Enochian Judaism: The curse of sin

The thesis is short: The watchers of Genesis 6 are "the ones who sinned" and therefore the law was enacted because of them. Known about in the gospel texts and provide a coherent framework for the rest of the Bible.

Other alternative explanations include Adamic sin and Sethian curse.

I had a chance to catch up with my favorite Bible Scholar, Dr. Michael Heiser. Recently he attended a conference where a presentation about the influence of Enoch was a topic; specifically can it be Canon?

I'm going to whip through this considering you have some cursory background.

Bastard spirits” is an epithet for the Watchers in 2nd temple Jewish texts. This was one of the best papers I’ve heard in many years at this event. I had thought the paper would focus on Gal 3:19 , one of the NT references where the law was delivered by angels. It wasn’t. Rather, the presenter (a doctoral student at Marquette) drew our attention to the line about the law being “added because of transgressions,” and then asked a simple question: just whose transgressions is Paul talking about? Everyone assumes that Paul refers here to Adam or humanity in general. The presenter proceeded to overview the evidence in 2nd temple texts (Dead Sea Scrolls, Pseudepigrapha) to show how Enochic Judaism preferred the revelation of Enoch over that of Moses (the law).

He then pointed out (and everyone in the room likely knew this) that, for 2nd temple Judaism, the overspreading of evil in the world stems from Gen 6:1-4, not Genesis 3. He then asked whether viewing Galatians 3-4 from the perspective of the sin of the Watchers helps answer several problems in the text of those chapters that scholars have debated for centuries. He went through them point by point, showing how the Enochian material reframed those issues and provided coherent answers. The climax of the birth of the son of God marked a reversal of the wickedness brought to humanity by the sin of the Watchers.

There were some opposition in the crowd, a prominent German spoke as well. The myth of rebellious angels

Another thing peaked my interest! More "Sons of God" digging

“So Shall Your Seed Be”: Paul’s Use of Gen 15:5Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) in Rom 4:18Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) in light of Early Jewish Deification Traditions

The thesis is easy to understand. Genesis 15:5 is the passage where the visible Yahweh, the Word of Yahweh (Gen 15:1 promises Abraham: “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them. . . . So shall your offspring be.” Everyone (except some strong 2nd temple Jewish traditions!) presumes that both halves of the promise are quantitative (i.e., are about the number of descendants). The paper argued, following Philo and a wide range of other 2nd temple texts, that the second part (“so shall thy seed be”) should instead be interpreted qualitatively (i.e., Abraham’s seed will be transformed into celestial beings — glorified, divinized). Note that there is no “counting verb” in the second half of the promise, only the first. Modern interpreters insert that, based on the first half, to make the whole promise statement quantitative. Ancient interpreters didn’t do that. The paper then took listeners/readers back to the divine council worldview to frame the celestial language (sons of God, stars of God) as the proper context for understanding the glorification of the believer, including how believers displace and reconstitute the divine council in the eschaton

I had this passage in my memory (Gen 15:5) but could never remember the verse, it was a reminder to myself. Anyway it strikes me because Lucifer, Jesus, and other divine figures have been likened to fixtures in the sky all throughout the Bible. Jesus and Lucifer were both referred to as the morning star, and this was hard to reconcile assuming the morning star was a title. Viewing it now in a qualitative sense smooths out those bumps.

Link

I believe the ancient Egyptians may have had a similar belief but from what I remember it only applied to the Pharaoh (sp) becoming a star after death. I think I could handle being a star Just kick back and radiate. Let out a belch of plasma every so often. Provide warmth and light and life to everything within my jurisdiction for billions of years.

a reply to: 3n19m470

Yeah you're right. I think it was his "Ka" that went thru the after life for a certain amount of days hence the food preserved with him. Afterwards he'd be transfigured in heaven with the "gods" again. We could go days about Egyptian beliefs

As for being a star- it's like one of those weird Japanese games...You don't know what it's about but you keep playing until you beat it.

I think it's Enochian Judaism that's the curse, an early example of disinformation propaganda designed to undermine the legendary origins of rival Nations and traditions and promote one's own as singularly virtuous.

Consider the Book of Giants in which Mesopotamian culture hero Gilgamesh finds himself cast amongst the fallen giants whose evil spirits will haunt the Earth until judgement day, troubled by suspicions of this he is advised to go and seek answers from Enoch!

The Mesopotamians themselves would have found that ridiculous as the Enochian tradition was simply a paraody of their own tradition of Enmeduranki and the last thing they'd ever consider was Gilgamesh as evil.

Even a brief look at early Enochic booklets such as the Book of the Watchers and the Astronomical Book demonstrates that already in these early Enochic writings the seventh antediluvian patriarch appears to have a set of highly developed roles: a sage, a visionary, a diviner, and a scribe.

In my judgment, the Enmeduranki tradition provides sharp illustration of the fact that the celestial roles of this Mesopotamian hero served as a decisive pattern for the future heavenly roles of his Jewish counterpart, the patriarch Enoch

Evolution of the Roles and Titles of the Seventh Antediluvian Hero in Mesopotamian and Enochic Traditions

The purpose then of Enochian literature was to counter the claims of those cultures that were based upon Ante-Diluvian origins and which from such claimed the right to determine the greater purpose of the Gods and their relations with humanity, and in doing so establish one's own exclusive right.

The dissemination of esoteric information will remain one of the major functions of the seventh patriarchs in the Merkabah tradition where he will be responsible for transmitting the highest secrets to the Princes under him, as well as to humankind

The text therefore makes explicit that one of the most important functions of the initiated Enmeduranki is transmission of the knowledge that he received from the deities to inhabitants of the terrestrial realm

Of course it can be considered that the Jews did find Mesopotamian culture essentialy evil and that therefore it's origins must also have been and invented the Enochian corpus as the means to establish that premise, turning their own tradition against them, but in historic terms they were far removed from those origins.

The Antediluvian origins of evil