The Good Book Club: Week 1

Genesis 1-6 & Enoch 1-11: Creation of everything and origin of the fall

Happy New Year — let’s get started!

I’m typically going to be sending these notes out on Sunday for the week’s readings which start on Monday. I’m sending this early since it’s a half-week. And I’m also opening up the chat for January!

This week we are reading:

• Genesis 1-6

• Enoch 1-11

• Psalms 19, 104, 136, and 1 (the italicized Psalms connect to the week’s reading)

If you need the annual plan we are following, it can be found here.

If you don’t have a hard copy of the Book of Enoch, you can find it online here.

This is the Early World time period and includes the creation of everything, the fall of mankind, the watchers, life before the flood, and why things took such a dark turn so early in the history of man. It’s just a 4 day week, but we have a lot to cover!

You can read this however you want, but here is the daily breakdown from the plan for reference:

• Day 1 — Thursday, 1/1 — Genesis 1-3, Psalm 19

• Day 2 — Friday, 1/2 — Genesis 4-6, Psalm 104

• Day 3 — Saturday, 1/3 — Enoch 1-5, Psalm 136

• Day 4 — Sunday, 1/4 — Enoch 6-11, Psalm 1

I could spend weeks talking about the beginning of Genesis alone, and this post is probably (hopefully) much longer than my weekly posts will usually be — but I’ll just start by bulleting some of my thoughts as I go through each day’s reading, and we can discuss in the comments and in the chat:

Genesis 1-3

• First of all, many mainstream Christian traditions treat the early part of Genesis as mythological and not as scientific truth. But, what if it is scientific truth, and our modern understanding of science as established through the Enlightenment just a couple hundred years ago is incomplete — and incorrect?

• God says “let there be light” on day 1 (Gen 1:3) but doesn’t make the sun until day 4 (Gen 1:16). What’s that about?

• It apparently didn’t rain before the flood. But mist would come up for the earth and water all the ground. — Genesis 2:5-6

• I love going down the rabbit hole of where the Garden of Eden actually was based on the clues in Genesis 2. There is a theory (which the entire Blurry Creature Bible Study is based on) that Eden was a cosmic mountain, which would make sense as the 4 rivers flow out of it — down the mountain. It also makes sense that because God dwelt on a mountain when He was on earth, so did/do the fallen angels/demonic spirits dwell in mountains trying to usurp His throne. This is why a lot of mythology and folklore have mountains associated with their gods — like Mount Olympus for the Greek pantheon of Olympians. Ezekiel 28:13-14 discusses Satan as a guardian cherub dwelling ‘on the holy mountain of God.’

• So Genesis 3 opens with a talking snake, which is presented as totally normal, Eve doesn’t even bat an eye, and this is treated as some sort of metaphor by most mainstream churches. What if it’s not a metaphor? What if the animals used to talk, but the animal kingdom fell along with humankind and the angels, and God scrambled their language foreshadowing what He’s about to do in Genesis 11? (Spoiler alert.)

• Speaking of foreshadowing — Mary and Jesus are foretold in Genesis 3:15. And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel. In the same way that a human woman holds responsibility for the fall of mankind, so shall a human woman hold the future redemption. (And I love the hot take that the fall was equally if not fully Adam’s fault because he wasn’t watching out for Eve, and followed along despite God’s commands.)

• Another interesting point tying Genesis 3:14 back to Genesis 2:7 — God formed Adam from dust from the ground, then after the serpent deceived Adam and Eve, the serpent is cursed to crawl on his belly and eat dust.

• And then God expels humans from the Garden of Eden and places the cherubim with a swinging flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life. Casual. Normal. Probably just a metaphor, don’t worry about it.

Illustration from the Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology

Gensis 4-6

• Cain is cast out to the land of Nod east of Eden and is afraid someone might get him as revenge for slaying Abel. Who is he afraid of? What other people exist? (…does he mean his family?)

• Cain builds the first city in Genesis 4:17. Many scholars believe this is the ancient Sumerian city of Eridu. The way the text is translated it reads like he names the city after his son, Enoch (not the same Enoch as the book of Enoch). However, there is a compelling theory that actually the way it’s written in Hebrew should be translated as, “And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bore Enoch; and he [Enoch, rather than Cain] builded a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his (Enoch’s) son. And unto Enoch was born Irad …” Irad sounds a lot like Eridu. And, curiously, the patron god of Eridu is Enki — which sure sounds a lot like Enoch. Here’s an interesting article about Eridu for further reading.

• A tale of two Enochs — as seen below, this first Enoch is Cain’s son, while the book of Enoch we are reading is from what seems to be a redemptive Enoch down Seth’s line.

The first 11 generations from Adam

• Genesis 4:19-22 — Lamech becomes the world’s first Mormon with two wives, and his son Tubal-Cain becomes the world’s first Freemason (according to their legends)

• Jesus is foretold in Genesis 5, in the names of the first 10 generations of men on Earth: by stringing together the symbolic meanings of the names — Adam (Man), Seth (Appointed), Enosh (Mortal), Kenan (Sorrow), Mahalalel (Blessed God), Jared (Shall come down), Enoch (Teaching), Methuselah (His death shall bring), Lamech (Despairing), and Noah (Rest/Comfort) — we get Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow; but the Blessed God shall come down teaching that His death shall bring the despairing rest (comfort).

• Enoch lived for 365 years and one day he just up and disappeared with God. Didn’t die. Just left. Enoch lived 365 years, walking in close fellowship with God. Then one day he disappeared, because God took him. — Genesis 5:21

• Genesis 6 is a whole can of worms that necessitates the reading of the Book of Enoch for more context. First, Genesis 6:2-4 states that the sons of God saw the daughters of men and they “took” them and bore children with them, who became “men of renown.” The original Hebrew for this section strongly implies that the sons of God are angels (this phrase, bene Elohim, refers to angels elsewhere in Scripture), and that the taking of human women was forceful. Some speculate that this is the origin of human trafficking. In this context, the wickedness of humankind that God feels compelled to wipe out entirely with a flood makes a lot more sense than the mainstream interpretation that this was simply the lineage of Seth bearing children to the lineage of Cain.

The Book of Enoch

The Book of Enoch presents a whole new spin on the origin of mankind.

If you don’t have a hard copy of Enoch, you can find it online here.

Enoch 1-5

Here is the summary of Chapters 1-5 from Nickelsburg & VanderKam’s intro to the Book of Enoch:

The Book of the Watchers (Chaps. 1—36)

Chapters 1—5 were composed as an introduction to chapters 1—36, but now set the keynote for the entire work. They constitute a tri-partite prophetic oracle, in which “Enoch” announces the coming theophany, when God and the heavenly entourage will render judgment against the rebel angels who introduced evil into the world and against sinful humans, who perpetrate it. The first section (1:1-9) paraphrases part of Moses’ final blessing on Israel (Deuteronomy 33) and an oracle of Balaam (Numbers 24) and bases Enoch’s authority on visions received in heaven and interpreted by angels. The second section (2:1—5:4), cast in the language of Israelite wisdom traditions, expands the indictment of “all flesh” (1:9) by contrasting the obedience of the heavenly bodies and the earthly seasons with humanity’s disobedience. The final section (5:5-9) employs language from Isaiah 56— 66 to describe the blessings and curses that await the righteous chosen and the sinners.

• Enoch 1:6 — the high mountains will… fall and break apart — sounds to me like the flood demolished the high holy mountain of Eden, and could also be responsible for the breakup of Pangea.

• Early Christian church father Tertullian (155-220 A.D.) wrote that Jews ended up rejecting Enoch because it prophesied Jesus Christ as the Messiah:

  • Look, he comes with the myriads of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all, and to destroy all the wicked, and to convict all humanity for all the wicked deeds that they have done, and the proud and hard words that wicked sinners spoke against him. — Enoch 1:9

• Enoch 2 discusses the luminaries (stars), that they rise and set at their appointed times and do not transgress their appointed order — thus beginning the analogy (or scientific truth) of referring to angels as “stars”

Enoch 6-11

Here is the summary of Chapters 6-11 from Nickelsburg & VanderKam’s intro to the Book of Enoch:

Chapters 6—11 are an interpretation of Genesis 6—9 that identifies events of the primordial past with those of the author’s time. “The sons of God” (Gen 6:2), identified as angels (“watchers”), led by their chieftain Shemihazah, rebel against God by mating with mortal women and begetting giants, who devastate the earth. The giants can be interpreted as stand-ins for the warriors of the author’s own time (the Hellenistic kings). [Adrian’s note — or they can be interpreted as the mythological demigods in Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, etc cultures preceding from this event.] The Genesis description of the Flood flows into a scenario that is appropriate for God’s eschatological judgment and the inception of the new age. Interwoven with the myth of the watchers and the women is a second pair of myths, which identify the sin of the watchers as the revelation of forbidden secrets (metallurgy and mining, magic and the mantic arts) that promote violence and promiscuity. Here the rebel chieftain is Asael, a figure who resembles Prometheus, the rebellious divine figure of Greek myth. Humanity’s plea, heard by the four high angels, triggers the judgment. With the sinful principals annihilated, a new age ensues with blessings for the chosen and those of humanity who have converted to the worship of God.

• Enoch 6 discusses how the angels wanted to beget children for themselves. They appear to have been jealous of humans and their ability to procreate, and they wanted to make children in their image. And they swear an oath to bind themselves together in transgression with a curse. They descend onto Mount Hermon in the days of Jared (the 6th generation)— so during Enoch’s dad’s time.

• In Enoch, we further clarify that fallen angels are the beings who introduce much evil to a somewhat naive mankind, corrupting every living creature. The unholy offspring, the giants, begin to kill and devour all men, and sin against animals.

• Amongst the sins taught to mankind are sorcery and charms, cutting roots and plants (which I don’t think means all herbology, but I do think means some herbology — and the Greek word here is pharmakeia, from which we get the modern word phayrmacuetial), weaponry and metallurgy, jewelry and makeup, astrology and the signs of the sun, moon, stars, lightening flashes, and more — Enoch 8-9

  • Shemihazah taught spells and the cutting of roots. Hermani taught sorcery for the loosing of spells and magic and skill. Baraqel taught the signs of the lightning flashes.

    Kokabel taught the signs of the stars. Ziqel taught the signs of the shooting stars. Arteqoph taught the signs of the earth. Shamsiel taught the signs of the sun. Sahriel taught the signs of the moon. And they all began to reveal mysteries to their wives and to their children. — Enoch 8:3

• There is a lot of discussion of the earth crying out about the iniquity — sort of similar to Abel’s spilled blood crying out from the earth in Genesis

• Certainly humans participated and were directly responsible for the earlier fall by using free will to sin by turning away from God, but it’s clear here that the complete and total corruption of the Earth was not solely the idea and doing of humans — there are several other categories and classes of beings involved here — which is why God’s judgment allows for our redemption through the good human actions of Noah and later Mary. In contrast He makes the offspring of the fallen angels fight each other to the death (Enoch 10:9) and then await their final judgment. The angels were never supposed to have children — and now they have to watch their unholy offspring fight to their own mutually assured destruction. Brutal.

  • They have gone in to the daughters of the men of earth, and they have lain with them, and have defiled themselves with the women. And they have revealed to them all sins, and have taught them to make hate-inducing charms. And now look, the daughters of men have borne sons from them, giants, half-breeds. <And the blood of men is shed on the earth,> And the whole earth is filled with iniquity. — Enoch 9:8-9

• This additional context from Enoch allows us to better understand just how corrupted all flesh was. It seems as though human/angel hybrids weren’t the only half-breeds — which is probably why Egyptian and other ancient gods are half animals.

• Concluding thought on Enoch this week — the sins illicitly taught to mankind by these defecting angels is the origin of the “secret knowledge” passed down through mystery schools and secret societies.

And then in the Psalms this week we have the Leviathan (a sea monster) and Og of Bashar (a giant). Curiouser and curiouser.

That’s what came up for me. What comes up for you as you read these sections? What questions do you have? Leave your thoughts and reflections in the comments below! And please join me in discussion in the January Bible Study chat as well.

Egyptian deities