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Find the answers to all those questions you were too embarrassed to ask in Sunday School. Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. Hosted by Luke Taylor.
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Jesus, the Book of Enoch, and the Fate of the Watchers
Matthew 25
Introduction
One of the most famous parables Jesus shared was the one about the sheep and the goats. This refers to a future time, judgment day, the second coming of Christ, when Jesus will separate the righteous from the unrighteous. Those who had served Christ will receive salvation, the rest will have a dark fate.
And you’ll probably recognize this quote that Jesus says to that second group
In Matthew 25:41:
Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’
Sounds simple enough, right? Hell was created for the devil and his angels- meaning the bad angels, the fallen angels- and those people who choose the devil’s team will end up in the same place that they are.
Except wait a minute- this is actually new information. There hasn’t been anywhere in Scripture where we were told that hell was first created for the devil and his angels. You can read from Genisys to Malachi and you won’t find this idea anywhere.
Like 12 tons of European KitKats. Just totally missing. Gone.
You will, however, find that doctrine in the Book of Enoch.
Did Jesus read the book of Enoch? And more importantly- did He believe it?
We’ll answer that today because I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why Jesus seemed to quote an idea from the Book of Enoch.
Turn to Matthew 25, and let’s get weird.
[theme music]
Imprisoning the Watchers
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about how much Jesus may have relied on the book of Enoch. This is part of a series we’re doing this year on the podcast on places where Scripture intersects with the Book of Enoch. We won’t spend the whole entire year on it, but most of the first half of this year will be in this series.
So we’ll come back around to Matthew 25 in a few minutes. But I want to start today by picking up where we left off last time in Enoch, talking about the fate of the Watchers.
In case anybody is new, I’ll just mention, Book of Enoch gives us the background info on these beings called the Watchers, which are also known in the Bible as the Sons of God. These were angelic beings who descended to earth in the pre-flood world and created the giants. We read about this in Genesis 6. Probably the weirdest thing I believe. Probably the weirdest thing in Scripture. And the Book of Enoch fleshes all that out in more detail.
We are up to chapter 10 in the book of Enoch. In chapter 9, some of the good angels cried out to God: Lord, why are you letting all this happen? How long will you let the Watchers and the giants corrupt the planet?
And God answers in chapter 10. He says to first bind one of these fallen angels, Azazel, who taught mankind forbidden knowledge and helped create the giants. God said in Enoch chapter 10 that Azazel would be bound and cast into Sheol, which is the underworld. However, he would only be buried deep enough that he would still be able to observe what was going on in the world during his imprisonment.
What we’ll read next in the Book of Enoch is the fate of the other Watchers who sinned in this way. Heads up though, so that I don’t catch anyone off-guard, especially if you have kids around while you’re playing this: the next part of Enoch 10 contains a word that some consider a curse word. Now, it’s not technically a curse word, it’s a biblical word, and I’m going to use it in a biblical way. But I’m just warning you because this word can be considered offensive in American culture.
Enoch 10 states: 9. And to Gabriel said the Lord: '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 cause 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.
Now, a bastard child means the child of an illegitimate union. We see this concept discussed in Deuteronomy 23. Again, this can be used an an insult in America. I think it’s a much lighter or more common insult in European countries. But the way the book of Enoch uses this here is to talk about the giants of the pre-flood world. They were the offspring of a union that was forbidden: between angelic or spiritual men and human women. So right here, God has instructed Gabriel to start a war amongst the children of the Watchers- AKA the giants or Nephilim- and cause them to slay each other in battle.
Enoch 10 continues, 10. And no request that they (i.e. their fathers, or the Watchers) make of thee shall be granted unto their fathers on their behalf; for they hope to live an eternal life, and that each one of them will live five hundred years.'
The Greek here is kinda wonky; what it’s actually saying is that even though the Watchers had hoped their children would live eternally, God is going to wipe them out within 500 years.
Enoch 10 continues: 11. And the Lord said unto Michael: 'Go, bind Semjâzâ and his associates who have united themselves with women so as to have defiled themselves with them in all their uncleanness.
Semjaza was the leader of the Watchers who engaged in this transgression. So each of the angels now who prayed the prayer in Enoch 9 have been given a task to do. Uriel was to deliver a message to Noah’s father; Raphael was to bind Azazel; Gabriel was to start a Nephilim Civil War. And Michael has been told to bind Semjaza and the rest of the Watchers in a way similar to Azazel. And again, Semjaza and the rest will be forced to watch this Nephilim Civil War, but they won’t be able to do anything about it.
Now, last week I had said that I would do a whole episode on the Nephilim Civil War. And I spent my entire study time Saturday wrestling through this. I was even about ready record it, but I decided to pull the plug on it. I simply couldn’t find enough Scriptural validation for this event. I believe it probably happened, but the story of the Nephilim Civil War is told in other ancient texts which were found with the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940s. Texts which, like the Book of Enoch, aren’t in the Bible. So I felt like I was getting too far from Scripture itself with that episode, and that’s why I didn’t record that episode.
However, I will release some of my notes on it this weekend in my newsletter as supplemental information to go with this episode. So if you’d like to receive an email this weekend about the Nephilim Civil War, you can sign up for the emails using the link in the show notes. If you find this episode later on, you can use that same link to find past newsletters as well; so just look for the one titled Nephilim Civil War. Because I think that title sounds cool; it sounds like it would be DLC on a God of War game. But anyway, I felt it wouldn’t be appropriate to do a whole episode on that subject, so I’m sorry about that if that’s disappointing.
But long story short, the Watchers wanted their giant children to replace mankind and either corrupt or destroy mankind at all costs like Skynet in the Terminator movies. But the giants instead started to get tribal and kill one other off.
Enoch 10 says, 12. And when their sons have slain one another, and they have seen the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them fast for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, till the day of their judgement and of their consummation, till the judgement that is for ever and ever is consummated.
Semjaza and the other Watchers are to be bound until the day of their judgment. They are to be forced to watch the giants slaughter one another in battle and not be able to do anything about it. It said they’ll be so distraught over this, they’ll request or cry out to God to stop the slaughter of their children, but God will not hear their pleas. This is part of the judgment of these Watchers.
It’s kind of poetic justice, as the Watchers could do nothing but watch. The Watchers were supposed to watch over humanity from above, from the heavens. But they left their heavenly domain to come down and mess with mankind. So God’s judgement upon them is going to be that they’re forced to watch humanity from below. And they have to watch their children (the giants) be slain.
I’ll read this last part of Enoch 10 today: 13. 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 for ever. 14. And whosoever shall be condemned and destroyed will from thenceforth be bound together with them to the end of all generations. 15. And destroy all the spirits of the reprobate and the children of the Watchers, because they have wronged mankind. 16. 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 for evermore.
Now, the key sentence in what I just read was the idea that hell- though it is not called hell here, but we know this is what it means by the abyss of fire and torment- was created for the fallen angels; and two, that any human beings who are condemned will go to the same place as the fallen angels. That’s what it meant there where it said, “And whosoever shall be condemned and destroyed will from thenceforth be bound together with them to the end of all generations.”
As I said before, this idea had never shown up in the Bible prior to Jesus claiming this in the Gospels. Michael Heiser’s commentary on Enoch says, “These items provide reference points as to how the New Testament writers thought of hell as a place for ‘the devil and his angels’ (Matthew 25:41), an idea that is not articulated in the Old Testament. Though these connections are not made in the Old Testament, the data points of Old Testament demonology and supernatural rebellion are consistent with the theology of 1 Enoch and the New Testament on this point.” (Page 99)
Matthew 25, The Sheep and the Goats
And now let’s take a look at Jesus’ words in context in Matthew 25. Jesus is giving a prophecy often known as the parable of the Sheep and the Goats. If you’re a prophecy guy like me, I’ll say that you might recognize this as a prophecy about the Second Coming of Christ, which will come at the end of the tribulation period. I’m not gonna get into eschatological details today, mainly for the sake of time. At this point though, the world has been wrecked by the antichrist, and now Jesus has returned and wrecked the antichrist back, and now those who have survived up until this point are being separated. Some will enter the Millennial Kingdom of Christ; others will enter into judgment. I could go deeper into how I take these words; but I know other Christians may see it differently so I’ll keep the interpretation here pretty generic.
Matthew 25, starting at verse 31
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
So it’s a great reminder to do good to those who are in need, because Jesus looks at that as service to Him personally. And to those who didn’t do good to those in need, Jesus gives another judgment. The judgement of the goats.
The first group, Those who are righteous and served Jesus are counted as sheep; like their Lord, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He is a lamb, and when we are loyal to Him, we are made in his image. He even calls Himself somewhere else the Good Shepherd. There’s no confusion as to why Jesus’ followers are called sheep.
But why are those who didn’t serve Jesus called goats? Could it have anything to do with Azazel- the fallen angel who had a goat of sin dedicated to him every fall in the Day of Atonement ritual? Azazel who the fires of hell were made for- along with Satan and the rest of the fallen angels. I believe that as Jesus’ followers are sheep, Satan and Azazel’s followers are in their father’s image- a goat.
Starting at verse 41
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
These are frightening words. Here is what this parable means, again, in a very general and generic sense: To serve God means to serve God’s people. Let me say that again: to serve God means to serve God’s people. You can’t serve God and neglect God’s people. Sobering words. Those who did not serve God- and God’s people- with their lives will not enter into the eternal kingdom. It means they served themselves and served the devil. So they’ll go to the same place the devil goes: the fires of hell.
Jesus and the Book of Enoch
So where did Jesus get this idea? Well, I can think of two possibilities:
#1- He learned it from the Holy Spirit. That is certainly possible, as Jesus said many things that He couldn’t have known except by the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus approached the woman at the well in John 4, Jesus knew she’d had four or five husbands, even though this was their first time meeting. Jesus didn’t learn that by Facebook-stalking her, as this happened 2,000 years ago and they only had MySpace back in those days. Jesus only could have known these details by the Holy Spirit.
There are other instances like this as well. When Jesus said He saw Nathanael under the fig tree in John 1. When Jesus knew Lazarus would be dead in John 11. This is what it means to be given a Word of Knowledge in I Corinthians 12, when someone is told something by the Holy Spirit that could only have come supernaturally. It’s a spiritual gift, and Jesus had it.
So if Jesus knew that hell was for the devil and his angels in Matthew 25 by the Holy Spirit, I have no problem with that theologically. However, there’s another possibility as well, which is that Jesus read the popular Jewish literature of His time, which included the Book of Enoch.
And that’s possibility #2 today. Jesus read the Book of Enoch. There are certain theological points which are made in the book of Enoch that don’t necessarily come from the Bible, but they do agree with and even illuminate certain parts of the Bible.
For example, last week, we read about the imprisonment of Azazel in the desert wilderness, during the antediluvian era. Then later in Leviticus 16, the Israelites will come walking through that wilderness, and God instructs them on performing this Day of Atonement ritual where they send one goat out into the wilderness for Azazel. There is no passage of Scripture anywhere that explains the meaning of this Hebrew word Azazel. To know what Azazel means- and who it is- you would have to read the Book of Enoch.
That’s going to bother some people who reject extra-biblical books like Enoch- and even reject gifts of the Holy Spirit like a word of knowledge or a word of prophecy- because they’ll say “Scripture is sufficient.” And Scripture IS sufficient to be a Christian and know all you need to for matters of faith and godliness. You don’t have to believe in the book of Enoch to be an excellent, strong Christian. But if you want to know what Azazel means, you’re gonna have to rely on something outside the Bible, because the Bible itself doesn’t define that for us. And if you want to know where Jesus got the idea that hell was originally for the devil and his angels, that idea wasn’t presented within the Old Testament. And if you want to say that Jesus learned it by the Holy Spirit, you also have to acknowledge that the Book of Enoch somehow knew this before the Holy Spirit told Jesus.
And if we jump way way ahead in the Book of Enoch, we also see this idea in Enoch 54. This is not a place I plan to get to in my Book of Enoch series, but it’s some fascinating words.
Enoch 54 says, “1 And I looked and turned to another part of the earth, and saw there a deep valley with burning fire. 2. And they brought the kings and the mighty, and began to cast them into this deep valley. 3. And there mine eyes saw how they made these their instruments, iron chains of immeasurable weight. 4. And I asked the angel of peace who went with me, saying: 'For whom are these chains being prepared?’ 5. And he said unto me: 'These are being prepared for the hosts of Azâzêl, so that they may take them and cast them into the abyss of complete condemnation, and they shall cover their jaws with rough stones as the Lord of Spirits commanded. 6. And Michael, and Gabriel, and Raphael, and Phanuel shall take hold of them on that great day, and cast them on that day into the burning furnace, that the Lord of Spirits may take vengeance on them for their unrighteousness in becoming subject to Satan and leading astray those who dwell on the earth.’"
Right there is a mention of Satan in the book of Enoch. It said that Azazel and the fallen angels served Satan.
It’s interesting that the whole story of the Watchers coming down in the first part of Enoch mentions several of the Watchers by name. We read that in chapter 6 of Enoch. But Satan/Lucifer was not mentioned as one of them. It implies here, though, that even though Satan didn’t engage in this rebellion of mating with the women, he was involved in manipulating the others to try this out.
It means to me that the devil was somehow involved in the rebellion of the Watchers, but he stayed in the background or behind the scenes enough that he didn’t get his hands dirty, he just manipulated things enough to make them happen. Semjaza and Azazel and all the other Watchers end up paying the price, while the devil gets to keep stirring up trouble throughout the earth. He’s like that; the devil got one-third of the angels to follow him, according to Revelation 12. And if the devil can trick a mighty Watcher angel into getting himself into trouble, don’t you think he can do it to you, too?
And so the lesson for us there is that we can’t say “The devil made me do it.” We live in a spiritual war. We can listen to the Holy Spirit, or we can listen to an evil spirit. But we have the choice of who we listen to. We have the choice of whether we’re going to serve God and God’s people with our lives. And the choice we make and the voice we listen to will determine whether we hear the words, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” or the words “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” If we follow the devil’s voice, we will inherit the devil’s dark fate.
…
Next time on this podcast, we’ll wrap up this section of the book of Enoch, with an episode called “Will God Ever Destroy the Earth Again?” It will finish up Enoch chapter 10 as well as 11, because there’s been this judgement pronounced on Azazel, Semjaza and the Watchers in the Book of Enoch. But next we’ll read about the judgment that would fall upon the world- the flood. In Genesis 9, God says He won’t destroy the world ever again- yet II Peter tells us God actually will. Is that a contradiction? Well, make sure you’re subscribed so you can get that episode.
And again, if you want to get this weekend’s newsletter about the Nephilim Civil War- which is kind of an interesting subject but I just didn’t have enough biblical info to justify a whole podcast episode about it- then you can get that newsletter by signing up with the link in the show notes. Or just go to WeirdStuffInTheBible.com
I was really grateful this week to hear from Stephen and from Garrett. Thank you both for your kind emails. (Questions? Send me an email)
The Fate of the Watchers
And in closing, I just want to mention the fate of the Watchers. Their judgment day. As we mentioned the past couple of weeks, the Watchers were placed in Sheol, or the Underworld, and chained away. This was (1), to prevent them from messing around with humankind any further. (2), this was to torment them by watching their giant offspring perish- both in civil war and via the flood.
I believe their confinement took place or started in the days of Enoch, since Enoch is writing about it. According to my timeline, this would be sometime between years 622 and 987 after Creation- perhaps about 600 to 700 years prior to the flood.
Earlier we read these words: And when their sons have slain one another, and they have seen the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them fast for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, till the day of their judgement and of their consummation, till the judgement that is for ever and ever is consummated.
In other words, they must be bound there to look-but-don’t-touch for 70 generations; then they’ll be judged again, this time permanently. As we discussed in the Christmas episode I mentioned before- 70 generations from Enoch is Jesus. If you look at the genealogy in the book of Luke, chapter 3, you’ll see that Jesus is the 77th generation from Adam. Enoch was seventh from Adam. So 70 generations from Enoch is Jesus. It all lines up perfectly. It’s amazing.
So what happened to the Watchers in that 70th generation? What did the life of Jesus have to do with them? Well, let’s remember Satan’s Master Plan. Satan was told in Genesis 3 that the seed of the woman will crush the serpent’s head. The seed of the woman was the future Messiah, and the Serpent was Satan. Satan doesn’t want his head crushed, and frankly, I can kinda see where he’s coming from on that. Satan wants to win. So if Satan wants to win, now he doesn’t have to defeat God directly. He just has to stop the seed of the woman from being born.
What does he do? He comes up with a plan to corrupt the bloodline of mankind. Whether mankind is genetically tainted or whether mankind is wiped out entirely, either way, Satan would stop the seed of the woman. So that’s what he tried to do. I’ve said all along: Satan must have had something to do with this plan of the Watchers to create the Nephilim. Enoch 54 implies that as well, that Azazel and the rest were following Satan. Again, it said: cast them on that day into the burning furnace, that the Lord of Spirits may take vengeance on them for their unrighteousness in becoming subject to Satan
So the Watchers left their heavenly domain and came down to earth. They went through with the plan. Now God has instructed his angels to bind them within the earth for 70 generations, until Jesus was born.
And what did Jesus do? He died. And for three days and three nights, Jesus was in the heart of the earth, according to Matthew 12:40. Jesus spent 72 hours in the underworld. What was He doing down there?
I Peter 3:18-20
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.
Jesus proclaimed to the spirits in prison. This is those chained-up Watchers. He paid them a visit.
This is often misunderstood. People think Jesus was setting them free, like a proclamation, like the Emancipation Proclamation. But that’s not what happened. Proclaimed here is the Greek word “Kerusso” (kay-roos-so) which means “preached.” Almost every time this word appears in the New Testament, it means preached.
When you preach at someone, the idea is not necessarily that you’re setting them free. It means to relay some information to them. Now, Jesus did set free the people in Abraham’s Bosom and let them go on up to heaven.
But that’s not the group that I Peter 3 is talking about; Peter is talking about spirits who formerly did not obey: the Watchers. Jesus is telling them: you thought you could stop the Messiah- me- from coming to this earth. You thought you could stop God. You thought you got close. But you fooled yourselves. Nobody can stop God from doing what He wants to do.
And where are the Watchers now? I believe they are now in a region called Tartarus, the deepest dungeon of hell.
II Peter 2:4 says
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell [tartarus] and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;
The word Tartarus here for “hell” is a word that only comes up one time in the New Testament. It’s not hell in general; it’s the worst part of hell. Are they still there, or were they only there temporarily?
Jude 6 implies they are still there. It says
And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—
Both Jude and Peter agree that these Watchers will be relocated again- and next time, into a place called the Lake of Fire. That’s what Enoch means when it tells us that they’ll be bound till the day of their judgement and of their consummation, till the judgement that is for ever and ever is consummated.
The Book of Revelation tells us that what is currently in hell will all be dumped into the Lake of Fire for all eternity.
Revelation 20:13-14
13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
This fire was prepared for the devil and his angels. The Lake of Fire is the final resting place of Satan, the Watchers, the Antichrist, the False Prophet, all who took the Antichrist’s Mark- and all who followed Satan- those who wouldn’t serve God and who wouldn’t serve God’s people.
How you treat others is serious stuff. And that’s why Jesus gave us the parable of the sheep and the goats.
So if you think treating everybody you meet as well as you’d treat Jesus is weird, I hope you’re a little more weird today, too. Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time on Weird Stuff in the Bible.