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In 1 Enoch, an angel teaches people to work precious metals for weapons and ornaments. In 3 Enoch, people use those metals to build idols, linking the forbidden teaching with the beginnings of false worship.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Enoch 8:1
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, knives, shields, and breastplates, and revealed to them the metals of the earth and how to work with them, as well as how to make bracelets, ornaments, and the use antimony, beautifying the eyelids, along with all kinds of precious stones and various dyes. 2 Widespread wickedness arose, and they engaged in fornication, were led astray, and corrupted all their ways. 3 Semjâzâ taught spells and the cutting of roots, Armârôs taught how to break spells, Barâqîjâl taught astrology, Kôkabêl taught about the constellations, Êzêqêêl taught about the clouds, Araqiêl taught the signs of the earth, Shamsiêl taught the signs of the sun, and Sariêl taught the course of the moon.
3 Enoch 5:7
Hebrew Book of Enoch
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
And what did the generation of Enosh do? They went from one end of the world to the other, and each one brought silver, gold, precious stones and pearls in heaps like mountains and hills making idols out of them throughout all the world. And they erected the idols in every quarter of the world: the size of each idol was 1000 parasangs. And they brought down the sun, the moon, planets and constellations, and placed them before the idols on their right hand and on their left, to attend them even as they attend the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is written (1 Kings xxii. 19): "And all the host of heaven was standing by him on his right hand and on his left".
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Notes and References
“... On the one hand, 3 Enoch 5's description of the Generation of Enosh
building their idols from "silver, gold, precious stones, and pearls"
evokes BWs depiction of the fallen angel Asael teaching humankind
about precious metals (1 Enoch 8:1). The parallels are most evident in
the version preserved by George Syncellus (GrSyn ; variations from the
Ethiopie [Eth] and the Greek version in Codex Panopolitanus [GrPan]
noted in italics):55
Asael taught men to make swords and weapons and shields and breast-
plates
And he showed them the metals of the earth and sold and the working of
them
And they made them into bracelets and ornaments for women,
And he showed them silver and stibium and eyepaint and precious stones
and dyes.56 ...”
Annette Yoshiko Reed
From Asael and Semihazah to Uzzah, Azzah, and Azael: 3 Enoch 5 (§§7–8) and Jewish Reception-History of 1 Enoch
(p. 120) Mohr Siebeck, 2001
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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