Angels-ENOCH, BOOK OF

Enoch is mentioned in Genesis as the father of Methuselah, the oldest
of the long-lived descendants of Adam. In a pattern that was typical of
the intertestamental period, several books (none ever accepted as
canonical) were composed in the name of Enoch. These works, especially
the Book of Enoch, are extremely important for the angel lore
they contain. The Book of Enoch is sometimes referred to as 1 Enoch
to distinguish it from the Book of the Secrets of Enoch, which is often
called 2 Enoch. 1 Enoch and 2 Enoch are also sometimes called,
respectively, the Ethiopic Enoch and the Slavonic Enoch, after the earliest
languages in which complete copies of these books were found.The most important angel narrative in the Book of Enoch is the
tale of a group of two hundred angels who lusted after mortal
women, fell from grace, and subsequently became devils after leaving
their heavenly abode under the leadership of the angel Semyaza.
These angels also encouraged other sinful activities by teaching
humans about such things as cosmetics (encouraging vanity) and
weapons (promoting war). The core of the narrative is contained in
chapter 7:
It happened after the sons of men had multiplied in those
days, that daughters were born to them elegant and beautiful.
And when the angels, the sons of heaven, beheld them, they
became enamored of them, saying to each other: Come, let us
select for ourselves wives from the progeny of men, and let us
beget children. (7:1–2)
Then they took wives, each choosing for himself; whom they
began to approach, and with whom they cohabited; teaching
them sorcery, incantation, and the dividing of roots and trees.
And they conceiving brought forth giants; whose stature was
each three hundred cubits. These devoured all which the
labor of men produced; until it became impossible to feed
them; when they turned themselves against men, in order to
devour them. (7:10–13)
When earth was in complete anarchy, God sent the archangel
Michael down from heaven to confine the corrupt angels in the valleys
of earth until doomsday. The giants that these angels fathered (the
Nephilim) went on wreaking havoc until, according to such sources as
the Book of Jubilees, they were wiped out in the Flood. Scripture,
however, records later post-Flood tribes of giants who were descendants
of the Nephilim (e.g., Num. 13:33; Deut. 2:11; Josh. 12:4).
This story, which at one time was widely known, eventually disappeared
from popular folklore because it clashed with the official
church position, which was that angels were beings of pure spirit and
thus could not engage in sexual intercourse. Gen. 6:2–4 alludes to the
Enoch tale, stating that the “sons of God” (which, in the context of
the Book of Enoch, are angels) took mortal women as wives.
The early church fathers clearly regarded the Book of Enoch as
Scripture, which is evident in many places in the New Testament
canon. The Epistle of Jude, for example, refers directly to 1 Enoch
when he states that “Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied
of these, saying, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his
saints, to execute judgment upon all . . .” (Jude 1:14–15).According to the Hebrew Book of Enoch, God took Enoch and
translated him directly to heaven, where his body was transformed
into flame and he became the angel Metatron.
This tale about Enoch ascending bodily to heaven is based on a
brief scriptural allusion in Genesis, where it states that “Enoch walked
with God; and he was not, for God took him” (5:24). (This contrasts
with statements about the other patriarchs, who Scripture asserts simply
died.) Among other heavenly tasks, Enoch became high priest of
the heavenly temple and minister of wisdom, who holds the keys to
the divine mysteries. It is perhaps because of these exalted positions
that Enoch was attributed with the authorship of 1 and 2 Enoch.