The reason that the Ethiopic Book of Enoch was called Apocryphal by those who chose the books to be included in what we call the "Torah" or Old Testament is easy enough to comprehend once the Book of Enoch is read. The Ethiopic Book of Enoch is creation-centered, and condemns all killing, not just the killing of humans, as does the strictly human-centered Ten Commandments or Decalogue. In fact the Ethiopic Book of Enoch condemns all actions of subjection and domination that are sanctioned by Genesis 1: 26-28, which says that humans are to subdue the earth and have dominion over other creatures.
 

     According to the Ethiopic Enoch there is to be no subduing of other creatures or of other humans, and no dominating of other beings. The book makes it clear that nature as created is perfect as it is. God created numerous trees, i.e. vegetation, to feed humans, to spice their food, and to give them shade.  Large sections of the Book describe the trees that offer shade, food, spices and aroma to humanity.  Trees are described over and over again, making it clear that the message of Enoch is that vegetation is all humans need. Humans are not to mine the earth. The earth is the home of other creatures, and when excavated or invaded, the creatures who live there are wounded, displaced, killed. We can see in the Book of Enoch one of the sources of morality for the Jewish Rechabites and Arab Nabateans, neither of whom would cultivate, i.e. invade the earth.  The Deity of the Book does not want humans to make the iron of weapons, nor the gold and silver of mines that are used to ornament the body.  In fact cosmetics in general are forbidden.  In other words, nature is the Creator's creation and is perfect as it is.  To attempt to improve on nature is to be a fallen being.  Bloodshed of any kind, of animals, or of humans, is absolutely forbidden.  And humans (with the exception of Enoch, the chosen messenger of God) are not to write.  Paradise is to be lived in, not written about.

    Once it is understood that renunciate values existed in the earliest days of Judaism, then it is easier to understand the influence of the Jain tradition which came hand in hand with the Hindu tradition. The following quotations from the Ethiopic Book of Enoch show that the book was in conformity with the vegetarian covenant of Genesis 1: 29-30.
 
 

   Chapter 7 demonstrates that the fallen angels and their followers are predators on earth, subduing and dominating other creatures, and shedding blood.

     "And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and 6 fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones." 7: 5
 
 

    Chapter 8 of the Ethiopic Book of Enoch is a key chapter for understanding the religious sense that pervaded the pure remnant of people in ancient times, and that pervades some renunciate groups, and back to nature groups, today. They understood that to alter creation in any way was to sin against the Creator.

"1Moreover Azazyel taught men to make swords, knives, shields, breastplates,the fabrication of mirrors, and the workmanship of bracelets and ornaments, the use of paint, the beautifying of the eyebrows, the use of stones of every valuable and select kind, and all sorts of dyes, so that the world became altered.

2Impiety increased; fornication multiplied; and they transgressed and
corrupted all their ways."
 
 

   Chapter 9, in context with the above passages, gives us a summary of why the Deluge was brought about. It was because Azazel and the other fallen angels had corrupted not only humanity, but other creatures as well, as we can infer from God's statement that he came to convict all flesh.

1 And then Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel looked down from heaven and saw much blood being

2 shed upon the earth, and all lawlessness being wrought upon the earth. And they said one to another: 'The earth made without inhabitant cries the voice of their cryingst up to the gates of heaven.

3 And now to you, the holy ones of heaven, the souls of men make their suit, saying, "Bring our cause

4 before the Most High."' And they said to the Lord of the ages: 'Lord of lords, God of gods, King of kings, and God of the ages, the throne of Thy glory (standeth) unto all the generations of the

5 ages, and Thy name holy and glorious and blessed unto all the ages! Thou hast made all things, and power over all things hast Thou: and all things are naked and open in Thy sight, and Thou seest all

6 things, and nothing can hide itself from Thee. Thou seest what Azazel hath done, who hath taught all unrighteousness on earth and revealed the eternal secrets which were (preserved) in heaven, which

7 men were striving to learn:

   Here below we see that the fallen angels bore children. These children were regarded as demonic, and indulged in sacrifices, the spilling of blood.

"9Thus has the whole earth been filled with blood and with iniquity.
And the women have

10 borne giants, and the whole earth has thereby been filled with blood and unrighteousness."
 
 

1 Then said the Most High, the Holy and Great One spake, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech,

2 and said to him: 'Go to Noah and tell him in my name "Hide thyself!" and reveal to him the end that is approaching: that the whole earth will be destroyed, and a deluge is about to come

3 upon the whole earth, and will destroy all that is on it. And now instruct him that he may escape

4 and his seed may be preserved for all the generations of the world.' And again the Lord said to Raphael: 'Bind Azazel hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening

5 in the desert, which is in Dudael, and cast him therein. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there for ever, and cover his face that he may

6,7 not see light. And on the day of the great judgement he shall be cast into the fire. And heal the earth which the angels have corrupted, and proclaim the healing of the earth, that they may heal the plague, and that all the children of men may not perish through all the secret things that the

8 Watchers have disclosed and have taught their sons.

"16Then shall they be taken away into the lowest depths of the fire in torments; and in confinement shall they be shut up for ever.

17Immediately after this shall he (Semyase), together with them, burn and perish; they shall be bound until the consummation of many generations."

18Destroy all the souls addicted to dalliance, (15) and the offspring of the Watchers, for they have tyrannized over mankind.

19Let every oppressor perish from the face of the earth;

20Let every evil work be destroyed;"

    One can see in the above passages above and below the prototype of the values of the original vegetarian Torah, the original scriptures about Jesus, and the original Quran.  In the Book of Enoch the evils of shedding the blood of other creatures and of humans are both referred to. Other creatures shed blood by becoming carnivorous, and therefore their sins are parallel to the sins of the fallen angels, who taught humans how to make the  implements of industry and how to sacrifice animals.

   Thus we see here the wisdom of Isaias who denounced those sacrificing animals as being like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, who deserved to be destroyed. Isaias saw through the homophobia that made homosexuals the scapegoats for the destruction.  The parallel condemnation and scapegoating of homosexuals in the New Testament and Quran may be regarded as typical orthodox bigotry by the patriarchs of those cultures. Isaias saw through it, as did the Jesus of the Gospel of the Nazirenes.
 
 

    One of the so-called "mysteries of the Bible" is why Abel's name means "vain and illusory, unsatisfying." Abel's name is also associated with mourning and lamentation and leading astray. There is no mystery, once one understands that the scriptures have been revised to favor the views of those seeking to sanction their making profit through doing evil, evil such as killing animals in order to sell their carcasses to eat.  Cain's name on the other hand relates with Chanan, El Chanan and El Kana, and signifies "being favored of God."  Cain in fact in R. H. Charles' Apocrypha and Pseudoepigraphia of the Old Testament has Cain's name is also associated with the word kanna im, meaning zealot, or avenging priest, which rather precisely defines Cain.   From the point of view of the vegetarian covenant of Genesis, Cain was God's avenging priest, killing Abel because he slew God's creatures, against the command of God in Genesis 1: 29-30.

   The original God of the Jews commanded vegetarianism as seen in Gen. 1: 29-30.  Those who sacrificed animals, like Abel, were originally seen as evil. The Hebrew name Abel is the origin of the English word evil.  Chapter 13 helps clarify the fact that the original "Torah" was revised to suit businessmen who revised the scriptures in order to sanction animal sacrifices. Other pages of this study deal with the fact that Abel's name means illusory, vain, unsatisfying, and is associated with leading astray and mourning.  The Mystery of the Bible is easily solved once one realizes that Abel was one who contradicted God and the original vegetarian covenant, and that for that reason the prefix of contradiction, uwb or Ab preceded the name of God, El, and thereby designated one who contradicted God. Abel's name is the source of the word Evil, rendered Ubel in German, which shows the similarity even more clearly than English.

1 And Enoch went and said: 'Azâzêl, thou shalt have no peace: a severe sentence has gone forth

2 against thee to put thee in bonds: And thou shalt not have toleration nor request granted to thee, because of the unrighteousness which thou hast taught, and because of all the works of godlessness

3 and unrighteousness and sin which thou hast shown to men.' Then I went and spoke to them all

4 together, and they were all afraid, and fear and trembling seized them. And they besought me to draw up a petition for them that they might find forgiveness, and to read their petition in the presence

5 of the Lord of heaven. For from thenceforward they could not speak (with Him) nor lift up their

6 eyes to heaven for shame of their sins for which they had been condemned. Then I wrote out their petition, and the prayer in regard to their spirits and their deeds individually and in regard to their

7 requests that they should have forgiveness and length. And I went off and sat down at the waters of Dan, in the land of Dan, to the south of the west of Hermon: I read their petition till I fell

8 asleep. And behold a dream came to me, and visions fell down upon me, and I saw visions of chastisement, and a voice came bidding (me) to tell it to the sons of heaven, and reprimand them.

9 And when I awaked, I came unto them, and they were all sitting gathered together, weeping in

10 'Abelsjâîl, which is between Lebanon and Sênêsêr, with their faces covered. And I recounted before them all the visions which I had seen in sleep, and I began to speak the words of righteousness, and to reprimand the heavenly Watchers.
 
 

"Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies; because they are born from men and from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin;

10 they shall be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits shall they be called. [As for the spirits of heaven, in heaven shall be their dwelling, but as for the spirits of the earth which were born upon the earth, on the earth shall be their dwelling.]

And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble: they take no food, but nevertheless

12 hunger and thirst, and cause offenses. And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them.
 

Chapter 18
Even the fallen angels can be forgiven after 10,000 years.

16 And He was wroth with them, and bound them till the time when their guilt should be consummated (even) for ten thousand years.'
 

A Penance of 10,000 Years on Semyase has been lifted?

   In this regard, we have an event in the later 20th century which will judged as incredible and fictitious by some, but which has an amazing amount of photographic support, and support from some scientists, the claim by Billy Meyers that he had made contact with extraterrestrials.  The amazing and rather high quality photographs have led even some high-ranking authorities to state that they find no flaws in the pictures.  Moreover, Meyers claims to have been given a piece of metal that when examined under an electron microscope by established scientists was found to be an alloy of plastic and metal, an alloy that humans have not yet been able to create.

     What is truly amazing is that one of the extraterrestrials Meyers claims to have made contact with is a woman named Semyase, who claims to have been part of a group that led humanity astray.  Semyase is the name of one of the captains of the fallen angels in the Ethiopic Book of Enoch.

    Semyase's message to the world through Billy Meyers is truly in harmony with the drama of the Book of Enoch.  Admitting that she had once helped to lead humanity astray, Semyase now teaches that all creatures, indeed, all creation, is to be regarded as sacred.  This is important, because it was, according to the Book of Enoch, the fallen angels who taught humans to sacrifice animals.
 

Chapter 19

19:1 And Uriel said to me: 'Here shall stand the angels who have connected themselves with women, and their spirits assuming many different forms are defiling mankind and shall lead them astray into sacrificing to demons as gods, (here shall they stand,) till the day of the great judgement in which they shall be judged till they are made an end of.

     This first verse of Chapter 19 was alluded to or echoed in Baruch. 4" 5-7.  In order to understand, however, that Baruch saw the sacrificing of animals itself as a sacrifice to demons, I have put the quotation in context of other scriptures in his book.

"Why is it, O Israel, why is it that you are in the land of your enemies,
that you are growing old in a foreign country..."  3:10.

"...you have forsaken the fountain of wisdom.  If you had walked in the way
of God, you would be dwelling in peace for ever."  3:13.

"He who prepared the earth for all time filled it with four-footed
creatures."  3:32.

"Take courage, my people, O memorial of Israel!  It was not for destruction
that you were sold to the nations, but you were handed over to your enemies because you angered God.  For you provoked him who made you by sacrificing to demons and not to God." 4: 5-7.

     By accepting the fact--and it is impossible not to do so--that the Book of Enoch the reader is able quite easily to see that the moral views of Enoch and Noah had by the pure remnant of Judaism is radically different and more peaceful than that of the orthodoxy.
 
 

    R. H. Charles describes chapters 55 and 56 as: Final Judgement of Azazel, the Watchers and their children. Note that deity in both the Ethiopic Book of Enoch and "Genesis" repent of what they had done.  When one realizes that the original vegetarian covenant of Genesis is in harmony with the Ethiopic Book of Enoch then the temporal precedence, that is, which book came first, becomes secondary to the moral precedence. That is, the Book of Enoch presents abundant evidence that the vegetarian covenant was the only real dietary covenant taught by God, and the the god who changes his mind in Genesis is a fiction made up by the cattle raisers to justify the slaughtering of animals and the selling of slaughtered flesh, which was seen as demonic in the earliest days of Judaism, as the study here, and the study of Mastema in "Jubilees" both affirm.

1 And after that the Head of Days repented and said: 'In vain have I destroyed all who dwell

2 on the earth.' And He sware by His great name: 'Henceforth I will not do so to all who dwell on the earth, and I will set a sign in the heaven: and this shall be a pledge of good faith between Me and them for ever, so long as heaven is above the earth. And this is in accordance with My command.

3 When I have desired to take hold of them by the hand of the angels on the day of tribulation and pain because of this, I will cause My chastisement and My wrath to abide upon them, saith

4 God, the Lord of Spirits. Ye mighty kings who dwell on the earth, ye shall have to behold Mine Elect One, how he sits on the throne of glory and judges Azâzêl, and all his associates, and all his hosts in the name of the Lord of Spirits.'
 
 

1 And I saw there the hosts of the angels of punishment going, and they held scourges and chains

2 of iron and bronze. And I asked the angel of peace who went with me, saying: 'To whom are

3 these who hold the scourges going?' And he said unto me: 'To their elect and beloved ones, that they may be cast into the chasm of the abyss of the valley.

4 And then that valley shall be filled with their elect and beloved, And the days of their lives shall be at an end, And the days of their leading astray shall not thenceforward be reckoned.

   Commentary.  Karma: What you create through invading the earth comes back to haunt you.  Violate and you shall be violated. The fallen angels who have taught humans industry are beaten and scourged with the very metals and weapons they have taught the humans to mine and make. Mining and making weaponry are regarded as the "sorceries of fallen angels."

    Though the symbol of the burning bush, the energy derived from eating plants, was marginalized by the emphasis on animal sacrifices in the Pentateuch, yet the plant of righteousness imagery, the righteous bough imagery is still there, and is a theme seen throughout the Old Testament. Since to praise a human as a plant seemed harmless enough to those who revised the scriptures, and who put in a huge quantity of scriptures proclaiming that God sanctioned animal sacrifices, the revisers didn't worry about the implied contradictions: namely, that if plants were a symbol of righteousness, then the carcasses of slaughtered animals would be seen as a manifestation of unrighteousness, as indeed they were, and emphatically so, by the late prophets
 
 

      In reality the "righteous bough" image seen in the Old Testament is a symbol of the vegetarian messiahs or teachers who will come to clear the errors of the established religions, and to restore the original order that existed in the days when the vegetarian covenant was obeyed by humanity and by other creatures.  Teachers are what they eat, vegetation, and therefore are described as a righteous bough.

"Destroy all wrong from the face of the earth and let every evil work come to an end: and let the plant of righteousness and truth appear: and it shall prove a blessing; the works of righteousness and truth' shall be planted in truth and joy for evermore."
 
 

17 And then shall all the righteous escape,
And shall live till they beget thousands of children,
And all the days of their youth and their old age
Shall they complete in peace.

18 And then shall the whole earth be tilled in righteousness, and shall all be planted with trees and be full of blessing. And all desirable trees shall be planted on it, and they shall plant vines on it: and the vine which they plant thereon shall yield wine in abundance, and as for all the seed which is sown thereon each measure (of it) shall bear a thousand, and each measure of olives shall yield

20 ten presses of oil. And cleanse thou the earth from all oppression, and from all unrighteousness, and from all sin, and from all godlessness: and all the uncleanness that is wrought upon the earth

21 destroy from off the earth. And all the children of men shall become righteous, and all nations

22 shall offer adoration and shall praise Me, and all shall worship Me. And the earth shall be cleansed from all defilement, and from all sin, and from all punishment, and from all torment, and I will never again send (them) upon it from generation to generation and for ever..."

Most of the above quotes come from the Book of Enoch (edited by R. H. Charles).

  The fallen angel Azazel was responsible for animal sacrifices, and for mining, which excavates the earth and oppresses, displaces, and kills the creatures living there, as well as destroying the plant life there.  The Ethiopic Book of Enoch denounces cosmetics, because of the artificiality involved. Moreover, writing itself, which is abstracted from life, is forbidden, except for Enoch, who was commanded by God to write, no doubt in order to clarify the errors that the eye of God knew would come about in fallen humanity, namely the animal sacrifices, war, human slavery.
 
 

     I wish here to quote Barry Goldwater, not because I share his politics, or the politics of any established party, for the spiritual person realizes that there is no authority but God, and that all worldly authorities are Mammon, or Money, but because he did have a keen sense of truth when he said: "Extremism in the cause of virtue is no vice; and extremism in the cause of vice is no virtue."  Industrial civilization as we know it is in fact extremism in the cause of vice, in that industries' toxins have polluted the very air we breathe and water we dream, and even much of the earth we walk upon.  The pejorative connotations of the word "extremism" have the connotation of going overboard, of going too far, of being excessive.  In the spiritual life, one cannot be excessive in extending compassion to the creatures of the earth, and to creation.  As great as one's compassion may be, it is limited compared to the infinite love and all-compassionate nature of Deity, as seen by Hindus and Buddhists or the true remnant who may be of any faith.  The Jains see the Forces of Creation as a Divine Order, rather than as specific divine personalities, but the principle of ahimsa, or harmlessness, which is translatable as love or compassion, is the same.

   So the reader of "Jubilees" and the Ethiopic Book of Enoch sees that the demonic origins of what is now regarded as orthodox Judaism was more obvious in times past, and we see also why the orthodox do not encourage studying opposition views and non-orthodox scriptures, such as "Jubilees" and the Ethiopic Book of Enoch. This scriptures make it plain that there was a strong tradition asserting that bloodshed of any kind was evil, and that this definitely included the sacrificing of animals.  Moreover, the renunciate life was seen as ideal in that it did not interfere with nature.  The life of the householder, who married and raised crops and perhaps animals for their milk, was not regarded as as high a calling as the renunciate life. Consult the Jain Sutras, the Laws of Manu, and the Institutes of Vishnu.  The Jewish Rechabites and the Arab Nabateans were two groups that would not even cultivate the ground, because of the "unrighteous tilling" of the soil. The Book of Enoch makes it clear that even those who plant crops are to till the soil righteously, which means that they were involved in types of agriculture that we would call top of the ground mulching or non-invasive permaculture, so as not to disturb the animal and plant life that already exist. The Nabateans, one may conjecture, could have received their teachings from Moses on Mt. Nebo. For the word manna in ancient Hebrew was simply the Sanskrit word manas, which meant spiritual knowledge.  The forty years in the Sinai wilderness was in fact a time of immense spiritual purity in that the entire community of Israelites, who wore the Hindu bindi, were in conformity with the vegetarian covenant of Genesis. Naba is the root of words meaning both fruit and prophecy, and to the original Jewish renunciate, as well as to the Jain and Brahman renunciates, the two were related.  The fruit eaters, those who ate from the trees and bushes of nature, were spared even the karma of growing vegetables from soil where insects and other animals were displaced, killed or abused. Those who have lived in the wilderness for periods of time, eating only what is there, and drinking from natural sources, at the same time meditating, and praying to be a pure channel, know that these acts of "extreme purity" cause an inner transformation and enlightenment. It is in fact a formula for transformation that has always worked as long as my intentions were pure.