SPIRITUALITY / KABBALAH
Primitive Christian Kabbalah, Part II
Just who is this Enoch character that gets whispered about in the New Testament? Get ready to shit yourself when you find out…
In Part I, I challenged you to consider the possibility that the Apostle Paul had a Kabbalistic, mystical, ecstatic experience as described in 2 Corinthians 12:1–4 of the New Testament. I also asked you to consider that Paul went up into the “heavenly palace” described in those verses and saw…someone. Again, Paul claims it was Jesus Christ, but what if it wasn’t? What if it was a “magnificent being” that Jewish mystics before and after had also seen and — at times — even confused with “God”? Perhaps a being like Metatron? And if who Paul saw wasn’t Jesus, then maybe it was this Metatron? Metatron, a figure who is often attributed as being the ascended form of Enoch?
I also asked you to consider what this all means for Christianity as a whole. Before I get into that, however, I want to discuss the character of Enoch further, and perhaps how Paul could’ve have confused him for this character known as Jesus Christ.
First off, a brief introduction to Enoch.
Enoch is a figure in Torah, specifically in the Book of Genesis. He is described as the son of Jared, the father of Methuselah (the “longest-lived man in history”), and the great-grandfather of Noah (yes, that Noah), making him a part of the genealogy that extends from Adam through to Noah. According to the chronology in Genesis, Enoch would have lived during the antediluvian period, the time before the Great Flood. Depending on your dating for this, it adds up to around 5500 years ago.
In particular, Enoch is a unique figure in the Torah due to the brief but intriguing description of his life and fate. Genesis 5:24 states: “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.” This has been interpreted by many to mean that Enoch did not die in the traditional sense, but was instead taken directly to heaven, a concept known as “translation.”
To be clear: according to Torah, Enoch never died. He ascended.
The life and character of Enoch are expanded upon in various apocryphal and pseudepigraphal texts, such as the Book of Enoch (as well as the books 2nd and 3rd Enoch). Granted, these books are not usually included in Jewish or Christian canons (save some groups such as the Ethiopian Church, as well as the Qumran Sect famous for the Dead Sea Scrolls). But that’s never stopped them from being used by religious groups as evidence for theological stances, or just to get a point across.
Unfortunately, proving that Enoch ever existed is next to impossible for a variety of reasons, and to be fair, it’s almost as difficult to prove that Jesus ever existed. Now I do believe that Jesus Christ was an actual person who lived, married and had children, and eventually died (and the best evidence for his existence is in Japan — at his grave). I also believe that Enoch existed, and I also believe that he has never died — the evidence for that isn’t as substantial as that found in Japan about Jesus, but I do believe there’s evidence. Where Enoch “trumps” Jesus in the game of history, however, is that unlike Jesus, Enoch actually wrote shit down.
NOTE: Jesus never wrote anything, he’s just constantly “quoted” by his disciples in the four gospels (and the Book of Revelation). Jesus could’ve said anything in reality, we have absolutely no idea. All we have of his “sayings” is a bunch of he-said, she-said.
The infamous Book of Enoch — in my opinion, and others’ — is an eyewitness account of tremendous importance. While we could quibble about the dates, at least over 5000 years ago this guy saw some shit (not unlike Ezekiel), and he wrote it down as best he could describe it for a person of his time. It also lays out some of the first science, as well as the first calendar, that humanity ever wielded (“developed” would be the wrong term). It’s a wild read (all Enochian literature is), and a tragedy that it is largely ignored by Christians and Jews alike.
Except some Christians do like to quote it here and there (and in fact, in the New Testament Epistle of Jude, it is directly quoted). The reason these Christians like to quote the first Book of Enoch is because there are specific verses within it that seem to very much describe, and act as prophecy for the coming of Jesus Christ. Particularly this one, from the famous (and largely well-done) 1913 R.H. Charles translation of the Book of Enoch:
“And he [the angel] came to me [Enoch] and greeted me with His voice, and said unto me ‘This is the Son of Man who is born unto righteousness, and righteousness abides over him, and the righteousness of the Head of Days forsakes him not.”’ (71.14–15)
Sounds a lot like Jesus at first blush doesn’t it? Let’s break down the similarities a bit:
- Enoch’s Ascension: In Genesis 5:24, it is stated that Enoch “walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.” This has been interpreted by some to mean that Enoch ascended to heaven, a parallel drawn with Jesus Christ’s ascension.
- The Book of Enoch contains prophecies about “The Son of Man,” a figure who sits on the throne of glory and passes judgment on the wicked. This figure is often identified with Jesus Christ in Christian theology.
- The Epistle of Jude: In the New Testament, the Epistle of Jude quotes a prophecy from the Book of Enoch, which mirrors the Second Coming of Christ as described in the Book of Revelation.
- The Title “Son of Man”: Both Enoch’s prophesied figure and Jesus Christ are referred to as the “Son of Man,” suggesting a possible connection between the two.
Now that last point is where this gets interesting…and where Christians for the past 100 years have gotten it all wrong. Properly (and freshly) translated from the source texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, verse 71.14–15 quoted above from the Book of Enoch doesn’t say, “This is the Son of Man…”. Again, properly translated, it’s actually the angel saying to Enoch, “You are the Son of Man…”, and the supposed prophecies continue on from there.
This is the point: All of the evidence that Christians love to pull from the Book of Enoch that show that Jesus Christ is the messiah…is bullshit. The Book of Enoch is never talking about some future “Son of Man” to come as the messiah, it is saying that Enoch is the messiah, and every “prophecy” in the book should be attributed to Enoch, himself.
So the question becomes again, who did Paul see in the clouds in heaven? Was it Jesus? No. Compelling evidence shows Jesus was actually still alive on Earth at the time, in Japan, getting his freak on and having babies.
Was it Enoch that Paul saw, in the form of Metatron? This is far more likely — and if you are to believe that New Testament books are historical evidence (which I would argue that they are to a degree, at least the works outside of the gospels), then you have another “eyewitness” to the appearance of Enoch…by the writer of the Book of Revelation.
The Book of Revelation is an odd beast (pun intended), and is seen by scholars as being almost wholly (not holy) unoriginal. 80%-90% of the book is a rehashing of prophecies, text, and imagery from the Tanakh. And as was stated earlier, the words of Jesus in it (and some of the imagery) pulls heavily from the Book of Enoch — which, thanks to the Dead Sea Scrolls, is a book we know that pre-existed the Book of Revelation. So did the writer of the Book of Revelation actually see Enoch/Metatron, as well, instead of Jesus?
Highly. Likely.
NOTE: It’s entirely that the writer of the Book of Revelation was just huffing gases from the cave he was living in, too, and just went on an LSD-styled trip and saw all kinds of wild shit filled in by his/her clearly knowledgeable mind of Hebrew texts).
The descriptions of from both Paul and the Book of Revelations match very closely to descriptions and visions of Metatron, from the fiery eyes, to the armor, even the grey/white hair (yes, in the Book of Revelation, the figure does not have the brown-hair most nut-jobs Christians attribute to Jesus).
Does this all sound like scant evidence? Sure. But then evidence for the existence of Jesus or Enoch — or at least “hard evidence” as we describe it in the 21st century — is effectively nil. Zilch. Zippo (ouch, talk about fiery). But we’re running with what we have and can deduce.
NOTE: Other texts have much more to say on the subject of Enoch/Metatron and ascension, but I’m sticking to what arrows Christians put in their own quiver here.
So that leaves us with one last question that I also ended Part I with: What does this mean for Christianity as a whole? We’ll discuss this in Part III in the next newsletter.
This article originally appeared in the “Spirituality” section of the Sovryn Technica Newsletter, Issue 23.
