Barbelith Underground > Temple > Angelic Politics: The Dark Side of the Coin

Well, that´s quite a big issue.

Ok, the history of angels.
You´ll have to check out the Enumah Elish, the Sumerian Genesis, on which the hebrew old-testament Book Moses 1 is based (or better: ripped off). It is much more detailed and in certain parts very antagonistic to the biblical Genesis.
Let´s jump-cut to the sequences of importance. The Fall. There´s not much about the explicit reason behind the fall of angels in the bible. In Moses 1, 6:2 there is a passage, wherein the “sons of god” are mentioned, who took wives amongst the daughters of men, i.e. they interbred with mankind. There is also talk about the “giants on earth”. [Sorry, I have only my german language version at hand, so I am unable to deliver proper quotations.]

What´s to make of that? “Sons”? The early clerics were disturbed by this term as well, so they created the “angels” to avoid illogic in their doctrines. But in Old Testament there is absolutely no use of the word “angels” at all. In old hebrew texts they were called “bene-ha-elohim”. Sons of the lord. They were strangely also called “Watchers” and “Nephilim”.
You won´t find answers to that mystery in the Book of Moses, you´ll have to turn to one of the apocryphical texts, the cryptic “Book of Enoch”. Here, the Watchers meet in conspiracy to swear to each other to go down to earth and “do the great work”. Said “work” is the impregnation of human women – but that´s not all. Main purpose is the teaching and education of the spawn. Amongst those “heavenly arts” were the “teaching of sorcery” , “knowledge of every plant, herb and medicine on earth”, “understanding the celestial secrets”, “knowledge about wind, fire and air”, “the signs of sun & moon”, “making of gold”, “making of steel” etc. Add to this advanced agriculture, architecture, (holy) geometry, art, music(k), mathematics and – words, alphabets and writing. In the book of Enoch is a neverending list of names of these “angels” and the special skills they are connected with.

The cause for the downcast of the “rebellious” angels was mainly, that they revolted against the suppressive, totalitarian régime of the monotheistic deity jahwe – by bringing knowledge to the herd of human sheep, giving them the tools at hand to become godlike themselves.

The Nephilim – prior to their fall – were something like an elite military strike force for the lord, a sort or “executive” of divine rage. They maimed everything which stood in the way of jahwe. There are many old testament passages, wherein jahwe sends two angels, who rock everything into the ground [some seti-freaks claim that angels are a synonym for nuclear weapons…] They took the roles of messengers as well.

But more interesting is the fact that in the Elumah Elish, there is no “lord”. Angels and lords were the same. There is the tale about a cosmic battle between two main forces, two god-kings: Enlil and Enki. Enki later became the satan-archetype, Enlil mutated into jahwe/jehova. But depending on dogma or cultural change, in some regions it was also vice-versa.
Some perceive them as benign creatures, as helpers and guardians. Some perceive them as demons, devils and harbingers of evil.