Category: The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha

Healing (in 1 Enoch and Revelation)

December 31st, 2023
¹⁵ And destroy all the spirits of the reprobate and the children of the Watchers, because they have wronged mankind. ¹⁶ Destroy all wrong from the face of the earth and let every evil work come to an end; and let the plant of righteousness and truth appear: and it will prove a blessing; the works of righteousness and truth will be planted in truth and joy forevermore. ¹⁷ And then all the righteous will escape and will live until they beget thousands of children, and they will complete all the days of their youth and their old age in peace. ¹⁸ And then the whole earth will be tilled in righteousness and will all be planted with trees and be full of blessing. ¹⁹ And all desirable trees will be planted on it, and they will plant vines on it, and the vine which they plant thereon will yield wine in abundance. And as for all the seed which is sown thereon, each measure [of it] will bear one thousand, and each measure of olives will yield ten presses of oil. ²⁰ And you will cleanse the earth from all oppression, and from all unrighteousness, and from all sin, and from all godlessness: and destroy all the uncleanness that is worked on the earth from off the earth. ²¹ And all the children of men will become righteous, and all nations will offer adoration and will praise Me, and all will worship Me. ²² And the earth will be cleansed from all defilement, and from all sin, and from all punishment, and from all torment, and I will never again send [them] on it from generation to generation and forever.”

CHAPTER 11

¹ “And in those days I will open the store chambers of blessing which are in the heavens, so as to send them down on the earth over the work and labor of the children of men. ² And truth and peace will be associated together throughout all the days of the world and throughout all the generations of men.”

— 1 Enoch, Literal Standard Version (LSV)

The River of Life

22 Then the angel^[^a^] showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ²through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life^[^b^] with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. ³No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. ⁴They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

— Revelation 22, English Standard Version

Footnotes
1. Revelation 22:1 Greek he
2. Revelation 22:2 Or the Lamb. In the midst of the street of the city, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life
Husband breastfeeding and its ancient connections to the tree of Genesis, Enoch and the Song of Solomon

September 21st, 2023

THE BOOK OF ENOCH, CHAPTER 32

Literal Standard Version

¹ And after these fragrant odors, as I looked toward the north over the mountains, I saw seven mountains full of choice nard, and fragrant trees, and cinnamon, and pepper. ² And then I went over the summits of all these mountains, far toward the east of the earth, and passed above the Erythraean Sea, and went far from it and passed over the messenger Zotiel. ³ And I came to the Garden of Righteousness and saw beyond those trees many large trees growing there and of attractive fragrance, large, very beautiful and glorious, and the Tree of Wisdom of which they eat and know great wisdom. ⁴ That tree is in height like the fir, and its leaves are like [those of] the Carob tree, and its fruit is like the clusters of the vine, very beautiful, and the fragrance of the tree penetrates far. ⁵ Then I said, “How beautiful is the tree, and how attractive is its look!” ⁶ Then Raphael, the holy messenger, who was with me, answered me and said, “This is the Tree of Wisdom, of which your ancient father and your ancient mother, who were before you, have eaten, and they learned wisdom, and their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they were driven out of the garden.” (emphasis added).

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Proverbs 3:13, 18 (cf. 1 Enoch 32:3 above): 13 Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding;
18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who retain her.

Genesis 2:8-9, 16-17, 3:2-7 (cf. 1 Enoch 32:6 above):

Genesis 2:8-9 Life in God’s Garden

8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:16-17: 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 3:2-7: 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. (Cf. 2 Corinthians 5:3. We’re naked, insecure and ashamed without Christ’s heavenly clothing covering our embarrassment)

Song of Solomon 7:⁷Your stature is like a palm tree,
    and your breasts are like its clusters.
⁸I say I will climb the palm tree
    and lay hold of its fruit.
Oh may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
    and the scent of your breath like apples,
⁹and your mouth like the best wine.

She

It goes down smoothly for my beloved,
    gliding over lips and teeth.

¹⁰I am my beloved’s,
    and his desire is for me. (emphasis added).

From the preceding passages, we can clearly perceive relationships between trees, clusters of the vine, fruits, fruitfulness, knowledge, wisdom, good and evil, breasts, sexual innocence, sexual intimacy, lovemaking and human flourishing. Demons^# detest most of these, and it’s no wonder they wage war to keep ANRs in the taboo closet. But God loves the concept of trees bearing fruit to feed and nurture people, as he does the notion of breasts doing the same. Such selfless acts of service and devotion contribute to human flourishing and lower divorce rates, things the devil hates. All he and his fellow demons do is attempt to subvert God’s original plan when he created Eve and gave her breasts — for these mammary organs to be sources of bountiful blessings to Adam, while they lounged in their garden of delights under God’s Fatherly care. This bountiful breastfeeding bliss is probably why Loving Milkmaid titled her blog Bountiful Fruits.

“Song of Solomon 7:8 likens breasts to clusters of the vine. What’s the resemblance of breasts to clusters of grapes? None. Except they both produce a sweet liquid. In my opinion, this most likely refers to Adult Breastfeeding.”

— Proverbs 5:19 ANR biblical apologetics, Christ-centered ANR

#Please keep me in your prayers. Ever since founding this blog in 2014, demonic attacks on me have been accelerating. It’s getting more ominous and bothersome as the years progress. Demons delight in attacking all true followers of Christ, but I feel really singled out. Like the serpent deceived Eve in the garden, he’s desperately trying to derail my efforts at popularizing ANRs. There’s nothing Satan would love more than to destroy marriages by putting an abrupt end to all ANRs, especially those that aim to glorify Christ.
God is organic, visceral and very deep

September 14th, 2023
²You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our^[a] hearts, to be known and read by all. ³And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.^[b]

Footnotes
1. 2 Corinthians 3:2 Some manuscripts your
2. 2 Corinthians 3:3 Greek fleshly hearts
“Then they will rejoice with joy and be glad, And they will enter into the holy place; And [the beautiful, fragrant tree’s] fragrance will be in their bones, And they will live a long life on earth, Such as your fathers lived: And in their days no sorrow, or plague, Or torment, or calamity will touch them.”

— 1 Enoch 25:6 (Pseudepigrapha)

“I love the idea of giving a man something he can’t pour for himself.”

— sentiment echoed by some women I came across on ANR sites

“I always wished that my husband would want to try it, just for the sake of sharing someting so important, beautiful and personal. He is too prim and proper.”

— one woman whose husband won’t indulge her ANR desire

“I am looking for a respectful, faithful, christian gentleman & future husband who has a deep desire for his Proverbs 31:10 wife to feed him daily with her essence.”

— Jeanne, 50 year-old, ANR-seeking Christian woman

God prefers to use a living, breathing woman to feed a living, breathing man. He’d rather have her feed him her essence than him pouring a glass of a manufactured chemical he bought somewhere outside the home.

God digs the organic, deep, abiding bond that ensues when a woman feeds her husband so intimately and her nutrients flow through his veins, because all this intimacy mirrors that which we enjoy with his Son when we abide in him (John 15).

See also:

The beautiful tracer experiment, for more on the profound, bone-deep intimacy engendered by Adult Nursing Relationships
I think God actually does want women to “mother” their husbands, in a sense

September 22nd, 2017

I say this very cautiously, cognizant of the taboo cloud that already engulfs ANRs.

However, a careful study of Scripture would reveal that God wants husband and wives to sort of “father” and “mother” each other, respectively.

From God’s word and life experience, we know women play many roles. They wear the hat of wife, and that of mother. Also add sister. Daughter. Friend. Counselor. Nurturer. Homemaker. Encourager.

These roles necessarily overlap. A good woman, by virtue of her womanhood, can’t help being an encourager to her husband, nor can she contain her natural drive to nurture him.

God tells us that a husband is to be a cover for his wife like her dad was. The ESV Study Bible comments on Leviticus 21:1-4: “the assumption is that once [a priest’s virgin sister] marries, she is not regarded as one of his closest relatives, but comes under the care of her husband and his clan (see Gen 2:24).”

Leviticus 22:12-13 tells us: “if a priest’s daughter marries a layman, she shall not eat of the contribution of the holy things. But if a priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced and has no child and returns to her father’s house, as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food; yet no lay person shall eat all of it.”

The Holy Spirit also commands husbands to cover their wives in Ephesians 5:22-24: “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” Again, in 1 Corinthians 11:3, He says, “But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” Verse 7: “A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man,”, and “husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers” (1 Peter 3:7).

Similarly, a wife is to nurture her husband like the Proverbs 31 woman who had a habit of waking up early to make food for him and the household, and also being a fruitful vine in his house as in Psalm 128 and comforting him during moments of grief like Rebekah comforted Isaac after his mother’s death in Genesis 24:67. Even the apocryphal Ecclesiasticus, more properly known as The Wisdom of Sirach, says “A wicked woman abateth the courage, maketh an heavy countenance and a wounded heart: a woman that will not comfort her husband in distress maketh weak hands and feeble knees” (25:23). This apocryphal book is obviously not inspired, but is based on inspired Scriptures, and it exhorts a woman to be a loving comfort to her husband.

So I mean this not literally as in becoming a father or mother but applying — as full equals — some of the paternal and maternal instincts with which He’s blessed us, to our spouse, with a romantic spin. Indeed, not only does God want every man and woman to apply these innate instincts to just children or spouse but to our society at large. That’s why men who fight to birth their countries are often fondly remembered as the “fathers” of their countries.

We ought to be thankful for men who defend, protect and provide for our societies.

The way I protect my kids won’t exactly be the same way I protect my wife. As a husband, I can’t help protecting my lover and best friend, as manliness and fatherhood are inextricably related, as is mothering to womanhood. God doesn’t want us to compartmentalize them.

The manner in which my wife nurtures me, along with the mood, and the way I protect her, both take on a romantic twist which is not at all condescending, as with children. The divine imperative for women to be soft, motherly, comforting nurturers stands, regardless of recipient. The application and ambience only vary depending on the object of her nurturing.

God wants women to “mother” their husbands. Not literally, but only in the sense of nurturing and comforting, with a feel that’s completely grown-up and entails mutual respect, love and romance.

Somehow, in God’s mysterious counsel, equality works side by side with deference. Two people can be equal, yet one of them can be submissive. In the Trinity, we have a perfect example in Philippians 2: Christ, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped but took the form of a slave and humbled Himself to death even death on the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Category: The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha

Healing (in 1 Enoch and Revelation)

The River of Life

Footnotes

Husband breastfeeding and its ancient connections to the tree of Genesis, Enoch and the Song of Solomon

THE BOOK OF ENOCH, CHAPTER 32

She

God is organic, visceral and very deep

Footnotes

I think God actually does want women to “mother” their husbands, in a sense