Fallen Angels and the Origins of Evil (40 page)

14 ‘This is good, and that bad,’ that I should learn whether he has love towards me, or hatred, that it be clear which in his race love me.

15 For I have seen his nature, but he has not seen his own nature, therefore
through
not seeing he will sin worse, and I said ‘After sin
what is there
but death?’

16 And I put sleep into him and he fell asleep. And I took from him a rib, and created him a wife, that death should come to him by his wife, and I took his last word and called her name mother, that is to say, Eva.

God gives over paradise to Adam, and gives him a command to see the heavens opened, and that he should see the angels singing the song of victory.

1 Adam has life on earth, and I created a garden in Eden in the east, that he should observe the testament and keep the command.

2 I made the heavens open to him, that he should see the angels singing the song of victory, and the gloomless light.

3 And he was continuously in paradise, and the devil understood that I wanted to create another world, because Adam was lord on earth, to rule and control it.

4 The devil is the evil spirit of the lower places, as a fugitive he made Sotona from the heavens as his name was Satanail, thus he became different from the angels,
but his nature
did not change
his
intelligence as far as
his
understanding of righteous and sinful
things.

5 And he understood his condemnation and the sin which he had sinned before, therefore he conceived thought against Adam, in such form he entered and seduced Eva, but did not touch Adam.

6 But I cursed ignorance, but what I had blessed previously, those I did not curse, I cursed not man, nor the earth, nor other creatures, but man’s evil fruit, and his works.

After Adam’s sin God sends him away into the earth ‘whence I took thee,’ but does not wish to ruin him for all years to come.

1 I said to him: ‘Earth thou art, and into the earth whence I took thee thou shalt go, and I will not ruin thee, but send thee whence I took thee.

2 ‘Then I can again take thee at My second coming.’

3 And I blessed all my creatures visible and invisible. And Adam was five and half hours in paradise.

4 And I blessed the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, on which he rested from all his works.

God shows Enoch the age of this world, its existence of seven thousand years, and the eighth thousand is the end, neither years, nor months, nor weeks, nor days.

1 And I appointed the eighth day also, that the eighth day should be the first-created after my work, and that
the first seven
revolve in the form of the seventh thousand, and that at the beginning of the eighth thousand there should be a time of not-counting, endless, with neither years nor months nor weeks nor days nor hours.

2 And now, Enoch, all that I have told thee, all that thou hast understood, all that thou hast seen of heavenly things, all that thou hast seen on earth, and all that I have written in books by my great wisdom, all these things I have devised and created from the uppermost foundation to the lower and to the end, and there is no counsellor nor inheritor to my creations.

3 I am self-eternal, not made with hands, and without change.

4 My thought is my counsellor, my wisdom and my word are made, and my eyes observe all things how they stand here and tremble with terror.

5 If I turn away my face, then all things will be destroyed.

6 And apply thy mind, Enoch, and know him who is speaking to thee, and take thou the books which thou thyself hast written.

7 And I give thee Samuil and Raguil, who led thee up, and the books, and go down to earth, and tell thy sons all that I have told thee, and all that thou hast seen, from the lower heaven up to my throne, and all the troops.

8 For I created all forces, and there is none that resisteth me or that does not subject himself to me. For all subject themselves to my monarchy, and labour for my sole rule.

9 Give them the books of the handwriting, and they will read
them
and will know me for the creator of all things, and will understand how there is no other God but me.

10 And let them distribute the books of thy handwriting—children to children, generation to generation, nations to nations.

11 And I will give thee, Enoch, my intercessor, the archistratege Michael, for the handwritings of thy fathers Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahaleleel, and Jared thy father.

God convicts the idolaters and sodomitic fornicators, and therefore brings down a deluge upon them.

1 They have rejected my commandments and my yoke, worthless seed has come up, not fearing God, and they would not bow down to me, but have begun to bow down to vain gods, and denied my unity, and have laden the whole earth with untruths, offences, abominable lecheries, namely one with another, and all manner of other unclean wickednesses, which are disgusting to relate.

2 And therefore I will bring down a deluge upon the earth and will destroy all men, and the whole earth will crumble together into great darkness.

God leaves one righteous man of Enoch’s tribe with his whole house, who did God’s pleasure according to his will.

1 Behold from their seed shall arise another generation, much afterwards, but of them many will be very insatiate.

2 He who raises that generation,
shall
reveal to them the books of thy handwriting, of thy fathers,
to them
to whom he must point out the guardianship of the world, to the faithful men and workers of my pleasure, who do not acknowledge my name in vain.

3 And they shall tell another generation, and those
others
having read shall be glorified thereafter, more than the first.

God commanded Enoch to live on earth thirty days, to give instruction to his sons and to his children’s children. After thirty days he was again taken on to heaven.

1 Now, Enoch, I give thee the term of thirty days to spend in thy house, and tell thy sons and all thy household, that all may hear from my face what is told them by thee, that they may read and understand, how there is no other God but me.

2 And that they may always keep my commandments, and begin to read and take in the books of thy handwriting.

3 And after thirty days I shall send my angel for thee, and he will take thee from earth and from thy sons to me.

Here God summons an angel.

1 And the Lord called up one of the older angels, terrible and menacing, and placed him by me, in appearance white as snow, and his hands like ice, having the appearance of great frost, and he froze my face, because I could not endure the terror of the Lord, just as it is not possible to endure a stove’s fire and the sun’s heat, and the frost of the air.

2 And the Lord said to me: ‘Enoch, if thy face be not frozen here, no man will be able to behold thy face.’

Mathusal continued to have hope and to await his father Enoch at his couch day and night.

1 And the Lord said to those men who first led me up: ‘Let Enoch go down on to earth with you, and await him till the determined day.’

2 And they placed me by night on my couch.

3 And Mathusal expecting my coming, keeping watch by day and by night at my couch, was filled with awe when he heard my coming, and I told him, ‘Let all my household come together, that I tell them everything.’

Enoch’s pitiful admonition to his sons with weeping and great lamentation, as he spoke to them.

1 Oh my children, my beloved ones, hear the admonition of your father, as much as is according to the Lord’s will.

2 I have been let come to you to-day, and announce to you, not from my lips, but from the Lord’s lips, all that is and was and all that is now, and all that will be till judgement-day.

3 For the Lord has let me come to you, you hear therefore the words of my lips, of a man made big for you, but I am one who has seen the Lord’s face, like iron made to glow from fire it sends forth sparks and burns.

4 You look now upon my eyes,
the eyes
of a man big with meaning for you, but I have seen the Lord’s eyes, shining like the sun’s rays and filling the eyes of man with awe.

5 You see now, my children, the right hand of a man that helps you, but I have seen the Lord’s right hand filling heaven as he helped me.

6 You see the compass of my work like your own, but I have seen the Lord’s limitless and perfect compass, which has no end.

7 You hear the words of my lips, as I heard the words of the Lord, like great thunder incessantly with hurling of clouds.

8 And now, my children, hear the discourses of the father of the earth, how fearful and awful it is to come before the face of the ruler of the earth, how much more terrible and awful it is to come before the face of the ruler of heaven, the controller of quick and dead, and of the heavenly troops. Who can endure that endless pain?

Enoch admonishes his children truly of all things from the Lord’s lips, how he saw and heard and wrote down.

1 And now, my children, I know all things, for this
is
from the Lord’s lips, and this my eyes have seen, from beginning to end.

2 I know all things, and have written all things into books, the heavens and their end, and their plenitude, and all the armies and their marchings.

3 I have measured and described the stars, the great countless multitude
of them.

4 What man has seen their revolutions, and their entrances? For not even the angels see their number, while I have written all their names.

5 And I measured the sun’s circle, and measured its rays, counted the hours, I wrote down too all things that go over the earth, I have written the things that are nourished, and all seed sown and unsown, which the earth produces and all plants, and every grass and every flower, and their sweet smells, and their names, and the dwelling-places of the clouds, and their composition, and their wings, and how they bear rain and raindrops.

6 And I investigated all things, and wrote the road of the thunder and of the lightning, and they showed me the keys and their guardians, their rise, the way they go; it is let out in measure (
sc.
gently) by a chain, lest by a heavy chain and violence it hurl down the angry clouds and destroy all things on earth.

7 I wrote the treasure-houses of the snow, and the store-houses of the cold and the frosty airs, and I observed their season’s key-holder, he fills the clouds with them, and does not exhaust the treasure-houses.

8 And I wrote the resting-places of the winds and observed and saw how their key-holders bear weighing-scales and measures; first, they put them in
one
weighing-scale, then in the other the weights and let them out according to measure cunningly over the whole earth, lest by heavy breathing they make the earth to rock.

9 And I measured out the whole earth, its mountains, and all hills, fields, trees, stones, rivers, all existing things I wrote down, the height from earth to the seventh heaven, and downwards to the very lowest hell, and the judgement-place, and the very great, open and weeping hell.

10 And I saw how the prisoners are in pain, expecting the limitless judgement.

11 And I wrote down all those being judged by the judge, and all their judgements (
sc.
sentences) and all their works.

Of how Enoch lamented Adam’s sin.

1 And I saw all forefathers from
all
time with Adam and Eva, and I sighed and broke into tears and said of the ruin of their dishonour:

2 ‘Woe is me for my infirmity and
for that
of my forefathers,’ and thought in my heart and said:

3 ‘Blessed
is
the man who has not been born or who has been born and shall not sin before the Lord’s face, that he come not into this place, nor bring the yoke of this place.’

Of how Enoch saw the key-holders and guards of the gates of hell standing.

I saw the key-holders and guards of the gates of hell standing, like great serpents, and their faces like extinguished lamps, and their eyes of fire, their sharp teeth, and I saw all the Lord’s works, how they are right, while the works of man are some
good,
and others bad, and in their works are known those who lie evilly.

Enoch shows his children how he measured and wrote out God’s judgements.

1 I, my children, measured and wrote out every work and every measure and every righteous judgement.

2 As
one
year is more honourable than another, so is
one
man more honourable than another, some for great possessions, some for wisdom of heart, some for particular intellect, some for cunning, one for silence of lip, another for cleanliness, one for strength, another for comeliness, one for youth, another for sharp wit, one for shape of body, another for sensibility, let it be heard everywhere, but there is none better than he who fears God, he shall be more glorious in time to come.

Enoch instructs his sons, that they revile not the face of man, small or great.

1 The Lord with his hands having created man, in the likeness of his own face, the Lord made him small and great.

2 Whoever reviles the ruler’s face, and abhors the Lord’s face, has despised the Lord’s face, and he who vents anger on any man without injury, the Lord’s great anger will cut him down, he who spits on the face of man reproachfully, will be cut down at the Lord’s great judgement.

3 Blessed is the man who does not direct his heart with malice against any man, and helps the injured and condemned, and raises the broken down, and shall do charity to the needy, because on the day of the great judgement every weight, every measure and every makeweight
will be
as in the market, that is to say
they are
hung on scales and stand in the market,
and every one
shall learn his own measure, and according to his measure shall take his reward.