Welcome to the deep dive. We take your sources,
your articles, your research, and really dig
into the fascinating nuggets of knowledge hidden
inside. Our job is basically to give you that
shortcut to being well -informed, maybe find
some surprising facts, and hopefully keep you
hooked along the way. And today, we are plunging
into something pretty extraordinary. We've got
excerpts from the Secrets Book of Enoch. Yeah,
this one's... Different you kind of have to set
aside what you think you know about ancient views
of the cosmos for a bit right imagine getting
like a personal guided tour of the universe But
your guides are angels and the map was drawn
up thousands of years ago. We're talking multiple
levels of heaven intricate cosmic machinery Divine
judgment and even creation secrets that supposedly
weren't even told to the angels themselves. It's
definitely ambitious So our mission today is
to unpack this well this unique vision laid out
in the book exactly Let's get into it, starting
with how this whole journey even kicks off for
this figure, Enoch. Okay, so the text sets the
scene. We learn about Enoch, describes him as
a wise man, a great artificer. And it's very
specific about his age, isn't it? Yeah, 165 years
until he fathered his son Methusel, and then
another 200 years after that. So 365 years total.
That number, 365, it just jumps out immediately,
right? The solar year. Exactly. In a text that
gets really into cosmic timekeeping later, starting
with a lifespan mirroring the sun cycle. Well,
it feels deliberate. Like it's marking Enoch
himself as aligned with these rhythms. That's
a great point. It kind of grounds him in time
before he, you know, transcends it. And the moment
it happens is strange. Very strange. He's home
alone, resting, maybe asleep, and he gets hit
with this great distress, weeping in his sleep,
but he doesn't know why. It feels less like,
I don't know, personal sadness and more like
some kind of cosmic signal, maybe. A tremor before
something big happens. And then they arrive,
two beings. And the description is something
else. Uh, exceeding big, faces shining like the
sun, eyes like burning light. Fire from their
lips, purple clothing, wings brighter than gold,
hands wider than snow. It's this intense, almost
overwhelming picture of divine power. Not quite
human, but appearing as men. And they just stand
at his couch and call his name. An Enoch's reaction
is just... fear. Pure human fear, his face changes.
But they immediately try to calm him down. Have
courage. Do not fear. The eternal God sent us
to thee. And lo, thou shalt today ascend with
us into heaven. I mean, talk about a summons.
Right. But practicalities first, they tell him,
okay, tell your family what to do while you're
gone, and tell them not to look for you until
the Lord brings you back. And even though he's
terrified, he does it quickly. Calls his son's
Methusel regime. Guy Dad. His parting words are
really something he admits. I don't know where
I'm going or what will happen. But then he gives
this final warning. Yeah, he tells him not to
turn from God towards these vain gods who didn't
make heaven and earth, saying they and their
followers will perish. He prays for them to stay
strong in their faith and repeats. Don't look
for me. It's like a prophet's final message before
being taken. A very human moment mixed with this
huge theological warning right before liftoff.
So farewell said, the ascent starts. The text
says the angels took him on their wings, carried
him up. First stop, the clouds. He looks up,
sees the ether, then they place him on the first
heaven itself. And straight away, it's this blend
of cosmic and, well, earthly stuff. He sees this
massive sea, bigger than any earthly sea. And
it's populated. He sees the elders and rulers
of the stellar orders, 200 angels managing the
stars and their movements. And they fly around
all who sail. What's that about? It seems to
connect earthly seafaring with this angelic activity
in the first heaven, like celestial oversight
for navigation. It's a cool detail. It really
is. And it continues with elements, right? He
sees treasure houses of snow. Yep, guarded by
angels. And the treasure house of dew described
beautifully like olive oil, like flowers. Again,
angels manage these stores opening and closing
them. So even weather comes from heaven. directly
managed by angels in this view. Precisely. Divine
administration starts right at the first level.
From there, they go up. To the second heaven.
And the vibe changes completely. Oh yeah. Darkness.
Greater than earthly darkness, the text says.
And inside this gloom, prisoners. Hanging, watched,
waiting for judgment. And these are angels. Fallen
angels, dark looking, weeping constantly. Enoch
asks why they're being tortured. And the answer.
They're God's apostates. They disobeyed. followed
their own will, turned away with their prince,
who, interestingly, is said to be fastened on
the fifth heaven. So punishment is spread across
different levels. That's complex. It is. And
Enoch, still human here, feels pity for them
and they actually speak to him. They ask him
to pray for them. Man of God, pray for us to
the Lord. But Enoch's reply is so human, so vulnerable.
He says, basically, who am I? I'm mortal. How
can I pray for angels? I don't even know where
I'm going. Who's gonna pray for me? He's still
processing all this. Just a man caught in this
epic cosmic drama. Exactly. And from that darkness,
they ascend again. To the third heaven. Another
shift. Big shift. Now he looks down and sees
produce, food, goodness, like nothing known on
earth. Sweet flowers, fragrant fruits. Seems
like it. And right in the middle, the tree of
life. where the Lord rests when he visits Paradise.
It's described as ineffably good, beautiful,
adorned with gold fire bearing all kinds of fruit.
And its root is connected to Earth. To a garden
at Earth's end, yeah. And Paradise itself is
between corruptibility and incorruptibility.
A kind of bridge, maybe. And there are springs.
flowing with honey, milk, oil, wine. Two springs
dividing into four rivers flowing quietly down
into the paradise of Eden again, noted as between
corruptibility and incorruptibility. And from
there they flow out across the earth. So earthly
Eden gets its supplies straight from this heavenly
paradise. That's the picture it paints. Total
perfection, no unfruitful trees, everything blessed,
and guarded by 300 bright angels, always singing.
Enoch loves it, right? He calls it sweet. He
does. And the guides explain who it's for, the
righteous. And they list who counts as righteous.
Oh yes. Those who endure hardship turn away from
sin, judge fairly, feed the hungry, clothe the
naked, help the fallen, support orphans, walk
blamelessly, serve only God. For them, this place
is eternal. A very clear ethical code tied to
this amazing reward. But wait. There's more to
the Third Heaven. There is. They take them to
the northern side. And it's not paradise. The
absolute opposite. A very terrible place. Descriptions
are graphic. Tortures, darkness, gloom, no light,
murky fire, a fiery river, frost, ice, thirst,
cruel bonds, merciless angels with weapons, just
pure torment. Enoch is horrified. Whoa, whoa,
how very terrible is this place. And just like
paradise, this place has its specific inhabitants.
Those who dishonor God. And there's another list
of sins. one sins against nature like child corruption
after the sodometic fashion magic witchcraft
boasting about evil deeds stealing lying slander
envy hatred fornication murder wow it covers
a lot stealing souls exploiting the poor for
riches harming others for gain letting the hungry
die when you could help letting the naked freeze
and critically not knowing their creator bowing
to lifeless idols made by hand that list is fascinating
give you such a clear window into the moral anxieties
of the time Exactly, it's about how you treat
God and how you treat other people, especially
the vulnerable. For all those sins, this terrible
place is the eternal inheritance. This stark
contrast within one heaven just hammers home
the two possible outcomes. Okay, so from rewarding
punishment in the third heaven, where next? The
fourth. Up to the fourth heaven, and the focus
shifts dramatically again. Now it's all about
cosmic mechanics. Like how the universe works.
Pretty much. He's shown the movements, the successive
goings, and light rays of the sun and moon. He's
even measuring them, comparing their light. Measuring
the sun's path. How's it described? As this incredible
engine, a circle, wheels, moving like wind, incredibly
fast, never resting day or night. Not just the
sun, though. There are stars with it. Eight great
stars, four on each side of the sun's wheel,
and each of those has a thousand stars under
it. So, 8 ,000 stars accompanying the sun constantly.
Mind -boggling. And angels run it. Armies of
them. 15 myriads, that's 150 ,000, a 10 by day,
1 ,000 by night, plus six winged beings go ahead
into fiery flames, and a hundred specific angels
actually kindle the sun set at a light. It's
like a divine power plant. And there were those
other creatures too. The phoenixes and shockerdry,
yeah, these are bizarre. Lion feet and tails,
crocodile head, rainbow colors, huge size, 12
wings, like angels. I love you too. They attend
the sun, carrying heat and dew, following God's
orders. Their look is just. It's trying to describe
something utterly alien using powerful known
creatures, maybe. Maybe. And the sun's path,
it goes under the earth too. Yes, the text is
clear. It revolved, goes under the earth, but
its rays are incessant. Enoch has taken east,
shown six huge gates where the sun rises depending
on... the season, month, hour. He measures the
gates. Get specific again. 61 and a quarter stadia
wide each. That's what? Over seven miles wide?
Huge specific numbers trying to grasp celestial
scale. And it sets through similar gates in the
west, following the 365 and a quarter day cycle.
Exactly. Then it goes down, draws its light under
the earth, but its crown of shining stays in
heaven. guarded by 400 angels. It travels under
the earth for seven hours at night. Then comes
back up in the east. At the eighth hour of the
night, it approaches the east, brings its light
and crown, and flames out more than fire. And
that's when the weird creatures sing. The phoenixes
and Chalkidry, yeah. They break into song, and
it makes every bird on earth flutter and rejoice
at the sunrise. They sing at God's command. So
the sunrise is this whole orchestrated event.
Totally. The sun gets its brightness, lights
the earth, the text emphasizes this is the calculation
shown to Enoch, the gates are for computing the
hours of the year, and the sun's big cycle is
28 years before it repeats. Okay, what about
the moon? Is it just as complex? Pretty much.
12 great gates for the moon, west to east. It
goes through them at set times each month with
specific day counts for each gate passage, 31
days, 30 days, etc. Adding up to. 354 days for
the lunar year and the text points us out its
12 days short of the solar year calls these the
lunar apex So it acknowledges the calendar different
explicitly it even mentions a bigger 532 year
cycle and how the quarter day leap year thing
is handled omitted for three years added in the
fourth taken outside heaven Changing the timing
with two new months Wow That level of detail
about orbits, cycles, calendar adjustments like
epaques and leap days. It's amazing. It really
is. It's like ancient astronomy and timekeeping,
but fully embedded in this framework of divine
creation and constant angelic management. It's
not just nature. It's administered. Okay, moving
on up. What's between the heavens? Ah, yes. In
the midst of the heavens, Enoch sees armed soldiers
serving the Lord, but with music, tempana, organs,
incessant sweet singing, it's described as impossible
to put into words, just astonishing. Enoch is
purely delighted listening. A realm of worship
through sound. And then the fifth heaven. The
fifth, and here, another shift. He sees countless
soldiers called Grigori. Grigori, I've heard
that name. You probably have. They look human,
but bigger than giants. But their faces are withered,
they're perpetually silent, and crucially, there's
no service on this heaven. Silent and withered.
Why? Minak asks. Right. He does. Why withered,
melancholy, silent, no service? And the answer
ties back to the second heaven. Directly. These
are the Grigori who, with their Prince Satan
now, rejected God. The ones in the second heaven
were their followers. And it gives more detail
here about their fall. Yeah, it echoes that story
found elsewhere. Genesis 6, other Enoch books.
Three of them came down to earth to Mount Hermon,
broke their vows, saw human women were beautiful.
Took wives, messed up the earth. Giants were
born, cause great enmity. That story. That exact
story. So God judged them. They weep for their
brethren and await the final judgment day. And
Enoch talks to them. He does. He tells them,
essentially, I saw your buddies down in the second
heaven, saw their torments, I prayed for them,
but God's judgment stands. They're condemned.
And then he challenges the Gregori themselves.
Right, to their withered faces. Why are you just
waiting here? Why aren't you serving God? Aren't
you afraid of making Him even angrier? Do they
react? Amazingly, yes. They listen. After He
speaks, they talk to four ranks of angels, four
trumpets sound, and the Gregori break their silence.
They sing together, one voice described as pitifully
and effectively going up to God. Wow. So Enoch,
the mortal, prompted them to break their silence
and sing this sorrowful song. He's already having
an impact. He really is. He's acting with some
kind of authority even here. From the fifth,
they go up again. Sixth Heaven. what's here seven
bands of angels super bright glorious faces shining
more than the sun all looking the same and their
job huge responsibility they make the orders
learn the paths of stars moon sun manage the
good government of the world they spot evil issue
commandments and instruction and sing praises.
These sound like high -level managers. They're
called archangels, above other angels. They measure
all life, heaven and earth, overseas seasons,
years, rivers, seas, fruits, grass, food for
everything. And this is key. They write all the
souls of men and all their deeds and their lives
before the Lord's face. The celestial record
keepers. Exactly. Cosmic administrators and scribes.
And among them, we see those creatures again.
Six phoenixes, six cherubim, six winged ones
singing constantly before God's footstool. Okay,
so structure, administration, record keeping.
Getting close to the top now. Seventh heaven.
The seventh. And the description ramps up again.
Yeah. Immense light, fiery troops, great archangels,
incorporeal forces, dominions, orders, governments,
cherubim, seraphim, thrones, many eyed ones,
nine regiments, the stations of light. Overwhelming.
Enoch gets scared again. Crumbling with terror.
The guides have to reassure him again, have courage,
do not fear. And then the big reveal. They show
him the Lord from afar sitting on his throne
high up. Now, the text clarifies something interesting
here. What's that? It asks, basically, what's
on the 10th heaven if the Lord dwells here on
the 7th? It implies his ultimate place is even
higher, the 10th heaven, Erevov. Ah, okay, so
this is a manifestation, maybe. Perhaps. And
the angels approach the throne in ranks, bow,
return, singing. The highest ones, cherubim,
seraphim, six -winged, many -eyed, stay constantly
before the throne, doing God's will, covering
it, singing holy, holy, holy. The song from earthly
worship. Exactly. Place right here at the heart
of celestial reality. And at this point, the
two guides tell Enoch their job is done, thus
far as it commanded us to journey with thee,
and they leave him. Alone at the edge of the
seventh heaven. He must be terrified. Falls on
his face in fear. But he's not abandoned. The
Lord sends Archangel Gabriel. Gabriel comes for
him. Yes, with reassurance. Have courage, Enoch.
Do not fear. Arise before the Lord's face into
eternity. Arise! Come with me. Enoch is so scared
his soul departs he calls for his original guide.
Gabriel just scoops him up. Like a leaf caught
by the wind and places him before the Lord's
face. But first, a quick tour of the very highest
heavens. Even higher than the seventh. Yep. He
sees the eighth heaven, moves it off. This one
changes the seasons, drought and wet, and it
holds the twelve signs of the zodiac above the
seventh heaven. Then the ninth. Ninth heaven,
Kuchavim. This is where the actual heavenly homes
of the zodiac signs are. So the zodiac is spread
across these two top tiers. And finally the tenth
heaven, Erevoth, where God truly dwells. There
he sees the appearance of the Lord's face. And
the description. Intense, like iron glowing hot
from a fire emitting sparks burning. Wow. Enoch
struggles to describe it. Ineffable, marvelous,
and very awful, and very, very terrible. He says
he can't convey the reality, the being, the face,
the voices, the throne not made with hands, the
angels, the singing, the beauty, the glory. He
just falls down again. Falls prone and the Lord
speaks directly with his lips. Have courage,
Enoch. Do not fear arise and stand before my
face into eternity. And Michael helps him up.
Archist stratage Michael, the commander -in -chief,
lifts him and leads him right before God. This
is it, the main event. Seems like it. And God
sort of confirms Enoch's status, asking his servants,
let Enoch stand before my face into eternity
and they all agree, let him go according to thy
word. It's like they're validating his presence.
Maybe. And their consent seems needed for the
next step, Enoch's transformation. He gets changed.
God tells Michael, take off his earthly clothes,
anoint him with special ointment, put garments
of God's glory on him. And Michael does it. What's
the ointment like? Brighter than light, like
sweet dew, smells mild, shines like the sun in
the effect. Enoch looks at himself and realizes
he's like one of his glorious ones. He's transformed.
He can handle being there now. Exactly. And now,
in this state, the real reason for his trip is
revealed. Who it is? God calls another archangel,
Prabhu. This one's known for super -fast knowledge,
the one who writes down all God's deeds. Okay,
the divine secretary. Basically. God tells Prabhu...
Get the books from the archives, get a fast -writing
pen, give them to Enoch, and deliver some choice
and comforting books too. Previal teaches Enoch.
Teaches him everything, all the works of heaven,
earth, sea, elements, their movements, thunder,
sun, moon, star, seasons, years, days, hours,
wind, angel numbers, and songs, all human things,
language, life, commandments, instructions, singing,
everything worth learning. There's a lot of information.
An unimaginable amount. Prevue had already written
it down, but Enoch gets a specific unique task.
What does he have to write? Prevue tells him,
Sit and write all the souls of mankind, however
many of them are born, and the place is prepared
for them to eternity. All souls, past, present,
future. For all souls are prepared to eternity
before the formation of the world. Yes. Their
eternal destinies predetermined. Enoch is tasked
with striving this ultimate divine plan. That's
incredible. Does he do it? For 60 days and nights
straight, the text says, produces 366 books,
a massive record of all he saw and learned. And
after all that writing? God calls Enoch again,
seats him at his left hand next to Gabriel, and
speaks to him directly, calling him beloved.
And reveals the big secret. The core secret.
Tells Enoch, essentially, everything you see,
everything finished, I'm telling you about it
from before the very beginning. Everything I
created from nothing, visible from invisible.
But the key part is what hasn't tell. Exactly!
The Lord explicitly says, Here, Enoch, for not
to vouch at him, my angels have I told my secret.
I have not told them their rise nor my endless
realm, nor have they understood my creating,
which I tell thee today. Whoa! So the deepest
secrets how the angels came to be God's own nature,
the process of creation, weren't shared with
the angels always around the throne. But revealed
only to this transformed human, Enoch. That's
a massive claim in this text about humanity's
unique potential or place. It really elevates
him. A confidant of God in a way the angels aren't.
Absolutely. And then the text gives us God's
own account of that creation, told to Enoch.
How does this start? God explains that before
anything visible, He alone moved in the invisible.
Unlike the sun, He had no rest, always creating.
He conceived the thought. Place foundations make
visible creation. A restless creator, I like
that image. What's the first step? Commands the
lowest parts. Let visible things come down from
invisible. A being, a Doyle, descends huge, belly
full of light. God tells a Doyle, become undone,
let the visible out. The fossil. Comes undone.
Yeah, a great light bursts out. God is in the
light. Light from light creates a great age,
showing all the planned creation. God sees it's
good. Sets up his throne in the light. Right
there. Tells the light. Go higher. Be the foundation
for the highest things. Above that light, nothing
else. He looks down from the throne. Okay, act
two. Summons the lowest again. Let Arches come
forth hard. Arches appears hard, heavy, very
red from the invisible. God tells Arches. Open
up. Give birth. Arches comes undone too. Yep.
An age comes forth, very great and very dark,
carrying the lower creation. God sees it's good,
tells arches, go down, be firm, be the foundation
for lower things. Below that darkness, nothing
else. So, Ed oil and arches, like primal forces
of light and darkness foundation, pulled from
the invisible. Seems like it, very different
imagery than just speaking things into existence.
It's more like birthing creation through these
intermediate beings or principles. Okay, act
three, water. Takes from light and darkness commands
them. Be thick. They thicken. Spreads it out
with light becomes water. Spreads water over
darkness, below the light, makes the waters firm,
the bottomless, puts a light foundation around
the water, creates seven circles inside, shapes
the water like crystal or glass, sets paths for
water, elements, the seven stars in their heavens,
sees it's good, then separates light and dark.
Right, separates them within the water, light
becomes day, darkness becomes night, evening
and morning the first day. It echoes Genesis,
but the process is unique. makes the heavenly
circle firm, gathers the lower water into one
place, chaos becomes dry land, creates rock from
the waves, piles up dry land from the rock, calls
it earth. The center is the abyss, the bottomless.
Gathers the sea, sets its eternal limits, fastens
the firmament, calls this day the first created.
Wait, first created after day one, two, three.
That's... Slightly odd phrasing. It is. Maybe
emphasizing the creation of the stable Earthsea
system as the foundational visible creation.
It's a bit unclear how it fits the sequence perfectly.
Okay, fifth act. Angels and fire. Creates the
essence of fire for the angels. Looks at the
rock. Lightning gets its nature from the gleam
fire in water, water in fire, neither cancelling
the other out. Lightning is brighter than sun,
softer than water, firmer than rock. Poetic description.
Very. Then, he cuts a great fire from the rock,
and from that fire creates the ten orders of
inquisitorial angels. Fiery weapons, fiery clothes,
commands each to stand in order. And the fall
happens right then. Immediately, the text inserts,
here Satan and El with his angels was thrown
down from the height. And it gives the reason
again. Right there. One angel turned away with
his followers, conceived the impossible thought.
put his throne higher than the clouds, become
equal to God's power. For that, God threw him
and his angels out. He flies constantly above
the bottomless. So the fall is an ancient history
in this account. It's part of the initial ordering
of creation itself. Exactly. The origin of evil
is woven right into the fabric of the cosmos'
formation here. And that brings us towards the
end of this particular vision Enoch received.
An absolutely incredible journey. Yeah, let's
just quickly recap this deep dive into the secrets
book of Enoch. We saw Enoch called up by these
amazing angels. Ascending through multiple heavens,
each totally different. Angels running the stars,
guarding snow and dew. Then that shocking second
heaven with the tormented fallen angels. And
the complex fifth heaven with the silent withered
gregory. And the third heaven, that amazing contrast
between the beautiful paradise for the righteous
with its tree of life and flowing honey and milk.
and that horrifying place of torture on the northern
side for very specific lists of sins. Then the
shift to cosmic mechanics in the fourth heaven.
The sun and moon is these incredibly detailed
angel -operated machines, wheels, gates, thousands
of attendant stars, phoenixes, chocketry. Specific
measurements, complex cycles, calendar calculations
all under divine control. We followed Enoch's
own transformation anointed, clothed in glory,
becoming like an angel himself, able to stand
before God. Which happened up in the seventh
heaven, amidst the highest angelic orders, and
ultimately before the Lord's face in the tenth.
And the core of it all, the revelation of secrets.
Enoch being taught everything by Prev Wuhl commissioned
to write it all down in 366 books. And hearing
directly from God the secrets of creation, secrets
the text insists were not even told to the angels.
How God created from non -being. the role of
Adoyle and Arches. The shaping of elements, the
creation of angels from fire, and placing Satan's
nails fall right within that initial ordering
process? It paints such a vivid intricate picture
of the universe. So different from modern science,
obviously. Yeah. But internally consistent in
its own way. Absolutely. A universe meticulously
ordered, hierarchically managed by angels, with
clear lines between good and evil, reward and
punishment all mapped out. It really makes you
think about the sheer variety of ways ancient
cultures try to make sense of the cosmos and,
you know, our place in it all. Definitely. And
it leaves us wrestling with that central provocative
idea from the text itself. What does it truly
signify, for the author of this book, that the
ultimate cosmic secrets, the mechanics of creation,
God's own hidden nature knowledge supposedly
denied to the highest angels, was reeled instead
to this one human being, Enoch.