Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Writing Assignment 1
Please summarize the creation story and the fall of the angels as told in Genesis, the Book of Enoch, and 2 Enoch. Your summary should be 250-300 words. Your goal is to write an accurate summary that engages your reader. I am asking you to summarize a lot of material in a rather short space, so you will probably have to make decisions about what details you think are important. Don't worry, that is part of the process.
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In Genesis, G-d creates the world in six days and rests on the seventh. He creates man and woman to rule over the world. Adam and Eve are forbidden to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, but a serpent convinces Eve to eat from the tree, and Eve shares the fruit with Adam. Upon eating the fruit, they realize their nakedness and are ashamed. G-d casts them out of the Garden of Eden as punishment.
In Enoch, G-d tells Enoch that the sinners will be punished and the righteous shall have salvation. Ten angels knowingly sinned and impregnated the women of the earth, who bore great giants who ravaged the land. The angels taught wicked things to them, such as making swords and jewelry. Four other angels told the Lord of Azazel and the other angels. The angel Uriel is sent to tell Noah of the destruction of the world. Azazel was cast into the darkness forever.
In 2 Enoch, G-d tells Enoch of Adoil, who He used to create the light of the world, and Archas, who he used to create the darkness of the world. He orders ten angels to stand in order with fiery weapons. Yet one angel broke rank, seeking to rank as high as G-d. So G-d cast him down from the heavens. In creating Adam, G-d calls him a “second angel” ruling over the rest of the worldly creations. G-d creates Eve and places them in the Garden of Eden. The fallen angel, Satan, “understood his condemnation and the sin which he had sinned before” and sought to turn against Adam by seducing Eve. G-d created the eighth day, representing the ceasing of time when the Earth exists for 8000 years.
God had been bored; he had no satisfaction in his being. In order to find this self-fulfillment he went up his creation. He created the heavens and the earth and all that these bodies are made of. He created light and day to distinguish time and place. He created living beast to inhabit and roam the earth he created. He distinguished the earth between wet and dry or basically sea and land. As his prize possession he created man, a reflection of himself to rule over the wonderful creation he made. God did not want man to be lonely and out of man forged woman a companion that heed and accompany man for all of time. He named man Adam. He created Eden a paradise on earth that Adam and his woman could roam and rule. With Eden he allowed Adam to enjoy all the fruits of the earth and lived as he pleased. However God gave Adam one restriction; not to eat from the tree of knowledge. Tempted by a serpent Adam’s companion ate from the tree of knowledge and indulged Adam to do so as well. God found out, deeply hurt he banished Adam and his companion (who Adam named Eve) from Eden and forced them to live with tribulations. They would now have to survive and struggle in order to live on the earth from now on.
Enoch was a good man chosen by God to come up and see the heavens. Angels took him through the heavens and he saw the goodness of them as well as the badness. Eventually he came to talk to God who explained to him the creation of these heavens and the earth he inhabited. He commanded Enoch to go down on earth and spread the knowledge he had been granted.
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