Second Enoch begins with Enoch’s vision soon after he fathered Methuselah. He is caught up into heaven by glorious angelic beings (chapter 1). He then instructs his sons to walk before the Lord by praying and giving generous gifts to the Lord (2:2). In chapters 3-6 Enoch describes his trip through the first heaven where he sees the angels who govern the stars and the various storehouses of heaven. In chapter 7 he is brought to the second heaven where he saw prisoners hanging in darkness, awaiting judgment. This “hanging prisoner” theme will be used by later apocalypses for images of Sheol, Hades, etc. (Apoc. of Ezra 4, Vision of Ezra 19-22). What does the book of 2 Enoch say about heaven?
Paul was caught up into the Third Heaven (2 Cor 12)
The third heaven contains Paradise which is described as an ideal and beautiful place prepared for the righteous (chapter 8-9). The righteous are defined as those who are just, who clothe the naked, feed the hungry, lift up the fallen, and help the injured and the orphans and worship the Lord only. This list of “virtues” is not unlike Matthew 25:40 in which Jesus describes the “sheep” are those who have done these things to the “least of my brothers.” In chapter 10 Enoch is carried to the north where he witnesses all manner of torture and “cruel darkness.” This place is prepared for those who did not glorify God and practiced sin (which are listed in verse 4-5 in detail.) This too is not unlike the fate of the “goats” in Matthew 25:41-46 as they go to the “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Enoch ascends to the fourth heaven where he sees the paths of the sun and moon (chapter 11-17). This is a rather difficult section which is similar to the Astronomical Book of 1 Enoch. The section argues for a 364 and a quarter-day year (14:1) and attempts to precisely define each of the 12 months (16:2).
The fifth heaven contains an innumerable army lead by Grigori, the Greek word for “watchers” (chapter 18). The whole army is downcast since these are the angels which turned from the Lord along with the prince Satanail. The angels descended to Mount Hermon where they intermarried with the daughters of men and defiled the earth. Enoch recommends they repent, pray to the Lord and perform a liturgy in order appease the Lord’s wrath.
The sixth heaven contains seven groups of angels who are glorious, but all identical (chapter 19). There are angels which worship God and record the deeds of Enoch In this scene there are seven phoenixes (a hint for an Egyptian provenance; cf., SibOr 8:139-159, 2 Baruch 6), seven cherubim, and seven “six-winged beings” singing in unison.
In the seventh heaven Enoch sees the fiery armies of archangels and a wide variety of angelic beings (chapter 20). Enoch is so frightened the angelic guides must pick him up and strengthen him. They show him the throne of the Lord at a great distance (it is in the tenth heaven). He moves to the very edge of the seventh heaven here he sees the seraphim. The angel guides depart and are replaced by Gabriel, the archangel (chapter 21). With Gabriel he sees the eighth heaven, which contains the zodiac.
Enoch is then brought by Michael into the presence of the Lord in the tenth heaven (chapter 22). The Lord is described as “so very marvelous, and supremely awesome and supremely frightening.” Michael strengthens Enoch and asks the Lord to allow Enoch to stay before the throne of God forever. The Lord has Michael “extract Enoch from his earthly clothes,” which seems to be removing his soul, since after he is anointed with oil he had become like the glorious ones but without any physical difference.
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
Hi I’ m interesting in leurnmore sbouth Enoch and the rest.
Thank you for this narrative!
How did the fallen angels at Mount Herman take on human bodies which allowed them
to procreate with women already here on Earth?
I am not at all sure, Nina. This is a problem in Genesis 6 too (assuming that is what Genesis is saying, angelic beings procreated with human women). Sometimes people explain this as something possible prior to the flood, but God made it impossible after the floor.
I’ve been seriously studying the Bible all my life (66 years old). The best way I can describe what I believe in order to answer that question is this. There’s several places it mentions how angels took on human form to carry out God’s missions. Sometimes people didn’t even know they were angels. Sometimes they ate food and slept. One wrestled with Jacob all night long and the angel had to finally jut his hip out of place so Jacob would stop wrestling him. Jacob wanted the angel to bless him. That took on much more powerful meaning in that time then the way we perceive being blessed means today. So we know the angel couldn’t have been in his angelic form or else Jacob wouldn’t have been any match for God’s Holy angel. It says that a donkey spoke. Then there was the donkey that talked so that had to have been an angel in an animal form. And of course some times angels were seen as warriors, huge and frightening and glowing. So that tells us angels can take on other physical forms. The most important scripture to testify to this is when it says be aware that sometimes we can entertain angels unaware. I can tell you there have been many times in my life that I believe that happened to me and I’ve heard others tell similar stories. If spiritual angels can eat, drink and sleep and we can interact with them believing they’re just regular human beings then they have the power to transform into human form. Of course these angels gravelly disobeyed God’s highest command and left their heavenly state meaning they were never to become sexual and lust and sin with the humans that God had created. Their mission was to watch mankind and most importantly never to do more or less than exactly what God instructed them to do in assisting man. They crossed God’s Holy line and began teaching mankind secrets of heaven that man was never intended to be taught.
God created angels to have free will just as He did man. God has never made man or His angels or people to serve Him. The angels had a choice and sadly they made the wrong choice and they led mankind astray into so much unbelievable evil that God was sorry He ever created man. We’re talking about giants the offspring of the fallen angels with human females that became cannibals because they couldn’t get enough food to sustain themselves. Humans were being hunted down by these giants like something we thought were just made up stories in the children’s books we read in school.
This is the simplest way I could describe the what and how of how the procreation happened between the angels and human females. I hope it helps. God Bless you! Prayers!
Remember, even though, they were fallen angels, some of their powers remained with them.