the summoning of enoch - 4

[SE XXI:2 – XXII:12 PP] After I had seen all this, these two men said, ‘Enoch, we have only been told to accompany you this far.’ Then they left me, and I saw them no more. I was left alone outside the Haven; and I was afraid and fell on my face, saying to myself, ‘Whatever has happened to me?’ Then the lord sent one of his great Archangels, Gabriel, out to fetch me, and he said to me: ‘Enoch, do not be afraid; stand up and come with me – and keep standing up when you are in front of the Lord.’ So I answered: ‘O! my Lord, my courage has failed me, and left me in fear and trembling; please call back the men who brought me here. I have relied on them, so far; and I should like them with me when I go in to see the Lord.

But Gabri-el whisked me away like a leaf carried by the wind; and he took me in to the Lord. [Despite what I had been told] I fell prostrate in front of the Lord and he spoke to me: ‘Do not be afraid, Enoch; get up and, in future always stand up when you are with me.’

Then Micha-el, who was the chief captain, raised me up and brought me right up to the Lord. And the Lord said to his attendants: ‘Enoch is always to have entry to me.’ And these bowed to the Lord. And said: ‘Enoch shall be given access, as you say.

Then the Lord said to Micha-el: ‘Take Enoch and trip him of his own clothes; anoint him with fine oil, and dress him like ourselves’, and Micha-el did as he was told. He stripped me of my clothes, and rubbed me over with a wonderful oil like dew – with the scent of myrrh – which shone like a sunbeam. And I looked at myself, and I was like one of the others; there was no difference, and all my fear and trembling left me.

Then the Lord called one of his Archangels named Uri-el, who was the most learned of them all, and said: ‘Bring out the books from my library, and give Enoch a pen for speedy writing, and tell him what the books are about.’ And Uri-el hurried and brought me the books, smelling myrrh, and handed me a pen.

The sincerity of this account is quite remarkable, There are no heroics, no bombast;just an honest statement of his human frailty in the face of what must have been a most terrifying experience. The parallel Sumerian account showed that this building, to which Enoch had been brought, was the large, brilliant, cedar-wood building on the High Rock – the Great House of Enlil.

From The Shining Ones by Christian and Barbara Joy O’Brien

THE SHINING ONES
AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON THIS WEBSITE

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