There is much about what I currently believe regarding spirits, entities, and the paranormal that can be adequately explained by the Jewish understanding of demonology. This understanding of demonology derives largely from the Bible, the book of Enoch and various other extra-biblical Jewish sources such as teachings of Kabbalah. Before I dive into that a bit further I would like to make a couple of points clear.
First, I am not saying that I believe the Bible, or the Book of Enoch for that matter, are the authoritative word of “God”. I do not mean to imply that any of this is PROOF of anything. Rather, I mean to demonstrate how the writings of the Jewish people tend to adequately explain a lot of phenomenon I personally see and believe to be true regarding non-physical entities. And yes, I believe there are non-physical entities all around us.
Secondly, I do not view “demons” or the “principalities of the air” as all “evil” as is often the case in a modern Christian perspective. I hesitate even using the term “demon” as it implies to most western sensibilities as equivalent to “evil” or “bad”. In Christian parlance, angels are “good” and demons are “bad”. In MY worldview however, there are spiritual beings who live primarily in another dimension (what one might call “heaven”) and there are non-physical beings who live primarily in our physical dimension (what some might think of as ghosts, demons, fairies, spirits, etc). For me, it is not a determination of “good” vs “bad” but rather a distinction between where the two types of non-physical beings primarily reside (in our physical realm or in another dimension entirely).
Enoch Pleads on Behalf of the Fallen Watchers
There is an interesting passage in 1 Enoch 15 that explains a whole lot of what I actually believe regarding non-physical entities so I’d like to review it at length and break it down the way I see it. To clarify what is happening here in this passage, Enoch is a human being who has been transported to the heavenly realms (perhaps another dimension) and allowed to meet with “God” in heaven (or the spiritual realms) face to face. Enoch also has been permitted to see and speak with the Watchers, specifically those Watchers who “fell” from the spiritual realms and came down into our physical realm and remain trapped here. Because Enoch is permitted to speak both to the Watchers that fell and the “God” in the heavenly realms, the Watchers have begged Enoch to plead their case before God and essentially ask forgiveness or mercy for their sin of leaving the spiritual realms. Enoch brings the concerns of the Watchers before God and this is what is recorded as God’s response to Enoch.
And He [God] answered and said to me, and I heard His voice: Fear not, Enoch, thou righteous man and scribe of righteousness: approach hither and hear my voice. And go, say to the Watchers of heaven, who have sent thee to intercede for them: ― ‘You should intercede for men, and not men for you;: Wherefore have ye left the high, holy, and eternal heaven, and lain with women, and defiled yourselves with the daughters of men and taken to yourselves wives, and done like the children of earth, and begotten giants (as your) sons? and, as the children of men, have lusted after flesh and blood as those also do who die and perish. Therefore have I given them wives also that they might impregnate them, and beget children by them, that thus nothing might be wanting to them on earth. But you were formerly spiritual, living the eternal life, and immortal for all generations of the world. And therefore I have not appointed wives for you; for as for the spiritual ones of the heaven, in heaven is their dwelling. And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, and on the earth shall be their dwelling. Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies; because they are born from men and from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin; they shall be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits shall they be called. [As for the spirits of heaven, in heaven shall be their dwelling, but as for the spirits of the earth which were born upon the earth, on the earth shall be their dwelling.] And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble: they take no food but nevertheless hunger and thirst, and cause offenses. And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against women, because they have proceeded from them.,…
1 Enoch 15:1-12
The passage above supports the notion that the Watchers are a spiritual or non-physical being that lives and resides primarily in the spiritual realms (a place the Jews called heaven). They were and remain immortal. These non-physical beings called the watchers were supposed to be assisting (or interceding) for man in some way as “Watchers” over our physical reality. This implies to me that they were only supposed to WATCH our physical reality, perhaps protecting it (interceding for man in some way), but instructed not to interfere with it directly. Instead however, some of these Watchers decided to come down into our physical realm and do more than just WATCH or assist or intercede for man. These watchers decided to actually have intimate and physical relations with physical beings of a sexual nature thus violating the rule of just “watching”. Because of this, these “formerly” heavenly beings (i.e. those who used to live and reside in the realms known as heaven) have been punished by being chained or confined here in our physical realm as their new primary residence. Once chained here they were allowed to take wives and produce children (which were giants) but when their children die they (the children) will become evil spirits on earth.
A careful reading of the above text will demonstrate that the children of the Watchers and humans were different. They are part spirit and part human. When the spirit leaves the body of a child of a watcher it becomes an “evil spirit” on earth that “takes no food but nevertheless hunger and thirst”. The author of the book I’ve been reviewing, “The Watchers: Lost Secrets of Ascension, Resurrection and Perfection”, has pointed out that the flood was designed to wipe out the children of the Watchers and humans which were giants in the land. However, it is also clear from the Bible that children of the Watchers (i.e. giants) continued to exist even after the flood. Those who perished in the flood however, according to the author, continued to remain on earth in a non-physical form and became “evil spirits” who still hungered and thirsted as if they were physical beings but could take no food (likely because they are non-physical now) These “evil spirits” began to rise up against men and women because they proceeded from them.
This is an interesting point to consider further. Basically the children of the Watchers and humans are now stuck in a state where they hunger and thirst like physical beings but because they are no longer physical they are unable to eat, drink or partake in physical things any longer. This perhaps leads them to hate and despise human beings because they are jealous and bitter over the fact that humans helped create them and yet they (humans) continue to enjoy the pleasures of of the physical realm while they, the children (or non-physical spirits) no longer can enjoy the pleasures of the physical realm yet are forced to continue desiring it.
The War Between Your Seed and Theirs
For a moment I’m forced to look back again at the Garden of Eden story with a new perspective. As the author pointed out, the Watchers, he believes, are Seraphim angels and the Seraphim in Hebrew literature were depicted as having a snake-like or serpent-like appearance. If the “serpent’ in the Garden of Eden story was actually a Watcher and if the original sin was that Eve had sexual relations with a watcher, then the following “curse” placed upon the “Serpent” (or in this logic the fallen Watcher), makes more sense. Consider the punishment to the Serpent recorded in Genesis:
And I will make enemies
Genesis 3:15
Of you and the woman,
And of your offspring and her Descendant;
Consider how the passage in 1 Enoch at the start of this blog sheds new light on the possible meaning of this curse in Genesis. The offspring of the serpent-like watchers and the offspring of pure human beings will become enemies. Why? Perhaps because, as 1 Enoch 15 tells us, the children of Watchers and humans will be cursed to continually hunger and thirst like physical beings but will be non-physical beings trapped in a physical realm. They will begin to hate human kind and resent them for helping create their kind in the first place.
And what about Eve’s curse of pain in childbirth?
Again, I point out that Eve’s curse in Genesis of increased pain in childbirth makes little sense if the original “sin” was simply eating fruit. It does however make much more sense if the real “sin” in the Garden was the union of a Watcher and a human being to create a new race of beings (offspring) that became giants. This offspring would be an abomination to God and thus the woman would fittingly be punished with increased pain in childbirth.
But what about Adams punishment? His punishment, according to Genesis, is to have to work hard for his food. Is it possible that Watchers at one point provided food for man and that man had it easy in the Garden? Is this part of what is meant by the watchers “assisting” or “interceding” for man? Were the Watchers at one point caretakers for humanity to give humans an easy life? But when human beings sinned by fornicating with the Watchers God essentially said “Fine! Go make your own food and work hard for it. No longer will we provide for you. You can go it on your own. Oh, and your women can have increased pain in childbirth since they want to fornicate with angels”
Some believe that the ancient stories of the Hebrews prove that Eve became impregnated with the child of a Watcher (i.e. the serpent) and that this child was named Cain. Later she lay with her husband Adam and became pregnant with his child, which they named Able. According to the story in Genesis, Cain became jealous and angry at his brother Able and murdered him. In response, God gave Cain a mark of some sort so that everyone all over the earth would recognize him for what he’d done. The accepted canonized book of First John in our modern Bibles indicates that Cain’s father was different than Adam.
In first John 3:12 we are told that Cain’s father was not Adam but rather someone referred to as “the evil one”
Don’t be like Cain. He was a child of the evil one and murdered his brother.”
1 John 3:12
Is this perhaps more literal than most Christians think? Did Cain ACTUALLY have a different father than his brother Able? Was Cain the child of a Watcher who had fornicated with Eve and impregnated her? Was Able the first legitimate son of Adam? If so, does this not further support the notion of putting a division or war between the serpent’s seed and that of man? The seed of the serpent (Cain) murdered the seed of Adam (Able).
Jesus’ Curious Statement Evidence He Considered Enoch Scripture
Another final thought I feel compelled to re-iterate is my belief that Jesus himself was familiar with the passage we began with in 1 Enoch Chapter 15. Not only that, but he expected his listeners to be familiar with the story as well and referred to it as “scripture”.
As you may recall from an earlier post, I pointed out how Jesus was questioned about a woman who had multiple husbands in her lifetime and was asked who, of the many husbands, would be her husband in heaven. Jesus responded with a strange answer to the effect of, ‘Do you not know the scripture? We will neither marry or be married in heaven but will be like the angels!”
I challenged my readers at that time to find the “scripture” ANYWHERE in our modern Bibles that states that angels do not marry. And, I argued, one cannot find such a verse because that scripture has been removed from our modern Bibles. Now consider again the words in 1 Enoch chapter 15, a book widely known about in the time of Jesus:
Wherefore have ye left the high, holy, and eternal heaven, and lain with women, and defiled yourselves with the daughters of men and taken to yourselves wives, and done like the children of earth, and begotten giants (as your) sons? and, as the children of men, have lusted after flesh and blood as those also do who die and perish. Therefore have I given them wives also that they might impregnate them, and beget children by them, that thus nothing might be wanting to them on earth. But you were formerly spiritual, living the eternal life, and immortal for all generations of the world. And therefore I have not appointed wives for you; for as for the spiritual ones of the heaven, in heaven is their dwelling.
1 Enoch 15
Here to me is the clear an unmistakable reference Jesus is referring to. In the passage in 1 Enoch God reminded the Watchers that they are immortal and thus were not given wives like human beings. Man however, as mortal beings, are given wives to carry on their lineage because man does not live forever. This passage explains exactly WHY angels are not given wives. Because angels are immortal they do not need to breed and reproduce to carry on their line. Man however is mortal and thus reproduces in order to continue their existence in the physical world. To me it is 100% obvious that Jesus was alluding to this very story.
If therefore Jesus WAS eluding to the Book of Enoch , specifically the passage related to how angels had sexual relations with women, how can one ignore the possibility that Jesus himself believed that to be the case as well?