Reversing Hermon

Three example OT passages reflecting Messianic enemy:

• - Numbers 24:17 "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the foreheads of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth."
  
  
• - Isaiah 11:4 "But with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked."
  
  
• - Psalm 2:1-4 (esp. 2) "Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, 'Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.' He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision."

An enemy is suggested by OT by putting Gog of Magog (Ezekiel 38-39) after prophecies of a David (dry bones) but before describing New Jerusalem (see Daniel 7:8, 24-27, 8:9-11, 23-26)

Several of these passages don’t point to a single tyrant (Antichrist) figure.(?) It would be easy to argue that at least some of them require ignoring context. Nevertheless, Jewish texts of the Second Temple Period make it evident that Jewish religious leaders did produce a doctrine of a great eschatological enemy from these passages.

1 “And there will come upon them…punishment and wrath such as has never happened to them from the creation till that time when he stirs up against them a king of the kings of the earth who, having supreme authority, will [a]crucify those who confess their circumcision. 2 [b]Even those who deny it, he will torture and hand them over to be led to prison in chains. 3 [c]And their wives will be given to the gods of the nations and [d]their young sons will be cut by physicians to bring forward their foreskins.

• - [a] Confessed Jewish men
• - [b] Denial of circumcision Jewish men
• - [c] Wives of both (?) given to gods of the nations
• - [d] Sons de-circumcised (is this a thing?)

NOTE: a procedure known as "foreskin restoration" exists, which aims to stretch the skin of the penis to create a faux foreskin. However, it should be noted that this procedure does not completely replicate the original foreskin that was removed during circumcision, as it cannot restore the specialized nerve endings and other unique features of the foreskin.

- This has kings of the earth of Psalm 2:2 in direct view.
- It does not appear to be a direct citing but rather a capitalized notion.

Horbury’s point is that, while a developed doctrine of Antichrist is indeed of Christian origin, the component of that Christian teaching that had the Antichrist as an imperial tyrant bent on opposing the rule of Messiah is pre-Christian and of Jewish origin.[239]

- Little to no appearance of "antichrist" before or at the start of the Roman imperial period.
- Earliest "antichrist" use is Christian (church fathers)
- First apostolic use by John (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3, 2 John 7)
- Multiple "antichrists" emphasis on false teaching
- Lack of Christian explanations help establish pre-Christian enemy of Messiah figure

NOTE: As with many bible "compressions" (words and phrases with compressed stories embedded in them like triggers in the minds of people), the entire point above is that Christians using a new coined term like "antichrist" is being used to capture a prior Jewish-born story, perhaps elaborated upon by Jesus.

Note the possibility of this as it is Jesus who is the first to use a term like "gospel", borrowed from Greco-Roman culture and repurposed in heralding the Kingdom and himself as King (post-resurrection/ascension).

- Destruction of evil is coming
- Evil has leaders (e.g. Semihaza, Mastema, Belial, Prince of darkness, ...
- First mention of angelic leaders is 1 Enoch Book of the Watchers 6-16; 17-36 (we know the story well)
- Obvious overlap from Prince of darkness to the NT
- No explicit connection from Satan to Watchers (Genesis 6:1-4), however ...
- Hard not to see how Jews would align the two together
- Satan as divine rebel par excellence is obvious

- Watchers fall (to earth) in disobedience to stay put (CD 2:18)

“For in ancient times, during the first deliverance of Israel, there arose Moses and Aaron, by the hand of the Prince of Lights; and Belial, with his cunning, raised up Jannes and his brothers” (CD 5:18–19). In the present time Israel at large is subject to the dominion of Belial (CD 4:12–19). The first part of the Rule of the Community (Essene), prescribes a covenant ceremony to be conducted by the community “for all the days of Belial’s dominion” (1QS 1:18; 2:19)—the present age is “Belial’s dominion” on earth (cf. J[oh]n 12:31; 14:30; 16:11, “the prince of the world”). The liturgy has the sons of light pronounce curses against the sons of darkness, “the men of Belial’s lot” (1QS 2:4–5).[241]

Heiser, Michael S.. Reversing Hermon: Enoch, the Watchers, and the Forgotten Mission of Jesus Christ (p. 182). Kindle Edition. 

- Belial portrayal = Satan portrayal in the Qumran document(s)
- Final conflict found in Messianic prince + holy ones + human followers Vs Belial + his forces + human followers
- Satan is catalyst behind Watchers/demons per Jews
- Watcher-spirits in turn behind opposition to Moses
- Watcher-spirits work for Satan in this present Age
- Watcher-spirits partner with men aligned to Satan (Belial) or "men of Belial"
- Chain above justifies thought found in other pseudepigrapha

Then Beliar will come from the Sebastēnoi[line of Augusti] and he will raise up the height of mountains, he will raise up the sea, the great fiery sun and shining moon, and he will raise up the dead, and perform many signs for men. But they will not be effective in him. But he will, indeed, also lead men astray, and he will lead astray many faithful, chosen Hebrews, and also other lawless men who have not yet listened to the word of God.

- Sibylline oracles secure anchor date = 150-117 BC
- Sebastēnoi defined as "from the line of Augusti" (identified with Nero)
- Jews at time time of Jesus/apostles expected Beliar to be manifest, perhaps incarnate.
- Nahum 1:11,15b may suggest this line of thought:

From you came one who plotted evil against the Lord, a worthless counselor (yōʿēṣ belîyaʿal; lit. “a counselor of/to Belial”).[counselor job description or as a proper name]
...
Keep your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows, for never again shall the worthless (belîyaʿal) pass through you; he is utterly cut off.[could be seen as a person who is cut off from YWH's land]

- Nahum is not about Last Days/End Times, but against Nineveh, capitol of Assyrians.
- Jews saw a great enemy of Messiah in such texts
- Another Qumran DSS example: 4Q386

And yhwh said: “A son of Belial (belîyaʿal) will plot (ḥashab) to oppress my people, 4 but I will prevent him, and his dominion will not exist; but a multitude will be defiled, offspring will not remain. 5 And from the grapevine there will be no new wine, nor will the bee (?) make honey. [Blank] Blank And the 6 wicked man I will kill in Memphis and I will make my sons go out of Memphis: I will turn myself toward their re[mn]ant.” [246]

- Son of Belial is clearly a human eschatological enemy.
- Name and verb (hashab or plot) reminds of Nahum 1:11, which makes this a human enemy
- DSS/Qumran writer is perhaps seeing Antiochus IV Epiphenes as this eschatological enemy
- Second Temple Demonology leads to several considerations:

1. Jews believe demons (dead Watcher-spirits of giants) will fight Israel as an end-times army.
2. Demon army led by Belial aka Beliar aka Mastema aka Semihaza, which is another connection to Enochic Watchers.
3. Demon army fights in concert with human army.
4. Human armies led by king of the kings of the earth (Assumption of Moses).

- End-time enemy might be Belial (Satan incarnate)—OR—a Watcher-spirit in league with Satan
- Remember: Demons are disembodied giant spirits
- Not claiming the antichrist to be a giant
- Jews viewed antichrist/enemy as either Watcher or Watcher-spirit incarnate

When first century Jews/Christians thought about the antichrist, they were linking Genesis 6:1-4 and the Watcher story of 1 Enoch 6-16.

Best place to see this is in early Church Fathers.

Irenaeus

- Irenaeus: workable cipher for 666 = Titan (Teitan)
- Irenaeus clearly shares the political interpretation of the myth of the War of the Titans (Titanomachy)
- Titanomachy shares details with Gigantomachy (war of the giants)
- Both are rebellions against higher divine authority
- The two wars are conflated together in later Greek mythology
- Titans are the sons of God in Genesis 6:1-4
- Gaia infuriated when Uranos casts certain Titans into Tartarus (2 Peter, Jude, 1 Enoch)
- Kronos castrates Uranos ("God"?), whose blood falls to soil of Gaia, impregnates earth and creates giants, Eriyanes, ash-tree Nymphs—aka—giga (giants clans)
- NOTE: Three giant races, which matches Jubilees (genetic experimentation)
- Titans later overthrown by Olympians (Zeus et al) and thrown into Tartarus (twice?)
- Gaia incites her children (giants) to rise up against Olympians resulting in Gigantomachy

We see here that both the Titans, the classical Greek equivalent of the fallen sons of God, Enoch’s Watchers, and the giants—whose origin arose from a fusion of the divine and the earthly—rebelled against heavenly authority. The punishment in both cases was imprisonment in Tartarus.

- Another connection from Jewish 2nd Temple to Enochic thought is some LXX translation of Rephaim into Titanes (2 Samuel 5:18, 1 Chronicles 11:15)
- Rephaim is another name for giant Anakim—descendants of Nephilim (Deuteronomy 2:3; Numbers 13:32-33)
- LXX mostly translates giga (giants) from gibbor (men of reknown)
- Rephaim as both giga and titanes obvious link to Greek Titans (Titanomachy) and giants (Gigantomachy)
- 2 Peter Tartarus highly connected to Tartaros from Greek mythology as prison for "angels who sinned"
- The stream of connections from Genesis 6:1-4, 1 Enoch 6-16, and Greek mythology is undeniable

Eusebius

- Links from the above also to Babylon
- Two passages in Pseudo-Eupolemus, quoted by Eusebius in his Praeparatio Evangelica

2 Eupolemus, in his work “On the Jews,” states that the Assyrian city of Babylon was first founded by those who escaped the Flood. They were giants, and they built the tower well known in history. 3 When the tower was destroyed by God’s power, these giants were scattered over the whole earth…. 9 For the Babylonians hold that Belos, who is son of Kronos, lived first. Kronos begot sons named Belos and Canaan. This Canaan fathered the ancestor of the Phoenicians, whose son was Chus, called by the Greeks Asbolus. Chus was the ancestor of the Ethiopians and the brother of Mitsraim, the ancestor of the Egyptians…. These [giants] dwelt in the land of Babylonia. Because of their impiety, they were destroyed by the gods. One of them, Belos, escaped death and settled in Babylon. He built a tower and lived in it; the tower was called Belos after its builder.[255]

- Lots of inconsistencies, but there are some important points to note:

1. Giants—namely a giant named Belos—built the tower of Babel.
2. This Belos had survived the Flood.
3. Belos was the son of Kronos (Titan - son of God)

- Jewish writer of Pseudo-Eupolemus sees the story of how the biblical giants had mixed parentage (divine and earthly) paralleled by the story of how Titan blood mixed with earth produced the giants.
- Belos equated with Nimrod by 2nd Temple Jews
- Has a medley of associations to Genesis 6 and 11

This identification of course means that certain Jews would have believed Nimrod was descended from one of the fallen sons of God, the Titans of the Titanomachy. While Nimrod isn’t named in the Pseudo-Eupolemus passage, his identification as the giant Belos is presumed by means of the term gibbor and his biblical association with Babylon and reputation as a builder (Genesis 10:8–12).

Philo

- Jews and Nimrod descended from fallen sons of God, Titans of the Titanomachy
- Association of Belos as Nimrod comes through use of gibbor to describe him
- Philo earliest Jewish writer mentioning Nimrod
- Philo presents Nimrod as hunter

For in truth he who is zealous for earthly and corruptible things always fights against and makes war on heavenly things and praiseworthy and wonderful natures, and builds walls and towers on earth against heaven. But those things which are [down] here are against those things which are [up] there. For this reason it is not ineptly said, “a giant before (Greek: enantion) God,” which is clearly in opposition to Deity. For the impious man is none other than the enemy and foe who stands against God. [258] — Philo

- Philo/Jews understand Mesopotamian apkallu stories as backdrop of Genesis 6:1-4, Genesis 10-11
- Basis for correlation is weak from Nimrod and Nephilim
- Association of giant-clans with Babylon not entirely dependent on Genesis 6:1-4
- Other links present themselves through Titans and giants of classical Greece (via Hellenization?)