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Since the incident with the Watchers and the Nephilim, we’ve seen Enoch thrown around
not just the world, but the heavenly places and the places of the dead. Indeed, it would
seem that seldom does Enoch ever get to take a minute’s breather on this whirlwind of a journey,
before something else crops up that either completely astounds him or completely terrifies
him. In chapters 33-36, those that mark the end of Enoch’s journey (though not the whole book),
we see that his God intends to show him a few more things that only serve to keep Enoch on his toes.
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And now back to Enoch Enoch tells us, in Chapter 33
“And from thence I went to the ends of the earth and saw there great beasts, and each
differed from the other; and (I saw) birds also differing in appearance and beauty and voice,
the one differing from the other.” As you might imagine, Enoch is in either too much shock to
elaborate on these beasts or he simply lacks the vocabulary to adequately describe them.
Given the time of writing, it is possible that he was transported to another section of the world
where there were animals that he had not seen before.
It’s difficult to imagine given that now, we’ve probably seen virtually all the animals we’re
expected to see, yet I’m sure you’d be shocked to see some of the more obscure aquatic wildlife,
those that live so far beneath the ocean that they’ve only recently been discovered.
Trying to describe those is a mission in itself and some of those are so bizarre to comprehend,
that maybe we could cut Enoch some slack if this was his first time seeing a giraffe
or a polar bear. The other idea is that these ‘great beasts’ are not animals, but instead
something more supernatural - something that may have once existed on the earth but no longer does.
Some of you may be reminded of when the biblical god shows Job the monsters Leviathan and Behemoth,
and it’s possible that the ‘great beasts’ here are indeed these very same monsters.
Considering Enoch’s God has been so liberal with his sharing of secrets so far,
it’s reasonable to believe that he would’ve shown Enoch everything he showed Job, as well as the
many other biblical characters. He continues of what he sees here in the ends of the earth
“And to the east of those beasts I saw the ends of the earth whereon the heaven rests,
and the portals of the heaven open. And I saw how the stars of heaven come forth,
and I counted the portals out of which they proceed, and wrote down all their outlets, of
each individual star by itself, according to their number and their names, their courses and their
positions, and their times and their months, as Uriel the holy angel who was with me showed me.”
So as we can gather, amongst these beasts as aforementioned - as well the variety
of different birds he had come to see, he also sees what he describes as the portals of heaven.
There is very little explanation as to what these portals are, though one may deduce that given the
function of a portal (at least from a more modern and science fiction definition), the portals may
have been a gateway to heaven or a gateway to another realm. In a more traditional sense,
a portal could rather simply have been a doorway or an entrance to some other fantastical land.
In any case, Enoch sees these portals and within these portals he sees the stars of heaven,
where he begins to write down all of their names and all of their features.
Now, whether these are just simply stars is up for some debate. It might be the case that like many
things, Enoch is fascinated by these very stars and wished to catalog them. Others believe in the
idea that we’ve explored already in this series that the stars are actually the angels. This would
make sense as to why Enoch was so determined to mark down their names and their positions,
for it might be said that if he knew where the angels were he could also know where God is.
Interestingly, he also asks the Archangel Uriel to help him in this endeavor, which the
archangel agrees to. He tells us, “He showed all things to me and wrote them down for me:
also their names he wrote for me, and their laws and their companies.”
In chapter 34 we see Enoch leave the east ends of the world and travel to the north ends of
the world where he comes into contact with what he describes as a glorious device. He tells us, “And
from thence I went towards the north to the ends of the earth, and there I saw a great and glorious
device at the ends of the whole earth. And here I saw three portals of heaven open in the heaven:
through each of them proceed north winds: when they blow there is cold, hail and frost,
snow dew and rain. And out of one portal they blow for good: but when they blow through the other two
portals, it is with violence and affliction on the earth, and they blow with violence.”
So as we can see, unfortunately, Enoch does not tell us anymore about this ‘glorious device’
he sees. It could be that this device is what is producing these portals that he keeps seeing, but
beyond this we can do no more but speculate. These portals however are explained in a little more
detail, where we gather that from one there blows violent weather with harsh conditions. When this
portal blows through the other two portals, it causes devastating weather effects upon the earth.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much else that Enoch tells us about these portals and their function
and it’s likely that as he doesn’t mention it, the Archangel Uriel probably did not explain it
to him. This may have also been an archaic and vacant way to explain how weather worked in a
time when it was much less understood and may have been a way to reconcile why sometimes it rained
and sometimes it flooded, or why sometimes it snowed and why other times there was a blizzard.
Ultimately, the weather couldn’t be understood or predicted,
which may also be the case as to why Enoch can not substantially explain the function of the portals.
In chapter 35, we see him go to the west ends of the earth where he sees even more of these
portals, where he tells us, “And from thence I went towards the west to the ends of the earth,
and saw there three portals of the heaven open such as I had seen in the east, the same number
of portals, and the same number of outlets.” By chapter 36, Enoch arrives at his final
destination: the south ends of the earth, but we are met with yet another befuddling explanation.
He tells us, “And from thence I went to the south to the ends of the earth,
and saw there three open portals of the heaven: and thence there come dew, rain and wind.”
Much as chapter 35 and Chapter 34,
it seems Enoch sees the exact same thing - three portals that produce dew, rain and wind
and that when these portals happen to face one another, there are devastating effects
that take place upon the earth. But after seeing these portals in the south ends of the earth,
he is zipped up once more to heaven and taken to the east ends of that realm, where he sees
another set of portals. He tells us that these ‘portals of heaven’ had smaller portals above them
and that through these smaller portals, the stars passed through as they made their way westwards.
If we subscribe to the idea that these stars are the angels, one might gather that the angels use
these portals to travel across the earth (as opposed to flying around as commonly depicted).
In some way, this might explain why angels are believed to appear so quickly in the bible,
either under the command of God or when they seem to spontaneously appear to give guidance and
wisdom. With this last idea, the portals of heaven could very well be a transport system or network
by which the stars - or the angels - get about. Enoch tell us, “And from thence I went to the
south to the ends of the earth, and saw there three open portals of heaven: and thence there
come dew, rain, and wind. And from thence I went to the east to the ends of the heaven,
and saw here the three eastern portals of heaven open and small portals above them.
Through each of these small portals pass the stars of heaven and run their course to the west
on the path which is shown to them.” With this final observation,
Enoch concludes the chapter and his journey with his customary blessing of his God,
telling us “And as often as I saw I blessed always the Lord of Glory, and I continued to bless the
Lord of Glory who has wrought great and glorious wonders, to show the greatness of His work to the
angels and to spirits and to men, that they might praise His work and all His creation: that they
might see the work of His might and praise the great work of His hands and bless Him for ever.”
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