Reversing Hermon: Enoch, the Watchers, and the Forgotten Mission of Jesus Christ

It all started a few months ago. A pastor friend of mine told me about someone in his congregation who believes the earth is flat. Then he sent me a link to a video by Rob Skiva defending his view by quoting Dr. Michael Heiser. I looked Michael Heiser up and realized that he worked for Logos Bible Software. So I started reading some of his stuff. And I was intrigued. Now, to be clear, Heiser doesn't believe the earth is flat but he does believe that the ancient Israelites believed the earth was flat. But that wasn't the intriguing part. The intriguing part was what he said about angels, demons, and the supernatural world in general. He explained passages of scripture that I'd heard explained away all my life. And he did it in a way that was biblical and consistent. He also opened my eyes to the fact that there are verses and even whole chapters of Scripture that have been misunderstood - and dare I say it, mistranslated - for generations (I'm looking at you, Psalm 82). And though I had disagreements with Heiser's interpretations here and there, I've come to believe that he's largely on the right track. Too many Christians have downplayed and explained away the really difficult passages in Scripture to make them more palatable. We've removed all of the supernatural elements that aren't absolutely necessary. And that is unacceptable if we're going to be faithful to God's revelation. In The Unseen Realm, Heiser upends nearly all of the traditional ideas about the supernatural world. In Heiser's understanding of scripture, God has a council of lesser divine beings that rule alongside of him. At first glance you may think, 'That's crazy! And certainly not in the Bible!' but I'd encourage you to read The Unseen Realm for yourself. Heiser isn't pulling stuff out of thin air or arbitrarily making arguments. Everything he claims is backed up by scripture. And once you see it, it's hard to unsee it. It requires a paradigm shift; but once your paradigm is shifted, everything falls into place. Even passages that always seemed like they'd never fit anywhere (I'm looking at you, 1 Cor 11:11-15). And though I still want to do a proper review of The Unseen Realm, I got Heiser's new book Reversing Hermon yesterday and figured I'd go ahead and write about it since it's fresh on my mind. Reversing Hermon: Enoch, the Watchers & the Forgotten Mission of Jesus Christ is a book that deals extensively (and not surprisingly) with 1 Enoch. In case you're unaware, 1 Enoch is a book written a couple of centuries before Jesus was born that was quite popular among many Jews of Jesus' day and is quoted in Jude 14-15. It's part of a collections of writings known today as Pseudepigrapha. Several early church fathers considered it canonical and the Ethiopian Orthodox church included it in their Bibles. In short, it's a collection of stories, sayings, parables, and apocalypses that were supposedly recorded by Enoch, Noah's great-grandfather. Though no serious scholar believes Enoch actually wrote these things - Heiser included - there's no doubt that it gives valuable background to the way Jews of Jesus' day understood things. The quotation in Jude - as well as allusions elsewhere in the New Testament - testify to this fact. None of this means that 1 Enoch is scripture or that it should be included in our Bibles. But it does mean that 1 Enoch might shed some light on the worldview of the New Testament authors. Heiser's main argument in the book can be boiled down to this: the Pseudepigrapha in general, and 1 Enoch in particular, serve as a valuable backdrop to the New Testament world and writings. He isn't saying that scripture isn't sufficient for salvation. Neither is he arguing - like some kind of modern gnostic - that if we're going to be really spiritual, then we'll have to consult certain 'hidden' writings. He's simply pointing out the fact that if we're going to understand the New Testament properly, we need to understand the culture in which it was written. This should be pretty basic stuff. So, how does using 1 Enoch as a backdrop for the New Testament affect our understanding? To answer that question, I probably ought to summarize the most important parts (for our purposes) of the book. 1 Enoch retells the story of Genesis 6:1-4. This is a passage of scripture that has puzzled interpreters for generations and which has been understood in a variety of rather creative ways. Here it is in its entirety: Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Heiser briefly examines the ways this passage has been understood throughout Christian history and then begins laying a foundation for his own view by referencing 2 Peter 2:1-10 and Jude 5-7. And this leads to his discussion of 1 Enoch. 1 Enoch's account of Genesis 6:1-4 isn't vague at all. It's incredibly descriptive. And it's also hard for most modern people to swallow. According to Enoch, this story is about supernatural beings - Watchers - who leave their proper abode and bring secret knowledge to humankind. They also have sexual relations with human women. The offspring of these unions are giants known as Nephilim (among other names). God punishes the Watchers by sealing them away in Tartarus (see 2 Peter 2:4). When the Nephilim - giants - died, their spirits were released and became what we would call demons. This is the basic story of Genesis 6:1-4 as 1 Enoch understands it. And for most people today, it understandably raises a lot of questions. And I'm among those people. There are a lot of things about this description that seem strange to me. And yet, most of my objections are logical, cultural, or emotional...not scriptural. I'm not going to lie. This whole thing makes me uncomfortable. But the explanation of the text makes far more sense than any other explanation I've heard. In other words, if this wasn't the Bible - if someone handed me a storybook and it had Genesis 6:1-4 in it, I'd probably understand it the same way 1 Enoch does. What makes me feel uncomfortable with this explanation is not that it doesn't match the text. It's that I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the possibility that it could be true. And yet, I believe Jesus was born of a virgin. I believe he performed miracles. I believe he was raised from the dead. Yes. I feel myself succumbing to the same temptation almost all Christians do. Let's sweep all of the unnecessary supernatural elements of scripture under the rug and only display the ones that are acceptable to most people - and absolutely necessary to the faith. Heiser spends the first part of Reversing Hermon describing the connections between Genesis 6, 1 Enoch, and the Mesopotamian versions of the same story. He lays an important foundation in these chapters for understanding the rest of the book - especially for those who are unacquainted with the story told in 1 Enoch. Everything he mentions here will come up in later chapters - sometimes in unexpected ways. I ought to note two important things at this point. First, Heiser isn't pulling stuff out of thin air. Everything he writes is based on scripture and backed up by solid scholarship. The notes at the end of the book are evidence of that, taking up nearly 60 pages. Second, Heiser isn't the first person who has said this stuff. Many of the earliest church fathers claimed the exact same things Heiser claims. And he's not afraid to note that fact. Irenaeus is mentioned frequently, with good reason. He's well-respected, he wrote early, and he taught along similar lines to Heiser regarding 1 Enoch's understanding of Genesis 6. In Part two, Heiser discusses how 1 Enoch's version of events underlies some of the sayings and events of Jesus' life. Let me just say that chapter 4 is phenomenal. In it, he argues that Revelation 12 is a piece of astral prophecy (in this chapter, he draws heavily from Malina's commentary on Revelation. I read it last year and, like Heiser, found it to be a stretch at times but it did include some fascinating insights). If read this way, Revelation 12 is giving us the birthday of Jesus. This may sound outlandish or crazy but again, I'd encourage you to read what he writes before you pass judgment. It left me with my mouth hanging open. Chapter 5 is a little less monumental. It relies heavily on the scholarly work of Amy Richter to argue that the women included in Jesus' genealogy are there because they are all connected to the sins of the Watchers (see Matthew 1:1-17). I found this chapter less convincing than most of the rest of the book but it's worth reading and considering. And it's also worth noting that I haven't heard any better explanations for why those particular women are mentioned and none others. Chapter 6 focuses on Jesus' ministry and, in particular, the events of Jesus' life that take place near Mount Hermon/Bashan/Caesarea Philippi. This chapter is the reason the book received the subtitle it did. It's really the only chapter in the book that discusses - at any length - the "forgotten mission of Jesus Christ." And what is that forgotten mission, you ask? "When Jesus chose to go to Mount Hermon to be transfigured, He was claiming it for the Kingdom of God." According to Heiser's reading, Jesus was reversing the damage done by the Watchers when they came to the same mountain and made a pact to sin against God together. In the third part, Heiser hones in on three problematic passages/ideas in the New Testament epistles and explains how having the Enochic background helps understand what's going on there. First, he deals with the issue of human sinfulness. He argues that for first century Jews, the ubiquity of human sinfulness is not only owing to Adam's sin but also to the Watchers' sin in Genesis 6:1-4. Then, he discusses Paul's exhortation regarding women and head-coverings in 1 Corinthians 11. This chapter is important because it makes sense of an otherwise incredibly confusing passage. Finally, he discusses Peter's summary of baptism in 1 Peter 3:18-22. In my opinion, this section of the book is the strongest and best argued. It makes sense of verses that I've seen fumbled and mishandled all of my life. To put it bluntly, it just makes more sense of what the text says. The final part of Reversing Hermon focuses on the book of Revelation. In particular, he addresses the issue of the Antichrist, the identification of Gog, and the origins of the lake of fire. My views on Revelation are different from Heiser's so I found myself disagreeing the most in these chapters - though even here, there's much to glean. I especially appreciated the discussion on Gog. After the meat of the book is over, you get five appendices for dessert. Though these range in value. First up is a good - albeit short - summary of the early church's views on 1 Enoch. Second, there's a quick summary of the dating/manuscript evidence for the book. Third is a list of scholarly works on 1 Enoch. Fifth is a quick essay that I didn't particularly care for entitled The Ancient Antichrist Profile: Jew or Gentile? And fourth (yes, I know I didn't order those correctly), he includes a list of allusions to the Pseudepigrapha. This was - in my opinion - something of a mixed bag. Heiser opens this appendix by noting that "what constitutes an allusion varies in the opinions of scholars." It's obvious from this statement that Heiser recognizes the tenuous nature of some of the connections made in this list. For example, Luke 21:18 is said to be a possible allusion to 1 Enoch 51:2. But look at them: 1 Enoch 51:2 - "And he shall choose the righteous and the holy ones from among the risen dead, for the day when they shall be selected and saved has arrived." Luke 21:28 - "Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." Personally, I don't see even a slight allusion here. Naturally, when you have two people talking about similar things, there may be a little overlap but it seems to me that many of the allusions included in this list are a stretch. Likewise, some may not be an example of New Testament authors alluding to the Pseudepigrapha but rather of both the NT authors and the Pseudepigrapha alluding to the Old Testament (1 Enoch 5:7 and Matthew 5:5 could both be alluding to Psalm 37:11). With that said, the New Testament definitely includes some genuine allusions to the Pseudepigrapha that are worth noting. These allusions take up a huge amount of space too. The list is a full 54 pages (out of a 326 page book). What else can I say? Heiser will challenge everything you think you know about the way the world works. His is a call to stretch ourselves beyond what we're used to. It's paradigm shifting at its finest. This was true of The Unseen Realm and it's true of Reversing Hermon. And though I can't say that I'm fully onboard with everything Heiser argues, I do believe that he takes the text of scripture - especially the 'problematic' verses - more seriously than just about anyone I've read. And even if he doesn't change your mind, he will challenge you to think through your own interpretations and beliefs. And that's always a good thing. May we seek to be ever more faithful to the text of scripture - and thus, to its Author.

This is another great book from Dr. Heiser. I wish all thoughtful Christians would read it, especially if they aren’t going to read this literature for themselves. For me, apocalyptic literature is a bit of an avocation. Dr. Heiser provides real insight on difficulty questions with sophisticated exegesis, all from a believer who defends the supernatural inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible. While I do not want to be overly critical, after finishing this book, I was left to beg many questions, first among them being “what are we to do with this?” What is its “cash value” (N.T Wright)? How do we “demythologize” it (Bultmann)? It is well enough to recover the Bible’s supernatural worldview, but how do we recover the supernatural worldview of modern man? Since I don’t think any of us have actually had any experience seeing or dealing with divine beings, what are we to do with the stories in the Book of Enoch, referenced in the New Testament, about the “sons of God” laying with the daughters of men and giving birth to giants? In a long footnote, Dr. Heiser discusses the lack of evidence in the archeological record for any abnormally large race of men in the ancient Near East. So if Enoch is not history, what is it? Myth and legend? Religious allegory? Like Jesus and his disciples, should we expect to encounter demons in our daily lives, the disembodied souls of the dead nephillim? Was Calvin right when he concluded that these demons no longer trouble men following the victory of Christ? The Roman Catholic Church still has exorcists, but they are few and far between. Your local parish priest is not permitted to conduct a major exorcism. This would seem to be fallout from bad press attending high profile cases. Should we think of demons as the (more or less) natural spirits of evil inhabiting the souls of men, a metaphor for the forces that gave birth to Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot? Or should we think of them as Pannenberg’s forces of nature? Or Barth’s “das Nichtige”? How would “nothingness” make us afraid anyway, never mind how nothingness could be born of the physical union of an angel and a human? These are difficult questions, and Dr. Heiser does not provide answers to them. The academics he surveys aren’t interested in them either. For example, John Collins is a liberal Catholic, so I am pretty sure he doesn’t think apocalyptic literature discusses anything “real,” any more than the endless Hollywood superhero movies describe anything outside of the imagination of their creators. An idea that occurs to me is related to the intensely sexual nature of the material, not only the Watchers themselves, but other incidents from the Old Testament. The sin of Tamar is just one of many stories in the Hebrew scriptures that are pretty unpleasant and why you can’t just give kids a copy of the Bible to read. In the contemporary world, sexual sin continues to have a power and destructiveness that is difficult to explain on natural terms, and it may be helpful to Christians to see sexual sin as the work of supernatural beings. But if you are the typical modern person with a more or less scientific naturalist view of the world, what is going to convince you of the reality of the Watchers? I know from extensive interaction with Dr. Heiser’s blog and podcast that he is far from an ivory tower intellectual. He is very much concerned with contemporary events, most importantly the intersection between apostasy and the paranormal we might call the “New Age.” Still the questions above linger . . .

A must read if you are a Christian or interested in Christian theology and history. Or if you're trying to learn about the origins of Earth. This book delves further into Genesis 6, explaining why there is so much sin in the world now, because of the sins of the Watchers, whose children were the evil Nephilim giants. They were the reason God flooded the world and the reason that Jesus was sent to earth, to save us from the evil that the spirits of the dead Nephilim, now called Demons, are and were spreading on earth.

Heiser never fails to deliver. His research is awesome. If you want to understand a lot of those problematic areas in the Bible then I recommend reading this man's work. It makes perfect sense and has helped me enormously.

Great book, very informative. Clearly the author has done his homework and everything in this book is practically fact, he very rarely strays from history and theology. The opinions he does give are the opinions of first century Jews. And he finally explains the famous "upon this rock I build my church" quote from the bible that Jesus gives. Spoiler alert: Jesus is standing on a literal rock that the fallen angels once stood. Excellent work. Also, he seems to have traced the birthday of Jesus Christ back to September 11th of 2 BC. Interesting date.. I have spent years studying this stuff and it's rare I read books like this and learn something new. THIS book was a page turner every step of the way, and I learned lots. Kudos to Dr. Michael Heiser

The Son of Men came to fulfill all the covenants that men had with God, but sistematically failed to honor. The price of sin is death, and He died, so that through His sinless death, mankind could legally stand before God as though it has never sinned. This is the basic that Christians should know. What is less known is that Christ incarnation also addressed other issues beyond the human transgression. The Bible reports that along Satan, a third of the angels also rebelled. Hints of this rebellion and its consequences are given throughout the Bible. This book addresses a particularly important but seriously misunderstood passage in Gen. 6:1-2. Here some angels left their original abode and came down to earth to cohabit and breed decendants with the daughters of man. This angelic transgression had severe consequences and God had no alternative but to press the reset button, saving no one except Noah and his family, for this was the last man "perfect in his generations". Meaning, not corrupted by the angelic genetic experiment. Unless God saved this last undefiled seed of Adam, the messianic prophecy of Gen. 3-15 would not be fulfilled and humanity would be doomed for good. But Jesus did come, and His genealogy goes all the way back to Adam, the son of God. Jesus fulfilled all the profecies, smashed the head of the old serpent and took away its power. But He did more than that. During His ministry, Jesus was never just rambling around. Every place He went was for a purpose, and mount Hermon was no exception. This was the site where the rebel angels of Gen 6 landed on earth to get some chicks. Jesus went there and did something amazing to reverse the consequences of the angelic rebellion. What was it? Read the book.

Faith blowing, Mind boggling! Suddenly, « weird » and « obscure » NT passages start making real sense! 1Cor. 11:10? Jude 6, 14&15? Praise God for Dr. M. Heiser’s commitment to the texts only. Sola fide sola Scriptura!

None Needed. Here we go again with the inane requirement just to finish a book. Talk about a waste of time after reading a very significant book.