Noah Primeval (Chronicles of the Nephilim) Read Free

conversation with the text of Scripture rather than imposing my own modern western one upon the text. I am within the tradition of the Church on this since authors of the New Testament as well as early Church Fathers and other orthodox theologians in church history respected some of these ancient manuscripts as well.
    Many of these texts from the Second Temple Period, such as Jubilees , Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs or The Life of Adam and Eve , and others found in the Pseudepigrapha, were creative extrapolations of the Biblical text. These were not intended to deceive or overturn the Bible, but rather to retell Biblical stories with theological amplification and creative speculation while remaining true to their interpretation of the Scriptures.
    In short, I am not writing Scripture. I am not even saying that I believe this is how the story might have actually happened. I am simply engaging in a time-honored tradition of the ancient Hebrew culture: I am retelling a Biblical story in a new way to underscore the theological truths within it. The Biblical theology that this story is founded upon is provided in several appendixes at the back of the book for those who are interested in going deeper.
    The beauty of fiction is that we can make assumptions regarding uncertain theological and historical information without having to prove them one way or another. The story requires only that we establish continuity within the made up world, and accepting those assumptions for the sake of the story does not imply theological agreement. So, sit back and let your imagination explore the contours of this re-imagined journey of one of the most celebrated religious heroes across all times and cultures.

 

Prologue
    Methuselah squinted through half opened eyes. Enoch traveled beside him as they descended onto crystalline blue waves, the eternal sea. Above him, the deep black sky. painted with a pulsating wave of ethereal color. stretched endlessly into the distance. Methuselah knew where they were — in the waters above the heavens. Before him, a lone ancient temple rested upon the waters like an island, crafted from white marble with gold trimming and inlaid with innumerable precious jewels; jasper, sapphire, emerald, onyx, and others. Around this temple hovered a myriad of the Holy Ones, like phantasms of starlight that he could see, but not quite see. He knew what the structure was — the temple of Elohim, and it was terrifyingly wondrous.
    Methuselah sighed with disappointment. Another vision. He was approaching his eight hundred and fiftieth year of life and these visions wearied his old soul.. His father, Enoch, hounded him like a ghost in his dreams. Enoch was known for being a righteous man who walked with Elohim, and Elohim spoke with him in visions. When he was young, Methuselah would often complain about his father’s “head in the clouds,” until he learned the frightening truth that Elohim’s holiness was unbearable to sinful human nature. It made him more sympathetic to the effect it had on Enoch.
    Elohim had taken Enoch up to heaven alive before he could experience the dismal universal experience that is death. No aching joints, no wavering eye sight, no difficulty in peeing as the years would wind him down to the grave.
    From all this Enoch was spared.
    It’s not fair , thought Methuselah. But alas, Elohim is the creator of all things, and surely has the right to do as he pleases, no matter how strange or incomprehensible those actions may be to us mortals made of clay and nephesh , God’s own breath.. Methuselah took the lesson hard. One day soon, this heavenly temple will be his permanent home. But not today. He resigned himself and took in the fearful symmetry of a terrifying yet wondrous cosmos through which Enoch escorted him on the wings of the wind.
    Despite his sense of helplessness, Methuselah considered that maybe these visions were worth the irritation, after all. Who else is allowed to see such