Enoch points to the Watchers who bore the Nephilim as the source of witchcraft and forbidden knowledge.

http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/pseudepigrapha/enoch.htm#Ch7

This is super interesting. The Rabi seems to interpret Genesis 1:26 as saying that God invited His created beings to partake in the creation of mankind.

This is very interesting. It suggests that God created mankind with death in mind as a consequence for their inevitable sin.

While angels don't die naturally, Revelation 12:11 gives us the indication that angels can in fact die in battle.

We have no idea if angels poop or not. It's an odd thought but given that they do in fact eat food in heaven and we see them eat and drink on earth I find it unlikely that they don't poop. We really don't know at the end of the day but it is an entertaining thought.

Angels eat and drink many times in the Bible so although we do have this in common with beasts, I don't see this as not applying to all three.

This tells us some interesting things about angels.

This is definitely true

This seems like a bit of a stretch but I get the point they are trying to make.

This is an incredibly good point.

Again, Matthew 20:16.

I really like that line "lest he invite the retort that the gnat is older than he."

That is a beautiful way to see it

This sounds like something a modern pastor would say.

The first shall be last and the last shall be first. Matthew 20:16

Preservation of the world God created was viewed as pious acts by the Jews.

These chimera are mentioned by many other Jewish writings, including the book of Jasher (Jasher 61:15-16). The concept was globally accepted that these creatures existed. All ancient cultures understood this as their reality.

https://www.projecteleazar.com/the-3-races/ http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/pseudepigrapha/jasher.html

The author goes out of his way to specify they are otherworldly creatures.

Remember the author is working their way up from the bottom, seeing as the next earth is our earth, this places Tebel right beneath us. The author is saying that all the other earths were not lands for the living, but Tebel is. It is the first layer that actually contains living creatures. Followed by our own.

365 species of creatures, matching the number of the days in a year. This is an odd and very specific number to use here.

https://biblehub.com/hebrew/8398.htm

It is interesting that the assumption here is that God, being infinite in nature, must specify limitation since that which He creates imitates him.

This brings to mind Plato's views of the creation of the world as seen in his writing Timaeus.

If this is true, which makes sense. Then the ruler of the dark had a super short reign.

Who is the ruler of the dark?

Here we see the view that Jerusalem is the center because this is where the first ray of light hit the earth on the first day of creation.

This concept of centerpiece is beautiful

This is a very interesting notion

This is a very odd, and unbiblical statement.

That sentence is beautiful, and very curious.

This is more accurate scientifically, but still not quite. I find it interesting that they have such fantastical notions and then they simply say "well also the northern wind solves that problem"

This is highly unlikely but very very cool sounding. It's worth noting that Ben Nez is called "the winged", you wouldn't call an angel the winged if all angels had wings.

This is simply because it is hotter in the south, the south is not hot because of fire. This would be reasonable to ancient citizens, which shows much of these writings are simply thought up.

This isn't totally far off. Volcanos and hurricanes are an aspect of the southern hemisphere.

This doesn't make much sense at all

This honestly makes me think of Antarctica. If you go far enough north you would wind up on a massive island of ice and snow... or it could actually be the north, like Greenland.

The north was commonly viewed as a place of evil.

This is true, I wonder how they knew this.

This directly contradicts the Bible. It says that Paradise is in Sheol.

This sentence suddenly becomes a very interesting mathematical claim.

This is a pretty wild claim. Very interesting.

The 4th heaven contains the new city for the new world

The third heaven is where heavenly food is made

Scientifically it works in reverse

Here we see that Tohu, Bohu and the Abyss serve their purpose between many planes, not simply in one place.

These statements of Tohu being in between layers of the earth are strange considering that it was previously stated that it was a green band that encompassed the globe.

It is interesting that the word "reached" is used. Implying it is traversable.

Here we see the Abyss, Tohu, and Bohu now being described as residing upon the seventh (lowest) earth. They are a layer that separates earth 7 from earth 6.

4 spiritual beings surrounding the throne of God. Notice that ministering angels are different from the rest. Ezekiel chapter 1 describes the Hayyot as Cherubim.

Here we see the fascinating view that unborn generations of humanity are kept in heaven.

Here we see the belief that God will revive His children with the dew of heaven.

This is scientifically impossible as we know it, but perhaps it could be a spiritual sight since this is most likely spiritual light (Revelation 21:23)?

This concept is actually echoed in the myths of South America. They believed that in the beginning man could see endlessly (read Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock).

The book of Revelation in the New Testament does in fact say that there will be no need for the sun in the new world for God will be the source of light (Rev 21:23).

This is very interesting because out of all the stories of the old testament they chose to point out the wickedness of the sins of those around the times of both the deluge and Tower of Babel. The teacher clearly views the two as inextricably linked to one another by their similar sins.

Jude and Peter connect the Deluge to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah with similar sins.

This actually answers some obvious questions to readers of Genesis 1. How was there evening and morning before the Sun and Moon and Stars were created? Well the light God created originally was of a spiritual nature, or so the Rabi explains.

A likewise fascinating take on the Bohu, as compared to Tohu. This brings to mind Moses and the stone from which God produces the waters that quench the thirst of his people. The abyss and the waters of the ocean are certainly connected in the Old Testament, and often one in the same. So it would make sense that if the waters were to come from stones it would be the stones of the Abyss. This leaves an obvious question. What are the stones of the Abyss? Simply the stones at the bottom of the ocean? (I don't think so)

What fascinating and powerful imagery. To think that Tohu is an actual thing and not simply a concept is contrary to modern western readings of Genesis. I am, however, open to this possibility.

This was the prevailing Jewish view and one that I too hold to be true. After reading Genesis 1, it seems to be an axiomatic truth to the reader.

This is somehow easier to believe than the following statement

This is very odd. Especially since we know there are heaping coals in God's thrown room. This is clearly not a science lesson, so we shouldn't treat it as one but I do wonder what the significance in this statement is.

Right off bat, we get a statement that the Bible doesn't claim but is an understandable exegesis. The Bible doesn't actually say that Tohu (formlessness) and Bohu (the void) were created by God. Nor does it say so of darkness, or the wind, or the water we see him hovering over. The light He creates explicitly, as well as the heavens, the earth and the day and night. It is perfectly reasonable to say that God created those things, however, because He created all! So the Rabi is making an understandable claim. They existed on the first day, so He created them on the first day.

This section is written in a more classical rabbinic form. A Rabi would attempt to explain a section of the Torah in language similar to this.

This whole sections is very strange to me, which means there must be a deeper meaning I am missing.

The story of the Alphabet does some interesting things. It digs deeper into the symbolism of God speaking the world into creation. Interestingly it describes having conversations with the Hebrew Alphabet. This clearly never happened since this version of the alphabet didn't exist until much later in the lifespan of the people Israel. Their language and alphabet were quite different in original ancient Hebrew. This does relate to how Jubilees mentions Hebrew being the original language of the world. This of course bias coming from the Jews, but I like to think of Hebrew as the original human language. This seems to go a step further, however, and imply it is also the language of heaven.

This is not to be read as absolute truth, but it does give us a peek into things that Jews believed and taught for generations, which should not be ignored.

The angels of other nations accuse Israel. This relates to the allotment of angels over other nations mentioned in Deuteronomy 32:8. What is especially interesting is how this broadens the view from the Devil alone being Israel's accuser to it being all the angels of the other nations, who were viewed by their people as the gods of those nations.

This is literally the description of Lilith

The root of the word Strigoi is related to owls. Which also happen to be the symbol of Lilith, the blood sucking demon of Mesopotamia.