Hebraic Analysis of Lule 4:38-44

Hebraic Analysis of Lule 4:38-44 Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael Harvey Koplitz @2024. Copyright Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz, D.Min., Ph.D. All rights reserved. 2 Introduction When a person is baptized as an infant and grows up in the church, different paradigms become a part of their religious DNA. The church has a message to give about Jesus Christ and His importance. Very few people study the theology and doctrines of the church to determine for themselves the accuracy of the church. The Proto-Orthodox church, which survived the pressures of the Roman Empire, decided to oppose any expression of Christianity that did not fit its dogma in its infancy. In addition, the ProtoOrthodox church would permanently destroy any writings that the rival Christians had developed. The Gnostic Christians of Northern Egypt viewed the life of Jesus of Nazareth in a completely different way than the Proto-Orthodox church did. They saw the message about the Kingdom of Heaven as the vital purpose of Jesus. His birth, death, and resurrection are not mentioned in the Gnostic Gospels. However, did the ProtoOrthodox church destroy the Gnostic Gospels when they crushed said movement? The answer is yes and no. Yes, they destroyed what they got their hands on. No, because in 1948, copies of the Gnostic religious books were discovered in Alexandria, Egypt. Once these documents were translated, the world learned what the Gnostic Christians believed. It is fascinatingly different than what the Proto-Orthodox said about these followers of Christ. Why is this understanding critical? Much research points to a different situation in the early years than what the church espouses. A lot of this information is available to anyone today. However, the Seminaries and churches will not openly discuss these 3 other writings about Jesus and His disciples. The scholars teaching in most Seminaries have learned their lessons from the church and closed-minded mentors who refuse to look at other possibilities. This is because the Western European world took Christianity and changed it from a Near Eastern religion to Western religion. There is a theory that Paul converted Mithras House Churches into Jesus House Churches. This is clear from the connection between the Mithras' and Christianity's rituals. For example, baptism was the initiation ritual of Mithras. Communion did not originate with Jesus. This ritual was a part of Mithras, where the followers would share his flesh (bread) and drink his blood (wine). There are many more rituals that Christianity picked up from Mithras. A good reference is "Christianity's Need for Mithras," which the author wrote. Did Paul create the churches in the letters he sent, which comprise the New Testament, and if so, they must have been Jewish groups who became Jewish Christians? They would have continued with their Hebraic rituals and saw Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah that the prophets of old had promised. They would have adopted many of Jesus' teachings and tried to live by them. The letters in the New Testament are written in Greek. However, most Jews in the Roman Empire did not speak Greek; instead, they spoke Aramaic and Hebrew. These congregations would not have understood a Greek letter from Paul. Therefore, the letters in the New Testament must have been written in Aramaic and then transliterated into Greek. The same can be said for the Gospels, all of them. The church, over the centuries, decided who wrote the Gospels and their intent. The only 4 Gospel we can assign to a writer is Luke. The other three are up in the air about who wrote them. While in Seminary, the author was taught that the entire New Testament was originally written in Koine Greek. However, that raised the question, "Did Jesus speak Greek?" The Seminary instructors said, "no, Jesus did not speak Greek." Then the New Testament, especially the Gospels, must have been written in Aramaic. After all, Jesus spoke Aramaic and Hebrew. We know this because He was a poor tekton (a stonemason or carpenter) from an impoverished city named Nazareth. Being born to a Jewish family in Galilee, he would have learned the traditions of His people and trade. He would have learned to speak Aramaic, the language of the area. He would have learned Hebrew because that was the language of the synagogue and the Temple in Jerusalem. In other words, Hebrew was the language of God, and Jewish males learned the language. Suppose you are ready to toss this manuscript into the nearest trash can or delete it off your electronic device at this point in the introduction. In that case, the writer has your attention. This is the reaction when the writer has spoken with persons who had been indoctrinated into the church's position since birth. The author did not come into the church environment until he was 35. Therefore, the church's paradigms, dogma, and doctrine were not a part of his DNA. Instead, he questioned a lot. He found many inconsistencies between the Bible and the doctrines of the church. Seminary was an experience to learn what the church had evolved into two-thousand years after the death of Jesus. 5 There are more parts to the premise that the New Testament was originally written in Aramaic and will be explored. For the reader to grasp the subsequent phases of the proof, an open mind is critical. 6 Culture and Language Let us continue in the journey of examining the New Testament to determine its original language. Nothing in stone tells us that Aramaic is the Original Language of the New Testament. However, nothing says that Koine Greek was the original language of the New Testament either. Therefore, we have two theories about the original language of the New Testament. The author admits that the Seminary he attended drove home the belief that the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, except for a few spots. The New Testament was initially written in Koine Greek. The writers' research has been searching for the original meaning of Scripture for many years. The methodology for this work is called "Ancient Bible Study Methods." The method was developed by Dr. Anne Davis of the Bible Learning University in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The author studied this method with Dr. Davis as his mentor. It became clear that the search for the original meaning of the Scriptures requires that the culture and language be examined. So, the author's methodology is Dr. Davis' work, plus his Ph.D. studies combining the method, culture, and language. The language examination is easy for the Old Testament because it was written in Hebrew, and about one-half of Daniel is in Aramaic. It does not take long to realize that idioms and figures of speech in the Hebrew of the Old Testament revealed a lot about the people and situation of the day when the scrolls were written. The Targums were a valuable resource because they are the Aramaic translations the rabbis did for the people living outside of Judea. The rabbis added commentary to the Targums 7 because they knew that some of the idioms and speech used in the Near East would not translate well into the different areas where the Jews lived. The culture of the Near East has been essentially the same in many aspects since the days of Jesus. Many practices of Jesus' day are still in use today. The culture of the Jews of the Near East is built into the language. Often an Aramaic or Hebrew word has a deep meaning that is only fully understood by natives living in that culture. The Old Testament is filled with cultural items that do not need to be spelled out because the people knew their culture in the author's time. Suppose the New Testament in Koine Greek is a transliteration of the Aramaic. The culture, figures of speech, and idioms will be easily identified when examining the Peshitta (the Aramaic version of the New Testament). Indeed many of the so-called difficult words of Jesus are not tricky when examined in the light of the culture of Jesus' day. An example is "faith to move a mountain," Jesus said these words to His disciples. The church determined that this meant complete faith in Jesus. From the western European Greek point of view, that makes sense. What else could it possibly mean? "Faith to move a mountain" is an Aramaic idiomatic expression. What Jesus said to His followers when he said this is that his disciples needed to be faithful so that they could change the "government's view through their words." The governing body for Judaism resided on the top of a mountain. Jerusalem, with its Temple, was built on the top of Mount Zion, a very tall mountain. This idiom survived because the Aramaic Gospels were transliterated into Koine Greek. Numerous other examples support this position. 8 Suppose the culture and language idioms of Jesus' day can be found in the Koine Greek because it was transliterated. In that case, it supports the theory of the Aramaic versions being the original language of the Gospels and possibly even more. 9 The Aramaic Version of the New Testament The Peshitta is the accepted Aramaic translation of the New Testament for many churches of the East. Peshitta means "simple, true, direct, and original." It is a collection of scrolls that were compiled in 150 CE. There were some revisions to the Peshitta in the fifth and sixth centuries. The Greek version of the New Testament is a transliteration of the Peshitta.1 For centuries, the Catholic church has used the Latin version of the Bible, the Vulgate, and still uses it. The Vulgate was developed around 350 CE by Jerome by order of the Pope at that time. Erasmus (1466 – 1536) was the person who put together the Greek New Testament for the Catholic church. "The New Testament, brought to light in the original Greek tongue, was compiled and made available for humanity to study and learn. Although working under and deeply associated with the Roman Catholic Church, the learned scholar declared his disagreement with those who wanted to keep the Scriptures from the common people. He said, "If only the farmer would sing something from them at his plow, the weaver moves his shuttle to their tune, the traveler lighten the boredom of his journey with Scriptural stories!" Little did he know that the work he was about to produce would change the world forever. This Greek New Testament, in printed form, would become the standard of the New Testament, launching the translations of Martin Luther and William Tyndale into the world. Thus, fulfilling his dream that all men would read the 1 Rocco A. Errico and George M. Lamsa, Aramaic Light on Galatians through Hebrews: A Commentary Based on Aramaic, the Language of Jesus, and Ancient near Eastern Customs (Smyma, GA: Noohra Foundation, 2005). 10 Bible for themselves in their common language. His new "study Bible" had two main parts, the Greek text, and a revised Latin edition, which was more elegant and accurate than the traditional translation of Jerome's Latin Vulgate. Erasmus prefaced this monumental work of scholarship with an exhortation to Bible study. He proclaimed that the New Testament contains the "philosophy of Christ," simple and accessible teaching with the power to transform lives."2 The church recognized Erasmus' Greek New Testament in 1515 CE. The church in the Near East has been using the Peshitta as the original language of the New Testament since 150 CE. If the Greek New Testament was important to the church as an original language, then why did it adopt the Vulgate in 350 CE? The church should have adopted the Greek New Testament at the beginning. The Peshitta, translated into English, is used to examine Paul's letters. The rest of the methodology that the author developed for Ancient Bible Study Methods is the framework of this research. 2 “Erasmus Greek New Testament,” Insight of the King, accessed February 18, 2022, https://www.insightoftheking.com/erasmus-greek-new-testament.html. 11 The Messianic Tradition Change One problem for Peter and the Disciples was that they claimed Yeshua to be the Messiah that the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures spoke. However, Yeshua did not do what these traditions said. The main tradition was that the Messiah would destroy oppressive Romans and reinstate the Kingdom of Israel. Yeshua would then be declared the king and sit on David's throne in Jerusalem. That did not occur. None of the messianic traditions of the day worked. So, what was the new movement going to do? They turned to the prophets and discovered Isaiah 50-53. These chapters are referred to as the Suffering Servant chapters. The Yeshua movement decided that the Suffering Servant was Yeshua. The portrayal of Yeshua's life does fit the Suffering Servant chapters. However, rabbinical interpretation then and now sees the Suffering Servant as the nation of Israel. Indeed, these chapters do describe the history of Israel. Nations have wanted to destroy the Jewish people since the time of Abraham. The diaspora from the Babylonia Exile and the Assyrian invasions looked to squelch the Jewish people. The LORD promised that a remnant of the people would always survive. That is true throughout the 4,000-year history of the Jewish people. Many nations tried to destroy them, and the LORD intervened to ensure that a remnant of the people survived. Paul must have been convinced in his encounter with Yeshua on the Damascus road that Yeshua was the Suffering Servant. It is clear from Paul's writings that he did believe this. For Paul, the Messiah was the Spiritual Messiah that the Kabbalah spoke. The 12 Kabbalah says that there will be two Messiahs. This theology is based on Zachariah 9:9. The first Messiah is Messiah ben Joseph. This Messiah was to restore the Kingdom of Heaven, a spiritual Kingdom. The second Messiah will be Messiah ben David. This Messiah was to restore the Kingdom of Israel. The Midrash from the Kabbalah did not state that the Messiah was two different souls. 13 The Kabbalah There is a large amount of material in print about the Kabbalah. The Kabbalah referred to is Moses's Secret Work from Mount Sinai. Legends say Moses received three items on Mount Sinai when he met the LORD. The first is the written law. The written law is called the Torah. The second is the oral law. The oral law was put into a written form around 200 CE called the Mishnah. The third is the secret law called the Kabbalah. The secrets of the Kabbalah are based on the Torah and were written down around 200 CE. The main books of the Kabbalah are the Zohar and the Book of Creation. Many of Yeshua's statements have Kabbalah undertones. Yeshua would have known the Kabbalah. Paul would have known the basics, at least, of the Kabbalah because of his religious education and training. There are Kabbalistic ideas in the Gospels and Paul's letters. Kabbalistic verses will be highlighted in the chapters of the letters. 14 Methodology The methodology employed is to use "Ancient Bible Study Methods" integrated with Jesus's day's customs and culture to examine the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, thus gathering a more in-depth understanding by learning the Scriptures in the way the people of Jesus's day did. I have titled the methodology of analyzing a passage of Scripture in a Hebraic manner the "Process of Discovery." The author developed this methodology, which combines various linguistic and cultural understanding areas. There are several sections to the process, and not all the parts apply to every passage of Scripture. The overall result of developing this process is to give the reader a framework for studying the Word in more depth. The "Process of Discovery" starts with a Scripture passage. An examination of the linguistic structure of the passage is next. The linguistic structure includes parallelism, chiastic structures, and repetition. Formatting the passage in its linguistic form allows the reader to visualize what the first-century CE listener was hearing. Their corresponding sections label the chiasms, for example, A, B, C, B', A.' Not all passages of the Scriptures have a poetic form. The next step is to "question the narrative." The narrative process of questioning the narrative assumes the reader knows nothing about the passage. Therefore, the questions go from simple to complex. The next task is to identify any linguistic patterns. Linguistic patterns include, but are not limited to, irony, simile, metaphor, symbolism, idioms, hyperbole, figurative language, personification, and allegory. 15 A review of any translation inconsistencies discovered between the English NAU version and Hebrew or Greek versions is done. Sometimes, a Hebrew or Greek word is translated in more than one way. Inconsistencies also can be created by the translation committee, which may have decided to use traditional language instead of the actual translation. The decision of the translation committee is in the Preface or Introduction to the Bible. Perhaps some of the inconsistencies were intentionally added to convey some deeper meaning. An examination of every discrepancy is done. The passage is analyzed for any echoes of the Hebrew Scriptures in the Christian Scriptures. An echo occurs using a passage from the Hebrew Scriptures in the Christian Scriptures.3 Also, echoes are found when Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy) passages are used in other Hebrew Bible books. Cross-references in the Scripture are references from one verse to another verse, which can help the reader understand the verse. The names of persons mentioned in the passage are listed. Many Hebrew names have meaning and may be associated with places or actions. Jewish parents used to name their children based on what they felt God had in store for their children. An example is Abraham, whose original name was Abram and was changed to mean eternal father (God changed Abram's name to Abraham, indicating a function he was to perform). When the Hebrew Bible gives names, many occurrences mean something unique. The same importance can occur for the names of places. The time it takes to travel between locations can supply insight into the event. 3 Mitzvot are the 613 commandments found in the Torah that please God. There are positive and negative commandments. The list was first development by Maimonides. The full list can be found at: ttp://www.jewfaq.org/613.htm. 16 Keyphrases are identified in verses when they are essential to understanding that passage. There are no rules for selecting the keywords. Searching for other occurrences of the keywords in Scripture in concordance is necessary to understand the Word's usage; this must be done in either Hebrew or Greek, not in English. A classic Hebraic approach is to find the usage of a word in the Scripture by finding other verses that contain the Word. The usage of a word in its original language is discovered by searching the Scripture in the language of the Word. Verses that contain the Word are identified, and a pattern for the usage of the Word is discovered. Each verse is examined to see what the usage of the Word is, which may reveal a model for the Word's usage. The first usage of the Word in the Scripture, primarily if used in the Torah, is essential for Hebrew words. The Christian Scriptures are used for Greek words to determine the Word usage in the Scripture. Sometimes, finding the equivalent Greek Word in the Septuagint can be beneficial as analyzing its Hebrew usage. The Rules of Hillel are used when applicable. Hillel was a Torah scholar who lived shortly before Jesus' day. Hillel developed several rules for Torah students to interpret the Scriptures, which refer to halachic Midrash. In several cases, these rules are helpful in the analysis of the Scripture. The cultural implications from the writing period are done after the linguistic analysis is completed. The culture is crucial because it is not explicitly referenced in the biblical narratives, as indicated earlier. From the linguistic analysis and the cultural understanding, it is possible to obtain a deeper meaning of the Scripture beyond the plain text's literal meaning. That is what the listeners of Jesus's time were doing. They put linguistics and culture together without even having to contemplate it. 17 The analysis will lead to findings explaining the passage's meaning in Jesus's day. Most of the time, the Hebraic analysis leads to the desire for more in-depth analysis to fully understand what Jesus was talking about or what was happening to Him. Whatever the result, a new, more in-depth understanding of the Scripture is obtained. The components of the Process of Discovery are: Language Process of Discovery Linguistics Section Linguistic Structure Discussion Questioning the Passage Verse Comparison of citations or proof text Translation Inconsistencies Biblical Personalities Biblical Locations Phrase Study 18 Linguistic Echoes Rules of Hillel Culture Section Discussion Questioning the passage Cultural Echoes Culture and Linguistics Section Discussion Thoughts Only the applicable sections are included in this document. 19 Luke 4:38-44 Language Peshitta New American Standard 1995 38 And when Jesus went out of the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon. And the mother-in-law of Simon was afflicted with a severe fever: and they besought him in her behalf. 39 And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her. And immediately she arose and ministered to them. 40 And when the sun was set, all those that had sick persons, afflicted with divers diseases, brought them to him; and he laid his hand on every one of them, and healed them. 41 And demons went out of many, crying out and saying: Thou art the Messiah, the Son of God. And he rebuked them, and suffered them not to say, that they knew him to be Messiah. 42 And at the dawn of day, he went out and retired to a desert place. And the multitudes sought him, and went out to him, and held him fast, that he might not retire from them. 43 And Jesus said to them: It behooveth me to announce the kingdom of God to other cities also; for therefore was I sent. 44 And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee. Luke 4:38 aThen He got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was b suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him 1to help her. 39 And standing over her, He arebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and 1 waited on them. Luke 4:40 aWhile bthe sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and claying His hands on each one of them, He was dhealing them. 41 Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are athe Son of God!” But brebuking them, He would cnot allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be 1the Christ. Luke 4:42 aWhen day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them. 43 But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, afor I was sent for this purpose.” Luke 4:44 So He kept on preaching in the synagogues aof 1Judea. 20 References to the New American Standard 1995 Luke 4:38 1 Lit about her a Luke 4:38, 39: Matt 8:14, 15; Mark 1:29-31 b Matt 4:24 Luke 4:39 1 Or served a Luke 4:35, 41 Luke 4:40 a Luke 4:40, 41: Matt 8:16, 17; Mark 1:32-34 b Mark 1:32 c Mark 5:23 d Matt 4:23 Luke 4:41 1 I.e. the Messiah a Matt 4:3 b Luke 4:35 c Matt 8:16; Mark 1:34 Luke 4:42 a Luke 4:42, 43: Mark 1:35-38 Luke 4:43 a Mark 1:38 Luke 4:44 1 I.e. the country of the Jews (including Galilee) a Matt 4:23 21 Koine Greek Luke 4:38 , . 39 , , . Luke 4:40 , . 41 , . , . Luke 4:42 , , , . 43 , . Luke 4:44 . 22 Language Process of Discovery Linguistics Section Linguistic Structure A 38 aThen He got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was bsuffering from a high fever, and they asked Him 1to help her. 39 And standing over her, He arebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and 1waited on them. B 40 aWhile bthe sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and claying His hands on each one of them, He was dhealing them. 41 Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are athe Son of God!” But brebuking them, He would cnot allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be 1the Christ. A'42 aWhen day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them. 43 But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, afor I was sent for this purpose.” Luke 4:44 So He kept on preaching in the synagogues aof 1Judea. Discussion . This is the last word of Luke 4:44. NASB translates it as "Judea." Wrong...this is the Greek word for Galilee. I wonder how many other errors exist in the translations? 23 Questioning the Passage 1. Why did Simon’s mother-in-law wait upon them? (v. 40) In Jesus’ day in Judea, the role of women was influenced by both religious and cultural norms. Women primarily served their families and supported men’s education. However, Jesus challenged societal norms. For instance, when Martha complained about Mary sitting and listening to Jesus instead of helping, Jesus defended Mary’s choice. Jesus treated women with compassion and respect. He confronted sin in their lives but did not condone it. Examples include the woman at the well, the adulterous woman, and the sinful woman who anointed His feet. Jewish women owned homes, had access to funds, took part in synagogues, and served as patrons of the Jesus movement. While cultural norms restricted women’s roles, Jesus’ teachings and interactions showed a more inclusive and compassionate perspective. Women played essential roles in the New Testament narrative, challenging societal expectations.4 2. What is the significance that the sun was setting? (v. 41) This showed that the Sabbath was over. The lunar calendar starts a day at 6:00 PM. 3. Why did the people try to stop Yeshua from leaving? (v. 42) The people did not want Yeshua to leave because he was healing so many people and brought prosperity to the area. 4. Why did the demon cry out “you are the son of God?” (v. 41) Here the demons that possessed Simon's mother-in-law recognized Yeshua and his divine powers. 4 1. Marvin Wilson, “Jewish Laws of Purity in Jesus’ Day,” Jerusalem Perspective, accessed May 20, 2024, https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/2646/. 24 5. Why did Yeshua prevent the demons from speaking? (v. 41) Yeshua silenced the demons, who declared Him as the “Son of God” because He did not want their testimony. Their acknowledgment might have led to misunderstandings or sensationalism. Jesus preferred people to recognize His identity through His teachings, actions, and the Father’s revelation rather than through demonic sources. 6. What does the Kingdom of God mean? (v. 43) This statement emphasizes Yeshua’s mission to proclaim the message of God’s reign and salvation. Throughout His ministry, Jesus taught about the Kingdom, emphasizing repentance, forgiveness, and transformation of hearts. His actions showed the Kingdom’s presence, inviting people to take part in its blessings and eternal life1. 25 Biblical Locations 5 5 1. CloudFront.net, accessed May 20, 2024, http://cloudfront.net. 26 Culture Section Questioning the passage 1. What does it mean that Yeshua rebuked the fever? (v. 40) People in Yeshua’s day believed that illness was caused by demons. The demons were believed to be the spirits of the 199 angels, called the Watchers. In Genesis chapter six there summarizes what happened. The story is expanded in the Book of the Watchers which is the first thirty-six chapters of 1 Enoch. The Ethiopian Orthodox church has the books of Enoch as a part of their Canonical (Bible) books.6 There are several reasons the proto-orthodox church (which becomes the catholic, orthodox and protestant churches) rejected the books of Enoch. There are theological thoughts in Enoch that did not fit the beliefs the church had about God, angels, and humans. Paul did not seem to be a fan of Enoch and inferred that Enoch, and other such writings are false teachings. Paul was a student who studied Scripture and would have been familiar with Enoch along with several other extra-Biblical writings. If a writing did not comply with Paul’s view of Christ, he labeled it a false teaching. If the theory of Paul using the Mithras cult as a basis for his view of Jesus is correct, then Enoch would not fit the narrative. The Gospel of Mark contains several encounters between Jesus and demons. Examining Genesis chapter six and the Book of the Watchers, it can be seen how the demons came into being. There is a midrash about Azazel and 6 1. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, accessed May 20, 2024, https://www.ethiopianorthodox.org/english/canonical/books.html. 27 Shemihazah (they were angels) coming before the throne of God and asking if they could have permission to visit the humans on the Earth. The LORD warned them against doing this because the humans’ evil would influence the two angels. Azazel and Shemihazah visited the Earth. While in human form, the two angels experienced the evil of the world. The midrash stops there. It is possible to continue the midrash using the events that occurred in Genesis chapter six and the Book of Watchers. When the two angels returned to Heaven, the LORD made them part of a group of angels called the Watchers. Their job can be described as guardian angels. Since Azazel and Shemihazah lived on the Earth, they would have knowledge of what humans did and how they thought. It is stated in Genesis six that the Watchers saw how beautiful the daughters of men were. Why would the angels be concerned about this? A speculation is that when Azazel and Shemihazah were on the Earth, they could have experienced the joys of knowing the women on the Earth. They could have desired to have that union with women again and convinced 198 other Watchers to join them. It is unclear in the Book of the Watchers because the 198 Watchers joined them. The 200 Watchers came to Earth and took human male form. Genesis chapter six says that the Watchers took wives for themselves. This tells us they had sex with the women who got pregnant and gave birth to children who were the Giants. The Scripture calls them the Nephilim. Genesis chapter six is a very sketchy overview of what happened, according to the Book of the Watchers. That book says that the offspring of the union of the Watchers and the women were called the Giants. The Giants had offspring called the Nephilim and their offspring were called the Elioud. It was the actions of the Elioud that caused all the problems. 28 The Elioud and the humans of that day entered into a war against each other. The Elioud was physically large compared to the humans and they were killing humans. The Elioud committed the one sin that inflamed the LORD more than any other sin. They drank the human's blood. 26 'You are not to eat any blood, either of bird or animal, in any of your dwellings. 27 'Any person who eats any blood, even that person shall be cut off from his people.'" (Lev. 7:26-27 NAU) Azazel and Shemihazah knew that they had brought sin upon their fellow Watchers and upon the Earth. They attempted to repair the problem. The angels were divided into groups of ten with a lead angel. Each leader of the groups of ten offered a secret of heaven to the humans. Azazel offered the humans the knowledge of metallurgy. This enabled the humans to create weapons that would help them destroy the Elioud. This secret and several others were given to the humans against the wishes of the LORD. If the LORD wanted the humans to know these secrets, He would have dispatched angels to transmit the information. Instead, the Watchers offered the information. The LORD was angered by what the Watchers did and the evil that was growing on upon the Earth. Unfortunately, by giving free choice to the humans, the LORD enabled them to create their own sin. Humans do not need help from anyone to sin. However, with the secrets of Heaven that the Watchers gave the humans, sin and evil spread rapidly. The Flood that the LORD brought upon the Earth was to cleanse the Earth of this sin. Perhaps the flood was also necessary to kill the Elioud and their descendants. The Flood could have served this dual purpose. 29 The court of the LORD was held and the indictment about the Watchers was read before the LORD. The Watchers were found guilty of sin and the LORD pronounced punishment. Azazel was thrown into the Pit (which becomes Hell). He was the fallen angel that became Satan. The other 199 Watchers were punished by being condemned to live in the foundations of the Earth. Ancient people believed that the land of the Earth was held up by pillars of rock. They also believed that there was a river of water which flowed under the Earth. They believed this because when they dug into the ground sometimes they hit rock and other cased they hit water. The 199 Watchers were believed to have been placed inside the rock, the foundation of the Earth. Therefore, when the LORD brought the Flood upon the Earth, the Watchers were not destroyed. Since they were forced to live in the foundation of the Earth, they were not affected by the Flood. The evil and sinful people, Giants, Nephilim and Elioud of the Earth, were killed by the Flood. Noah and his family were righteous people, so God spared them. There are various midrashim about the Flood because in the book of Numbers the following verse can be found. 33 "There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight." (Num. 13:33 NAU) There is a legend that the King of the Nephilim begged Noah to save him. The King was told that he could ride on the Ark. There were several beams that stuck out of the Ark and the King sat on one. Noah cut a special window into the Ark which allowed him to give the King food and water. Since the Nephilim seemed to survive the flood according to Numbers, the King’s mate must have also survived. The midrash does not tell us about her. Perhaps she was on a beam on 30 the opposite side of the Ark. If only the King was on a beam, the Ark certainly would have tipped over because of the King’s weight. Therefore, logically, there had to be a counterweight on the opposite side. The easiest counterweight would have been the queen of the Nephilim. It is believed that Goliath was a descendant of the Nephilim thus giving rise to this type of legend. So, the 199 Watchers survived the Flood. Chronologically, there is nothing written about their activities until Jesus’s time. The purpose of the Flood was to eliminate evil and sin from the Earth, then how come evil and sin continued after the Flood? A reason is that the earthly bound Watchers took revenge against the humans because of their punishment from the LORD. The influence of the Watchers could account for history’s horrific events of people killing each other before Jesus’s arrival. How could the LORD remove the Watchers’ evil influence on the Earth? In Jesus’s day, the Watchers were known as demons. From Mark 1:21-28 and several other encounters with demons, Jesus the Son of God exorcised the demons out of humans and condemned them to the Pit to join Azazel. The Book of the Watchers was well read in Jesus’s day. The Hebrew people believed the demons were those spirits of the condemned Watchers. From the narratives in the Gospels, the demons knew who Jesus was. In the book of the Watchers, the Watchers are called unclean spirits. The Watchers became unclean spirits which prohibited them from returning to Heaven. Only the perfect, the pure, and the clean spirits are permitted into heaven. Instead of destroying the spirits of the Watchers, the LORD had them condemned into the Foundations of the Earth. The Christian Scripture 31 references to the unclean spirits is another linguistic connection between the Book of the Watchers and the Gospel exorcism narratives. In several places in the letters of the Christian Scripture, there are words about the unclean spirits. The Watchers, who become the demons, from the time of Noah are spoken about. These references, besides the Gospels, demonstrate that the people of Jesus’s time understood who the demons and the unclean spirits were. 18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;19 in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, 20 who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. (1 Pet. 3:18-20 NAU) 6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, (Jude 1:6 NAU) 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (Rev. 12:9 NAU) 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; (2 Pet. 2:4-5 NAU) 32 The Peter letters and Jude might have been written for a mainly Jewish community of believers in Jesus because of the references to the Watchers of Noah’s time. The Book of the Watchers was well read in Jesus’s day. So, Jesus reversed the damage the Watchers created by exorcising them out of humans. But where did the demons go? In Mark 5:1-20, the narrative speaks about a man who was possessed by several demons. Jesus was about to do his exorcism when the demons asked Jesus to send them into a herd of pigs. Jesus allowed them to do this. Then the narrative takes an interesting twist and says that the pigs jumped into the sea and are killed. Why would the pigs do this? Even the unclean pigs did not like being possessed by the demons. The middle of the Sea of Galilee was also known as the Abyss, which was another name for the Pit, which was another name for Hell. It was believed that if your boat sank in the middle of the Sea of Galilee that your spirit would be condemned to the Hell. Therefore, the reference to the pigs jumping into the sea and dying tells us that the demons were sent to the Pit, to Hell, to join Azazel, who was known as Satan. Therefore, Jesus reversed the damage that was caused by the Watchers and ridding the world of the demons. The exorcism narratives of the Gospel all have this backdrop. Each of the narratives gives us other spiritual messages from Jesus about combating evil and demons. If the Watchers were sent to Hell, they could have become the angels of Satan. The angels of Satan could still roam the Earth, trying to influence us to perform acts of evil. The difference is that a human cannot be possessed by Satan’s angel in the same way the demons could. Therefore, we must not let down our guard against the forces of Satan and evil. Besides this, we must remember to know that human free will can cause us to sin against the LORD. 33 Jesus saved us from the forces of evil brought upon us by the Watchers. Following Jesus’s words can keep us safe from ourselves. Thoughts The author of the Gospel emphasized that Yeshua always wanted to help people. By doing so he earned their respect and admiration. 34