Fallen Angels, the Watchers, and the Origins of Evil (10 page)

           
And when they were building they built themselves a great city and a very high and strong tower; and on account of its height the mortar and bricks did not reach the builders in their ascent to it, until those who went up had completed a full year, and after that, they reached to the builders and gave them the mortar and the bricks; thus was it done daily. And behold these ascended and others descended the whole day; and if a brick should fall from their hands and get broken, they would all weep over it, and if a man fell and died, none of them would look at him.

           
And the Lord knew their thoughts, and it came to pass when they were building they cast the arrows toward the heavens, and all the arrows fell upon them filled with blood, and when they saw them they said to each other, “Certainly we have slain all those that are in heaven.”
 
For this was from the Lord in order to cause them to err, and in order to destroy them from off the face of the earth.

           
And they built the tower and the city, and they did this thing daily until many days and years were elapsed.

           
And the Lord our God said to the angels, “Look, they are one people, and they begin to do this, and now nothing will be withheld from them. Let us go down and confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech, and they may be dispersed into cities and nations, and they will not be in agreement together with one purpose until the Day of Judgment.”

And God said to the seventy angels who stood foremost before him, to those who were near to him, saying, “Come let us descend and confuse their tongues, that one man shall not understand the language of his neighbor.”
 
And they did so.

           
And from that day following, they forgot each man his neighbor’s tongue, and they could not understand to speak in one tongue, and when the builder took from the hands of his neighbor lime or stone which he did not order, the builder would cast it away and throw it upon his neighbor, that he would die. And they did so many days, and they killed many of them in this manner.

           
And the Lord struck the three divisions that were there, and he punished them according to their works and designs.
 
Those who said, “We will ascend to heaven and serve our gods,” became like apes and elephants; and those who said, “We will strike the heaven with arrows,” the Lord killed them, one man through the hand of his neighbor; and the third division of those who said, “We will ascend to heaven and fight against him,” the Lord scattered them throughout the earth.

           
And those who were left amongst them, when they knew and understood the evil which was coming upon them, they turned away from the building, and they also became scattered upon the face of the whole earth. And they ceased building the city and the tower; therefore he called that place Babel, for there the Lord confounded the language of the whole earth; behold it was at the east of the land of Shinar.

           
And the Lord descended, and the angels descended with him to see the city and the tower that the children of men had built. He confounded their language, and they no longer understood one another’s speech, and they then ceased to build the city and the tower. For this reason the whole land of Shinar is called Babel, because the Lord confounded all the language of the children of men there, and from that place they were dispersed into their cities, each according to his language and his nation.

           
Then, the Lord sent a mighty wind against the tower and it fell to the earth, and behold it was between Asshur and Babylon in the land of Shinar, and they called its name “Overthrow.”
 
And as to the tower which the sons of men built, the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up one third part thereof, and a fire also descended from heaven and burned another third, and the other third is left to this day, and it is of that part which was aloft, and its circumference is three days’ walk. And many of the sons of men died in that tower, a people without number.

           
In the fourth week in the first year in the beginning of it in the four and thirtieth jubilee, were they dispersed from the land of Shinar. Ham and his sons went into the land that he was to occupy, which he acquired as his portion in the land of the south. Ur, the son of Kesed, built the city of Ara of the Chaldees, and called its name after his own name and the name of his father.

           
And they made themselves molten images, and they worshipped the idols and the molten image they had made for themselves, and they began to make graven images and unclean and shadowy presence, and malevolent and malicious spirits assisted and seduced them into committing transgression and uncleanness.

           
Prince Mastema exerted himself to do all this, and he sent out other spirits, which were put under his control, to do all manner of wrong and sin, and all manner of transgression, to corrupt and destroy, and to shed blood on the earth.

           
For this reason he called the name of Seroh, Serug, for every one turned to do all manner of sin and transgression.

           
He grew up, and dwelt in Ur of the Chaldees, near to the father of his wife’s mother, and he worshipped idols, and he took to himself a wife in the thirty-sixth jubilee, in the fifth week, in the first year of it, and her name was Melka, the daughter of Kaber, the daughter of his father’s brother.

           
She gave birth to Nahor, in the first year of this week, and he grew and dwelt in Ur of the Chaldees, and his father taught him the sciences of the Chaldees to divine and conjure, according to the signs of heaven. In the thirty-seventh jubilee in the sixth week, in the first year of it, he took to himself a wife, and her name was ‘Ijaska, the daughter of Nestag of the Chaldees.
 
And she gave birth to Terah in the seventh year of this week.

Prince Mastema sent ravens and birds to devour the seed that was sown in the land, in order to destroy the land, and rob the children of men of their labors. Before they could plow in the seed, the ravens picked it from the surface of the ground. This is why he called his name Terah because the ravens and the birds reduced them to destitution and devoured their seed.

           
The years began to be barren because of the birds, and they devoured all the fruit from the trees, it was only with great effort that they could harvest a little fruit from the earth in their days.

           
In the seventh year of this week she gave birth to a son, and called his name Abram, by the name of the father of his mother, for he had died before his daughter had conceived a son. And the child began to understand the errors of the earth that all went astray after graven images and after uncleanness.
 
His father taught him writing, and he was two weeks of years old when he separated himself from his father, that he might not worship idols with him. He began to pray to the Creator of all things that He might spare him from the errors of the children of men, and that his portion should not fall into error after uncleanness and vileness.
 

           
The time came for the sowing of seed in the land, and they all went out together to protect their seed against the ravens, and Abram, a lad of fourteen, went out with those that went. A cloud of ravens came to devour the seed and Abram ran to meet them before they settled on the ground, and cried to them before they settled on the ground to devour the seed, and said, “Descend not, return to the place from where you came,” and they began to turn back. And he caused the clouds of ravens to turn back that day seventy times, and of all the ravens throughout all the land where Abram was there settled not so much as one.

           
All who were with him throughout all the land saw him cry out, and all the ravens turn back, and his name became great in all the land of the Chaldees. There came to him this year all those that wished to sow, and he went with them until the time of sowing ceased, and they sowed their land, and that year they brought enough grain home to eat and they were satisfied.

           
In the first year of the fifth week Abram taught those who made implements for oxen, the artificers in wood, and they made a vessel above the ground, facing the frame of the plow, in order to put the seed in it, and the seed fell down from it on the share of the plow, and was hidden in the earth, and they no longer feared the ravens.
 
After this manner they made vessels above the ground on all the frames of the plows, and they sowed and tilled all the land, according as Abram commanded them, and they no longer feared the birds.

           
In the sixth week, in the seventh year of it, Abram said to Terah his father, “Father!” And Terah said, “Look, here am I, my son.” He said to his father, “What help and profit have we from those idols which you worship, and in the presence of which you bow yourself? There is no spirit in them. They are dumb forms, and they mislead the heart.
 
Do not worship them, Worship the God of heaven, who causes the rain and the dew to fall on the earth and does everything on the earth, and has created everything by His word, and all life is from His presence.

           
Why do you worship things that have no spirit in them? For they are the work of men’s hands, and you bear them on your shoulders, and you have no help from them, but they are a great cause of shame to those who make them, and they mislead the heart of those who worship them. Do not worship them.”

           
His father replied, “I also know it, my son, but what shall I do with a people who have made me serve them? If I tell them the truth, they will kill me, because their soul clings to them so they worship them and honor them. Keep silent, my son, or they will kill you.” And these words he spoke to his two brothers, and they were angry with him and he kept silent.

           
In the fortieth jubilee, in the second week, in the seventh year of it, Abram took to himself a wife, and her name was Sarai, the daughter of his father, and she became his wife. Haran, his brother, took to himself a wife in the third year of the third week, and she gave birth to a son in the seventh year of this week, and he called his name Lot. Nahor, his brother, took to himself a wife. In the sixtieth year of the life of Abram, that is, in the fourth week, in the fourth year of it, Abram arose in the night and burned the house of the idols, and he burned all that was in the house and no man knew it.

           
And they arose and sought to save their gods from the fire. Haran hasted to save them, but the fire flamed over him, and he was burnt in the fire, and he died in Ur of the Chaldees before Terah his father, and they buried him in Ur of the Chaldees. Terah went out from Ur of the Chaldees, he and his sons, to go into the land of Lebanon and into the land of Canaan, and he dwelt in the land of Haran, and Abram dwelt with Terah his father in Haran two weeks of years.

           
In the sixth week, in the fifth year of it, Abram sat up all night on the new moon of the seventh month to observe the stars from the evening to the morning, in order to see what would be the character of the year with regard to the rains, and he was alone as he sat and observed. And a word came into his heart and he said, “All the signs of the stars, and the signs of the moon and of the sun are all in the hand of the Lord. Why do I search them out? If He desires, He causes it to rain, morning and evening, and if He desires, He withholds it, and all things are in his hand.” He prayed in the night and said, “My God, God Most High, You alone are my God, and You and your dominion have I chosen.

           
And You have created all things, and all things that are the work of Your hands. Deliver me from the hands of evil spirits who have dominion over the thoughts of men’s hearts, and let them not lead me astray from You, my God.

           
And establish me and my offspring forever so that we do not go astray from now and forever.” He said, “Shall I return to Ur of the Chaldees who are trying to find me? Should I return to them? Am I to remain here in this place? The right path is before You. Make it prosper in the hands of your servant that he may fulfill it and that I may not walk in the deceitfulness of my heart, O my God.” He stopped speaking and stopped praying.