Jude 5,6
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Jude 5
"Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the
Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did
not believe."
Again we have the Gr.. particle hapax, "once for all," referring
to the fact that Jude's readers have this knowledge in their souls already
-- but they are not applying it. They know it but don't use it. So Jude
states that he will remind them that Christ, the Shekinah Glory, delivered
the Jews out of bondage in Egypt. However, He also later destroyed them
because of the destruction in their souls.
The Jews of the Exodus generation were believers, but they failed to apply
their faith. And as a result they entered believing-apostasy, i.e., they
destroyed their own souls through apostasy (they did not believe that God
would keep His promises) and this led to their eventual physical deaths
as discipline from God (the sin unto death). This double-death concept is
found in the verb for "destroy," apollumi in the Gr..: the verb
means to render one's soul so useless that others can easily perceive it,
and then God renders the uselessness to ruin. So soul desolation led to
death.
Jude 6
"And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but
abandoned their own home -- these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting
chains for judgment on the great Day." [NIV]
Three distinct classifications of apostasy are being illustrated by Jude:
1. Apostate believers, verse 5.
2. Apostate angels, verse 6.
3. Apostate unbelievers, verse 7.
Here, Jude utilizes the assembly of fallen angels or demons that had sexual
relations with the women of the antediluvian generation to illustrate the
principle: that people die from apostasy. An examination of the passage
explains much.
The term for 'angels' is aggelos, and refers to the Bene ha'Elohim, 'the
sons of God,' in the Old Testament. This specific reference is found in
Gen. 6:2,4, Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Psalm 29:1, 89:6; and Daniel 3:25 (sons
of El). The phrase is particular to angels either fallen or elect. Job 38:7b,
reads as follows, "And all the sons of God (bene Elohim) shouted for
joy?" And Job 38:7 refers specifically to the elementary establishment
of the earth, and this would have been prior to the stumble of Satan.
This assembly of angels has been imprisoned in Tartarus by way of immediate
judgment. Their final judgment place will, of course, be the Lake of Fire.
These demons, upon the instructions of Satan, assumed human form and copulated
with the females of the Noahic period. The angeloanthropomorphic offspring
are denominated the Nephilim in Holy Scripture. Because of Satan's knowledge
of the prophecy of Gen. 3:15, that the son or human portion of the theanthropic
person was to come and prevail over Satan's cosmos diabolicus, Satan determined
to corrupt the genetics of the human race, thus despoiling the 'human' portion
of our Lord.
The resulting judgment from God destroyed all of mankind but eight (those
on Noah's Ark), and the culpable demons were imprisoned by God in Tartarus,
one of four sections in Hell. Additionally, subsequent to this demonic sexual
infraction, God amputated the apparatus that permitted demons to appropriate
anthropological characteristics and engage in sexual intercourse with female
homo sapiens. Matthew 22:30, states, "At the resurrection people will
neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be as the angels in heaven."
II Peter 2:4, and I Peter 3:18-22 also make reference to the demons locked
in Tartarus. And exegesis of Jude 6 provides many other details, such as:
Tereo, in the Gr. 'to guard,' is used twice in Jude 6. The first time describes
the fact that the fallen angels did not "guard" or keep their
"positions of authority." This means that they violated God's
divine law of the segregation of species. They lusted after the females
of another species. They then "abandoned their own home," which
means they left their normal 'bodies', or form of existence, and their place
of habitation, heaven, and assumed a different form. They 'donned' human
appearance.
According to E.W. Bullinger, the word oiketerion, "home," is used
only in II Cor. 5:2 and Jude 6; "both times in this sense: one of the
resurrection body of men, and the other of the spirit body of angels."
[1] The second usage of tereo contraposes the first: since they did not
guard, they received 'guarding' from God.
The Gr. word for "abandoned" or "left" is exceptional.
It is not simply 'leaving,' which would be leipo. Instead it is the term
apoleipo, which refers to an unlawful violation of the authority of their
own bodies.
God safeguarded the human race from these demons by placing them under the
authority of "darkness," which is zophas in the Gr. This is a
darkness in which there is no light: i.e., the bodies of the demons were
disabled without damaging their living essence (souls and life). And as
the bodies of demons and angels are said to be composed of light, or 'or
in the Hebrew, which is defined as a body of light which does not emanate
light (i.e., static light), the punishment fits the crime.
Virgil, Aeschylus, and Hesiod all make reference to Tartarus. Hesiod tells
in the Theogony of the battle between Zeus and the Titans (the Nephilim,
or giants, Gen. 6:4; Numbers 13:33). "The Titans in Tartarus trembled
also, but Jove smote Typhoeus and scorched all the wondrous heads of the
terrible monster. When at last the monster was quelled, smitten with blows,
it fell down lame, and Zeus hurled him into wide Tartarus." [2]
In his remarkable book, Satan and Demonism, Robert Thieme, states, "This
demonic invasion provided the basis for the pantheons of mythology, replete
with accounts of gods descending to earth to cohabit with beautiful women.
The half-human offspring of these unions were the demigods and heroes like
the Greek Orpheus, Minos, Hercules, and Perseus. Such legends found throughout
many ancient cultures are dim recollections of the true events recorded
in Genesis 6." [3]
And E.W. Bullinger, Ph.D., also supports this mythological interpretation,
as do others. This would explain Genesis 6:4 and the phrase, "They
were the heroes of old, men of renown." Perhaps then Hector, Achilles,
and the rest were the 'heroes of old,' the spawn of angels and women.
The above exegesis and exposition of Jude 6 and Genesis 6 was generally
acknowledged by both Christian and Jewish commentators until the end of
400 AD. Cyril of Alexandria, and Saint Augustine sustain it. Later Jewish
writers largely defend the literal interpretation: i.e., the Nephilim were
the progeny of sexual intercourse between fallen angels and ante-diluvian
females, who, for a fact, are described as "fair." Modern commentators
eschew any literal analysis, citing moral and allegorical reasons.
Tradition holds that the leader of the fornicating demons, perhaps numbering
as many as two million, was Azazel, elsewhere called Semjaza. The pseudepigraphical
Book of Enoch makes reference to Azazel, 8:1; 10:4. The name Azazel is derived
from aziz, which is defined as 'strength,' and El, 'god.' The war god at
Edessa was called Asisos, 'the one with strength.' And Bal-aziz was the
'god of strength,' with his head, 'the head of strength,' being called Rosh-aziz.
This Azazel is cursed by God, and "removed," which is the meaning
of the name itself.
Leviticus 16 reads, "And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats;
one for the Lord, and the other for Azazel. And Aaron shall bring the goat
upon which the Lord's lot fell, and offer him for a sin-offering. But the
goat on which the lot fell for Azazel, shall be presented alive before the
Lord, to make atonement with him and to let him go to Azazel in the desert."
Some interpret the name to a demon of the wasteland, citing Ps. 106:37,
Deut. 32:17, Lev. 17:7, II Chron. 11:15, Isa. 13:21, 34:14, Matt. 12:43,
Luke 11:24, and Rev. 18:2.
The name may indeed refer to a commander in Satan's vast horde. However,
the analysis of Leviticus 16 signifies the mandatory sin offering of Lev.
7:25-30. This particular offering teaches confession of the sins of the
congregation and the sins of the individual. The Christological implications
are clear: i.e., Christ made sin for all, and his suffering without the
walls of the city, Hebrews 13:11-13, compared with I Peter 2:24.
Hell
This brings up the subject of the sections of hell. Does hell follow the
structure of Dante's Inferno, or is the configuration different?
Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary defines "hell" as follows:
"in the Bible, the place where the spirits of the dead are: identified
with Sheol and Hades." "Hell" refers to Sheol in the Hebrew,
and Hades in the Greek. Hades has four sections:
1. The Abyss, also called the Bottomless Pit: the abode of certain
vicious, wild demons, having been imprisoned therein for unknown reasons.
References: Luke 8:30-31; Romans 10:7; Revelation 20:1-3.
2. Tartarus: the prison of the sensual, angeloanthropomorphic demons. I
Peter 3:18-22; II Peter 2:4, Jude 6. To these demons Christ preached concerning
his true humanity and the Cross while His body was three days in the tomb.
3. Torments, also called Hell: referred to in Luke 16:19-31; the abode of
those guilty of the 'unpardonable sin' of disbelief. As Clarence Larkin
so eloquently puts it, "Still occupied." In other words, this
is the holding place for unbelievers until they are cast into the Lake of
Fire for all eternity.
4. Paradise, also called Abraham's Bosom: the abode of Old Testament believers
prior to the resurrection, ascension and present session of our Lord. This
section was melded with heaven subsequent to the presence of Christ at the
right hand of God the Father (the Session). References: Ephesians 4:8,9,10;
Luke 23:39-43.
Finally, between Paradise (Abraham's Bosom) and Torments (Hell), according
to Luke 16:26, sits "a great gulf fixed." This, then, is hell
and a portion of its residents.
[1] Bullinger, E.W., Great Cloud of Witnesses, page 110.
[2] Carus, Paul. The History of the Devil, page 202.
[3] Theime, Robert. Satan and Demonism, page 10.
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