Chuck Larsen

I Enoch, the pseudepigraphal book is an ancient Hebrew apocalyptic religious text ascribed by tradition to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. When Jude quotes it, he says it was written by the “seventh from Adam.” Enoch contains unique material on the origins of some demons and the Nephilim, an explanation of why the Genesis flood was morally necessary. It’s considered to date from sometime during the intertestamental period between 300 and 200 years before Christ. From archaeological finds of the book in various fragments as well as among the dead sea scrolls, we know the book was well known by Jews as well as early Christian writers. It appears to have been quoted by Jude and Peter in their epistles to the early church as well. It is not included in either the Jewish, Catholic, or Protestant bibles but the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo church include this book in their Bibles. The rest of the world, to a large extent, considers the book as non-inspired but may accept it as having some historical or theological interest.

Enoch refers to “Watchers.” They were good angels sent to look out or watch over man.  Hebrews 1:14 refers to the Angels as being charged with caring for and looking out for believers. But they became corrupt by leaving their natural state to co-habit with the daughters of men. Enoch 6:1-2 says, “And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. 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.’” Their leader was an angel named “Semjaza.” He led a host of 200 angels. They gathered on Mount Hermon and took an oath to partner together regarding taking the daughters of men as wives. Mount Hermon is sometimes referred to as the mountain of oaths because of this practice. Jesus’ sermon on the Mount where he instructs not to take oaths may have some roots in the oath taken by the fallen angels. The oath on Mount Hermon is said to have taken place in the days of Jared, the sixth from Adam.

Enoch continues to give the names of the leaders of the 200 angels. According to Enoch 6:7, The names of the leaders (without accent marks) are Semiazaz, Arakiba, Rameel, Kokabiel, Tamiel, Ramiel, Danel, Ezeqeel, Baraqujal, Asael, Armaros, Batarel, Ananel, Zaqiel, Samsapeel, Satarel, Turel, Jomjael, and Sariel. All of these angels, turned demons, took wives of the daughters of men according to their oaths. Furthermore, these demons taught the women “charms, enchantments, cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants.” Witchcraft seems to have its roots in these fallen angels. They are also said to have taught astrology, the constellations in the stars, enchantments, and “signs of the earth, the signs of the sun, and the course of the moon.” Thus, According to Enoch, many new age practices of today have their roots in these demons as well.

The early verses of Genesis chapter 6 tell us about “The Sons of God” that take for themselves the “daughters of men” as wives and have offspring. These verses are likely some of the most discussed verses in the entire book of Genesis. There are three different ways this has been understood.  The first two views support Exell’s insistence, “It is clear that angels cannot be intended by ‘the sons of God’ in this context, as they do not marry, nor are they given in marriage.”^[1] The first way is that the sons of God refer to the line of Seth and the daughters of men refer to the line of Cain. Leupold explains this position. He writes, “Here now is the natural sequence of thought: after the Cainites were observed to be going in one definite direction in their development, and the Sethites, too, were seen to be going in an entirely different direction, and these two streams of mankind were strictly keeping apart because they were so utterly divergent in character, now (Ch. 6) the two streams begin to commingle, and as a result moral distinctions are obliterated and the Sethites, too, become so badly contaminated that the existing world order must be definitely terminated.”^[2] A variant of this position says, “The intermarriage mentioned here is not simply between the line of Seth and the line of Cain. Instead, the two lines exemplify the difference between the faithful and the unfaithful, which probably accounts for the more general characterization of sons of God/daughters of mankind instead of the specificity of sons of Seth/daughters of Cain.”

Another opinion that has support among ancient Jewish writers is that the phrase represents more or less the Cinderella story. The sons of God refer to powerful human beings as kings, princes, judges, or rulers who leave their social status and marry commoners. Steinmann concludes this view by saying, “The marriage of the sons of God to the daughters of mankind is, then, a reference to aristocrats intermarrying with commoners.”

However, as Steinmann concedes, “The oldest-known interpretation is found in ancient compositions such as 1 Enoch and the book of Jubilees, as well as in a number of the early church fathers. It is also widely held among modern scholars…This position holds that the sons of God are angels and cites Job 1:6; 2:1, where this phrase is used to describe members of God’s heavenly court.”^[3] Gerhard Von Rad argues that this settles the issue once and for all. He says, “The question, which has been asked from the time of the early church down to our day, whether, namely, the “sons of God” are to be understood as angelic beings or as men, i.e., as members of “the superior human race of Seth,” can be considered as finally settled. The b^enē hā ’^elōhīm, here, by the way, clearly contrasted to the daughters of men, are beings of the upper heavenly world…These angelic beings let themselves be enticed by the beauty of human women to grievous sin; they fall from their ranks and mix with them in wild licentiousness.”^[4] Robert Newman writes a convincing article in the Grace Theological Journal and after studying the New Testament references to whether the “sons of God” were supernatural beings or human beings he concludes that “Jude and 2 Pet clearly favor the supernatural position.”^[5]

^[1] Exell, Joseph S., and Thomas H. Leale. 1892. Genesis. The Preacher’s Complete Homiletic Commentary. New York; London; Toronto: Funk & Wagnalls Company.

^[2] Leupold, H. C. 1942. Exposition of Genesis. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

^[3] Steinmann, Andrew E. 2019. Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary. Edited by David G. Firth. Vol. 1. The Tyndale Commentary Series. London: Inter-Varsity Press.

^[4] Rad, Gerhard von. 1972. Genesis: A Commentary. Edited by Peter Ackroyd, James Barr, Bernhard W. Anderson, and James L. Mays. Translated by John H. Marks. Revised Edition. The Old Testament Library. Philadelphia, PA: The Westminster Press.

^[5] Grace Seminary. 1998. Grace Theological Journal.

Genesis chapter four gives us the genealogy of Cain the murderer and the devolution of man further and further from God. Chapter five then moves to the godly genealogy of Seth and those who proclaimed the name of God in word and deed. There were ten generations from Cain. There were 10 generations from Seth, and each of the characters had many sons and daughters. The life expectancy for them all was approaching 1000 years. It’s hard to imagine how many children were born during that time. Genesis 6:1 just says, “When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them….” There are nearly 7 billion people on the planet in our society, and our life expectancy is less than 100 years. The longevity and the productive nature of those living in the days of Noah were ten times that of ours today. I’m not saying there were 7 billion people alive at that time, but there were indeed a lot of them.

Daughters are singled out in this verse as well. Is it necessary to say, “daughters were born to them?” I wouldn’t think so unless there was a reason for that. The reason is going to become apparent. In the 6^th Chapter of the Book of I Enoch, we find what might be a parallel verse to Genesis 6:1 with a little more detail. It says, “And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters in those days.”^[1]

When we met Lamech of Cain’s line, we saw the advancement of evil had to do with the man who first took two wives and murdered a young man. Some argue that he murdered two men, a young man and another man who wounded him. Sex and violence have gone together throughout history, and I expect the account of Lamech’s murder is not different. He took a second wife, and possibly the young man he killed apposed that, and perhaps the other man interceded to prevent it for some reason and was also killed. Now, In Genesis chapter six, we are introduced not only to bigamy but mighty men, or angels, who step into the story and take from the females on earth anyone they want. Here is the root of the harem in Arabia and the massive accumulation of wives and concubines that result in the downfall of great men, even the man after God’s heart, King David, and his son Solomon. With David, he looked down and saw that Bathsheba was beautiful and took her. Then he murdered her husband! Illicit sex and violence go together.

^[1] Charles, R. H., and W. O. E. Oesterley. 1917. The Book of Enoch. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

After the nine generations from Adam to Lamech, we reach the climax of the genealogy. It’s Noah! The last verse of Genesis five says, “After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” According to Cassuto, we have all this pre-flood information because Noah preserved it for us. The genealogies and all the advances made before the flood were preserved for the post-flood generations. He writes, “The teachings and occupation of Jabal, as well as those of his brothers, were apparently transmitted to mankind after the Flood through Noah and his sons. Similarly, there is a Babylonian story about books that were hidden before the Flood in the ground beneath the City of the Sun, Sippar, in order to save them from the water, and were disinterred after the Flood.”^[1]

At the beginning of Genesis chapter five, we saw the mention of “The book” of the genealogies of Seth. The word “Sepher” (Book in Hebrew) implies that Moses had a source from which to draw his information. The details of the accounts of Chapter five were preserved for us by Noah and his descendants. It’s also essential to notice that the life spans of these patriarchs were contemporaneous. Speiser says, “Finally, prodigious as are the lifespans of the individual patriarchs, they are dovetailed to such an extent that the total elapsed time adds up to no more than 1656 years in the Hebrew version. The death of Adam must be dated to the generation of Noah’s father, Lamech. In turn, Noah himself would have witnessed the sixtieth birthday of Abraham.”^[2] We owe the preservation of the pre-flood history to Shem, Ham, and Japheth. All three of these sons lived with the patriarchs mentioned in Chapter five. The point being is that we have actual source documents for the information in early Genesis. It was not tradition passed on by word of mouth and corrupted by various enhancements along a long and mysterious road to Moses. The information we have is as trustworthy as any first-hand account.

I’d expect that Shem was the primary bookkeeper. The Semites were best at keeping records. I have suggested that the comment back at the end of Chapter four at the beginning of the genealogy from Seth says, “At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord,” really meant to “preach” about God to their fellow man. Since it is placed at the beginning of Seth’s genealogy, I expect that it refers to them and not the genealogy of Cain that preceded the comment. They were too busy building cities, domesticating animals, and making instruments of war to fool around with the idea of God. The history of man and his relationship with God was preserved through Seth’s line. They were the first to write, and the book from which Moses got the details of early Genesis came directly from them.

^[1] Cassuto, U. 1998. A Commentary on the Book of Genesis: Part I, From Adam to Noah (Genesis I–VI 8). Translated by Israel Abrahams. Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, The Hebrew University.

^[2] Speiser, E. A. 2008. Genesis: Introduction, Translation, and Notes. Vol. 1. Anchor Yale Bible. New Haven;  London: Yale University Press.

Methuselah’s son Lamech is the subject of Genesis 5:28-31: “When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying, ‘Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.’ Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.” In the lineage, you cannot help but notice with Guzik notices. He observes, “If these genealogies are consecutive, Seth died when Noah was 14. Noah could have known Adam’s son.”^[1] If this is true, Noah could have very well heard the stories of the Garden of Eden, of Cain’s murder, of the lost paradise, and the birth of all the other members of the family from Seth himself.

In the line of Cain, the murderer, as recorded in Genesis Chapter four, we find a bigamist who confesses to double homicide and the furtherance of vengeance and hatred and violence upon the earth. They advanced civilization by building cities, domesticating animals, and using metal for instruments and weapons. The line of Cain went down in depravity until God looked down and saw that the whole world was corrupted, even the descendants of those who come from those in the line of Seth. But the two genealogies are different in one significant way. Butler puts it this way, “There are nine men in this obituary—Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, and Lamech. They are all in the line of Seth, the godly line from Adam. This line is a vast improvement over the ungodly line of Cain. From this line came the Savior, Jesus Christ. From Cain’s line came nothing—all were destroyed in the flood of Noah’s day.”^[2] Not every commentator sees the two lines this distinctive; one wicked and one righteous. Walton says, “I find it difficult to substantiate the idea that the text is juxtaposing a wicked line against a godly line. The penetration of sin is not just in one line but reaches throughout the human race.”^[3] Of course, the children of all nine on the list will be destroyed in the flood because of their wickedness. McGee says, “Here is mankind, and we are following a godly line now. Where is it going to lead? Is it going to lead to a millennium here upon this earth? Are they going to come to Elysian fields and establish Utopia? No. The very next chapter tells us that a Flood, a judgment from God, came upon the earth.”^[4]

Lamech named his son Noah. The text says that he was named thus because he would deliver us from the works and painful toils of our hands. Many of the early church fathers saw this as a prophecy not to be fulfilled by Noah himself but by the one who will fulfill the line of Noah that would come through Shem, through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and from the house of David that would end the genealogy once and for all with the complete fulfillment of God’s promise made back in Genesis 3:15.  Origin preaches on this. He said, “For how shall it be true that the ancient Noah gave rest to that Lamech or that people who were then contained in the lands? How is there a cessation from the labors and sorrows in the times of Noah? Jesus only has given rest to humanity and has freed the earth from the curse with which the Lord God cursed it.”^[5]

^[1] Guzik, David. 2013. Genesis. David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible. Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik.

^[2] Butler, John G. 2008. Analytical Bible Expositor: Genesis. Clinton, IA: LBC Publications.

^[3] Walton, John H. 2001. Genesis. The NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[4] McGee, J. Vernon. 1991. Thru the Bible Commentary: The Law (Genesis 1-15). Electronic ed. Vol. 1. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

^[5] Louth, Andrew, and Marco Conti, eds. 2001. Genesis 1–11. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Jared’s son Enoch is the subject of Genesis 5:21-24: “When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years.  Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” We already read about how it was in this line from Seth that people began to call out “in the name of the Lord.” The pseudepigraphal Book of Jubilee has some interesting Lore about Enoch as well. “He was the first among men that are born on earth who learned writing and knowledge and wisdom and who wrote …a testimony, and he testified to the sons of men among the generations of the earth, and recounted the weeks of the jubilees, and made known to them the days of the years, and set in order the months and recounted the Sabbaths of the years…and what will be he saw in a vision of his sleep, as it will happen to the children of men throughout their generations until the day of judgment; he saw and understood everything, and wrote his testimony, and placed the testimony on earth for all the children of men and for their generations. And in the twelfth jubilee, in the seventh week thereof, he took to himself a wife, and her name was Ednî, the daughter of Dânêl, the daughter of his father’s brother, and in the sixth year in this week, she bare him a son, and he called his name Methuselah. And he was moreover with the angels of God these six jubilees of years, and they showed him everything which is on earth and in the heavens, the rule of the sun, and he wrote down everything.”^[1]

We can’t be sure what the Book of Jubilee says about Enoch, but the biblical text tells us two things we can trust. Enoch did not die but was taken into heaven body and soul. Vos says, “Though some have sought to water down that statement and make it refer to something less than being caught away into heaven alive, Hebrews 11:5 is particular: “Enoch was translated that he should not see death.” The New Testament also fills in another aspect of Enoch’s life. He functioned as a prophet, condemning the ungodliness of his society and predicting that ultimately the Lord would return in judgment on the ungodly and their evil deeds (Jude 14–15).”^[2]

As for “walking with” God, Enoch gives us the first of three different “walks” we see in the Bible. Enoch walked “with” God, as we see in this text. In Genesis 17:1, we’ll see that Abraham walked “before” God. In Deuteronomy, we see that all of Israel was commanded to walk “after” God. Maclaren suggests, “These three prepositions, with, before, after, attached to the general idea of life as a walk, give us a triple aspect—which yet is, of course, fundamentally, one—of the way in which life may be ennobled, dignified, calmed, hallowed, focused, and concentrated by the various relations into which we enter with Him.”^[3]

^[1] Charles, Robert Henry, ed. 1913. Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament. Vol. 2. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

^[2] Vos, Howard F. 1982. Genesis. Everyman’s Bible Commentary. Chicago, IL: Moody Press.

^[3] MacLaren, Alexander. 2009. Expositions of Holy Scripture: Genesis. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.