by Brian Godawa
Other books by the Author
Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Films with Wisdom
and Discernment (Intervarsity Press)
Word Pictures: Knowing God Through Story and Imagination (Intervarsity Press)
Myth Became Fact: Storytelling, Imagination
& Apologetics in the Bible
Chronicles of the Nephilim
Noah Primeval
Enoch Primordial
Gilgamesh Immortal
Abraham Allegiant
Joshua Valiant
Caleb Vigilant
David Ascendant
Jesus Triumphant
When Giants Were Upon the Earth:
The Watchers, Nephilim, & the Biblical Cosmic War of the Seed
For more information and products by the author,
see the back pages of this book or go to:
www.godawa.com
www.ChroniclesOfTheNephilim.com
Enoch Primordial
Chronicles of the Nephilim
The Lost Book (Two)
By Brian Godawa
ENOCH PRIMORDIAL
2nd Edition
Copyright © 2012, 2014 Brian Godawa
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without prior written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews.
Embedded Pictures Publishing
Los Angeles, CA
310.948.0224
[email protected]
www.embeddedpictures.com
ISBN: 978-0-9859309-2-9 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-0-9859309-1-2 (ebook)
Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001.
Dedicated to
the memory of the late C.S. Lewis,
and to the memory of the late J.R.R. Tolkien.
Even though it is a cliché these days,
still, they are my masters of imagination –
– after God.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special thanks to Yahweh Elohim, the God of Enoch, Methuselah and Noah, and to the Son of Man, the second Yahweh in heaven. To the wife of my youth, Kimberly, my heart and soul. To Neil Uchitel for all our rambling discussions all those years ago about fallen angels, vampires and the Nephilim. To Michael S. Heiser, for his scholarship and resources that have fed my hunger. To David Rohl, for his helpful archaeological speculations of the ancient world based on his New Chronology. Thanks to my editor, Don Enevoldsen, my proofreader Shari Risoff, and my editor of this much better second edition, Sarah Beach.
And to Joe.
It could have happened something like this.
Prologue
Expelled from the Garden of Eden on the Mountain of God, the distant patriarch Adam and his wife Havah, or Eve, the “mother of all living,” were forgotten by their descendants in the mists of time. Even though Elohim’s gracious forbearance covered them, they lived in regret the rest of their days with a mysterious people somewhere in the volcanic region of Sahand, near the boundary of the Garden. Like a dog kicked out of its shelter, they lived as close to their original home as they could without being struck down by those who guarded its perimeter.
Elohim marked their son, Cain, the first murderer, and he was cursed to wander the earth. Few knew what the mark was, but there were rumors. It was said that he had a wild dog or wolf as a companion. Others claimed the man himself transformed into a canine beast at every new moon. The mystery of the actual fate of the cursed Cain was only matched by the fertility of imagination and legend surrounding him.
Cain’s tribe migrated south from Nod through the Zagros Mountains and eventually broke away from their embittered patriarch to settle in the plain of Shinar, later called Sumer. The Shinarians referred to themselves as unsangiga, the black-headed people for their predominantly black hair and dark-skinned features. Unuk ben Cain, Cain’s son, was the first city builder. He created the oldest city, Eridu, naming it after his own son Irad. He also built Erech, in honor of himself. This was the beginning of the ancient cities such as Nippur, Badtibira, Larak, Sippar, and others on the Mesopotamian plains in the land between the two rivers Tigris and Euphrates.
As mankind spread out upon the face of the earth, so did the evil that followed them. For it is the heart that is taken with man wherever he goes, and the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
Elohim replaced Cain’s cursed bloodline with another seed of Adam called Seth, the Righteous. Seth’s people multiplied and migrated down into the alluvial plains and surrounding area.
Tribal Shamans divined that in a distant island beyond the primal sea a volcano had belched forth a mighty force of its gasses from the underworld below into the heavens above. The sun was obscured, and the earth grew colder for a time. Livestock perished, crops failed, the winters became harsher. It seemed that Elohim’s displeasure with man was displayed in all of the heavens and earth.
And generations passed.
Chapter 1
An eerie silence settled over Mount Hermon. The ubiquitous ringing drone of singing cicadas ceased in unison. Birds of prey and land predators stalking their next meal froze in place as though suddenly aware of a powerful hunter tracking them. The sounds, the movement, all signs of life that filled the dark night just stopped. The wildlife knew what was coming.
Mount Hermon lay about two hundred leagues to the west of the Mesopotamian valley, across the barren desert. It stood above a valley at the southernmost tip of the Sirion mountain range of the Levant, “where the land rose out of the sea” of the great western waters. It was the tallest peak in the area, about six thousand cubits high. Capped with snow most of the year, the headwaters of the Jordan River, that brought life to the wooded hills and grassy valleys of the south, began on its slopes. It was known for its heavy dew and its evergreen cypress trees that peppered the region.
A beam of blinding light from high above in the dome of heaven punched the mountaintop. It pierced the blackness with a ferocious velocity. Heaven and earth fused as one into a cosmic center of the universe.
Two hundred shining beings of light, brilliant as the stars, fell to earth from their lofty heights above the clouds. A crack of thunder announced their violent passage through the solid raqia, the vault over the earth. The raqia separated the waters below on the earth from the waters above in the heaven of heavens, where the temple of Elohim rested. The mountains trembled and quaked to their very foundations.
These were Bene ha Elohim, Sons of God, a mere two hundred out of the myriad of Elohim’s divine council of holy ones. These mighty beings surrounded his throne on the mount of assembly with worship and legal counsel. Certain members called “Watchers,” regularly crossed the barrier between heaven and earth to carry out Elohim’s plans and to watch over the sons of men.
But these two hundred were not carrying out Elohim’s plans tonight. These were Watchers in revolt. Led by two mighty warriors, Azazel and Semjaza, they were establishing their own mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north in direct defiance of Elohim’s will.
They chose Mount Hermon as their abode, intending to make it a rebellious reflection of God’s own cosmic mountain of Eden, the paradise now banned to all. This choice began a complex plan of deceptive mimicry. Just as Eden held the headwaters of four rivers, the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris and Euphrates, all flowing out of the mountainous region surrounding the Garden, so Mount Hermon gave birth to the headwaters of the river Jordan that flowed into the Levant. Its
surrounding territory would be called Bashan, “place of the Serpent,” in honor of Nachash of Eden.
The Garden of Eden had been a temple sanctuary for the presence and worship of Elohim, a perfect shadow of the real temple in the heaven of heavens above the waters. Hermon would become the cosmic mountain of passage between the heavens and earth for the Watchers — the gateway of the gods.
As the Tree of Life stood in the midst of the Garden, so the Watchers chose Mount Hermon for its proximity to the World Tree of the Great Goddess Earth Mother in the Great Desert.
The Man and Woman were the intended priests of the Garden, cultivating and keeping it as a holy center of Elohim’s cosmic order before they were banished. Mount Hermon would become a new cosmic mountain that would not only connect heaven and earth, but earth and the Abyss, also called Abzu, the subterranean waters, below which lay Sheol, the underworld. Deep within the bowels of the mountain a large cavern held a portal into the waters of the Abyss, a wide pool of thick black liquid that burned with a perpetual flame on its surface.
The two hundred rebel Watchers assembled in disorderly ranks at the center of the new Eden by the shore of the pitch-dark liquid lagoon. Azazel and Semjaza stood ominous and intimidating before them.
“SILENCE!” Azazel’s voice thundered throughout the cavern. The Watchers abruptly stopped murmuring. Azazel’s violent temper gave him a commanding presence. Every word burned like an ember ready to explode into a burst of flames. Azazel often looked ready to burst into flames. The skin of a Watcher consisted of almost imperceptible serpentine scales that gave off a shimmering iridescence when enflamed by any kind of passion. And Azazel never lacked passion.
“The decision has been made. We are the Seven who Decree the Fates. If any of you question Semjaza’s leadership or my own, I most heartily welcome the contest!”
Azazel’s hostile disposition supported by the fiercest of warrior skills made him virtually unopposed in the band of fallen ones. No one would be contesting Azazel this evening.
Only Semjaza standing next to him had the requisite strength, intellect, and strategy to restrain Azazel’s volatility. It bothered him that Azazel was a loose fireball who used fear and intimidation to subjugate. He believed that more could be accomplished through positive leadership and inspiration. Semjaza’s words were calculated and carried the weight of authority. When he spoke, others listened, even Azazel. He stepped forward to draw attention from the simmering volcano at his side.
“Brethren, for the plan to work, we must all be in one accord. The mythology we are constructing requires a subversion of Elohim’s own narrative of authority. If we do not support the narrative, we may forfeit the humans’ worship of us as deity. Azazel and I have carefully deliberated who will fill the Seven, based upon craft and skill required for the plan, not upon partiality. We are all gods and we will all rule cities of men. The difference is mere façade. We seven will constitute the visible symbolic figurehead of the divine assembly of gods. As for the prize of our strategy, we will all share equally.”
The assembly of Watchers applauded. Azazel frowned with envy at Semjaza’s oratorical prowess. Semjaza was clearly more skilled at making a lie sound like the truth. Though he and Azazel were equal leaders, it gave Semjaza the edge of perceived superiority. Azazel would have to find a way to change that.
Semjaza continued, “As Anu, the high god of the heavens, I will have more responsibilities of petty bureaucracy than any of you would care to shoulder. Azazel has chosen to be Inanna, the goddess of war who will lead our military administration.”
Azazel came up with the role of goddess as an attempt at humorous irony. A female divinity who could stand on the neck of the best of any male warrior was the kind of humiliation of others he frequently sought. But he was beginning to realize that maybe he did not think that irony through well enough. He did not relish the idea of adorning himself in female garb and sexuality for such a long period of time. Some Watchers were already making jests about his feminine traits behind his back. He concluded to himself that if he caught them he would slaughter them.
Semjaza gestured to the five others standing beside them. “Baraqel will be Enlil, the god of air; Arakiba will be Enki, god of the waters below; Tamiel will be Nanna, the moon god; Zaqiel will be Utu, the sun god; and Ezeqel will be Ninhursag, goddess of the earth.” Each of them stood proudly beaming in their new identities.
Semjaza pointed into the crowd. “Since Ramel and Sariel helped to pinpoint this location for our cosmic mountain, they shall be Ereshkigal and Nergal, goddess of the underworld and her husband. They shall guard the entrance to the Abyss.”
Ramel winced. Much like Azazel, he did not treasure the idea of assuming a female identity. He certainly did not like the fact that according to the myth the others had created, Nergal raped Ereshkigal to make her his wife, in a failed attempt to master the secrets of the hidden underworld. Ramel consoled himself that he would be undisputed queen of the underworld, the guardian of the gates of Sheol.
Sariel pondered how he might play out the myth in a particularly demeaning way on Ramel.
Semjaza continued, “Each of you will have your own identity in the pantheon and will be given tribes and cities to rule over as patron deities.” The solicitation of awe from the humans would not be too difficult. The physical structure of a Watcher represented divinity in the minds of humans. At five and a half cubits tall, with sinewy musculature, they were already towering above the average male human who stood less than four cubits tall. Their finely scaled skin produced a gleaming bronze appearance that earned them the nickname, “Shining Ones.” Coupled with their elongated heads and glimmering blue lapis lazuli reptilian eyes, their luminescence reinforced a distinction between the human and the divine necessary for their deception.
Semjaza added, “As you know, Elohim is an insufferable tyrant whose megalomania is only matched by his capriciousness. If we want to accomplish our ultimate goal, we must give these humans a pantheon of divinity that is unified, benevolent, and worthy of worship and obeisance.”
Azazel knew that last statement was meant for him.
Semjaza had given Baraqel authority over the city of Nippur. Its central location among the cities of Shinar made it a valuable prize for Azazel’s military stratagem and political status in the pantheon. Nippur would be the first location for the assembly of the divine council. Azazel knew Baraqel was a favorite of Semjaza, and that was why Semjaza had sided with him against Azazel’s legitimate claim on the city. Semjaza’s compromise was to give Baraqel as Enlil the city, but to allow Azazel as Inanna to have a residence there as well. Azazel had argued vociferously against the decision at first, but decided to give in and wait for the right moment for his own rise to power. Once he led their forces into war, he would achieve the distinction that even Semjaza would have to acknowledge and perhaps even defer to. And then Azazel would rout out all those who mocked him. He would cut off their heads and boil them in lava, which was a particularly painful torture considering that Sons of God could not die mortal deaths. They were, all of them, divine.
Semjaza concluded his remarks to the assembly. “Our first task is to go out to the villages and cities and perform signs and wonders and reveal the secrets of heaven to draw the humans into our trust. If we are to make them believe us, we must believe ourselves. So it is imperative that we never use our heavenly names again. We must always refer to one another by our adopted names of deity. But more importantly, we must think of ourselves as those deities. We must inhabit our roles with truthfulness. I am no longer Semjaza; I am Anu the sky god. There is no Azazel, there is only Inanna.”
Someone blurted out, “Queen of heaven!” Some laughed. Inanna marked out the heckler and schemed how she would torture him later.
Anu deflected the insult. “Indeed, she is. And she is the goddess of war. You will do well to follow her lead into battle when the time comes. Until then, find your cities, reveal your mysteries, and establish your shrines of
worship. This Mount Hermon will be our divine mount of assembly. We will reside here and visit our cities on an as-needed basis.”
Enlil spoke up. “But if we do not reside in our cities, will we not lose control over the inhabitants with our absence?”
Anu replied, “Your religious priesthood will be responsible for crafting a graven image of you that represents your presence and rule over the city. We have developed a ritual for your priests to use to draw your breath into the statue, which becomes your living presence when you are not there. We call it the ‘opening of the mouth’ ceremony.”
Inanna thought the ritual ridiculous, but humans were so flesh-bound they needed concrete expressions of the supernatural realm or they would lose heart. Elohim had done a poor job of uniting spirit with these disgusting filthy sacks of meat.
Anu continued, “You will reveal the doctrine of the priest-king as also created in your own image. This will build the mythos required to maintain orderly submission from your people in your absence, when we meet here at Hermon to complete our final plan of action.”
It was brilliant. Anu had thought of everything. He had even sent out a select number of them into the four corners of the earth, south into Egypt, north beyond the Euphrates into the Halafan hinterlands, east to Elam and the Indus Valley, and even west across the great primal seas to distant unknown islands. The Watchers would reign as gods over the entire earth and inspire countless variations on their one myth of rebellion against Elohim.
But it was the final plan that excited the loyalty and devotion of the Watcher gods.
They swore an oath, to bind everyone among them by a curse. If anyone abandoned their commitment to the final plan, or revealed its secret scheme, the others would unite and bind that Watcher into the earth to suffer the torment of frozen solitude for millennia until the judgment. It was the one heinous thing that made each and every one of them shiver with dread.