An intense look at Enoch. Part two.

In the last post, you were introduced to Enoch and how he came to walk this earth. It's no great mystery, fathers have children and those children then have their own families.  But, what that lineage does not show, nor explain, is why Cain, the first born, was set aside. Nor does that lineage expressly explain how Enoch came to have a relationship with God that so closely paralleled what Adam had. Neither does Enoch's lineage explain the influence of the giants. Because of a few key paragraphs, we have clues as to why this man Enoch seemed to stand alone; that is not exactly true, as Methuselah and Noah also stood as upright pillars. I am hoping you begin to see an odd vagueness as this story leads to Noah and speaks of giants. There is nothing subtle about this story, and, as the Prophet Daniel said,

Daniel 12:3-4  "But those who can discern (CJB) will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. 4) "But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase." NASB

We are in those days and many are beginning to point people to the truth that is in the Word of God. Choose to be one of those who shines.

An intense look at Enoch. Part two.

Now move forward in time to the fall of man. We only have two people in the middle of the garden at this time so we can assume that no one else was aware of what happened by hearing or seeing. Just as Eve experienced death, everyone alive suddenly felt dead on the inside, in their spirits.

How does someone, who for an extended period had creative and dominant abilities comparable to their father Adam, react to a world that they can no longer control?

Genesis 3:15 Darby And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; he shall crush thy head, and thou shalt crush his heel.

As soon as Satan heard this statement from God we see in Genesis 3:15, the game was on. So what does this all add up to? The implications are that the fallen angel hybridization program began immediately, and we are still seven generations away from Enoch at this point.

One of the things I must give some consideration to is lineage and the impact of the Nephilim on Enoch's life. Nephilim is the offspring of fallen angels breeding with humans.

Let's bring Cain back into the picture for a moment. What if in taking a wife, Cain has chosen a Nephilim? Then everything produced through this union would have been a hybridized being, whose eventual motivations were only evil and violent.

Genesis 6:5 Darby And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of Man was great on the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart only evil continually.

Okay, let's try another scenario with Cain and his lovely bride. What if their son Enoch married (use that term loosely) a hybrid? There again the only possible result ends up with a hybrid. If you are not getting the point here, it is that the hybridization program was meant to eliminate an untainted humanity, and thus prevent the seed, God spoke of, from being born.

I already pointed out that Enoch is the seventh generation from Adam. (Gen 5:4-21). Without background information, I have nothing more than numbers. However, numbers are not a bad thing as they allow me to do the math and figure out things like the availability of Adam to share his wisdom with Enoch, or when Methuselah died. These all, as we have seen, had to deal with the oppression and violence of these giants.

Let's attempt to consider what role these immense beings played.

There were Giants, but not just giants, they were Titans. A Swedish museum has the remains of a skeleton that is over 3 meters tall; that equates to being over 21 feet tall. Other remains have been found placing the heights of these titans to be as much as 60 feet tall. But thanks to a concerted effort by the Smithsonian Institute which led a massive effort to gather and eliminate any evidence of giants when they became known, virtually everyone is a skeptic. There is no doubt in my mind that such evidence would only make the Bible more valid, and people would then put their trust in the stories that scripture tells, and Satan, therefore, made a stand against that truth by removing the evidence. Explore this piece of information about evidence found on World Net Daily. http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/smithsonian-admits-to-destruction-of-thousands-of-giant-human-skeletons-in-early-1900s/

Genesis 6:4 MKJV There were giants in the earth in those days. And also after that, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men, and they bore to them, they were mighty men who existed of old, men of renown.

“they were mighty men who existed of old, men of renown.”

The preceding statement doesn't sound so ominous, as mighty men and men of renown could be the description given to a leader in business. Perhaps another translation will provide us with some insight.

Genesis 6:4 CJB The N'filim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; these were the ancient heroes, men of renown.

These Titans are the people from which the ancient myths and legends were formed, and there it is in front of us, in scripture.

The word translated giants is the Hebrew word n^ep̱iyliym.

The following is from the Word Study Dictionary.

"A masculine noun used only in the plural meaning giants. The celebrated, puzzling passage where this term is first used is Gen_6:4 which merely transliterates the Hebrew word into English as NePhplim. These beings evidently appeared on the earth in the ancient past when divine beings cohabited with woman, and NePhplim, the mighty men or warriors of great fame, were the offspring. This huge race of NePhplim struck fear into the Israelite spies who had gone up to survey the land of Canaan (see Num_13:31-33). The sons of Anak, a tall race of people, came from the NePhplim (Num_13:33; cf. Deu_2:10-11; Deu_9:2; Jos_15:14). Eze_2:21, Eze_2:27 may have the NePhplim in mind, possibly equating them with the mighty men or mighty warriors in the passage. These beings were not divine but only at best great, powerful men."

In spite of physical evidence and what scripture says, many will still dispute the existence of giants. Those who try to challenge their existence have difficulty when the story of David arises where he lops off the head of Goliath who was easily over nine feet tall. Goliath, however, was not the only giant, as Og, the king of Bashan, had a bed made for him that was over thirteen feet long.

Deuteronomy 3:11 ERV (Og was the king of Bashan. He was one of the few Rephaites still alive. His bed was made from iron, and it was over 13 feet long and 6 feet wide. The bed is still in the city of Rabbah, where the Ammonites live.)

The premise behind the giants was that fallen angels cohabited with human women and produced offspring. We get this from the book of Jude and Genesis 6:4. However, we can learn that Enoch spoke of it as well.

Jude 1:6 NASB And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,

Genesis 6:4 ISV  The Nephilim were on the earth at that time (and also immediately afterward), when those divine beings were having sexual relations with those human women, who gave birth to children for them. These children became the heroes and legendary figures of ancient times.

Domain is the Hebrew word archḗ and means chief (in various applications of order, time, place or rank): - beginnings. Abandoned comes from the Hebrew word apoleipō and means to leave behind. “Their proper abode.” conveys the idea of a personal residence. Their personal residence was heaven and they it, however, my guess is that they were thrown out with Satan. WSD

 Jude 1:6, as we saw above, includes an ominous statement.

“He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,”

A logical assumption is that the “He” in this verse, is God. The idea of keeping is from the Hebrew tēréō, and means to warden, guard, or keep an eye on. If, in your attempt to sort this out logically, you come to this passage in 2Peter 2:4. Wouldn't you then say, that the fallen angels are all taken out of the way as they are held until judgment comes?

2Peter 2:4 (AKJV)For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved to judgment;

And yet we see that as yet they are not all kept in bonds under darkness.

What do you then do with this statement from Job?

Job 1:6 (AKJV)Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. And the LORD said to Satan, From where come you? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

The apparent fact is that Satan and his fallen crowd are still walking about in the earth. We are made aware that several fallen angels are chained in the Euphrates river, awaiting the day they are to be released to bring havoc on the earth as part of God's judgment, during the seven years. But it is evident that not all are chained up.

If these angels that we see in the book of Job, are not chained and restricted from doing things like cohabiting with human women, then perhaps this idea of fallen angels, once again, after the flood, creating a hybridized race of people is not so absurd.

In looking at Genesis 6:4 once again; there are only a handful of translations bold enough to tell this story as it is.

Genesis 6:4 ISV The Nephilim were on the earth at that time (and also immediately afterward), when those divine beings were having sexual relations with those human women, who gave birth to children for them. These children became the heroes and legendary figures of ancient times.

The God's Word translation merely integrated the sons of God as some aspect of humanity, like they were some self-proclaimed demigods. This statement is not that far-fetched, for, in Genesis chapter ten, we see Nimrod, the son of Cush. It is the elaboration that should catch our attention.

Genesis 6:4 GW The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, as well as later when the sons of God slept with the daughters of other humans and had children by them. These children were famous long ago.

The point here is, that these beings had sex with human women and produced children. As I stated previously, this concept is one that is not foreign to us. Why not? You would have been living under a rock, without electricity, not to be aware that people have claimed to have been abducted by aliens and impregnated. Can you imagine the women in the time of Genesis, trying to tell someone what happened to them? Mary, the mother of Jesus, had a similar problem as she informed the women who challenged her about her pregnancy, that this baby in her womb was God's baby.

Having shared this information in conversations,  one of the arguments thrown back in my face is, that the "angels are sexless because they can't give and take in marriage." Seriously, we have people all around us having intercourse and they are not married. So there is obviously something more to this. This basis for this challenge comes from a question that the Pharisees ask Jesus while trying to trap him. It began with this,

Matthew 22:23-24 ISV  That same day some Sadducees, who claim there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him,  24)  "Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for his brother.'

Matthew 22:28 ISV  Now in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be, since all of them had married her?"

Jesus response was,

Matthew 22:29-30 ISV"You are mistaken because you don't know the Scriptures or God's power,  30)  because, in the resurrection, people neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven.

The IVPBBC explains this sentence like this,

"That is, they shall be elevated above the circumstances of mortality, and live in a manner and in a kind of conversation similar to that of the angels. It does not imply that they shall be equal in intellect, but only “in the circumstances of their existence,” as that is distinguished from the way in which mortals live."

Without an intense theological background, I tend to go with the obvious answer. Jesus told them, people will not marry nor will they be given in marriage in heaven. They are, however, like the angels. This is not a denial or confirmation that angels can mate, but virtually every observance we have of angels is that they are large and powerful warriors. That tends to give them male characteristics, and Genesis tells us that the fallen ones did have intercourse with human women.

I also realize that we can only understand the world through our inner brokenness; a brokenness that happens to like sex. Unfortunately, that desire is deeply tied to our selfish motivations and desires. Angels, with the exception of the third that followed Satan, have no selfish desires, and merely do what they are told. Marriage and intercourse then, are not a part of their job description. Obviously then, it is feasible.

Nimrod came after the flood, but there are some similarities that might help us understand these giants.

With a little bit of background research into the Hebrew words used to describe him, we can determine that Nimrod, is probably not an offspring of one of these fallen angels. However, this description we have of Nimrod in Genesis 10 has some ominous words used in association with him.

Genesis 10:8-11 NASB Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. 9) He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD." 10) The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11) From that land, he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah,

“he became” This word became is interesting as it is used two times in the passage from Genesis 10:8, and yet, each instance is a different Hebrew word. 

For example, Cush became the father of Nimrod.

What can I learn from that? Since Cush is a human, then Nimrod should be a human also. But, even though scripture almost implies that the offspring were only males, that is not the case. Therefore, just because the word gibbôr, which can also mean an overwhelming influence and not height does not exclude the possibility that Nimrod was a massive man.

When verse eight speaks of Nimrod, in saying, he became. It is using the Hebrew word hâyâh which means to exist or to come to pass. Since we already know that Nimrod didn't simply appear, then we also know that who he became was a process. The NASB concordance indicates the word chalal in association with the phrase “he became.” "chalal," we are told, is a primary root and means; to pollute, defile, profane. It seems logical to assume, that Nimrod became polluted, defiled and profane. He also became a principal polluter and defiler of the representation of God. 

As corroborating evidence, when Nineveh comes up in the story of Jonah, most do not realize that Nimrod, and his defiling ways, was the founder and builder of Nineveh. Although it is not told to us in the story of Jonah, the prudent can learn that a significant influence on the Assyrians, the people of Nineveh, is Dagon (a prevalent god throughout the Middle East,) the half man – half fish god. In Judges 16 we see Samson pulling down the Philistine temple of Dagon.

“a mighty one” - a double usage of the word gibbor which means, [powerful; by implication warrior, tyrant: - giant.] [The Hebrew word gibbor is a derivative of another word gabar and also carries the implications of - one who conducts himself arrogantly, and surpasses.]

It could easily be said of Nimrod that he was a giant, but it is clear that he was also a powerful tyrant. Is there any wonder why Jonah wanted these people dead.

“hunter” - is the Hebrew word tsûd. A primitive root meaning to lie alongside - in wait; by implication to catch an animal (figuratively men).

One of our reactions as civilized people is to refuse to consider the possibility that Nimrod could have been hunting people. Based on the context we cannot exclude the idea; and, sadly, we have the testimony of Israel's history and Jonah that tells that Nimrod's Assyrians did hunt other humans and brutalized them.

If the implications are nothing less than scary, then what does that mean to Enoch. Perhaps nothing, perhaps everything, but if I am going to go any farther, then I have to expand my focus.

Genesis 6:5 NET. But the LORD saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time.

Because of sin - the predisposition to act out of selfishness, along with corruption from fallen angels, the uncorrupted human gene pool had been reduced so severely that there was only one family line left that was uncorrupted.

My point? With righteous men like Enoch and Methuselah, I would have thought we would have seen a more significant impact on relatives, and thus would have had them on the Ark with Noah.

As we read, we assume things like Methuselah being destroyed by drowning in the flood, but that did not happen. Several times now I have come across a definition of Methuselah's name that states when he dies, it will come. The idea is that Methuselah was a living prophecy.