The Book of Enoch & the BibleUzorak

Themes Of Enoch In The Bible

The Hebrews who followed Moses out of Egypt were delivered in a special way. God expected his people to recognize this gift by respecting Moses’s God-given authority. Korah, however, saw things differently.

Korah was of the tribe of Levi, those separated to serve the Lord. He knew all the Hebrews were God’s people, and he knew his tribe was unique in their service. So Korah, bucking authority, gathered up 250 leaders to challenge Moses. If they were all God’s people, then in Korah’s mind, they were all equal, and Moses should not be in charge.

God responds to Korah’s rebellion in spectacular fashion. We have many examples of God bringing course correction to those who fall astray, such as Jonah and the fish. There are many other examples of God going so far as to strike someone dead for great sin. But God deals with Korah differently. The ground opens up, and Korah is sent down alive into hell. Alive into hell!

He, of course, died after, as scripture tells us. But this raises questions. Is hell inside the earth? Why did God judge Korah so harshly and promptly?

Our first clue is verse 2, describing those of Korah’s rebellion as “men of renown.” This is the same language we see in Genesis 6:4 describing the Nephilim giants. Secondly, as Levites, this rebellion is led by those separated to be holy. This follows the pattern of the fallen angels as described previously by Jude: holy sons of God left their rightful place and tried to take authority for themselves.

Psalm 104:4 tells us that God’s angels are a “flaming fire.” In Korah’s rebellion, these men present themselves to the Lord with censers of fire, forming another parallel.

Recently, we covered how Enoch chapter 10 tells us these angels are imprisoned beneath the wilderness. “Make an opening in the desert of Dudael, and cast him in.” (En 10:4 MSV)

While these parallels are interesting, the next part is what makes the Enoch connection so helpful to this story. Numbers 16:27 tells us these condemned men stood at the entrance to their tents with “their wives, and their sons, and their little children.” Verse 33 tells us that the ground underneath opened, swallowing these men, their tents, and everything associated with them. That includes the wives and children. Why would God include children in this punishment?

If we understand the parallels to Genesis 6 and Enoch, these shocking passages begin to make sense. The angels sinfully took wives, had demonic children, and tried to usurp holy authority. Because of this correlation, we can better understand the response of God. Korah’s rebellion is the same type of sin as these fallen angels, and God makes a swift and powerful example that he will never tolerate this type of sin again. God makes clear these connections by sending Korah down to the same place he sent the fallen angels.

We previously read in Jude 1:7 that the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, associated with these fallen angels, were met with fire from heaven as an example. And in Numbers, we see the same with fire from the Lord consuming the other men who followed Korah.

God’s judgments are never random or arbitrary. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us God is “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” He’s not looking to punish people. Understanding these connections to Enoch, we can better grasp what God is telling us. Next, we’ll explore this idea of angels imprisoned beneath the wilderness.