Okay, so imagine this. A baby is born, but he's
not exactly your average newborn. Not at all.
His body glows, his hair is white, like wool.
His eyes literally light up the room like tiny
suns. And that's not even the wildest part. Right.
Yeah. Moments after birth, he stands up, opens
his mouth, and starts, you know, blessing the
Lord. Yeah. And his father, he's so freaked out,
he thinks the baby might actually be part angel.
He panics. rushes off to his father for help.
I mean, it sounds like something straight out
of a fantasy novel, doesn't it? It really does.
But this is actually how the story of Noah kicks
off in a really important ancient text, one you
won't find in most Bibles today, the book of
Enoch. And that is exactly where we are heading
in this deep dive. We've got some key excerpts
pulled from the book of Enoch. And our mission
really is to unpack this amazing story of Noah's
birth. We want to dig into why, at least according
to the source, his arrival caused such, well,
Alarm. And uncover the surprising reasons given
here for the Great Flood. It's maybe not what
you think. Plus explore some truly cosmic, almost
unbelievable visions Enoch has about judgment,
the universe, everything. It's like getting a
totally different perspective, isn't it? A different
set of liner notes for a story you thought you
knew. We're going to pull out the most striking
details and hopefully help you see these ancient
events through a, well... a very unique lens.
Okay, let's get into it. Starting right there
with that incredible birth scene. So the text
says Methuselah's son, Lamek, has a son. Pretty
normal start. Right, sounds standard. But then
the description hits you. This child is anything
but standard. Tell us about it. Okay, so his
body described as white as snow and red as a
blooming rose. His hair, his locks, white as
wool. Wow. And his eyes They weren't just, you
know, beautiful. When he opened them, they apparently
lit up the entire house. Like the sun, the whole
place just glowed. And then he acts. This newborn
baby arises in the midwife's hands, opens his
mouth and starts talking. Conversing. With the
Lord of righteousness, no less. Not crying, not
gurgling, speaking blessings. Which understandably
terrifies Lamec. Completely. The text says he
was afraid he fled when straight to his dad,
Methuselah. And his fear is specific, isn't it?
It's not just general new -parent anxiety. Oh,
no. He thinks the sun is, and this is a quote,
strange, diverse from an unlike man. He looks
at the child and sees something resembling the
sons of the God of heaven. Okay. He notes the
child's different nature, those eyes like the
sun's rays, his glorious appearance. Lamek is
basically afraid the child isn't his. He thinks
he came from angels. Exactly. Sprung from angels,
not from him. And he's worried some Wonder may
be wrought on the earth during this child's life.
He senses something huge is coming. So his mind
just leaps straight to the divine, or specifically
the angelic. Something beyond human has happened
here. That's his immediate conclusion. And his
solution? He begs Methuselah to go find his father,
Enoch Lemmick's grandfather, who, in this tradition,
is said to dwell among the angels. To get the
truth. To find out the absolute truth about this
baby. Which leads Methuselah on quite a journey.
It does. The text says he travels to the ends
of the earth to find Enoch. He hears Enoch is
there, cries out, and Enoch hears him and comes.
So Methuselah explains the whole situation. Lays
it all out for Enoch. The bizarre birth, the
glowing baby, the talking, Lamek's terror that
the child isn't human, or at least not fully
human. Looks like the angels of heaven. He's
basically asking, what is going on? Is this child
mine? And this is where it gets really fascinating
because Enoch's answer It's way bigger than just
confirming paternity. Oh much bigger. He connects
this birth to this huge cosmic drama and the
real reason, according to this text, for the
coming destruction. What does he say? Enoch tells
Methuselah the Lord is about to do a new thing
on the earth. He says I've already seen this
in a vision. The vision? About what? He links
it directly back to his own father's generation,
Jared's time. He says back then, some of the
angels of heaven transgressed the word of the
Lord. Angels transgressing. How? What did they
do? According to Enoch here, they committed sin,
broke divine law, specifically by uniting with
human women. The text says they united themselves
with women and commit sin with them, and have
married some of them and have begot children
by them. These are often called the watchers
in related traditions. So the sons of the God
of heaven, Lamech, was worried about. This text
says they were these specific fallen angels.
That's the connection being made, yes. And the
children they had with humans, what were they
like? The text says they produced giants not
according to the spirit, but according to the
flesh. And because of this whole situation, the
angelic transgression, their giant offspring,
a great punishment is coming. A punishment on
the earth? Yes. The earth shall be cleansed from
all impurity. So wait. In this telling, the great
flood is the direct result of this angelic corruption.
The mingling of angels and humans and their offspring.
Precisely. That's presented as the primary cause
here. It's called a great destruction over the
whole earth. Specifically, a deluge and a great
destruction for one year. Okay, so where does
this incredible baby Noah fit into all this coming
destruction? Enoch reveals his crucial role.
He says this son, Noah, shall be left on the
earth, and his three children shall be saved
with him. So when everyone else perishes? He
and his sons will survive. They will be preserved
through the deluge. So Noah's strangeness, his
unique birth, it's not just weird, it's actually
a sign. a sign he set apart for this role. That
seems to be exactly the implication. And Enoch
gives Methuselor clear instructions. Tell Lamek
he is in truth his son. Okay, so he is Lamek's
son after all. Yes, and call his name Noah because
Enoch says he will be left to you and he and
his son shall be saved from the destruction.
And the name Noah itself has meaning here. Yes,
connected to being left or remaining but also
later comfort. The text stresses the destruction
comes on account of all the sin and all the unrighteousness
consummated on the earth in his days. The direct
consequence. But Enoch sees even further, doesn't
he, beyond the flood? He does. He mentions that
even after this mass of cleansing, there will
be even more unrighteousness than before. Really?
So the flood isn't the ultimate fix in this view?
Apparently not. It doesn't permanently solve
the problem of human or maybe even cosmic corruption.
Enoch says he knows all this because he's been
shown the mysteries of the holy ones. by the
Lord. And he mentions reading something. Yes.
He says he has read it in the heavenly tablets.
Heavenly tablets? What are those? Like cosmic
record books? That's the idea. Yeah. Like everything
is written down. He says he saw on these tablets
that generation upon generation shall transgress
till a generation of righteousness arises and
transgression is destroyed and sin passes away.
And all manner of good comes. Wow. That's a long
view of history. Cycles of sin and eventual restoration.
A very long view. But first, He really hammers
home the message about Noah from Methuselah.
He repeats it. Yes. Tell Lamech that this son
is in truth his son, and that is no lie. Make
sure he understands. And Methuselah does this.
He does. He goes back, tells Lamech everything,
and they name the child Noah. The text adds specifically,
for he will comfort the earth after all the destruction.
So the name also carries that sense of future
solace. Okay, so the narrative seems to jump
forward then. Noah is older. and he sees the
signs himself. Right. Later, Noah sees the earth
has sunk down, and its destruction was nigh.
The catastrophe is imminent. And he reaches out
to Enoch, even though Enoch was supposedly taken
earlier. Yeah, the timeline of perspective gets
a bit fluid here. Noah goes to the ends of the
earth and cries out to his grandfather Enoch.
Enoch appears to him, seemingly transcending
that earlier departure. And Noah's distressed.
Deeply. He cries out three times. Hear me. Hear
me. Hear me. His question is desperate. Tell
me what is falling out on the earth, lest perchance
I shall perish with it. He sees it coming and
he's terrified. What happens next? There's a
great commotion, a voice from heaven, Noah falls
on his face, and then Enoch is there, asking
him, you know, why are you crying so bitterly?
And the reason for the destruction revealed here,
it adds another layer doesn't it, beyond just
the angel stuff. It really does. Enoch tells
Noah a command has gone forth from the Lord because
the people on earth have learned all the secrets
of the angels and all the violence of the satans
and all their powers, the most secret ones. Secrets?
Learning secrets is part of the problem now.
What kind of secrets? The text gets surprisingly
specific again. It mentions the power of sorcery,
witchcraft, and making molten images, idolatry
maybe. Okay, mystical or forbidden arts. But
also secrets of the earth itself. how silver
is produced from the dust, how soft metal originates
like lead and tin. It even says these metals
come from a specific fountain where an angel
stands guard. Whoa. So it's not just angels marrying
humans. It's also about them sharing forbidden
knowledge, like illicit technology, mystical
power, even knowledge about natural resources.
That's a huge part of it in this section, yes.
The corruption involved sharing and misusing
knowledge that was meant to be hidden, perhaps
even advanced knowledge related to things like
allergy sourced from these fallen angels and
the consequence for learning and using these
secrets utter destruction the earth and those
who dwell upon it shall be destroyed and for
those involved the angels who taught the humans
who learned there's no turning back they have
no place of repentance forever because they have
shown them what was hidden and they are the damned
pretty final but Noah again is different yes
Enoch reassured him The Lord of Spirits knows
that thou art pure and guiltless of this reproach
concerning the secrets. Noah didn't partake in
this forbidden knowledge exchange. And his destiny
is confirmed. Absolutely. His name will be among
the holy, he'll be preserved, and his descendants
are destined for kingship and for great honors.
A righteous line will come from him, a fountain
of the righteous and holy without number forever.
Such a stark contrast. Total doom for the corrupted,
but this incredible future promised through Noah.
And then Enoch gets shown the mechanics of the
judgment itself. What does he see? He sees the
angels of punishment who are prepared to come
and let loose all the powers of the waters which
are beneath in the earth. They're ready to unleash
the floodgates basically. But they're told to
wait. Right. The Lord commands them not to release
the waters yet, to hold them in check. The time
isn't quite right. And God speaks directly to
Noah then. Yes. Noah hears God's voice affirming
him. Noah, thy lot has come up before me, a lot
without blame, a lot of love and uprightness.
God essentially says, the angels are working,
but I will preserve life through you. A seed
of life. Exactly. A seed of life shall come forth,
and a change shall set in so that the earth will
not remain without inhabitant. Life will continue
through Noah. And his family line is secured.
Divinely secured. God tells him to Fast thy seed
before me for ever and ever, and promises they
will spread abroad shall not be unfruitful, but
will be blessed and multiply." So what about
those angels who started all this trouble, the
ones who shared the secrets? They get imprisoned,
specifically in a burning valley that Enoch had
apparently seen before. It's described as being
in the west, among mountains known for gold,
silver, iron, soft metal, and tin. Wait, the
same area associated with those metals whose
secrets were revealed? It seems directly connected,
yes. That place of forbidden knowledge becomes
their prison. What's the prison like? The text
describes a great convulsion, an upheaval involving
water. There's a smell of sulfur linked to fiery
molten metal. This valley where the angels who
led people astray are punished, it burned beneath
that land with streams of fire flowing through
it. But there was something weird about the waters
there, right? Something about healing and punishment.
Yeah, this is a really strange and striking paradox.
The text says these waters will somehow serve
earthly rulers kings, the mighty, for healing
of the body. Healing from a place of punishment.
Physically healing, yes, but spiritually it's
for the punishment of the spirit. It's like the
powerful on earth benefit physically from this
corrupted source, but it damns their spirit.
And does that work? Their spirit is full of lust,
punished in their bodies, yet they deny the Lord
even while using this tainted source. They prioritize
the body's desires, reject the spirit, blinded
by the physical benefit. So the very thing offering
them physical comfort is tied to the ultimate
source of corruption and judgment, and it blinds
them. That seems to be exactly the point. A commentary
on how earthly power and physical gratification
can make you completely oblivious to spiritual
reality and divine judgment. The text even adds
that the water temperature changes based on the
angel's punishment gets hot when they suffer.
cold when they ascend slightly. And the archangel
Michael comments on this. He does. Michael says
this whole situation, the judgment, the valley,
the waters is a testimony for the kings and the
mighty. Because these waters offer them physical
healing and cater to their lust, they will not
see and will not believe that those waters will
change and become a fire which burns forever.
They're benefiting too much in the present to
see the eternal consequence. Exactly. They're
trapped by their reliance on this corrupted source.
Yeah, that's incredibly dark. Okay, shifting
gears slightly. The text then describes Enoch
himself being elevated, right, taken up. Yes,
his name is raised aloft to that Son of Man and
to the Lord of Spirits. He's taken from among
those dwelling on earth. How? On chariots of
the Spirit. His name vanished among them. He's
no longer counted as an earthly inhabitant. Where
does he go? He's placed between the two winds,
between the north and the west. It sounds like
a specific celestial location where angels are
measuring out a place for the elect and righteous.
And there he sees the first fathers and the righteous
who have been dwelling there since the beginning,
like a realm for the departed righteous. And
then he goes even higher. His spirit is translated,
ascends into the heaven of heavens. The descriptions
become even more intense. He sees Holy sons of
God, angelic beings stepping on flames dressed
in white, faces shining like snow. Overwhelming,
I'm out. Totally. He sees streams of fire, light
like hyacinth. He falls on his face completely
overwhelmed. And Michael helps him again. Yes,
Michael lifts him up and leads him into all the
secrets. Secrets of righteousness, the ends of
heaven, the chambers of the stars and luminaries
where they come from before appearing in the
sky. He's getting the grand cosmic tour. And
he sees a central structure. He describes this
incredible structure made of crystals, with tongues
of living fire flickering between them, a girdle
of fire surrounds it, streams of living fire
pour out on four sides, guarded by angels, powerful
ones, seraphim, cherivim, alphanim, these classes
of angels associated with God's throne, they
guard it constantly, never sleeping. And around
them countless other angels thousand thousands
and ten thousand times ten thousand and key archangels
like Michael Raphael Gabriel faniola are seen
going in and out and then from this house Someone
emerges. Yes the head of days a title often used
for God representing eternal divinity What's
the description like his head is white and pure
as wool his clothing indescribable Once again,
Enoch is just floored, falls on his face, his
spirit transforms, he cries out blessings, and
this worship pleases the Head of Days. And then
he meets another figure, the Son of Man. Right.
The Head of Days comes with angels and greets
Enoch, saying, And the Son of Man brings a message.
A message of peace. Peace in the name of the
world to come. A piece that's eternal, existing
since creation. And the righteous are connected
to him. Yes. The promise is that all the righteous
will follow his ways. Their eternal homes and
heritage will be with him. They'll never be separated.
Length of days, eternal peace. It's all tied
to this, Son of Man. So it's this vision of ultimate
hope and righteousness, a real counterpoint to
all the judgment and corruption described earlier.
A powerful counterpoint, yeah. Offering a glimpse
of the final restoration. The visions keep coming,
though. Uriel shows him the cosmos. Yes, the
Archangel Uriel shows Enoch, the proper functioning
of the universe. The sun, the moon, the stars,
their leaders, their tasks, their timing, their
orbits. The perfect, intended cosmic order. But
then he sees how that order gets disrupted. profoundly
disrupted. In the days of sinners, this perfect
mechanism breaks down. Years get shorter, crops
are late, rain is withheld, fruits don't grow
right, the moon cycle gets messed up, even the
sun behaves erratically shining too brightly
or setting strangely. And the stars themselves
go off course. Yes, many of the chiefs of the
stars transgress their ordained order. They change
their orbits, mess up their tasks, don't appear
when they're supposed to, cosmic chaos. What's
causing this? Is it just a symptom? of the sin
on earth. The text links it directly to human
ignorance and error. It says the whole order
of the star shall be concealed from the sinners
and the thoughts of those on the earth shall
err concerning them. Meaning. Humans misunderstand
the stars. Their ways become altered. They make
mistakes. And crucially, they take them to be
gods. Wow. So according to this text, human error
misunderstanding the cosmos, maybe even worshiping
celestial bodies, actually causes the physical
mechanics of the universe to go haywire. That's
the implication. It's a really unique idea, this
deep connection where human spiritual or intellectual
corruption directly impacts physical cosmic order.
And the result of all this disorder. More evil
and ultimately punishment to destroy all. The
cosmic chaos isn't random. It's both a consequence
of sin and a sign leading towards judgment. And
throughout all these incredible visions, those
heavenly tablets keep coming up. Right. Enoch
has told again, observe the heavenly tablets,
read what is written thereon, and mark every
individual fact. He reads it all, understands
it all, the book of all the deeds of mankind,
to the remotest generations. A complete divine
record of everything past, present, future. Seems
like it. And after seeing all this, Enoch blesses
God for creation, praises his patients, and blesses
humanity. Especially, he blesses the person who
dies righteous, with no record of unrighteousness
against them, who won't face a day of judgment
because their sleet is clean. And then finally,
he returns to earth. Yes. Seven holy ones bring
him back, set him down right in front of his
own house. And they give him instructions. Very
specific ones. Declare everything you saw to
your son Methuselah. Show it to all your children.
And stress the point. No flesh is righteous in
the sight of the Lord, for He is their Creator.
No one is righteous on their own. And He has
a deadline, a strict one. And they offer some
final words, encouragement and warning. But the
sinners shall die with the sinners and the apostate
go down with the apostate. Clear separation of
fates. There was that line about the righteous
dying because of the wicked. How does that fit?
Yeah, that line. Those who practice righteousness
shall die on account of the deeds of men and
be taken away on account of the doings of the
godless. Sounds odd at first, but in the context,
especially thinking about the flood, it might
mean that the physical judgment brought on by
widespread wickedness is so catastrophic It impacts
everyone on earth. So the righteous might physically
perish in that destruction, or maybe taken away
means they are removed beforehand, like Enoch
himself was. So it's not saying their righteousness
fails them, but that the consequences of overwhelming
sin affect the whole world. That seems the most
plausible reading, yeah? Their ultimate fate
is secure, but they might still be caught up
in the earthly consequences caused by others,
highlighting how interconnected things are, maybe
tragically so. Okay, that makes more sense. and
then the angels leave. They see speaking and
Enoch is back with his people. Blessing the Lord.
A man returned from seeing the secrets of heaven
and the future of earth. Wow. Okay, so let's
just try and recap this journey we've taken through
these excerpts. We started with this unbelievable
baby Noah, whose father literally thought he
might be part angel. And that detail found in
the book of Enoch opens up this whole narrative
where Noah's birth is a sign directly tied to
this major angelic transgression, angels mixing
with humans producing giants. And where the Great
Flood isn't just about general human sin, but
specifically about cleansing the earth from that
corruption and importantly from the spread of
forbidden knowledge. Right, the secret sorcery,
metallurgy, things humans weren't meant to know
taught by fallen angels. And Enoch's visions.
They took us from that judgment to the fate of
those angels in that bonding valley with that
bizarre twist about its waters healing the bodies
of kings while punishing their spirits. And then
all the way up into the heavens, seeing the divine
throne room, the head of days, the son of man.
And that really mind -bending concept that the
physical order of the cosmos, the stars and planets,
could actually be disrupted by human sin and
error by us fundamentally misunderstanding our
place or even worshiping creation instead of
the Creator. It just gives you such a different
framework for thinking about these ancient stories,
doesn't it? It adds these layers about knowledge,
angelic influence, cosmic mechanics. It's complex.
Absolutely. Thinking about these perspectives
really does raise huge questions. You know, what
counts as forbidden knowledge? How does divine
justice actually work? What about these unseen
forces described so vividly? And maybe the final
thought to leave you with, building on that connection
between cosmic order and human error, if this
ancient text suggests that chaos in the universe
is linked to our mistakes, our failures to understand
or worship correctly, What might that imply about
our own understanding of the universe today and
our relationship with the world around us? Something
to mull over.