Ancient Book Of Enoch

The Fall of the Rebellious Angels

Enoch in the bible

The Ancient Book of Enoch is still today one of the founding religious texts of the Copts, that is to say the Ethiopians, precursors of the Egyptians. According to the Bible, Enoch is the seventh of the patriarchs. In many ways, this book is unique, fascinating and worthy of the attention of the greatest specialists. Indeed, it gives a detailed account of the event that the Bible presents as The Fall of the Rebellious Angels and evokes the figure of Enoch as the "favorite son" of the Lord.

A controversial story

These writings, which date back to immemorial time, where the very concept of the soul was still unknown, also evoke space wars. This is probably why this text is one of the most controversial works of antiquity. It all begins with the kidnapping of Enoch by the "angels" and the "Lord of Lords" - as he calls them himself - who teach him the mysteries of creation. Enoch adds to this a large number of personal observations.

It goes without saying that the Council of Trent, held between 1545 and 1563, ranks the Book of Enoch among the apocryphal. This is why the Bible quotes Enoch almost exclusively as a Jewish patriarch, testifying to The Fall of the Rebellious Angels, and erasing all traces of the rest. The obvious goal of Christian and Jewish theologians is to avoid the many questions posed by the text by failing, for example, to evoke the existence of other forms of intelligent life.

The incredible journey of the patriarch

The Book of Enoch draws freely from the sixth chapter of Genesis. In this book, it is written that in the days of Jared, Enoch's father, 200 rebel angels called Watchers reach the summit of Mount Hermon, at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters, and prepare to blend with the human race. They will instruct men on the art of making weapons by working metal, teaching women how to make up and dress with coquetry, revealing to humans the art of witchcraft and magic. The resulting picture is that of an ancestral tribal civilization to which a more evolved race learns astronomy, astrology and meteorology, as well as knowledge of the Sun, Moon and Earth. The union of these two races gives birth to the giants, who, however, quickly reveal themselves to be uncontrollable and begin to devour the men.

Rebel angels

God then decides that the rebellious angels must be punished and sends his own Watchers - Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel - to the Earth to impose his will. Then he unleashes the Flood to cleanse the Earth, sparing only Noah.

Some scholars have pointed out the similarities of the fallen angels described by Enoch with astronaut figures. They base their hypothesis on the fact that the thinking and attitudes of these rebellious angels are typically human, and therefore incompatible with any divine nature.

Different versions of Enoch's writings

The main works attributed to Enoch are three in number. The Ethiopian Book of Enoch, dating back to the 2nd or 1st century BC, is undoubtedly the most famous. This text is inspired by earlier Hebrew versions, unfortunately missing. The Slavic version, which dates from 30 to 70 AD, is probably a reworking of the previous text. The Jewish version of the second century AD is probably the most mystical and the least historical. These books evoke in detail the first encounters - before the Flood - between the angels of the Lord and men. They speak of the fall of the first ones, corrupted by the love that they carry to the earthlings, the formation of squadrons of angels, but also of the order of the cosmos and the creation of the Universe.