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 69

1 Enoch 69:8-11

“And the fourth was named Penemue: he taught the children of men the bitter and the sweet, and he taught them all the secrets of their wisdom.  And he instructed mankind in writing with ink and paper, and thereby many sinned from eternity to eternity and until this day. For men were not created for such a purpose, to give confirmation to their good faith with pen and ink.  For men were created like angels, to the intent that they should continue pure and righteous, and death, which destroys everything, could not have taken hold of them; but through this their knowledge they are perishing, and through this power it is consuming me.

According to etymology, the root "pen" means "inside" or something in relation to "enclosed", and the name Penemue can refer to the "inside secrets" that he taught mankind.

Penemue corrupted mankind by teaching them the art of pen and paper.  Just shows how unnatural it is to keep records of things; makes me wonder how human beings were meant to live and what many other things that may seem normal and harmless to us are actually sinful.

This even correlates with my own philosophy (which is the reason I am trying to give up this addiction of writing things down).  If anything, record keeping discourages the mind from keeping good memory, just like calculators discourages the mind from doing mental calculation.

Another fun fact, Arabs have good long term memory because their ancestors were used to not writing things down, it was only until recently the Qur’an was physically copied; back then it was only transferred verbally.

Moving on…

The verses say that the flaw with mankind was that they gave confirmation of their good faith with pen and ink, instead of continuing their good faith.  Sometimes we feel justified in resting from doing good because of the good that we have already done. 

It is even worse now, with videos and pictures.  Once we have an image of us doing something impressive, we feel satisfied with our efforts and do not strive any longer to be any better.  Instead of living in glory, we look nostalgically into the past, and depend on our memories of our deeds to make us feel some sort of satisfaction.   We do not even think it’s possible to be in glory continuously.

May 27, 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 15

1 Enoch 15:11

“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 offenses.”

Don’t not inconsiderately hate evil spirits, but pity them; their suffering is much greater than what they could ever put you through.  You know how when you are in pain, you wish for someone else to know your pain so that you can be properly consoled; so you even put others through such pain so that “they learn what it is like to suffer what you have suffered”.  That is all they want to do, and even so, they do it hesitantly.  They hold themselves back because they still fear God; this is shown by how in their shame and degrading despair, they ask a mortal (Enoch) to intercede for them (immortals), “And then I went and spoke to them all together, and they were all afraid, and fear and trembling seized them.  And they besought me to draw up a petition for them that they might find forgiveness, and to read their petition in the presence of the Lord of heaven.  For from thenceforward they could not speak (to Him) nor lift up their eyes to heaven for shame of their sins for which they had been condemned.” (1 Enoch 13:3-5) “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:’” (1 Enoch 15:2)

January 28, 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

1 Enoch 1

Verse 9

And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones
To execute judgement upon all,

And to destroy all the ungodly:
And to convict all flesh

Of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed,

And of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.

Jude 1:14-15
"It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying,

'Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones, 

to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness 

that they have committed in such an ungodly way,
and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.'"

July 4, 2012