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Tag: Book of Enoch

Nephilim demons

Written by LWOM Amsterdam on . Posted in The Basics on Angels and Demons.

Are the demons the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim?

As a background, please read our articles on “Who were the sons of God in Genesis 6:1-4?”, and “Who were the Nephilim?” With the understanding that the sons of God were the fallen angels, and that the Nephilim were the hybrid offspring of the union between the fallen angels and human women, the question then arises: What happened to the spirits of the Nephilim after they were killed, whether by the flood, or in the case of the possible post-flood Nephilim (Genesis 6:4; Numbers 13:33), after the flood?

Some speculate that the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim remained on the earth and became what we now refer to as demons. The presumption is that, as angelic-human hybrids, the spirits of the Nephilim would have been different from the human soul-spirit, having the ability to remain present in this world despite no longer having a physical body. This would possibly explain the desire the demons have to possess human beings, thus gaining control over a physical body. This would also make some sense from the perspective of the fallen angels, who are outnumbered 2-1 by the holy angels (see Revelation 12:4), giving them a good reason to seek to increase their ranks.

The Nephilim explanation for the origin of the demons is partly the result of a misunderstanding of who exactly are the “spirits in prison” in 1 Peter 3:19 (see also Jude 6). Many misunderstand the “spirits in prison” to be all of the fallen angels who rebelled against God. If all of the fallen angels are imprisoned, then there must be an alternate explanation for the existence of demons; thus, the need for the Nephilim explanation. However, clearly, not all of the fallen angels are imprisoned. Satan, the leader of the angelic rebellion against God, is not imprisoned. Why would God allow the rebel leader to remain free but then confine the angels who followed Satan in the rebellion? No, it makes more sense to understand the “spirits in prison” as the fallen angels who participated in an additional rebellion, viz., the sons-of-God/daughters–of-men incident. The fallen angels who mated with human females are the ones who are imprisoned. There is no solid biblical reason to reject the idea that the demons are the same beings as the fallen angels.

The idea that the demons are the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim is also drawn from the book of Enoch, which goes into great detail regarding the Nephilim. We have to remember that, while the book of Enoch contains some truth (Jude 14), it is not the inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God. We should never base a belief exclusively, or even primarily, on extra-biblical literature. So, with no need to explain the existence of demons outside of the fallen angels, and with no clear evidence in Scripture for the spirits of the Nephilim continuing on Earth, there is no solid basis on which to identify the demons with the spirits of the Nephilim. While the idea is possible, it cannot be derived explicitly from Scripture, and therefore should not be considered the best explanation of the origin of the demons.

The Book of Enoch

Written by LWOM Amsterdam on . Posted in Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, What’s new?.

What is the book of Enoch and should it be in the Bible?

The Book of Enoch is any of several pseudepigraphal works that attribute themselves to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah; that is, Enoch son of Jared (Genesis 5:18). A piece of ancient literature is a pseudepigraphon if it makes false claims as to authorship. A pseudepigraphon will purport to have a (usually well-known) author, but its claims are unfounded.

Enoch is also one of the three people in the Bible taken up to heaven while still alive (the only others being Elijah and Jesus). We read about Enoch’s translation in Genesis 5:24: “And Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him” (see also Hebrews 11:5). Most commonly, when people refer to the Book of Enoch, they mean 1 Enoch, which is wholly extant only in the Ethiopic language. The Book of Enoch is accepted as canonical by the Coptic Church in Ethiopia and the Eritrean Orthodox Church. In addition to 1 Enoch, there are 2 Enoch (“The Book of the Secrets of Enoch”) and 3 Enoch (“The Hebrew Book of Enoch”). Fragments of the Book of Enoch in Aramaic and Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Much of the Book of Enoch is apocalyptic—it uses vivid imagery to predict doom and the final judgment of evil. There’s a heavy emphasis on angelology and demonology, and a large portion of the book is devoted to filling in the backstory of Genesis 6:1–4. The Book of Enoch thus explains the origin of the Nephilim and the identity of the “sons of God,” mentioned in Genesis 6:2 and 4. The result is a strange and sensationalistic piece of non-canonical literature.

In its Ethiopic form, the Book of Enoch is arranged in five sections:

Section I (chapters 1—36) has Enoch pronouncing God’s judgment on the angels who cohabited with the daughters of men (see Genesis 6:1–4). In this section, two hundred angelic “Watchers” rebel against God and are cast out of heaven along with Satan. On earth, they indulge their lust and have sexual relations with human women, producing the Nephilim, a race of evil giants who terrorize the antediluvian world. Enoch sees a “chaotic and horrible” place and a fiery prison reserved for the angels who sinned (Enoch 21:3, 7).

Section II (chapters 37—71) has three parables relating apocalyptic judgments. It also contains the story of Enoch’s translation into heaven (see Genesis 5:24). In this section, Enoch describes the activity of an angel named Gadreel: “He it is who showed the children of men all the blows of death, and he led astray Eve, and showed [the weapons of death to the sons of men] the shield and the coat of mail, and the sword for battle, and all the weapons of death to the children of men. And from his hand they have proceeded against those who dwell on the earth from that day and for evermore” (Enoch 69:6–7, trans. by Charles, R. H., 1917).

Section III (chapters 72—87) is primarily an explanation of the workings of the stars in their pathways, as per a vision that Enoch has.

Section IV (chapters 88—90) contains Enoch’s vision of the coming flood and prophecies concerning other events yet future, including the Exodus, the conquest of Canaan, the building of the temple, the fall of the northern kingdom, the destruction of Jerusalem, the final judgment, the building of the New Jerusalem, the resurrection of the saints, and the coming of the Messiah.

Section V (chapters 91—105) pronounces woes on sinners and promises blessings to the righteous. It ends with a promise of peace to the “children of uprightness” (Enoch 105:2).

The biblical book of Jude quotes from chapter 1 of the Book of Enoch in Jude 1:14–15, “Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: ‘See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.’” Jude’s quotation does not mean the Book of Enoch is inspired by God or that it should be in the Bible.

Jude’s quote is not the only quote in the Bible from a non-biblical source. The apostle Paul quotes Epimenides in Titus 1:12, but that does not mean we should give any additional authority to Epimenides’ writings. The same is true with Jude 1:14–15. Jude quoting from the Book of Enoch does not indicate the entire Book of Enoch is inspired, or even true. All it means is that particular passage of Enoch is true. It is interesting to note that no scholars believe the Book of Enoch to have truly been written by the Enoch in the Bible. Enoch was seven generations from Adam, prior to the flood (Genesis 5:1–24). Evidently, though, the words Jude quotes were genuinely something that Enoch prophesied—or the Bible would not attribute it to him: “Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men” (Jude 1:14). This saying of Enoch was somehow handed down through the generations and eventually recorded in the Book of Enoch.

We should treat the Book of Enoch (and the other books like it) in the same manner we do the other apocryphal writings. Some of what the Apocrypha says is true and correct, but much of it is false and historically inaccurate. If you read these books, you should consider them interesting but fallible historical documents, not as the inspired, authoritative Word of God.