Part 3
The next mention of the Book of Enoch is as follows:
There is here a profound mystery. According to the Book of Enoch, this "building" [the palace above the garden] is indeed constructed by the other spirit which was left in the "vessel,', and which draws after him the spirit which roams about in the air naked and alone; and these two spirits are welded together, and if the person is worthy to be built up again, the two spirits become one indeed, an organ in which a superior soul may wrap herself. (1Enoch 13-14?)
(Zohar 2:100a)
In fact 1Enoch does in fact give us an account of this heavenly palace:
8 And behold a dream came to me, and visions fell down upon me until I lifted my eyelids toward the gates of the palace of heaven, and I saw a vision of the wrath of chastisement, and a voice came to me and it said: Speak to the sons of heaven, and reprimand them....
9 And I went in till I drew near to a wall, which is built of crystals and surrounded by tongues of fire: and it began to frighten me.
10 And I went into the tongues of fire and drew near to a great house, which was built of crystals: and the walls of the house were like a tessellated floor (made) of ice.
11 Its ceiling was like the path of the stars and the lightning's, and between them were fiery cherubim, and their heaven was (clear as) water.
12 A flaming fire surrounded all their walls, and its gates blazed with fire.
13 And I entered into that house, and it was hot as fire and cold as ice: there were no delights of life therein: fear covered me, and trembling got hold upon me.
14 And as I quaked and trembled, I fell upon my face.
15 And I beheld a vision, And lo! there was a second house, greater than the former, and the entire gate stood open before me, and it was built of flames of fire.
16 And in every respect it so excelled in splendour and magnificence and extent that I cannot describe to you its splendour and its extent.
17 And its floor was of fire, and above it were lightning's and the path of the stars, and its ceiling also was flaming fire.
(1Enoch 18:8; 14:9-17)
The next citation of the book of Enoch in the Zohar is as follows:
"The dust of the earth" is a reference similar to that explained in the Book of Enoch, that the associates saw the letters of which these words are composed, and a voice was heard, saying: "Awaken and sing, ye who dwell in the dust" (Isa..XXVI, I9). The first edifice of the world (of the pre-resurrection period) will be as refuse in comparison with the second edifice (of the post-resurrection period), for this last will be perfected according to the Divine plan. (2Enoch 47:5)
(Zohar 2:105b)
In fact 2Enoch does make use of the phrase "dust of the earth" but again it is unclear whether the author of the Zohar's copy containe more information, or if he has used an unknown method of interpretation:
YHWH has placed the foundations in the unknown, and has spread forth heavens visible and invisible; he fixed the earth on the waters, and created countless creatures, and who has counted the water and the foundation of the unfixed, or the dust of the earth, or the sand of the sea, or the drops of the rain, or the morning dew, or the wind's breathings? Who has filled earth and sea, and the indissoluble winter?
(2Enoch 47:5)
The next citation of Enoch in the Zohar is:
We have found in the Book of Enoch the following: "An only son [Tr. note: Aaron.] will be born unto Him of the White Head, [Tr. note The Supernal Priest] and when they of the asses' flesh [Tr.note: The mixed multitude, cf Ezek, XXIII, 20] shall come, they will mislead him through him who puts pearls into bells of gold without knowing what he does, and an image will be fashioned with a chisel." (1Enoch 89?)
(Zohar 2:192b)
The reference is likely to 1Enoch which mentions offspring of a white bull:
12 But that white ox-calf which was born from him begat a black wild boar and a white sheep; and the former begat many boars, but that sheep begat twelve sheep.
(1Enoch 89:12)
And an apostate race of men represented by asses:
11 And they began to bite and to chase one another; but that white bull which was born among them begat a wild ass and a white ox with it, and the wild asses multiplied.
(1Enoch 89:11)
The next citation of Enoch in the Zohar is as follows:
Hence the words spoken by the Torah: "and I would be playing always before him" (Prov. VIII, 30), In the verse cited there is twice mention of "them that fear the Lord"; the first indicates the men themselves as they are here below, and the second their images as reflected in their words that ascend on high. This esoteric doctrine is found in the Book of Enoch, where it says that all the words of exposition uttered by the righteous on earth are adorned with crowns and are arrayed before the Holy One, blessed be He, who delights Himself with them. They then descend and come up again before His presence in the image of that righteous man who gave expression to them, and God then delights Himself with that image. The words, then, are inscribed in "a book of remembrance before Him", so as to endure for evermore. "And they that thought upon His name" is an allusion to those that meditate on the words of Torah in order thereby to cleave to their Master through an insight into the Divine Name, so as to know Him and beceme equipped with the wisdom of His name in their heart. It is written: "And above the firmament that was over their heads was as the appearance of a sapphire stone, the likeness of a throne" (Ezek. I, 26). (????)
(Zohar 2:217a)
It is unknown whether the author in the Zohar has cited a lost passage of Enoch or he has applied an unknown method of interpretation to an unknown Zohar passage.
R. Eleazar said: 'There is a mystery relating to the offering in the verse, "I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride... eat, 0 friends, drink, 0 beloved" (S.S. v, 1), which I have seen in the book of Enoch.' Said R. Simeon: 'Tell us what you have seen and heard.' (1Enoch 77:3?)
(Zohar 3:240a)
This could be a reference to any number of passages in either 1st or 2nd Enoch however a likely passage is one from 1Enoch:
3 And the fourth quarter, named the north, is divided into three parts: the first of them is for the dwelling of men: and the second contains seas of water, and the abysses and forests and rivers, and darkness and clouds; and the third part contains the garden of righteousness.
(1Enoch 77:3)
In addition to the ten direct references to the Book of Enoch there are many passages where the authors of the Zohar draw from material in the Book of Enoch. The Book of Enoch gives a detailed account of the fall of angels only implied in Genesis. According to the Book of Enoch these fallen angels were led by two major fallen angels named Shemikhaza and Azzazel. These angels copulated with men and beasts to produce a race of giants later whipped out by the flood. They also taught men many things including secrets of sorcery. Finally they were judged by being chained in a pit until the time of judgment.
The Zohar mentions this fall as follows:
R. Isaac said: "Uzza and Azael fell from the abode of their sanctity
above, they saw the daughters of mankind and sinned with them and
begat children. These were the Nefilim, of whom it is said, THE
NEFILIM WERE IN THE EARTH (Gen. 6:4)."
(Zohar 1:37a)
"Of the Nefilim it is said: "and the sons of God saw the daughters
of men that they were fair" (Gen. 6:1f). These form a second
category of the Nefilim, already mentioned above, in this way:
When God thought of making man, He said: "Let us make man
in our image, etc." i.e. He intended to make him head over the
celestial beings, who were to be his deputies, like Joseph over
the governors of Egypt (Gen. 41:41). The angels thereupon
began to malign him and say, "What is man that You should
remember him, seeing that he will assuredly sin before You."
Said God to them, "If you were on earth like him, you would
sin worse." And so it was. For "when the sons of God saw the
daughters of man", they fell in love with them, and God cast
them down from heaven. These were Uzza and Azael; from them
the "mixed multitude" derive their souls, and therefore they also
are called nefilim, because they fell into fornication with fair
women."
(Zohar 1:25b)
The Zohar account agrees with that of 1st Enoch except for abbreviating the name Shemikhazah with Uzza. In fact according to the Zohar Balam knew where Uzza and Azael were kept in chains, and went to them to learn his sorcery:
…after God cast Uzza and Azael down from their holy
place, they went astray after the women folk and seduced
the world also. It may seem strange that being angels they
were able to abide upon the earth. The truth is, however,
that when they were cast down the celestial light which
used to sustain them left them and they were changed to
another grade through the influence of the air of this world.
Similarly the manna which came down for the Israelites in
the wilderness originated in the celestial dew from the most
recondite spot, and at first its light would radiate to all worlds
and the "field of apples", and the heavenly angels drew
sustenance from it, but when it approached the earth it
became materialized through the influence of the air of
this world and lost its brightness, becoming only like
"coriander seed". Now when God saw that these fallen
angels were seducing the world, He bound them in chains of
iron to a mountain of darkness. Uzza He bound at the bottom
of the mountain and covered his face with darkness because
he struggled and resisted, but Azael, who did not resist, He
set by the side of a mountain where a little light penetrated.
Men who know where they are located seek them out,
and they teach them enchantments and sorceries and
divinations. These mountains of darkness are called the
"mountains of the East", and therefore Balaam said:
"From Aram has Balak brought me, from the mountains
of the East". Because they both learnt their sorceries there.
Now Uzza and Azael used to tell those men who came to
them some of the notable things which they knew in former
times when they were on high, and to speak about the holy
world in which they used to be.
(Zohar 3:208a)
In which place and from whom did Balaam derive all his
Magical practices and knowledge? Rabbi Isaac replied:
"He learned it first from his father, but it was in the
"mountains of the East", which are in an eastern country,
that he obtained a mastery of all the arts of magic and
divination. For those mountains are the abode of the
[fallen] angels Uzza and Azael whom the Holy One cast
down from heaven, and who were chained there in fetters.
It is they who impart to the sons of men a knowledge of
magic.
(Zohar 1:126a)
Here it is helpful to examine the 1st century Book of Y'hudah (Jude) in the so-called "New Testament". This book quotes from the Book of Enoch (Jude 1:14-15 = 1Enoch 1:9) and references the account of the fallen angels (Jude 1:6-7, 13) as a typology for a last days apostasy. Y'hudah goes on to call this apostasy "the error of Balam" (Jude 1:11). Clearly the book of Y'hudah and the Zohar point to a first century tradition that Balam obtained his sorcery as a follower of the fallen angels mentioned in the Book of Enoch.
An examination of the Zohar in light of the Book of Enoch demonstrates that the Zohar could not have been a forgery produced by Moses De Leon, nor any other European living in the Middle Ages. The authors of the Zohar express a knowledge of the Book of Enoch and its contents which was impossible anytime between its loss in ancient times and its nineteenth century restoration. In fact the authentic use of the Book of Enoch in the Zohar supports the claim that at least the core of the Zohar is what it claims to be, a document compiled by first century Rabbi, the authors of which demonstrate a working knowledge of documents well known in the first century, yet unknown in the middle ages, and also of first century traditions associating Balam with the Enoch account.
