How not to use the Book of Enoch

DEANE GALBRAITH CALL YOUR OFFICE: 17-year-old already at high height, five inches shy of Gentle Giant (Cory Davenport, Riverbend.com).

CANILLO, ANDORRA – A young man in Andorra is possibly on his way to meeting Robert Wadlow's record as the tallest person ever to have proven to have existed.

Liam Andreu is currently eight and a half feet tall, around five inches short of Wadlow's height of eight feet 11 inches at the time of his death at the age of 22. Andreu, however, is 17 years old. To celebrate his birthday, Andreu wishes to go to Marseilles where a team of French and Swiss specialists will remove an out-of-control tumor situated on his pituitary gland in a fashion nearly identical to the exceedingly-rare conditions required for Wadlow's enormous growth spurt, which lasted nearly his entire life.

Although I'm always happy to see the Book of 1 Enoch get some attention, the particular use of it below is unhelpful, as everyone else recognizes.

Cost of the surgery is estimated to be around $65,000 despite Andorra having progressive public health policies and some of the best hospitals in Europe. [Liam's mother] Emma Andreu said most of the village has come together with portions of their savings to help the young man, including Bishop Simon Bordeaux, who is unsure of the origins of the young man's height.

“They say it's because he has a tumor on his pituitary gland, but I suspect it is something much more, supernatural,” Bordeaux said. “I believe the boy is a descendant of one of the Watchers discussed in the Book of Enoch.”

The Book of Enoch is a non-canonical text attributed to ancient Hebrew mystical texts describing a man named Enoch encountering fallen angels banished to Earth. The descendants of those beings were said to have produced a race of giants, known as “the nephilim.” Among the nephilim is said to be the Philistine warrior, Goliath.

I commend the "Bishop" for contributing to the young man's medical fund, but not for his exegesis of 1 Enoch. I hope Mr. Andreu is able to raise the money he needs for the treatment for his condition.

Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch and Watchers Watch.

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