Apocrypha

In part one of this series we studied the question of who the “sons of God” are as it pertains to Genesis 6:1-4. Next, in part two, we questioned if the book of 1 Enoch is a reliable interpretation of the events in Genesis 6. In this article, we’ll examine Peter and Jude’s quotes from 1 Enoch.

Passages from the Second Temple Period book of 1 Enoch offer an interpretation of Genesis 6:1-4. It claims that the sons of God were rebellious spiritual beings who married human women and that these marriages produced a race of giants called the Nephilim. What do we know about 1 Enoch and can we trust it for shedding light on the Scriptures?

First of all, the book 1 Enoch is not inspired and people never considered it to be part of the canon of the Hebrew Scripture. Works such as 1 Enoch are religious fiction loosely comparable to Dante’s Inferno or Paradise Lost. Although they are based on real events recorded in the Bible and may contain certain truths, they are works of fiction, lack inspiration, and hold no authority. 1 Enoch was a fictional interpretation of the events recorded in Genesis 6. Not only is it mere fiction, but Jews wrote it under the influence of pagan stories they encountered during their exile in Babylon. Surprisingly, some Bible students are allowing this work of fiction to influence their interpretation of the inspired Scriptures.

Imagine a time in the distant past, not long after the creation of mankind, when humans began to multiply across the surface of the Earth. It was during these times that the lesser gods began to take notice of human women; these divine beings burned in their lust for the beautiful daughters of mankind. The leader of these lesser gods said, “Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.”

Two hundred of these gods, in defiance of Yahweh, bound themselves together with an oath to journey to Earth and take human wives. They descended to the top of Mount Hermon and there took human form. They all took human wives, each one as he chose, and went into them defiling both themselves and the wives they had taken. The gods taught their women the secret knowledge of charms, and enchantments and how to beautify the eyelids and adorn themselves with jewelry and precious stones. Their wives became pregnant and bore offspring who became great giants.