The Vengeance of the Archangels (Book of Enoch Explained) [Chapters 9-11]

in the last episode of the book of enoch we saw the watchers descend from the heavens to have their way with the mortal women this of course went against their original purpose that is to watch and to never interfere with the antics of man after some deliberation however the watchers succumb to their desires and earth is plunged upon by these wicked angels but after having had their way with the mortal women the women gave birth to great giant monsters known as nephilim that were just as wicked as their angelic fathers if not more so they wrecked havoc on the land destroyed homes fed upon the crops the animals and even the people before long these beasts had even turned cannibal and were devouring each other's flesh in violent spectacles but this wasn't the most insidious event taking place at this time for around the earth azazel one of the watchers had taken it upon himself to teach men how to make swords knives shields and armor and worse yet how to use them he taught men to kill each other taught them warfare and strategy and barbarity amongst this the other watchers including their leader semjaza taught the humans alchemy enchantments sorcery and knowledge that god had not intended for man to use with this the world turned to chaos and amongst the destruction of the nephilim the cries of the humans went up to the heavens here those very cries are heard by the archangels michael uriel raphael and gabriel who gaze down from above and see the carnage upon earth they say to one another the earth made without inhabitant cries the voice of their cryings up to the gates of heaven and now to you the holy ones of heaven the souls of men make their suit saying bring our cause before the most high and this is the archangels interpreting the cries of the mortals and understanding the severity of what is going on so much so that they realize they need to inform god and so it is to the lord they go and tell him lord of lords god of gods king of kings and god of the ages the throne of thy glory standeth unto all the generations of the ages and thy name holy and glorious and blessed unto all the ages thou hast made all things and power over all things has thou and all things are naked and open in thy sight and thou seest all things and nothing can hide itself from thee so yes before actually telling god of the urgent matters on earth they proceed to hype him up a little and ensure that they pay the proper respect to god showing us that they unlike the watchers revere him and would never do anything of the sort that they have in this the text provides us with a clear distinction between watchers and archangels in that archangels are loyal god-fearing and forever under his command the watchers on the other hand are evidently quite the opposite they then tell god of the crimes that have been committed saying thou sees what azazel hath done who hath taught all unrighteousness on earth and revealed the eternal secrets which were preserved in heaven which men were striving to learn it's quite interesting that of all the things going down on earth at this time they first identify as zazel and assign much of the responsibility onto him he becomes the soul watcher who has taught the mortals unrighteousness and he becomes responsible for teaching them the eternal secrets something which the other watchers were also complicit in according to the previous chapters yet azazel appears to take responsibility for this crime possibly because it was his teaching of warfare and murder that was considered to be the worst things that mankind had learned indeed whilst the previous allusions to astrology sorcery herb gathering and alchemy were detested the results of learning of murder and warfare far eclipsed the results of other lessons that the watchers had disclosed so whilst it's a bit unfair that azazel takes responsibility for the other subjects that the watchers had disclosed he does kinda deserve it for the spreading of butchery and conflict but furthermore we understand that he is not accused of seducing the women suggesting that azazel was far more interested in spreading strife than he was his seed instead semjaza comes to bear the brunt of this transgression as the archangels continue and some jazza to whom thou hast given authority to bear rule over his associates and they have gone to the daughters of men upon the earth and have slept with the women and have defiled themselves and revealed to them all kinds of sins much like some jazza had predicted in his earlier assessment of their dastardly plan he would indeed take the brunt of the accusations considering that he was the leader and thus should have known better or that he should have had better control over the others here we also see that the sin of their copulation with the women is explicitly highlighted as well as their guilt in revealing all kinds of sins to mankind for once mankind are seen as the victims and not the instigators of said sin and in many ways mankind is seen as faultless for even the archangels can see that mankind simply would not have known any better they do not proceed to blame mankind in their declarations to god and seem eager to condemn the watchers for what they have done they even speak sympathetically of the women saying and the women have born giants and the whole earth has thereby been filled with blood and unrighteousness and now behold the souls of those who have died are crying and making their suit to the gates of heaven and their lamentations have ascended and cannot cease because of the lawless deeds which are wrought on the earth here they reveal that they are aware of the nephilim and that they pity the state of the earth for it is filled with blood and unrighteousness they even go as far as to point out to god as if he cannot see that the souls of those who have died are crying and that despite their rise to heaven again implying that they were guiltless they cannot find peace because of the horrors that have taken place the archangels most certainly set themselves up as our champions for they are outraged at the indecency that is taking place and even seem eager to set about fixing it they show empathy in their witnessing of the restless souls who now are sent to heaven and seem even saddened themselves that this has transpired furthermore they even come across as accusatory of god showing us not just the passion that they have for this endeavor but also perhaps some more human traits of disgust shock and concern they tell him and thou knowest all things before they come to pass and thou see us these things and thou dost suffer them and thou dost not say to us what we are to do to them in regard to these this is the line that concludes chapter 9 and it really does sound like they are pointing the finger at god saying to him that he sees everything that happens and even knows it before it happens and yet he has suffered them anyway it shows us that not only are the archangels not privy to god's plan despite their closeness to him but that they are just as helpless as the mortals when it comes to anticipating what god will do chapter 10 opens with god declaring to the archangel uriel go to noah and tell him in my name hide thyself and reveal to him the end that is approaching that the whole earth will be destroyed and a deluge is about to come upon the whole earth and will destroy all that is on it and now instruct him that he may escape and his seed may be preserved for all the generations of the world here we are given a bit of a prelude to the ark story from genesis and how noah is eventually tasked to build the ark to endure the flood with this we are given an extra layer of why the flood even took place in the first place suggesting that this extreme measure was not just a necessity to rid the world of the darkness brought upon it by the watchers but also a sign of how angry god was that this had happened with god instructing uriel to tell noah to hide himself it shows us that god had identified one if not the most righteous man of the time and that he wished to preserve a man like that for his offspring would likely embody such merit as the archangels previously mentioned in chapter 9 god saw everything before it happened and so it is no wonder why he took extra steps to ensure noah would safely avoid the desolation on earth until it was time for him to emerge we come to see a contradiction to the idea of the mortals being blameless for if they were god would not have sent the flood which eradicated all life not just the nephilim the watchers and any other wicked things in this it's probable that on some level god did blame mankind for falling for the watcher's tricks and that after this he no longer trusted them except for noah who seems to have been one of the only people to remain pure as stated he wanted noah to escape hence sending uriel to ensure that he did and therefore his descendants would be preserved for he wanted more people like noah and less like the ones who had been deceived we then see god command archangel raphael to hunt down and confront the watcher azazel for his crimes against humanity here we learn that azazel is not spared even the slightest of mercy as god instructs archangel raphael bind azazel hand and foot and cast him into the darkness and make an opening in the desert which is in doordell and cast him therein and place upon him rough and jagged rocks and cover him with darkness and let him abide there forever and cover his face that he may not see light and on the day of great judgment he shall be cast into the fire naturally azazel is shown extreme prejudice in his pursuit and he is not only bound by raphael suggesting some kind of battle that he was sorely outmatched in but also that he is thrown into the darkness it would appear that raphael literally carves a chasm into the desert for which he casts azazel into there the watcher is buried alive with jagged rocks and he is condemned to remain there until the day of great judgment so yes whilst azazel is bound and buried alive he does not actually die and what some believers might draw from this is that azazel has been and still is bound in the darkness under the sands of what some interpret as east jerusalem in douadelle or god's cauldron this doordill is an ambiguous place but it seems that this is not hell but instead a prison for which god stores the watchers until judgement day as can be seen from his instructions to raphael god intends to cast them into the great fires or possibly hell when the time has come he continues with his instructions and heal the earth which the angels have corrupted and proclaim the healing of the earth that they may heal the plague and that all the children of men may not perish through all the secret things that the watchers have disclosed and have taught their sons and the whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by azazel to him ascribe all sin whilst it is unclear if god is still speaking to raphael or if this is a general command to the other archangels what he asks for is quite easy to understand he wishes for the earth to be healed of the terrors brought upon it by the watchers which would be an end to the watchers raping of the women the end of the destruction caused by the nephilim and the outright panic that had gripped the earth he asks the archangels to proclaim the healing of the world and in a somewhat paradoxical request asks them not to harm the children of men despite all the secrets that the watchers had taught them so by this some might say this was god's mercy in that even though the mortals had learned the forbidden teachings of the watchers and had passed them on to their children they would still be exempt from the decimation he continues to lament that the earth has been corrupted but proceeds to absolve humanity of any sin as he ascribes it all upon azazel yet again azazel takes responsibility for teaching mankind everything despite having only taught them about swords shields knives murder and warfare again probably because these were the worst things but this does create a bit of a conundrum that doesn't seem to be answered here and that's whether humanity does perish in the flood or if god spares them or that perhaps he absolves them of their sin and takes them into heaven but does in fact end their mortal life perhaps this is why he tells the archangels that the children of men will not perish as in they won't perish by their hand but instead by his own as he drowns them in the flood but gives them a free pass into heaven because the sin was technically not their fault how were they supposed to resist angelic beings after all perhaps in this god takes responsibility for the full and therefore makes an unprecedented decision god then turns his attention to gabriel and he is given the momentous task of taking down the nephilim something he is shown to be tactfully skillful with he tells him proceed against the bastards and the reprobates and against the children of fornication and destroy the children of fornication and the children of the watchers from amongst men and caused them to go forth send them one against the other that they may destroy each other in battle for length of days shall they not have yet again god is pretty clear and cut throat with how he wants his archangels to handle the situation he describes the nephilim in several ways bastards on the account that they are products out of wedlock reprobates on the account that they were unprincipled and more beast than man and children of fornication on the account that they were conceived on the merits of fornication and nothing else destroy the children of fornication he tells gabriel and to cause them to go forth against one another in this not only is gabriel shown to be a destroyer of the nephilim but also one who possesses the power to turn them against each other you might say that this was easily done considering that the nephilim had already turned cannibal and probably had no qualms about fighting one another but you might also say that this is quite uncharacteristic of the gabriel in the bible this gabriel in the book of enoch is much less a messenger angel but instead more of a warrior equivocal to the likes of michael furthermore some might say he adopts a more insidious fighting style by manipulating the nephilim to fight against each other thus removing him from the bloodshed and from even getting his hands dirty this seems like a very dishonorable way of combat though it might also be argued that gabriel is delivering god's message and thus serving his role as a messenger angel by inciting the nephilim against one another and finally god turns his attention to the big bad of the bunch in michael and tasks him with the capturing of semjaza and any other watchers that still remain on the earth he tells him go bind some jazza and his associates who have united themselves with the women so as to have defiled themselves with them in all their uncleanness and when their sons have slain one another and they have seen the destruction of their beloved ones bind them fast for 70 generations in the valleys of the earth till the day of their judgment and of their consummation till the judgment that is forever and ever is consummated much like azazel semjaza is also bound and thrown into the valleys of the earth possibly underground whilst the doordell that azazel is thrown into is not specified it's possible that god is also referring to this same space for like with azazel these watchers who are cast here are also to be held here until the end of days interestingly god also adds another stipulation in some jazz's capture and that's that michael should wait until all the nephilim have slain each other and so that semjaza and the other watchers are condemned to witness the death of their offspring you'll also notice that god refers to them as their beloved ones suggesting that perhaps on some level the watchers did maintain some paternal feeling for their monstrous offspring and that it would hurt them to see them butcher each other with this god's anger is absolute and there is no doubt that he is mortified with the watchers and wishes for them to suffer he continues of simjazer and the other watchers in those days they shall be led off to the abyss of fire and to the torment and the prison in which they shall be confined forever and whosoever shall be condemned and destroyed will from thenceforth be bound together with them to the end of all generations so much like with azazel simjaza and the other watchers are destined to experience the same fate they too will be cast into hell where they will remain forever and anyone who sins will end up there with them it paints a scary picture for any would-be sinners for if they do not follow god's rules they will be subject to spend eternity in the company of the watchers those who in the eyes of god along with the nephilim were the most foul god concludes to michael and destroy all the spirits of the reprobates and the children of the watchers because they have wronged mankind destroy all wrong from the face of the earth and let every evil work come to an end and let the plant of righteousness and truth appear and it shall prove a blessing the works of righteousness and truth shall be planted in truth and joy forever more again there is another statement that mankind are the victims this time around and mankind are the ones who have been wronged with this in mind god tasks michael with removing all other evils from the earth and replacing them with more wholesome aspects these being plants of righteousness and truth perhaps a metaphor for michael's presence on the earth and for him to inspire these virtues upon those who still remain with these commands given to his archangels god seems content that when all is said and done and truth and joy will prevail and the world will be a good place once again god then proceeds to declare that those who are righteous will be spared either spared of the flood or spared of enduring any more distress at the hands of the watchers or nephilim he continues that the whole world will be planted with trees and will become full of blessings and amongst those trees will be vineyards and wine will flow in abundance crops will be in great surplus and man will come to know a world free from the terrors that had come to plague the world he finally predicts in the conclusion of chapter 10 and all the children of men shall become righteous and all nations shall offer adoration and shall praise me and all shall worship me and the earth shall be cleansed from all defilement and from all sin and from all punishment and from all torment and i will never again send them upon it from generation to generation and forever here in what appears to be this new world that he envisions god promises never to send upon it torment like that brought upon by the watchers the nephilim or the ensuing flood for in this new world there will be no cause for such devastation for all will be righteous in chapter 11 which is only a few lines long he continues his description of this world saying that in these days he will open up the store chambers of blessings which are in the heavens and that he will send these blessings unto the earth and over the work and labor of the mortals with this god shows us his intentions and how much he wants for mankind to live in peace and harmony it might also be said that this was his way of making up to the mortals for what they had endured at the hands of the watchers and that in a way perhaps he felt partly responsible for what had transpired these few chapters proved to be the most compelling of the book of enoch partly because of the vivid descriptions of destruction but also because it is one of the only instances across biblical apocrypha that we see the vengeance of the archangels not only this but we are treated to some fresh concepts such as an angelic civil war between two groups of angels those who are loyal to god and those who have defied him a fantasy element is infused with the text as we are introduced to the bulbous hulking monsters that are the nephilim and through these ideas we get a most compelling story that traditional readers and believers may be pleasantly surprised by furthermore if that wasn't enough we also get a glimpse of a pre-flood world and are able to expand on the biblical narratives provided in genesis such as why god chose noah to escape and why the flood was even brought about in the first place in the next few chapters we'll be discussing an event that took place just before archangel raphael confronts azazel where we see someone else come face to face with him first none other than enoch himself let me know what you thought about today's installment of the book of enoch in the comments below and as always if you've enjoyed today's episode then don't forget to give it a thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe for more content just like this until next time

Channel: The Legends of History

Views: 1,422,457

Keywords: Legends, History, Legends of History, Vengeance of the Archangels, Archangels, Enoch, Book of Enoch, Watchers, Angels, Demons, Book of Enoch Explained, Enochian Legend, Bible, Biblical Stories, Biblical Stories Explained

Id: 0qti2OtJteE

Length: 27min 57sec (1677 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 28 2021