniel 7:9-10
"As I looked, thrones were placed and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire.
A stream of fire issued and came out from before him;
a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;
the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened."


Verse 8

And I saw angels who could not be counted,
A thousand thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand,
Encircling that house.

Daniel 7:9-10
"As I looked, thrones were placed and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire.
A stream of fire issued and came out from before him;
a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;
the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened."


Verse 10

And with them the Head of Days,
His head white and pure as wool,
And His raiment indescribable.

Daniel 7:9-10
"As I looked, thrones were placed and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire.
A stream of fire issued and came out from before him;
a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;
the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened."

July 4, 2012

1 Enoch 21

The prisons of angels (Cosmic prisons)

“And I saw a deep abyss with columns <of heavenly fire, and among them I saw columns> of fire fall, which were beyond measure alike towards the height and towards the depth.  And beyond that abyss I saw a place which had no firmament of the heaven above, and no firmly founded earth beneath it: there was no water upon it and no birds, but it was a waste and a horrible place.” (1 Enoch 19:11-12)… “The angel said: ‘this place is the end of heaven and earth: this has become a prison for the stars and the hosts of heaven.’” (1 Enoch 19:14)

“And I proceeded to where things were chaotic.  And I saw there something horrible: I saw there neither a heaven above nor a firmly founded earth, but a place chaotic and horrible.  And there I saw seven stars of the heaven bound together in It, like great mountains and burning with fire. (1 Enoch 21:1-3)… “‘These are the number of the stars {of heaven} which have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and are bound here till ten thousand years, the time entailed by their sins are consummated.’” (1 Enoch 21:6)

Besides Enoch’s empirical descriptions of the places he is taken to, he also describes the places as “chaotic and horrible”.  Chaos and horror do not have an empirical shape or color which can be described; but this place is not just a waste outside of existence as anybody may be able to calmly imagine by just closing your eyes or whatever.  But this true wasteland outside of existence and creation is necessarily chaotic… and horrible.  Just as right after God created the heavens and the earth in Genesis, it was “without form and void”. 

“An from thence I went to another place, which was still more horrible than the former, and I saw a horrible thing: a great fire there which burnt and blazed, and the place was cleft as far as the abyss, being full of great descending columns of fire: neither its extent or magnitude could I see nor could I conjecture.  Then I said: ‘How fearful is this place, and how terrible to look upon!’ Then Uriel answered me, one of the holy angels who was with me, and said unto me: ‘Enoch, why hast thou such fear and affright?’ And I answered: ‘Because of this fearful place, and because of the spectacle of pain.’  And he said <unto me>: ‘This place is the prison of angels, and here they will be imprisoned for ever.’” (1 Enoch 21:7-10)

When I read the description alone, I ask myself, “well, what is so terrible about really long columns of fire?”  But the reason why long columns of fire do not frighten me is because I can’t imagine how long they are.  Not even Enoch could imagine their length, though he was looking at them, and this is exactly the reason why he was afraid.  According to Enoch, this place was terrible to look upon; the visual of the place alone caused him distress.  The place was not filled with blood and gore, it was a waste, and yet it was horrible.  This says that there are things that can cause the mind more distress than earthly ideas of pain.

This prison of angels is not like any human prison we have here on earth, these places are true horror.  Their horror is indescribable, meant to torment angels.  No human horror can compare to the horror that Enoch saw in this vision.  This brings to mind that in hell, there are horrors worst than physically damaging the body, as you see in horror movies; but these horrors penetrate the soul even unto a cosmic level.  The places that Enoch described caused psychological distress just by looking at them, and God knows the distressing properties of the human mind and how to trigger these alone.  He doesn’t need to change anything in the world around you to make you go insane.  Furthermore, these places torture you in places you did not even know you had.  Just as the Great wonders of heaven are unimaginable, so are the horrors of these places.

January 29, 2012

1 Enoch 14

1 Enoch 14:8-25

These verses describe one of Enoch’s visions.  As he describes how extreme his experiences were so that he trembled in fear, and that he could never completely describe the magnificence, it makes me think that God indeed dwells calmly within the pinnacle of the extreme.  The reason why it is so hard for us to experience God is because we run away from extremes; we are repelled by things that are “too much”.

 We turn to sin when temptation tugs “too strongly” within us, and most of our lives we indeed dwell in the bland of life, unless we are forced to go through extremes.  These verses inspire me to hold still in the middle of the storm and sit calmly within the fire; there you will find God sitting as calmly as you.

(Other examples of this concept:
Mark 4:37-41
Daniel 3:24-25)

“And I entered into that house, and it what hot as fire and cold as ice: there were no delights of life therein: fear covered me and trembling gat hold upon me.  And as I quaked and trembled I fell upon my face and beheld a vision, and lo! There was a second house, greater than the former, and the entire portal stood open before me, and it was built of flames of fire.  And in every respect it so excelled in splendor and magnificence and extent that I cannot describe to you its splendor and extent.  And its floor was of fire, and above it were lightnings and the path of the stars, and its ceiling also was flaming fire.  And I looked and saw therein a lofty throne: its appearance was of crystals and the wheels thereof as the shining sun, and there was a vision of cherubim.  And from underneath the throne came streams of flaming fire so that I could not look thereon.  And the Great Glory sat thereon, and His raiment shone more brightly than the sun and was whiter than any snow.  None of the angels could enter and could behold His face by reason of the magnificence and glory, and no flesh could behold Him.  The flaming fire was round about Him, and a great fire stood before Him, and none around could draw nigh Him: ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him, yet He needed no counselor. ”

(1 Enoch 14:13-22)

January 27, 2012