Enoch has been shown in the previous few chapters to have been zipped around both the physical world
and the spirit world in which he has come to witness some rather worrying and drastic things.
If you thought our hero would be getting a break at some point soon,
well you’d be wrong, for having travelled thus far with the Archangel Uriel,
he is then pawned off onto the Archangel Raphael and shown yet another impressive monument.
He tells us, “And thence I went to another place, and he showed me in the west another great and
high mountain of hard rock. And there was in it four hollow places, deep and wide and very smooth.
Three of them were dark and one bright; and there was a fountain of water in its midst.
And I said ‘How smooth are these hollow places, and deep and dark to view.’
Mountains have most certainly been a recurring element within the story of Enoch,
and though they do differ from example to example, mountains continue to be revered, much as you
might say they are in the bible. Many significant events take place upon mountains in the bible
and it was once believed that it was at the peaks of mountains that one would be able
to commune with God, perhaps on the account, that mountains were and still are the highest places on
the earth, and perhaps the closest physical places to the heavens. The mountain in this example has
four hollow places, three of these places being dark and one of them being bright. To Enoch, this
place does not make immediate sense, though he is able to spot the key distinction that these are
both smooth and hollow places, yet dark to view. It is the Archangel Raphael who explains to him
that “These hollow places have been created for this very purpose, that the spirit of the souls of
the dead should assemble therein, yea that all the souls of the children of men should assemble here.
And these places have been made to receive them till the day of their judgement
and till their appointed period, till the great judgement comes upon them.”
By this explanation, we get yet another insight as to what happens when one dies.
Raphael appears to explain that it is upon this mountain that the souls of the dead will gather
and that it is here that they will wait until the day of judgement, where they will either
be brought up into the heavens or vanquished into the depths of hell. When you consider
the amount of souls throughout time that would have gathered here according to this narrative,
it really puts into perspective the sheer size of this mountain that Enoch is beholding.
Yet, it is unclear at this stage whether the souls have the freedom to move about the mountain, or
whether they are literally trapped inside of this mountain, in these hollow and dark places. But in
the subsequent passage, there does appear to be at least one character who maintains some form
of consciousness and he appears to be not only active in his attempts to get God’s attention,
but also frustrated and bitter, suggesting that despite being dead or being reduced to a ‘soul’,
one would still feel emotion and maintain their memories of their physical life.
Enoch tells us, “I saw the spirits of the children of men who were dead, and their voices went forth
to heaven and made suit. And I asked Raphael the angel who was with me, and I said unto him:
‘This spirit--whose is it, whose voice goeth forth and maketh suit to heaven?’
So indeed, Enoch does appear to hear several of these voices making a petition to God,
perhaps, trying to bargain their way into heaven or trying to justify why they belong there
instead of upon this mountain, or worse yet, in hell. There is one man though who catches
Enoch’s attention, perhaps on the account of how passionately and vividly he petitions to God.
Raphael tells him, “This is the spirit which went forth from Abel, whom his brother Cain
slew, and he makes his suit against him till his seed is destroyed from the face of the earth,
and his seed is annihilated from amongst the seed of men.”
It seems like quite a fortuitous encounter for Enoch to have, especially considering that Abel,
outside of his death, is largely overlooked as a biblical character. His brother Cain, being
the first murderer and perhaps,being one of the originators of sin upon earth usually takes much
of the spotlight. But it’s also quite intriguing to find Abel here in this place of dead souls,
for we are also privy to his perspective. As you might imagine, Abel appears to be outraged that he
has been killed and is not subtle in vocalising this at all. He ‘makes suit’ against Cain,
or in this instance, condemns his brother and seems so adamant in avenging his own demise,
that he will not stop until all of Cain has been erased - not just Cain himself, but also
his offspring. Such is the level of Abel’s anger and hatred towards his brother, that he won’t
rest until those even remotely associated with Cain by being his offspring are destroyed too.
It’s unfortunate then that Enoch spends so little time gaining further understanding of Abel,
but instead turns his attention back to the hollow places of the mountain,
asking Raphael as to why the places were separated from each other.
And Raphael explains that “These have been made that the spirits of the dead might be separated.
And such a division has been made for the spirits of the righteous,
in which there is the bright spring of water. And this has been made for sinners when they die and
are buried in the earth and judgement has not been executed upon them in their lifetime.”
So by this, we can gather that these separations in the mountain also come with an interior
that corresponds with how one had lived their lives upon earth. From Raphael’s explanation,
we can see that if one was righteous, then they could find themselves in the separation
that contains a bright spring of water and this would be an indication that one was going to go to
heaven upon the day of great judgement. Yet, he then speaks of the other separation being merely
a barren place for those who have sinned upon the earth and it is unclear if they will even
have consciousness given that all he says is that they will be buried in the earth.
He does continue however that, “Here their spirits shall be set apart in this great pain,
till the great day of judgement, scourgings, and torments of the accursed for ever,
so that (there maybe) retribution for their spirits. There He shall bind them for ever.”
Going by this additional detail, Raphael seems to imply that the spirit, or the soul, will be the
essence that suffers here. But due to our physical form, it is impossible to explain the intensity of
this spiritual pain, but that it will indeed last forever, upon those who are deemed unrighteous
upon their deaths. Interestingly, there is a small implication here by Rapahel that there is some
possibility of retribution that can be achieved, though he does not elaborate on this further.
Upon the third separation of these hollow places, Raphael tells us “And this division has been made
for the spirits of those who make their suit, who make disclosures concerning their destruction,
when they were slain in the days of the sinners.” This is likely the place where Abel finds himself;
a place comparable to a court, if you will, where one is given the chance to voice their
disconcertment as to how they died. Abel of all people is one of the characters from the bible who
would have perhaps the most reason to be here and thus, it becomes much less an arbitrary encounter
by Enoch, and instead a relevant observation. Abel was of course blind sided by his brother
when he was killed and it’s debatable as to whether Cain would have successfully killed Abel
had he not led him out into the field in the first place. Of course, we cannot be sure of
the specifics of that encounter given the bible is quite brief as to the conditions of the murder,
but it makes sense as to why Abel is here and why he is so tenacious with his condemnation of Cain.
This separation that Abel finds himself in is the third of four divisions upon the mountain,
and you might say that this is a place that one can attempt to reason with God
and or make requests of him. The fourth and final separation upon this mountain
is reserved for the spirits of men who are ‘godless’. This division is quite
a controversial one, in that it seems to imply that if one is not god fearing, but additionally
not a bad person, they do sacrifice their chances of getting into heaven, but that does not reserve
them a place in hell. Instead, they will simply die, their spirit will be void and they will
not be brought back to consciousness on the day of judgement. Raphael states, “And this
has been made for the spirits of men who shall not be righteous but sinners, who are godless,
and of the lawless they shall be companions; but their spirits shall not be punished in the day of
judgement nor shall they be raised from thence.” What might be gathered from Raphael’s declaration
is that those men who are godless are still essentially sinners
and because they then might keep the company of other sinners and the lawless, they are complicit.
But because they do not actively participate in such immoralities, nor cause harm in their
existence, they will not be punished. Whilst this does promote the mercifulness of God and paints
this supreme being as both benign and fair, it does contradict a lot of core biblical ideas that
the denial or ignorance of God warrants damnation. Yet, it does promote a more liberal idea in that
one is free to believe as they wish, so long as they are not causing harm and not infringing
on core biblical rules, with the only caveat being that resurrection will not be offered. In any
case, Enoch ends this chapter by blessing his Lord and praising him for his supremacy over the world.
But I’m sure there are a ton of ideas and interpretations that you may have on this
chapter of the Book of Enoch, so feel free to share in the comments below. As always,
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