How do we know that Jews and Christians considered this authoritative until the fourth century? Were there substantial numbers of Jews and Christians considering the parts of the book authoritative until that time? Or perhaps just a few sectarians? Do we have any sense of that?
We must rely on references and quotes in the surviving literature. The Book of Enoch is quoted and interpreted by Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian. Origen and Eusebius quote Enoch with approval while acknowledging it as not being part of the canon. In Judaism, midrash on Enoch survive. Jewish angelology and demonology were heavily influenced. Talmud and Kabballah absorbed the figure of Metatron, the divinized Enoch.
The mystery is why, in the fourth century, references to Enoch in both Christian and Jewish literature drop so precipitously. Many scholars even speculate it was being actively suppressed. I think we can detect some reasons why that might have been. The Rabbis suspected it because it was perceived as non-Mosaic. (Its only mention of the revelation at Sinai excludes any reference to either Moses or the Law.) Christians seem to have begun regarding it as heretical. Of course it’s hard to be definitive about a lack of references. It is odd though that as popular as it was among early Christians it faded out of view so quickly as Christianity began to achieve public power.
And they took me and led me away to a certain place…
The journey commences in chpt 17 but we find out who “they” are later, in chapter 20. As Prof Collins points out these mystical apocalyptic journeys are guided by divine beings, heavenly intermediaries, “angels”, who helpfully explain much (but by no means all) of the wondrous and terrible sights to be encountered on such travels.
We have already met four of these angels: Michael, Sariel, Raphael, and Gabriel. Now are added Ruel and Remiel.
Michael is here described as the leader of the six. In later tradition of course he becomes the chief of the angels and archangels and the guardian prince of Israel. In early references in the Hebrew scriptures to the Divine Council it is indicated that Yahweh (or El) assigned an angel to each nation. Michael becomes the angel assigned to Israel. In Christian iconography he is frequently depicted as doing battle with Satan. See Revelation 12:7-9. (There is clearly a relationship between the ancient myth of the Rebellion of the Watchers and the later story of the Fall of Satan and his angels. However this literary relationship is not altogether straightforward and interestingly the more you compare them the less alike they seem!) In 1 Enoch Michael was the one sent to imprison Shemihazah, destroy the Giants, and then restore the earth from the effects of the destruction.
Sariel was sent to instruct Noah about the coming Flood. However there is some textual confusion and from now on the name Sariel is replaced by Uriel who is quite active in the Book of Enoch. Uriel seems directly responsible for the workings of the earth and the underworld.
Raphael is responsible for the “spirits of men”. We’ll encounter him when we reach the caves of the dead. (Cue ominous music.) Earlier in 1 Enoch he was sent to imprison Asael.
Gabriel is in charge of Paradise, and leads the seraphim and the cherubim. We’ll meet him in Paradise. (Yep, we’ll make it.) Previously he was sent to destroy the Giants which apparently Micheal had already done. (Ah redaction!)
Now…
Ruel is sent to “take vengeance on the world of the luminaries”. We meet him at the Fire in the West. (Cue more ominous music.)
Remiel is in charge of “them that rise”. Alas, we never see hide nor hair of Remiel again in the Book of the Watchers. (Perhaps he’s with Shemihazah wherever such characters go after the author forgets about them?)
The interactions between Enoch and the angels follow a formula.
1. Enoch asks a question. (Usually variations on WTF?)
2. The angel responds with a question to Enoch.
3. Sometimes Enoch responds. Sometimes not.
4. The angel explains.
Graphic maps of the cosmic geography being described here are really useful. In her book, Kelley Coblentz Bautch produces one of her own and reproduces two from earlier scholars. The only such map I could find online capable of being linked to was the one done by J T Milik who did the original Aramaic translation of the fragments at Qumran. Other sites just copy Milik’s.
** you do not have permission to see this link **
Bautch’s own design and the other one she reproduces each differ somewhat. The problem is that while 1 Enoch describes each place and gives some general directional characteristics (“it was in the West”) the author doesn’t give you any idea of where the places stand in relation to each other. So these are guesstimates. The problem with Milik’s image being recopied so much is that people will get the idea that it’s official in some way. But as I said before he had some idiosyncratic views not widely held by other scholars so use it as a general impression rather than as anything definitive. (Personally, Milik’s “gates” are a little too neoclassical for me. I visualized them more as yawning cave-like mouths.)
So now…the journey.
Parts of the Book of 1 Enoch were definitely known, but to what extent was it widely known as a clearly identifiable book?
Interestingly the Book of Parables is the only part of 1 Enoch not present at Qumran. Some scholars want to date it as late as the NT writings although most prefer the first century BCE. Nickelsburg, Vanderkam and Collins all think Enoch is being directly identified as the Son of Man. Italian scholar Gabriele Boccaccini, director of the annual Enoch Seminar (which I would dearly love to attend but – sigh – is invitation only), has edited and published the papers presented at the Third Enoch Seminar in 2007 on precisely this topic.
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I’ve just simply not had time to read it yet. I’ve been in the Gloomy Mountains with Uriel. I’ll get to it. I swear.
Some of the early Christian fathers quote Enoch like it was scripture. (Clement gives it the same status as Daniel.) Some regard it as apocrypha. While it was not included in the LXX it was translated into Greek. Some post-NT writings like The Epistle of Barnabas refer to it as scripture. There just wasn’t a consensus until the fourth century.
And taking me, they led me away to a certain place, where those who are there become like burning fire, and when they wish, they appear as though human. 1 Enoch 17:1 Bautch
(Here I use Bautch’s translation rather than Nickelsburg for the completely arbitrary reason that I prefer the way it scans.)
Ok, acknowledging the possibility that chpts 17-36 were originally part of a separate doc that was edited to 1-16, and that there might be a lost beginning to which we have no access, nevertheless it’s best to ask what effect is achieved by the text in its surviving condition. Enoch has his vision of the Divine Throne and is immediately taken on a journey of the cosmos. So a continuity however rough. As I said the maps of cosmic geography are best guesses but in general it’s probably best to think of the journey as further and further outwards to the limits of the cosmos being described.
We were at the very Throne of God and now we’re taken to “a certain place”. Not very helpful.
What’s more intriguing is what we find there. Divine fauna who can become both like burning fire and like humans. It reads as if becoming like burning fire is their normal(!) state of existence but that they can also make themselves appear humanlike. Who are these creatures? Brightness and fire are attributes of any number of divine beings. Could they be more angels? Nickelsburg points out that the author never waxes ambiguous when he discussed the Watchers previously, always clearly describing them and their functions, and asks why he would suddenly become coy about it?
The possibility is raised that they are Threshold Guardians of some sort. This is a very common mythological motif found across many cultures, reminding the supplicant to purify the heart from both desire and fear before attempting to enter sacred space. My favorite Threshold Guardians from ANE literature are the Scorpion People in the Epic of Gilgamesh. They stand at the gates leading to the underworld, the path of the Sun at night beneath Mount Mashu. ** you do not have permission to see this link **. (Interestingly in the Epic, Gilgamesh doesn’t have to do battle or demonstrate wisdom to get past the guardians. He simply explains his mission to them.) The problem with the fiery folk in 1 Enoch being Threshold Guardians is that it’s not immediately obvious what threshold they might be guarding. (I mean, really, Enoch has already been to the Throne of the Almighty. Kind of late now to start getting squeamish about his bona fides.)
These creatures dwell in that numinous zone where the traveler first encounters creatures of the beyond. Every region of the cosmos contains the life consistent with that region. Enoch has no further contact with these creatures. Ultimately they serve as a reminder that we’ve entered strange lands.
And they led me away to a dark place and to a mountain whose summit reached to heaven. 17:2 (All translations Nickelsburg)
And I arrived at the great river and the great darkness.
And I departed (for) where no human[or no flesh] walks. I saw the wintry winds of darkness and the gushing of all the waters of the abyss. I saw… the mouth of the abyss. 17:5-8
And beyond these mountains is a place, the edge of the great earth; there the heavens come to an end. 18:10
Beyond this chasm I saw a place where there was neither firmament of heaven above, nor firmly founded earth beneath it. Neither was there water on it, nor bird; but the place was desolate and fearful. 18:12
I traveled to where it was chaotic. And there I saw a terrible thing; I saw neither heaven above, nor firmly founded earth, but a chaotic and terrible place. 21:1-2
Since there is no detailed itinerary in Enoch’s cosmic travels, only a list of places he visited with no real connective narrative tissue between them I will discuss each referent separately. Here for example, 17:2 is debatable, but the rest of the passages pretty clearly refer to the same vision of the edge of the cosmos. So… let’s call this one –
TOHU WABOHU, or The Waste Places
What were the limits of the ancient universe? We have only late literary remains produced, edited and archived by elites. What the average guy down at the corner market thought of his universe we will never know. If they thought about it at all did they imagine it just sort of faded out at some point if you walked far enough?
The concept of “nothingness”, defined as a lack of anything at all, is actually very late. We find Parmenides and the other so-called Pre-Socratic philosophers speculating about it in the 5th century only to dismiss it as incoherent. As soon as you discuss nothing it becomes something. Nothing cannot exist. (Great idea for a bumper sticker.) It is fascinating to realize that nothingness, like the concept of the number zero, both representing an absence of quantity, were historical developments.
The civilizations of the ANE believed the cosmos was preceded by a formless primordial chaos out of which all things were shaped. The creation account in Genesis, itself very late, illustrates precisely this viewpoint. God did not create substance out of nothing. He fashioned this chaos, this flux, into form. It’s interesting how the image of water, the vasty deep, was used to portray this formless void. It was above, and below, and always striving to seep back into the dry world. (It is perhaps understandable but nevertheless disappointing to find out that in the Book of Revelation, come the New Heaven and the New Earth, there will be no more sea.)
And this viewpoint gives us a clearer perspective on the Biblical Flood, much misunderstood. The Flood wasn’t just a raising of the waters to cover the Earth. It was a literal uncreation of the cosmos. The fixed boundaries of space, established at creation, were being removed and the waters of primordial chaos were flowing back to drown the world.
I would be happy to be corrected but I can find no evidence that anyone ever speculated about where the formless void came from. They probably never thought about it. It just was. (The measure of the differences between cultures is highlighted by what questions they ask – or don’t.)
It’s hard to underestimate the mythic resonance of the idea of the wasteland. In Mark 1:12-13 we read –
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tested by Satan, and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him.
In Mark the “wilderness” is more than just a place on a map; it’s a potent image of a space where the fixed laws of creation begin to weaken, where the veil between the world of human life and the world of spiritual life is thinnest. The wilderness is a place of trial and testing. Wild beasts live there -and demons. To truly grasp his world Jesus – like Enoch – must reach its ending.
In his gospel Mark uses the image of what he calls the “Sea” of Galilee as a mythic field on which to illustrate the power of Jesus, adopted apocalyptic son of God, over the forces of demonic chaos that oppose the coming Kingdom. The image of this “Sea” is as potent for Mark in the first half of his gospel as is the image of the Temple in the second half. I’ll leave you with an article about this mythic resonance. I found it very stimulating.
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And they led me away to a dark place and to a mountain whose summit reached to heaven. 17:2 Nickelsburg
The image of the Cosmic Mountain is ubiquitous in Ancient Near Eastern mythology. It is easy to see why in the context of the three-tiered universe. What other feature of the landscape simultaneously reaches to the depths of the underworld and the heights of the heavens? In mythology various mountains became natural icons representing a sacred space that is the center of the world and a bridge between the earthly and divine realms.
In the earlier Hebrew scriptures we hear of Mount Sinai, the mount of the law, and Mount Zion, the mount where Yahweh dwells (Isaiah 8:18/24:23, Psalm 74:2) and where Yahweh establishes his earthly kingdom through David (Psalm 2:6-7). But both Nickelsburg and Bautch point out that in the so-called “intertestamental Period”, a lot of the mythic associations with the Holy Mountain began to shift onto Mount Hermon. Hermon, as I noted before, developed as a sacred site important to both Jews and pagans.
I suppose I’m not alone in imagining that when angels travel from Heaven to Earth and back they fly, right? Bautch points out that the best way to view this journeying up and down is by way of the Sacred Mountain. And earlier we did in fact see the Fallen watchers congregating at a shrine at the base of Hermon to hear their fate. So, The Fall of the watchers was less a fiery defiant Miltonic plunge from the sky than the descent of a weary caravan of demoralized refugees.
In the cosmic geography of Enoch’s travels we will journey to various mountains, all separate but all partaking of the potent imagery of the Cosmic Mountain. The base of the Cosmic Mountain is the entrance to Sheol, the land of the Dead, and on its summit rests Paradise and the entrance to the Heavenlies. So we will explore different mountains which are all one mountain. From vantage points on these mountains we will observe other parts of Enoch’s world.
Before we get into particulars I would like to mention a couple things that I found interesting about the idea of the Holy Mountain. A lot of this imagery comes from Mesopotamian and Egyptian sources. But Bautch pointed out what anybody who looks at a map will eventually realize (but didn’t really sink in for me until it was pointed out), neither Mesopotamia nor Egypt are mountainous regions! The land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is flat and bordered by the Zagros Mountains to the northeast and the Taurus Mountains to the north. Surprise surprise in Mesopotamian mythology the Sacred Mountain lies in the far north. Egypt’s mountainous regions are primarily located in the southern Sinai Peninsula and the Eastern Desert. Bingo! The Sacred Mountain is found in the South and in the East. It’s interesting to find that even when these traditions migrated to other cultures the sense of the directions were also passed on. The cardinal directions are very important in 1 Enoch. So much so that often the location of a feature of the cosmos is identified only in what direction it lies.
One consequence of these sacred mountains being perceived as border features was that they were quickly abstracted. In Mesopotamia we find the image of the Ziggurat. A Ziggurat was thought of as a divine Temple, the home of the gods. (The story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 is thought to have its source in this idea.) In Egypt we have the Pyramids, royal tombs. Everyone has heard of the pyramids at Giza but archeologists have found at least 138 examples, mostly dating from the Old and Middle Kingdom periods.
In Canaan on the other hand the view of the sacred mountain never really left its concrete associations with specific mountains. These specific mountains simply assume a cosmic aspect. For example, since Mt Hermon was considered the northernmost border of Canaan, it’s sacred aspect combined both the features of the mountain itself and all the imagery associated with the mythic “north” derived from other sources.
For a scholarly deep dive I refer you back to books by Richard Clifford and Wayne Horowitz. Links above.
Might as well go from bottom to top so next time… the Land of the Dead. Spooky stuff.
The Mountain of the Dead
From there I traveled to another place. And he showed me to the west a great and high mountain of hard rock. And there were four hollow places in it, deep and very smooth. Three of them were dark and one, illuminated; and a fountain of water was in the middle of it.
And I said, “How smooth are these hollows and altogether deep and dark to view.”
Then Raphael answered me, one of the holy angels who was with me, and said to me, “These hollow places (are intended) that the spirits of the souls of the dead might be gathered into them. For this very (purpose) they were created, (that) here the souls of all human beings should be gathered. And look, these are the pits for the place of their confinement. Thus they were made until the day (on) which they will be judged, and until the time of the day of the end of the great judgment that will be exacted from them.” 22:1-4 Nickelsburg
We begin in the underworld. In Sumerian “going under the mountain” was a euphemism for death. Here we are to imagine great caves housing the dead, the sides too smooth for anyone to climb out! The dead are divided by their spiritual status, based on their conduct while alive. Our guide is Raphael who we learned in 20:3 was in charge of the spirits of men. This chapter is divided into three sections, the second seemingly an interpolation. I’m going to consider the first and the third together since they set the scene before moving to the second.
I guess the first thing that strikes me is the contrast between the fate of the dead here and the older depictions of Sheol in the Hebrew scriptures. Sheol was the shadowy fate of all the dead, irrespective of their status while alive. There is no sense of resurrection. In 1Enoch the dead are housed only until the final judgment. At best these places have a purgatorial aspect. Some conception of resurrection seems implicit in this description although it is never detailed to any degree. Nickelsburg thinks the famous passage in Daniel 12:2 postdates 1Enoch.
There’s some textual clumsiness in this passage. At first it indicates that there are four caves, one lit and the others dark. In his first reply however Enoch notes how dark they all are. In v9 by contrast we are told of three caves. Then in v10 and subsequent we are back to four whose detainees are described. Nickelsburg offers the suggestion that originally the scene was intended to describe a common fate for all the dead and then only later expanded and necessary distinctions made. So perhaps in this episode we detect a transitional period between the older original view of the fate of the dead and the later influence of apocalypticism.
So who goes where?
The well lit cave is obvious. The souls of the righteous enjoy light and refreshment from flowing waters.
There is a dark cave with the souls of the sinners who died without being adequately punished for their sins while alive. They are tormented until judgement with the implication that they will meet the fate of the Fallen Watchers and be destroyed in the Fiery Abyss.
Ok, then it gets ambiguous.
There is a dark cave for sinners who would seem to have been martyred in some way. It’s hard to see how the martyred righteous would be consigned to a dark cave. It’s rather confusing. Some scholars think that this cave and the fourth were intended to be the same but the text seems to say it is a separate cave. V12 mentions those who “make suit” and who were murdered. As we’ll see shortly this applies to Abel.
The final cave seems to have been intended for the victims of the Flood. They were sinners judged in their lifetimes so they will not be resurrected unto final judgement.
Another issue. It’s not exactly clear as to the actual nature of the dead. They are referred to as “spirits” and as “souls” and as “spirits of the souls of the dead”. Are they shades? But then why make the caves so smooth as to preclude escape? That would seem to imply that the dead were solid enough to climb. Possibly once again we’re in a transitional period between views of the dead as shades and as beings with some kind of body.
Then Nickelsburg points out the similarities between this view of an afterlife and the parable of Dives and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. All the narrative details are not the same but the basic idea is similar. The righteous Lazarus enjoys refreshment and the unrighteous Dives suffers torments. Instead of caves there is a single great chasm that separates them.
Finally Vs 5-7 which I think are as spooky and chilling as any passage in the B of E. I will quote them.
There I saw the spirit of a dead man making suit, and his lamentation went up to heaven and cried and made suit.
Then I asked Raphael, the watcher and holy one who was with me, and said to him, “This spirit that makes suit—whose is it—that thus his lamentation goes up and makes suit unto heaven?”
And he answered me and said, “This is the spirit that went forth from Abel, whom Cain his brother murdered. And Abel makes accusation against him until his posterity perishes from the face of the earth, and his posterity is obliterated from the posterity of men.”
Close your eyes and imagine the echo in the cave of Abel’s continuous cry, not for justice or mercy but for vengeance. Until the last descendent of Cain has died. That might take a while. Perhaps that’s why these kind of folks were given their own cave. How long could you stand that bloody wail?
Next time the journey through the mountains gets a bit more cheerful.
I imagine a great sadness for one assigned to a dark cave for eternity. Without hope? Crushing. Too much, really.
Then, how must Raphael feel about it it all? i imagine Raphael is above accepting a bribe. .
Also, to me, all lit can be real irritating. It would be my hope at least for there to be shadows for contrast.
I imagine a great sadness…
These ancient folks had a hard way of looking at things. At least in 1 Enoch we’re seemingly past the point where no matter your behavior while alive you get the same grim shadowy fate. Still the apocalyptic view is happiness for our “in” group and destruction for everyone else. I bet Jesus probably had this same view. Love for the community and to hell with everybody else. The “turn the other cheek” stuff is merely practical advice for a marginalized group passively awaiting an imminent kingdom wherein they will be justified and privileged by a god who destroys all their enemies.
The moral center of gravity shifted past anything in the Bible long ago. This is why I laugh when I hear of a believer asking an atheist where we get our morals.
The Throne Mountain of Yahweh & the Tree of Life
From the depths let us journey to the heights-
I came and saw a place that was burning night and day, where (there were) seven mountains of precious stones—three lying to the east and three to the south. And of those to the east, (one was) of colored stone, and one was of pearl, and one was of jasper. And those to the south were of flame-colored stone. And the middle one of them reached to heaven like the throne of God—of antimony; and the top of the throne was of lapis lazuli. And I saw a burning fire. 1En 18:6-9 Nick
And I proceeded beyond them, and I saw seven glorious mountains, all differing each from the other, whose stones were precious in beauty. And all (the mountains) were precious and glorious and beautiful in appearance—three to the east were firmly set one on the other, and three to the south, one on the other, and deep and rugged ravines, one not approaching the other. The seventh mountain (was) in the middle of these, and it rose above them in height, like the seat of a throne. And fragrant trees encircled it. Among them was a tree such as I had never smelled, and among them was no other like it. It had a fragrance sweeter smelling than all spices, and its leaves and its blossom and the tree never wither. Its fruit is beautiful, like dates of the palm trees. 1En 24:2-4 Nick
Once again we have a literary “synopsis” which is subsequently expanded. (The latter expansive account goes on into chpt 25.) I’ve likened it to ripples from a stone dropped into a pool of water. Curiously no one I’ve read mentions the possibility that this might be a conscious literary technique. Interestingly we find it being used in both the earlier narrative portion of the Book of the Watchers and now in the apocalypse, both being from different composers. Heck, maybe I should write a paper.
You would think with the details provided about these seven mystical mountains it would be easy to place them in 1 Enoch’s cosmic geography. But nope, every scholarly map puts them in a different place! This is why I’m less concerned about geographical details than in the mythic significance of these places. The scholars do spend a lot of time worrying over such things. I guess if I was a scholar I would too. But I’m just a reader who likes cool, trippy visions. And that we have here in spades. Somebody inhaled!
A lot of apocalyptic imagery is often very difficult to visualize. The best way to imagine the arrangement of these mountains is as an enormous dais or platform, steps rising from the south and east, towards the throne of Yahweh at the northwest apex. (Haven’t we been here before? Is there a relationship between this vision and the vision of the Throne of Yahweh we saw back in chpt 14, the culmination of the narrative portion of the book?)
The vision of sacred spaces adorned with precious stones resonates all through the texts of the Bible.
O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted,
I am about to set your stones in antimony
and lay your foundations with sapphires.
I will make your pinnacles of rubies,
your gates of jewels,
and all your wall of precious stones.
-Isaiah 54:11-12 NRSV
You were in Eden, the garden of God;
every precious stone was your covering,
carnelian, chrysolite, and moonstone,
beryl, onyx, and jasper,
sapphire, turquoise, and emerald;
and worked in gold were your settings
and your engravings.
-Ezekiel 28:13 NRSV
The gates of Jerusalem will be built with sapphire and emerald
and all your walls with precious stones.
The towers of Jerusalem will be built with gold
and their battlements with pure gold.
The streets of Jerusalem will be paved
with ruby and with stones of Ophir.
-Tobit 13:16-17 NRSV
The wall is built of jasper, while the city is pure gold, clear as glass. The foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of the gates is a single pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass.
-Rev 21:18-21 NRSV
Now if you’re like me, living life unbejewelled, you wondered what all these stones actually where, what colors? Here are a couple websites that discuss and provide photos.
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** you do not have permission to see this link **
For me most interesting is lapis lazuli, a stone prized all over the ancient world, not just in the Bible. Much confusion ensued because of its translation: in Hebrew סַפִּיר sappir, in Greek σάπφειρος sappheiros, in Latin sapphirus. It became confused with sapphire, a completely different stone. (Frequently in the translation of ancient texts when sapphire is mentioned it should be lapis.) If you’ve ever seen a piece of lapis, polished especially, you know what what a stunning sight it is. In the ancient world it was associated with the night sky. (Astronomy again!)
Earlier I mentioned a literary formula that repeats whenever one of the guiding angels leads Enoch to another place. Here Enoch inquires about the mountains and the most fragrant tree. Michael asks Enoch why he wants to know and provides an explanation.
Then Michael answered me, one of the holy angels who was with me and was their leader, and he said to me, “Enoch, why do you inquire and why do you marvel about the fragrance of this tree, and why do you wish to learn the truth?”
Then I answered him—I, Enoch—and said, “Concerning all things I wish to know, but especially concerning this tree.”
And he answered me and said, “This high mountain that you saw, whose peak is like the throne of God, is the seat where the Great Holy One, the Lord of glory, the King of eternity, will sit, when he descends to visit the earth in goodness. And (as for) this fragrant tree, no flesh has the right to touch it until the great judgment, in which there will be vengeance on all and a consummation forever.
1En 24:5-25:3 Nick (Jeepers who did do these chapter divisions!)
So I have my answer to the question I asked about Enoch’s vision of the Throne in chpt 14. That was the Heavenly Throne. This Holy Mountain is the Throne of Yahweh when he descends to Earth. Thanks, Michael!
The fragrant tree? Well this will be a good time to pause.
The Throne Mountain of Yahweh & the Tree of Life (cont)
The Angel Michael explains the significance of the jeweled Holy Mountains to Enoch and then reveals the true nature of the “fragrant” trees that surround Yahweh’s Earthly Mountain Throne. Among those trees is one in particular, most fragrant of all.
And (as for) this fragrant tree, no flesh has the right to touch it until the great judgment, in which there will be vengeance on all and a consummation forever.
Then it will be given to the righteous and the pious,
and its fruit will be food for the chosen.
And it will be transplanted to the holy place,
by the house of God, the King of eternity.
Then they will rejoice greatly and be glad,
and they will enter into the sanctuary.
Its fragrances in their bones,
and they will live a long life on the earth,
such as your fathers lived also in their days,
and torments and plagues and suffering will not touch them. 1 En 24:4-25:6 Nick
The sacred tree is as potent an image in world mythology as the sacred mountain. Like the holy mountain it has roots in the earth and stretches up into the heavens. It provides a pathway to all the worlds. I remember when I was a kid an old oak in my back yard, at least three hundred years old, lost since to a storm. My brother and I used to climb as high as we could and sometimes higher than we should. But what was amazing to me was the sight of all the squirrels, sometimes dozens, scampering up and down the massive limbs with no fear and no giddiness. I would think of Ratatosk the messenger of the Norse gods racing up and down Yggdrasil, the sacred tree from whose branches bloom the Nine Worlds.
The image of the sacred tree resonates all through Ancient Near Eastern mythology including the Bible. If you scroll back to post #31 about the Apkallu/Watchers I provide a link to an image of the Sacred Tree. From Genesis-
And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Gen 2:8-9 NRSV
Now there’s one aspect of the well known story of the Garden of Eden that is not properly appreciated I don’t think. Eden is a garden, a “paradise”. We have this idea of Adam and Eve frolicking in nature, innocent among the forests and fields. But this idea of a garden is of a well tended grove. Adam and Eve were put in Eden to tend it. This is God’s garden.
The word “paradise” comes from Persian and originally meant an “orchard” or “park”. It entered Hebrew as pardes and reached English via Greek and Latin and French.
So? Is this paradise described in 1 Enoch 24 actually Paradise, i.e., Eden (“delight”, “pleasure”)? Is this fragrant tree the Tree of Life? (Note that while the Garden of Eden is mentioned elsewhere in the 1st Book of Enoch I am concerned here exclusively with the Book of the Watchers, chpts 1-36. As we’ll see later paradise gradually withdraws into the Heavenlies. Note Paul’s vision of the “third” Heaven in 2 Cor.) The text is ambiguous but the imagery certainly draws from the same well of mythic concepts. I think we’re back to Robert Alter’s point that we’re dealing with a mythic complex that predates our written sources by centuries if not millennia and what we have in surviving writings are simply various versions of this complex. Genesis is merely one version, certainly the most famous. But there are others.
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, after his journey under Mt Mashu, Gilgamesh reaches Dilmun, the Babylonian paradise. It is described as containing groves of trees adorned with jewels where lives Utnapishtim, the survivor of the Flood.
But there is another example more close to home. I quoted earlier from Ezekiel 28, usually interpreted as a polemic against the King of Tyre. But the middle portion of the chapter, vs 11-19, uses an older text that refers back to the primordial history. I won’t quote it all but notice the imagery.
You were in Eden, the garden of God;
every precious stone was your covering,
carnelian, chrysolite, and moonstone,
beryl, onyx, and jasper,
sapphire[lapis lazuli], turquoise, and emerald;
and worked in gold were your settings
and your engravings.
On the day that you were created
they were prepared.
You were a cherub[anointed guardian];
I placed you on the holy mountain of God;
you walked among the stones of fire…
In the abundance of your trade
you were filled with violence, and you sinned,
so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God,
and I drove you out, O guardian cherub,
from among the stones of fire.
Who was this cherub, this anointed guardian originally? Many Christian interpreters think it refers to Satan of course but this can’t be because at the end of the passage this figure is completely destroyed. Perhaps it refers back to the Watchers, cast from Heaven? Perhaps we should look at it as some sort of divine being and leave it at that?
There are a few things to notice before I move on.
The Tree of Life cannot be accessed until the day of judgment. It is protected. Also it will be transplanted to serve as fruit for the residents of the coming Kingdom of God. (And note Rev 22 of course.) Nickelsburg notes the interesting Rabbinical legend that after the expulsion from Eden the Tree of Life was removed and hidden by God until the kingdom comes. This does seem to conflict with the idea of it being protected in Eden by the cherubim and a flaming sword. Oh well.
Also note that the residents of the coming kingdom will “live a long life on the earth, such as your fathers lived also in their days”. As I pointed out before Nickelsburg notes the influence of the image of the Kingdom of God in Isaiah 65 & 66 on 1 Enoch. This is not Heaven as currently imagined where the spirits of the righteous will live in bliss forever. The kingdom is an idealized utopian existence but still partakes of the human round of living and dying, though peaceably and honorably.
Finally, easy to miss in this conception how the Temple is marginalized! It’s there but is only an aspect.
At this point somebody might be wondering what happened to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? It’s there and we’ll get to it but it is very interesting how its importance is diminished in favor of the Tree of Life. Just the opposite of Genesis.
At this point somebody might be wondering what happened to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? It’s there and we’ll get to it but it is very interesting how its importance is diminished in favor of the Tree of Life.
So, jumping ahead a little in Schloem’s Symbolism, he says, “the Tree of Life was identified (even before the Zohar) with the written Torah [recall, the white fire is the written Torah and the black fire is the oral Torah (which supplies the vocalized vowel points)], while the Tree of Knowledge is identified with the oral Torah. In this connection the written Torah, it goes without saying, is considered an absolute, while the oral Torah deals with the modalities of the Torah’s application in the earthly world.”
Later, the Tree of Life will come to represent the mystical paradisical (PARDES?) Torah in its manifestation as it was to be “bestowed upon a world in which Revelation and Redemption coincided, in which everything was holy and there was no need to hold the powers of uncleanness and death in check by prohibitions and restrictions. In this Torah the mystery was fully revealed.” At Sinai, when Moses broke the first set of tablets, “‛the letters engraved on them flew away,’ that, is freely the spiritual element receded; since then it has been visible only to mystics, who can perceive it even beneath the new outer garments in which it appeared on the second tablets. On the second tablet the Torah appears in a historical garment and as a historical power.”
So, to sum, the Tree of Life is the Torah as accessed through mystical avenues. Could this be the case, in some form or version, that is presented here?
“‛the letters engraved on them flew away,’ that, is freely the spiritual element receded; since then it has been visible only to mystics, who can perceive it even beneath the new outer garments in which it appeared on the second tablets. On the second tablet the Torah appears in a historical garment and as a historical power.”
I love the idea of the letters flying away!
I love the idea of the letters flying away!
Well on even a materialistic level words can be said to bring things into existence. Nothing is real until it’s named. Before that it’s just random particles blowing through magnetic fields in empty space.
Jill I’m no expert obviously but the idea of an Oral Torah and a written Torah seems to require a level of abstraction I’m not sure is present in the Enochian conceptual world. At least not yet. Enoch is cruder, more elemental. I dislike the word “literal” since it brings up a host of anachronistic associations. So I prefer to describe the Enochian writings as “concrete”.
The concept that I think best expresses the distinction I’m making is the idea of the “image of god”, the Imago Dei from Genesis 1,27.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
We assume the writer means that humans have a special relationship with God, demonstrated by a capacity for reason, morality, and spirituality. But the ancient mythological mind was quite concrete. Humans have a body and possess a physical life. Like god. Yahweh is more powerful and his body is made of a different “stuff’ but he walks in the garden and rests from creation.
Yet thou hast made him little less than God [elohim],
and dost crown him with glory and honor.
-Psalm 8,5
It seems to me that the main difference between Enoch and the thinkers of the Kabballah is the intervening influence of greek philosphy, especially neoplatonism.
If I may wax poetical, the ‘Tree of Life’ of the Kabbalists had become a deeply profound spiritual image but to the ancients the tree still had about it the smell of sweet leaves and bark.
It seems to me that the main difference between Enoch and the thinkers of the Kabballah is the intervening influence of greek philosophy, especially neoplatonism.
Yep. Skipping waaay ahead to page 114, a short clip quote, “But, in the present state of things, the world of Making is mixed with the world of demonic powers, or ‘shells,’ kelippoth, which accounts for the crudely material character of its physical manifestation. In essence — and here we have a pure Neoplatonic conception — the world of nature is purely spiritual. Only the breaking of the vessels, in which everything fell from its proper place, caused it to mingle with the demonic world. Thus to separate them once more is on of the central aims of all striving for the tikkun.”
More Mountains, More Trees and the Valley of the Accursed
And from there I proceeded to the center of the earth, and I saw a blessed place where there were trees that had branches that abide and sprout. And there I saw a holy mountain. From beneath the mountain water (came) from the east, and it flowed toward the south. And I saw to the east another mountain higher than it, and between them a deep valley that had no breadth, and through it water was flowing beneath the mountain. And to the west of this, another mountain lower than it and not rising very high, and a deep and dry valley beneath it, between them, and another deep and dry valley, at the apex of the three mountains. And all the valleys were deep, of hard rock, and no tree was planted on them. 1En 26,1-5 Nick
Enoch has journeyed to the ends of the earth, to both the heavenly and earthly throne rooms of Yahweh and seen the way stations of the dead. Now he is brought by the Angel/Watchers to the “center of the earth”. Reminding ourselves of the conception of the earth as a flat disk, we moderns might find this location of its center more mysterious than it would have been to these ancient writers. Hebrew writings help us identify this blessed spot.
You will say, “I will go up against the land of unwalled villages; I will fall upon the quiet people who live in safety, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates, to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to assail the waste places that are now inhabited and the people who were gathered from the nations, who are acquiring cattle and goods, who live at the center[navel] of the earth.”
-Ezekiel 38:12 NRSV
And he knew that the Garden of Eden is the holy of holies, and the dwelling of the Lord, and Mount Sinai the centre of the desert, and Mount Zion -the centre of the navel of the earth: these three were created as holy places facing each other. Jubilees 8,19 R H Charles
We have arrived at Jerusalem; though never named outright, the imagery is obvious. The physical description of the geography in vs 1-5 can be found precisely on any map of the area. The “holy mountain” is Zion, the temple hill. To the east Mt Ophel; the Gihon spring flows into the deep Kidron Valley that separates Ophel from the towering Mount of Olives.
I suppose I had the same misconceptions as many first travelers do. From the movies I guess I thought the Middle East was a big ole flat windy desert but Jerusalem is, in reality, a mountain city. Jerusalem is situated on a plateau within a mountain range that runs north to south through the middle of Israel. The city is half a mile above sea level and surrounded by hills, including the Mount of Olives to the east and Mount Zion to the south. Raised the way I was with all that Bible in my head, to actually stand on Olivet and look out over Jerusalem was overwhelming. (Even after all this time – I was there in 1990 in the relative calm between the Intifadas – I have not completely digested this experience. Perhaps I never will.) Later to my wry amusement I heard Sting’s ** you do not have permission to see this link **. Strange to have your own thoughts and experiences come back at you in a pop song. I had learned the lesson so often learned by others before me, that no matter how far you go, even to the ends of the earth, the only person you can’t escape is – yourself! (Maybe T S Eliot was right. The point of travel is find out what home is.)
A stone’s throw from Jerusalem
I walked a lonely mile in the moonlight
And though a million stars were shining
My heart was lost on a distant planet…
-Sting, “Mad About You”
(Sorry about all this personal stuff but I did warn you that this wasn’t a commentary or a book review but a personal reaction. Today I am filled not with nostalgia but with memory. The person I am now doesn’t want to be the person I was back then but the experience helped make the person back then into the person I am now. And this person mines the memory in a different way than the person back then. Nostalgia would make that impossible. If that makes any sense.)
So Jerusalem, the center of the earth. But the gears shift and after his formulaic inquiry over what he is seeing Enoch learns about the “cursed Valley”. Now from the preceding text it’s not immediately obvious what valley he is describing. But the angel, in this case Sariel, explains-
This cursed valley is for those who are cursed forever. Here will be gathered all the cursed, who utter with their mouth an improper word against the Lord and speak hard things against his glory. Here they will be gathered, and here will be (their) habitation at the last times, in the days of righteous judgment in the presence of the righteous for all time.
Nickelsburg points out that this judgment is not as before, for people who committed wicked deeds, but for those who have defied Yahweh and spoken against him, including cursing him and the blasphemy of his name. He associates the cursed valley with Hinhom which had a dark, significant history and symbolic meaning. In the Hebrew Bible it was the site of idolatrous worship, including child sacrifice (which as modern scholars have shown occasionally involved Yahweh). It later came to be called Gehenna in both the New Testament and in Rabbinic texts.
One aspect of this punishment that we shouldn’t ignore is the rather creepy idea that the righteous will observe the sufferings of the damned. In vindication? With pleasure? In Isaiah 66,24 after a long description of the pleasures afforded the righteous in the coming Kingdom of God is this last, darker attraction.
And they shall go out and look at the dead bodies of the people who have rebelled against me; for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh. NRSV
Oh boy, what would the pleasure of Heaven be without access to the sufferings of the damned in Hell? Are there windows, or an observing stand? Maybe a video option so you can mute the screaming? I don’t mean to be flippant, or not completely, since thinking about the issue of Hell was very important in my own rejection of my beliefs. Even when I was at my most pious I could just never internalize the idea of eternal conscious torment. I was taught that eternal punishment was the default position of the human race. We weren’t Calvinists but we had a lot of the same ideas including the idea of Total Depravity. You see folks you aren’t condemned because of your actions. No, it was because of your inherent “sin nature”. Everybody went to Hell unless they were “saved”.
What creeped me out was the idea of living in bliss in Heaven at the same time billions of people were being tortured in hell. How does that work exactly? This was often used as an impetus for evangelism by the ministers but they didn’t really think it through. At best estimate the proportion of the doomed will be much much higher than the saved. An uncomfortable idea to the sensitive mind. But the other option apparently is that we not only know about it, the sufferings of the damned are part of the entertainment!
What really bothered me though were the people, secured in their righteousness, who never thought about it. I got mine, Jack! (Here’s an experiment you can try. Ask someone you know who is pious whether or not they would be willing to exchange their hope in Heaven to save even one of the damned? To give their life for another. We are often assured that this is a right thing. I can promise you any reaction to this question is interesting because most believers never think about this issue.)
And to my Universalist friends – ok, everyone is ultimately saved. Great! But tell me what the point of all this suffering is in the meantime?
One final thought. We visit Jerusalem, the center of the earth. We identified Mt Zion, the temple mount. But were is the Temple? It is striking that the Temple is completely absent. Of course the story is describing antediluvian times. In the story the Temple hasn’t been constructed yet. But…other references to sacred spaces from later times are present. Remember that in the very first chapter we have a reference to the revelation at Mt Sinai (sans Moses and the Law). And these passages in the latter part of Book of the Watchers are full of apocalyptic foreknowledge, blessings and punishments.
Jerusalem with no Temple? This does support the view that these writings are being produced by a Jewish sect alienated from normative Jewish religious practice.
Folks we aren’t done with mountains and trees.
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