The Lost Books of the Bible: The Great Rejected Texts Page 14

  3 But, Jared, take care of the fire, so that it burns brightly in the lamp. Do not go out of the cave again until you received an order through a vision, and not in an apparition, you see.

  (Author’s note: The distinction here is that a vision is internal and an apparition is external. Only God can guide us internally. Satan must entice and trick through external ploys.)

  4 "Then command your people again not to have relations with the children of Cain, and not to learn their ways, for I am God who does not love hatred and works of iniquity."

  5 God also gave many other commandments to Jared, and He blessed him. And then withdrew His Word from him.

  6 Then Jared came near to his children, took some fire, and came down to the cave and lighted the lamp in front of the body of Adam. Then he gave his people the commandments just as God had told him to do.

  7 This sign happened to Jared at the end of his four hundred and fiftieth year, as did many other wonders we did not record. But we record only this one for the sake of brevity to shorten our written account.

  8 And Jared continued to teach his children eighty years, but after that they began to break the commandments he had given them, and to do many things without his permission. They began to go down from the Holy Mountain, one after another, and mix with the children of Cain, in obscene association.

  9 Now the reason the children of Jared went down the Holy Mountain will now be revealed to you.

  Chapter XX.

  1 After Cain had gone down to the land of dark soil, and his children had multiplied, there was one of them, whose name was Genun, son of Lamech the blind who slew Cain.

  2 Satan came to Genun in his childhood and made a variety trumpets and horns, and string instruments, cymbals and psalteries, and lyres and harps, and flutes. And Genun played them at all times and at every hour.

  3 And when he played them, Satan came to them so that from among them were heard beautiful and sweet sounds that seized the heart with delight.

  4 Then he gathered many crowds to play on them, and when they played it greatly pleased the children of Cain, who fanned themselves to flames of sin among themselves and they burned with fire while Satan inflamed their hearts with one another, and lust increased among them.

  5 Satan also taught Genun to make strong drink out of corn. Genun used this to bring together crowd upon crowd in houses of drink, and brought into their hands all kinds of fruits and flowers, and they drank together.

  6 Genun did this to multiply sin greatly. He also acted with pride, and taught the children of Cain to commit all manner of the grossest wickedness, which they did not know until then. And he put them up to all kinds of deeds, which they did not know of before.

  7 Then, when Satan saw that they obeyed Genun and listened to him in every thing he told them, he rejoiced greatly, and he increased Genun's understanding until he took iron and with it made weapons of war.

  8 Then when they were drunk, hatred and murder increased among them. One man would use violence against another and Satan would teach him evil in that one man would take the other man’s children and defile them before him.

  9 And when men saw they were vanquished and saw that others were not beaten, those who were beaten came to Genun and took refuge with him, and he made them part of his group.

  10 Then sin increased among them greatly, until a man married his own sister, or daughter, or mother, and others, or the daughter of his father's sister (first cousin), so that there was no more distinction of relationship, and they could no longer discern what was sin and what was not, but always were wicked and the earth was defiled with sin. And they angered God the Judge, who had created them.

  11 But Genun gathered together groups and groups, that played on horns and on all the other instruments we have already mentioned, at the foot of the Holy Mountain. They did that so the children of Seth who were on the Holy Mountain would hear it.

  12 But when the children of Seth heard the noise, they wondered, and came by companies, and stood on the top of the mountain to look at those below. This went on an entire year.

  13 At the end of that year, Genun saw that they were being won over to him little by little. Satan entered into him, and taught him to make the elements for dyeing garments of various patterns, and made him understand how to dye crimson and purple and what not.

  14 And the sons of Cain who worked at all of this shone in beauty and gorgeous apparel. And they gathered together at the foot of the mountain in splendor, with horns and gorgeous dresses, and horse races, and they were committing all manner of disgusting acts.

  15 Meanwhile the children of Seth, who were on the Holy Mountain, prayed and praised God in the place of the hosts of angels who had fallen. God had called them 'angels," because He rejoiced over them greatly.

  16 But after this time they no longer kept His commandment, nor were held by the promise He had made to their fathers. But they relaxed from their fasting and praying, and from the counsel of Jared their father. And they kept on gathering together on the top of the mountain to watch the children of Cain, from morning until evening. And they watched what they did and they looked at their beautiful dresses and ornaments.

  17 Then the children of Cain looked up from below, and saw the children of Seth, standing in numbers on the top of the mountain, and they called to them to come down to them.

  18 But from above them, the children of Seth said, "We don't know the way." Then Genun, the son of Lamech, heard them say they did not know the way, and he began to think to himself of ways he might bring them down.

  19 Then Satan appeared to him by night, saying, "There is no way for them to come down from the part of the mountain on which they live, but when they come out tomorrow (to watch), say to them, ‘Come to the western side of the mountain. There you will find a stream of water that comes down to the foot of the mountain, between two hills. That marks the way. Come down that way to us.’"

  20 Then when it was day, Genun blew the horns and beat the drums below the mountain, as he was accustomed to do. The children of Seth heard it and came as they used to do.

  21 Then Genun said to them from down below, "Go to the western side of the mountain, there you will find the way to come down."

  22 But when the children of Seth heard these words from him, they went back into the cave to Jared to tell him all they had heard.

  23 Then when Jared heard it, he was grieved because he knew that they would defy his wishes.

  24 After this a hundred men of the children of Seth gathered together and said among themselves, "Come, let us go down to the children of Cain and see what they do, and enjoy ourselves with them."

  25 But when Jared heard this of the hundred men his very soul was moved, and his heart was grieved. He then stood with great emotion in the middle of them, and earnestly compelled them by the blood of Abel the just and said, "Let no one of you go down from this holy and pure mountain, in which our fathers have ordered us to live."

  26 But when Jared saw that they did not listen to his words, he said to them, "My good, innocent, and holy children, you must understand that once you go down from this holy mountain, God will not allow you to return to it again."

  27 He again adjured them, saying, "I plead with you by the death of our father Adam, and by the blood of Abel, of Seth, of Enos, of Cainan, and of Mahalaleel, to listen to me. Do not go down from this holy mountain, because the moment you leave it, life and mercy will be taken from you; and you shall no longer be called 'children of God,' but 'children of the devil.'

  28 But they would not listen to his words.

  29 Enoch was already grown up at that time, and in his zeal for God, he stood and said, "Hear me, you large and small (young and old) sons of Seth! When you transgress the commandment of our fathers and go down from this holy mountain, you shall not come up here again for ever."

  30 But they rose up against Enoch and would not listen to his words, but they went down from the Holy Mountain.

  31 And when they
looked at the daughters of Cain, at their beautiful figures, and at their hands and feet dyed with color, and the tattoos on their faces that ornamented them, the fire of sin was set ablaze in them.

  32 Then Satan made them look most beautiful before the sons of Seth, as he also made the sons of Seth appear the most handsome in the eyes of the daughters of Cain, so that the daughters of Cain lusted after the sons of Seth like ravenous beasts, and the sons of Seth lusted after the daughters of Cain until they committed disgusting and disgraceful acts with them.

  33 But after they had fallen into this defilement they returned by the way they had come, and tried to ascend the Holy Mountain. But they could not because the stones of that holy mountain were on fire flashing before them, and prevented them so that they could not go up again.

  34 And God was angry with them, and turned from them because they had come down from glory, and because of this had lost and forsaken their own purity and innocence, and were fallen into the defilement of sin.

  35 Then God sent His Word to Jared, saying, "These of your children, whom you once called 'My children,' have broken My commandment, and have gone down to the house of damnation and sin. Send a messenger to those that are left so that they will not go down, and be lost."

  36 Then Jared wept before the Lord, and asked Him for mercy and forgiveness. But he wished that his soul might depart from his body rather than hear these words from God about his children that went down from the Holy Mountain.

  37 But he followed God's order and preached to them not to go down from that holy mountain, and not to hold relations with the children of Cain.

  38 But they did not listen to his message, and they would not obey his advice.

  Chapter XXI

  1 After this, another group gathered together and went to look after their brothers but they perished with them as well. And so it was, company after company, until only a few of them remained.

  2 Then Jared was sickened with grief. And his sickness was such that the day of his death was near.

  3 Then he called Enoch his eldest son, and Methuselah Enoch's son, and Lamech the son of Methuselah, and Noah the son of Lamech.

  4 And when they came to him he prayed over them and blessed them, and said to them, "You are righteous, innocent sons. Do not go down from this holy mountain, because you have seen your children and your children's children have gone down from this holy mountain, and have alienated themselves from this holy mountain through their reprehensible lust and transgression of God's commandment.

  5 But I know, through the power of God, that He will not leave you on this holy mountain. Your children have transgressed His commandment and that of our fathers, which we had received from them.

  6 But, my sons, God will take you to a strange land, and you never shall return to see this garden and this holy mountain with your own eyes once again.

  7 Therefore, my sons, set your hearts on your own selves, and keep the commandment of God which is with you. And when you go from this holy mountain into a strange land which you do not know, take the body of our father Adam with you, and with it take these three precious gifts and offerings, namely, the gold, the incense, and the myrrh; and let them be in the place where the body of our father Adam shall lay.

  8 And, my sons, of you who are left, the Word of God will come, and when he goes out of this land he shall take with him the body of our father Adam, and shall lay it in the middle of the earth, the place in which salvation shall be worked out."

  9 Then Noah said to him, "Who is he of us that shall be left?"

  10 And Jared answered, "You are he that shall be left. And you shall take the body of our father Adam from the cave, and place it with you in the ark when the flood comes.

  11 "And your son Shem, who shall come out of your loins, it is he who shall lay the body of our father Adam in the middle of the earth, in the place where salvation shall come."

  12 Then Jared turned to his son Enoch, and said to him "My son, abide in this cave, and minister diligently before the body of our father Adam all the days of your life, and feed your people in righteousness and innocence."

  13 And Jared said no more. His hands went limp, his eyes closed, and he entered into rest like his fathers. His death took place in the three hundred and sixtieth year of Noah, and in the nine hundred and eighty-ninth year of his own life; on the twelfth of Takhsas on a Friday.

  (Author’s note: In this year, the month of Takhsas was likely to be December.)

  14 But as Jared died, tears streamed down his face by reason of his great sorrow, for the children of Seth, who had fallen in his days.

  15 Then Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and Noah, these four, wept over him; embalmed him carefully, and then laid him in the Cave of Treasures. Then they rose and mourned for him forty days.

  16 And when these days of mourning were ended, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and Noah remained in sorrow of heart because their father had departed from them and could not see him again.

  Chapter XXII

  1 Enoch kept the commandment of Jared his father, and continued to minister in the cave.

  2 Many wonders happened to this man, Enoch, and he also wrote a celebrated book; but those wonders may not be told in this place.

  3 Then after this, the children of Seth, as well as their children and their wives went astray and fell. And when Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and Noah saw them, their hearts suffered because of their fall, which filled them with doubt and unbelief. And they wept and sought of God mercy to preserve them, and to bring them out of that wicked generation.

  4 Enoch continued in his ministry before the Lord three hundred and eighty-five years, and at the end of that time he became aware through the grace of God, that God intended to remove him from the earth.

  5 He then said to his son, "0 my son, I know that God intends to bring the waters of the Flood on the earth, and destroy our (His) creation.

  6 "And you are the last rulers over the people on this mountain. And I know that not one (woman) will be left for you to have children on this holy mountain. Not one of you will rule over the children of his people. No great number of you will be left on this mountain."

  7 Enoch also said to them, "Watch over your souls, and hold tight to your fear of God and your service to Him, and worship Him in righteous faith, and serve Him in righteousness, innocence and judgment. Worship Him in repentance and in purity."

  8 When Enoch had ended his commandments to them, God transported him from that mountain to the land of life, to the mansions of the righteous and of the chosen ones, which is the abode of Paradise of joy, in light that reaches up to heaven. It is the light that is beyond the light of this world It is the light of God that fills the whole world and no place can contain.

  9 Enoch was in the light of God and because of this he found himself out of the grasp of death, until God would have him die.

  10 Altogether, not one of our fathers or of their children, remained on that holy mountain, except those three, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah. All the rest went down from the mountain and fell into sin with the children of Cain. And they were forbidden to come back to that mountain. And none remained on it but those three men.

  This completes The Second Book of Adam and Eve.

  Author’ Note:

  In the preceding 171 pages we are confronted with the Genesis story, possibly embellished beyond recognition. Modern readers may find the story to be so fanciful as to be ridiculous. The story may appear to be repetitive and rife with storylines of Satanic deception and human frailty running in waves and cycles throughout the text. Yet, in this ancient script there is a central and universal question – and a singular answer.

  How can we know if the circumstance, situation, or even the person in our life is an appointment of God or Satan?

  If you are one of the millions of people who believe in an evil entity who is at war with God for the souls of mankind, this question is one of the most important of your life. It defines and clarifies if you are being obed
ient to God or being deceived by Satan.

  Is it possible to know? According to the text, Satan has the power to produce apparitions, specters, and illusions, so believable that they cannot be distinguished from reality. Satan lies, and offers material enticements. Even these may be confused with the grace of God. After all,God gave Adam treasures to place in the cave for his comfort and consolation.

  The answer to the eternal question is amazingly simple. Stop. Be still. Look within. Satan may be able to manipulate the material world, but he cannot touch the spirit. Satan may give apparitions and illusions, but God gives visions. The world is Satan’s, but the soul is the domain of God. The mystical vision is the terrain of God to tread. Look there for the answer. He alone is there, waiting.

  The Book of Enoch

  Of all the books quoted, paraphrased, or referred to in the Bible, the Book of Enoch has influenced the writers of the Bible as few others have. Even more extensively than in the Old Testament, the writers of the New Testament were frequently influenced by other writings, including the Book of Enoch.

  It is not the purpose of this work to make judgments as to the validity or worth of the Book of Enoch, but rather to simply put forth a meaningful question. Is not the non-canonical book that most influenced the thought and theology of the writers of the New Testament worth further research and contemplation?

  Before we continue in our study of the Book of Enoch there are several questions we must keep in mind. If a book is mentioned or quoted in the Bible is it not worthy of further study? If it is worth investigating, is this the book of which the Bible speaks? What knowledge or insight does it add to our understanding of the Bible or the men who wrote it?

  The Book of Enoch was once cherished by Jews and Christians alike. It is read in certain Coptic Christian Churches in Ethiopia. Two versions of the Book of Enoch exist today.