Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Giants, demons, Enoch, and Israel

OLD TESTAMENT PSEUDEPIGRAPHA WATCH: Giants, Demons, and the Land: The Paranormal Geography of Israel [WATCH] (Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, Breaking Israel News). The Book of 1 Enoch and the Book of the Giants serve as inspiration for a recent eschatological video on the Land of Israel.
A new video describing how the land of Israel is truly the battleground between good and evil has revealed an incredible new understanding of Biblical forces in the literal land. The video was created by a young woman who sees Israel’s geography as a graphic demonstration of what she calls The Epic Battle of Duality.

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Not surprisingly, the Nephilim and the biblical giants in Joshua's time figure into the narrative as well.

Ms. Siegel's video and the enthusiuastic Breaking Israel News coverage provide a very interesting example of modern Jewish apocalypticism, heavy on the dualism but not entirely avoiding eschatology. And it makes use of noncanonical scriptures. Such ideas have probably been around for a long time, but they have been more prominently lately, perhaps because of the rise of Breaking Israel News and of the Third Temple movement. I have noted recently that Christian apocalyptists are also starting to make use of noncanonical scriptures.

As always, my interest here is sociological, not theological, and mention of such things on PaleoJudaica does not constitute any kind of endorsement. The theology I bypass as a matter of faith and not my concern. The historical claims in the video are as problematic as you might guess from the content described above. Nevertheless, it's always nice to see the Old Testament pseudepigrapha getting some attention.

For my thoughts on the Third Temple movement (represented especially by the Temple Institute), see, recently, here, here, here, and links. I have lots more on the Book of Giants here and links. And I have endless past posts on 1 Enoch, which you can find in the blog search engine. See, for example, here and links for basic orientation.