1 Enoch 3

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, in the midst of UAP/UFO disclosure efforts, told people “Read the Book of Enoch”. As men and women of scriptural distinction, it is obvious to us, she meant First Enoch. If the US Govt has to tell me to read my scriptures, it is probably time for me to read my scriptures, so let’s investigate this.

(I am still working on Isaiah – we will get back to that eventually!)

This source has non-standard chapters. In other texts, this is ch. 6-16 in the standard way. But this is easier to read.
Next time, chapter 4!

Chapter 3  (ch. 6-8)
Fallen Angels

1 And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days
were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters.
2 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.”
3 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.”
4 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.”
5 Then sware 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.
6 And these are the names of their leaders: Samlazaz, their leader, Araklba,
Rameel, Kokablel, Tamlel, Ramlel, Danel, Ezeqeel, Baraqijal, Asael, Armaros,
Batarel, Ananel, Zaqlel, Samsapeel, Satarel, Turel, Jomjael, Sariel. These are
their chiefs of tens.
7 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.
8 And they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and
made them acquainted with plants.
9 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.
10 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.
11 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.
12 And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they
were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways.
13 Semjaza taught enchantments and root?cuttings, Armaros the resolving of
enchantments, Baraqijal taught astrology, Kokabel the constellations, Ezeqeel
the knowledge of the clouds, Araqiel the signs of the earth, Shamsiel the signs of
the sun, and Sariel the course of the moon.
14 And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven

The most common interpretation, is that these ‘children of heaven’, or  ‘the sons of God’, were angels. But I think the better interpretation (in agreement with Dr Hugh Nibley) is that they were from the righteous Enochic saints, who apostatized. Their children were called “Nephilim”, which may mean ‘to fall’, though the interpretation is not certain. In certain older texts, there is ambiguity about how the term angel is used. Traditional Christianity places a hard distinction of kind between angel and mortal, and this may be a place where that distinction is more fluid.

Other texts (eg. The Cave of Treasures) describe the righteous line as living in a mountain with a sheer cliff, with the wicked Cainite lineage tempting the people to come down, and once they came down, they couldn’t find their way back up.

3000 ells is just over 2 miles, or maybe 8/10th of a mile – there is already significant issues with numbers in our Old Testament, and this text is perhaps, more corrupted than other texts. The units may probably be off, but this is still implausibly large. I am not convinced these ‘giants’ were necessarily tall at all. Septuagint  used the word ????????, gigantes, which introduced Greek mythological associations and narrowed an ambiguous Hebrew designation. Maybe they were tall, but I am not convinced either way.

Part of what his interesting here, is the Watchers/”Angels” brought a level of technology that just made things worse. Almost a “Prime Directive” type of sin.

The issue is not simply that humans were “not technologically ready.” In 1 Enoch, the greater offense is the unauthorized disclosure of knowledge that transgresses divinely established boundaries. Not intrinsically evil things, but things that were given without divine assent did not end up helping the people. It just accelerated vanity, war and exploitation.

These are just a few of the things I noticed about this chapter. What impressed you about this?