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The
Book of Enoch is freely distributed over the
internet along with
other ancient texts that were once part of the
Bible.. -
Tina
Williams
Here
is some background
notes for the book....
The Book of Enoch is "an ancient
composition known from two sets of versions, an
Ethiopic one that scholars identify as '1 Enoch',
and a Slavonic version that is identified as '2
Enoch', and which is also known as The Book of the
Secrets of Enoch. Both versions, of which copied
manuscripts have been found mostly in Greek and
Latin translations, are based on early sources that
enlarged on the short biblical mention that Enoch,
the seventh Patriarch after Adam, did not die
because, at age 365, 'he walked with God' - taken
heavenward to join the deity." - Zecharia Sitchin,
When Time Began
We first learn of Enoch in Genesis 5
but it leaves us with questions. Hebrews 11 has the
answers and Jude quotes Enoch! How did Jude come to
know the words of Enoch? They are not in the Bible.
The answer of course, is The Book of Enoch. A book
which is actually quoted by Jude in the New
Testament. What is the Book of Enoch and where did
it come from?
Enoch was the grandfather of Noah.
The Book of Enoch chapter 68:1 "And after that my
grandfather Enoch gave me all the secrets in the
book and in the parables which had been given to
him, and he put them together for me in the words
of the book of the parables."
The Book of Enoch was extant
centuries before the birth of Christ and yet is
considered by many to be more Christian in its
theology than Jewish. It was considered scripture
by many early Christians. The earliest literature
of the so-called "Church Fathers" is filled with
references to this mysterious book. The early
second century "Epistle of Barnabus" makes much use
of the Book of Enoch. Second and Third Century
"Church Fathers" like Justin Martyr, Irenaeus,
Origin and Clement of Alexandria all make use of
the Book of Enoch. Tertullian (160-230 C.E) even
called the Book of Enoch "Holy Scripture". The
Ethiopic Church even added the Book of Enoch to its
official canon. It was widely known and read the
first three centuries after Christ. This and many
other books became discredited after the Council of
Laodicea. And being under ban of the authorities,
afterwards it gradually passed out of
circulation.
At about the time of the Protestant
Reformation, there came to be a renewed interest in
the Book of Enoch which had long since been lost to
the modern world. By the late 1400's rumors began
to spread that somewhere a copy of the long lost
Book of Enoch might still exist. During this time
many books arose claiming to be the long lost book
and were later found to be forgeries.
The return of the long lost Book of
Enoch to the modern western world is credited to
the famous explorer James Bruce, who in 1773
returned from six years in Abyssinia with three
Ethiopic copies of the lost book. In 1821 Richard
Laurence published the first English translation.
The famous R.H. Charles edition was published in
1912. In the following years several portions of
the Greek text surfaced. Then with the discovery of
cave 4 of the Dead Sea Scrolls, seven fragmentary
copies of the Aramaic text were discovered.
There are scholars who believe the
Book of Enoch was published before the Christian
era by some great unknown of Semetic race, who
believing himself to be inspired in a
post-prophetic age, borrowed the name of an
antediluvian patriarch to authenticate his own
enthusiastic forcast of the coming Messiah. The
Book of Enoch is divided into five basic parts, but
it is the The Book of Parables (37-71) which gives
scholars the most trouble for it is primarily
concerned with a figure called "the messiah"; "the
righteous one"; "the chosen one" and "the son of
man."
The Book of Enoch Chapter 46:1-2
[1] There I beheld the Ancient of days
whose head was like white wool, and with him
another, whose countenance resembled that of a man.
His countenance was full of grace, like that of one
of the holy angels. Then I inquired of one of the
angels, who went with me, and who showed me every
secret thing, concerning this Son of man; who he
was; whence he was; and why he accompanied the
Ancient of days. [2] He answered and said
to me, This is the Son of man, to whom
righteousness belongs; with whom righteousness has
dwealt; and who will reveal all the treasures of
that which is concealed: for the Lord of spirits
has chosen him; and his portion has surpassed all
before the Lord of spirits in everlasting
uprightness."
"I Enoch, also known as the Ethiopic
Apocalypse of Enoch, is the oldest of the three
pseudepigraphal books attributed to Enoch, the man
who apparently did not die, but was taken up to
heaven (Gen 5:24). The book was originally written
in either Hebrew or Aramaic, perhaps both, but it
survives in complete form only in Ethiopic (Ge'ez),
and in fragmentary form in Aramaic, Greek
(1:1-32:6; 6:1-10:14; 15:8-16:1; 89:42-49;
97:6-104), and Latin (106:1-18)." "The materials in
I Enoch range in date from 200 B.C.E. to 50 C.E. I
Enoch contributes much to intertestamental views of
angels, heaven, judgment, resurrection, and the
Messiah. This book has left its stamp upon many of
the NT writers, especially the author of
Revelation." - Craig A. Evans, Noncanonical
Writings and New Testament Interpretation, (1992)
p. 23
"Prior to the eighteenth century,
scholars had believed the Book of Enoch to be
irretrievably lost: composed long before the birth
of Christ, and considered to be one of the most
important pieces of Jewish mystical literature, it
was only known from fragments and from references
to it in other texts. James Bruce changed all this
by procuring several copies of the missing work
during his stay in Ethiopia. These were the first
complete editions of the Book of Enoch ever to be
seen in Europe." - Graham Hancock, The Sign and the
Seal
"The Book of Enoch remained in
darkness until 1821, when the long years of
dedicated work by a professor of Hebrew at the
University of Oxford were finally rewarded with the
publication of the first ever English translation
of the Book of Enoch. The Reverend Richard
Laurence, Archbishop of Cashel, had labored for
many hundreds of hours over the faded manuscript in
the hands of the Bodleian Library, carefully
substituting English words and expressions for the
original Geez, while comparing the results with
known extracts, such as the few brief chapters
preserved in Greek by Syncellus during the ninth
century." - Andrew Collins, From the Ashes of
Angels - The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race
(1996) p. 21
"The original Aramaic version was
lost until the Dead Sea fragments were discovered."
"The original language of most of this work was, in
all likelihood, Aramaic (an early Semitic
language). Although the original version was lost
in antiquity, portions of a Greek translation were
discovered in Egypt and quotations were known from
the Church Fathers. The discovery of the texts from
Qumran Cave 4 has finally provided parts of the
Aramaic original. ...Humankind is called on to
observe how unchanging nature follows God's will."
- Milik, Jazef. T., ed. The Books of Enoch: Aramaic
Fragments of Qumran Cave 4
Composition "1 Enoch, preserved in a
full, 108-chapter form in Ethiopic, consists of
five parts and one appended chapter. It originated
in Aramaic (perhaps Hebrew for chaps. 37-71), was
translated into Greek, and from Greek into
Ethiopic." - James C. Vanderkam (Professor of
Hebrew Scriptures at the University of Notre
Dame)
"The Aramaic Book of Enoch...very
considerably influenced the idiom of the New
Testament and patristic literature, more so in fact
than any other writing of the Apocrypha and
Pseudepigrapha." - Norman Golb, Who Wrote the Dead
Sea Scrolls?, (1995) p. 366
"As it now stands, I Enoch appears to
consist of the following five major divisions: (1)
The Book of the Watchers (chaps. 1-36); (2) The
Book of the Similitudes (chaps. 37-7l)-, (3) The
Book of Astronomical Writings (chaps. 72-82); (4)
The Book of Dream Visions (chaps. 83-90); and (5)
The Book of the Epistle of Enoch (chaps. 91-107)."
- Craig A. Evans, Noncanonical Writings and New
Testament Interpretation, (1992) p. 23
"Chaps. 1-36 The Book of the Watchers
may date from the third century BCE. Parts of its
text have been identified on several copies from
Qumran cave 4; the earliest fragmentary manuscript
(4QEnocha) dates, according to the editor J.T.
Milk, to between 200 and 150 BCE. All Qumran copies
are in the Aramaic language." - James C.
Vanderkam
"James Vanderkam divides the first
part of 1 Enoch into five sections: 1-5 a theophany
followed by an eschatological admonition 6-11 the
angel story (stories) 12-16 Enoch and the failed
petition of the angels who descended, 17-19 Enoch's
first journey, 20-36 Enoch's second journey (chap.
20 is a list of angels who are connected with the
journeys)." - Tom Simms (CrossTalk)
"Chaps. 37-71 The Book of Parables
(or the Similitudes of Enoch) may have been
composed in the late first century BCE; a number of
scholars prefer to place it in the first or even
the second century CE. Milik assigns it to the late
third century CE. No fragments of these chapters
have been found at Qumran, and some think their
original language was Hebrew, not Aramaic." - James
C. Vanderkam
"Chaps. 72-82 The Astronomical Book,
like the Book of Watchers, may date from the third
century BCE; the oldest copy of it seems to have
been made not long after 200 BCE. Sizable portions
of the text are preserved on four copies, written
in Aramaic, from Qumran cave 4. The Aramaic
original appears to have been much different and
much longer than the Ethiopic text, adding far more
astronomical details." - James C. Vanderkam
Authorship "A world view so
encyclopaediac that it embraced the geography of
heaven and earth, astronomy, meteorology, medicine
was no part of Jewish tradition - but was familiar
to educated Greeks, but attempting to emulate and
surpass Greek wisdom, by having an integrating
divine plan for destiny, elaborated through an
angelic host with which Enoch is in communication
through his mystical travels." - Chris King, "The
Apocalyptic Tradition"
Although the Book of Enoch is
considered as apocryphal, it was clearly known to
early Christian writers as the following quote from
1 Enoch 1:9 indicates:
"In the seventh (generation) from
Adam Enoch also prophesied these things, saying:
'Behold, the Lord came with his holy myriads, to
execute judgment on all, and to convict all the
ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have
committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the
harsh things which ungodly sinners spoke against
him'." - Jude 14-15 2 Enoch "2 Enoch, or the
Slavonic Apocalypse of Enoch, was written late
first century C.E. in Egypt by a Jew. It survives
only in late Old Slavonic manuscripts. It may have
been composed originally in Aramaic or Hebrew,
later being translated into Greek, and later still
being translated into Old Slavonic. It is an
amplification of Gen 5:21-32 (from Enoch to the
Flood). Major theological themes include: (1) God
created the world out of nothing (24:2); (2) seven
heavens (30:2-3) and angelic hosts; (3) God created
the souls of men before the foundation of the earth
(23:5); (4) abodes of heaven and hell are already
prepared for righteous and sinners; and (5) ethical
teachings, which at times parallel those of the NT
and Proverbs." - Craig A. Evans, Noncanonical
Writings and New Testament Interpretation, (1992)
p. 23
BEGIN
About the Book of Enoch (also known
as "Ethiopian Enoch" or "1 Enoch")
The Book of Enoch (also known as 1
Enoch) was once cherished by Jews and Christians
alike, this book later fell into disfavor with
powerful theologians - precisely because of its
controversial statements on the nature and deeds of
the fallen angels.
The Enochian writings, in addition to
many other writings that were excluded (or lost)
from the Bible (i.e., the Book of Tobit, Esdras,
etc.) were widely recognized by many of the early
church fathers as "apocryphal" writings. The term
"apocrypha" is derived from the Greek word meaning
"hidden" or "secret". Originally, the import of the
term may have been complimentary in that the term
was applied to sacred books whose contents were too
exalted to be made available to the general
public.
In Dan. 12:9-10 we hear of words that
are shut up until the end of time and, words that
the wise shall understand and the wicked shall not.
In addition, 4 Ezra 14:44ff. mentions 94 books, of
which 24 (the OT) were to be published and 70 were
to be delivered only to the wise among the people
(= apocrypha). Gradually, the term "apocrypha" took
on a pejorative connotation, for the orthodoxy of
these hidden books was often questionable. Origen
(Comm. in Matt. 10.18; p. 13.881) distinguished
between books that were to be read in public
worship and apocryphal books. Because these secret
books were often preserved for use within the
esoteric circles of the divinely - knit believers,
many of the critically - spirited or
"unenlightened" Church Fathers found themselves
outside the realm of understanding, and therefore
came to apply the term "apocryphal" to, what they
claimed to be, heretical works which were forbidden
to be read.
In Protestant parlance, "the
Apocrypha" designate 15 works, all but one of which
are Jewish in origin and found in the Septuagint
(parts of 2 Esdras are Christian and Latin in
origin). Although some of them were composed in
Palestine in Aramaic or Hebrew, they were not
accepted into the Jewish canon formed late in the
2nd cent. AD (Canonicity, 67:31-35). The Reformers,
influenced by the Jewish canon of the OT, did not
consider these books on a par with the rest of the
Scriptures; thus the custom arose of making the
Apocrypha a separate section in the Protestant
Bible, or sometimes even of omitting them entirely
(Canonicity, 67:44-46). The Catholic view,
expressed as a doctrine of faith at the Council of
Trent, is that 12 of these 15 works (in a different
enumeration, however) are canonical Scripture; they
are called the Deuterocanonical Books (Canonicity,
67:21, 42-43).
The three books of the Protestant
Apocrypha that are not accepted by Catholics are
1-2 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh. The theme of
the Book of Enoch dealing with the nature and deeds
of the fallen angels so infuriated the later Church
fathers that one, Filastrius, actually condemned it
openly as heresy (Filastrius, Liber de Haeresibus,
no. 108). Nor did the rabbis deign to give credence
to the book's teaching about angels. Rabbi Simeon
ben Jochai in the second century A.D. pronounced a
curse upon those who believed it (Delitzsch, p.
223). So the book was denounced, banned, cursed, no
doubt burned and shredded - and last but not least,
lost (and conveniently forgotten) for a thousand
years. But with an uncanny persistence, the Book of
Enoch found its way back into circulation two
centuries ago.
In 1773, rumors of a surviving copy
of the book drew Scottish explorer James Bruce to
distant Ethiopia. True to hearsay, the Book of
Enoch had been preserved by the Ethiopic church,
which put it right alongside the other books of the
Bible. Bruce secured not one, but three Ethiopic
copies of the book and brought them back to Europe
and Britain. When in 1821 Dr. Richard Laurence, a
Hebrew professor at Oxford, produced the first
English translation of the work, the modern world
gained its first glimpse of the forbidden mysteries
of Enoch.
Most scholars say that the present
form of the story in the Book of Enoch was penned
sometime during the second century B.C. and was
popular for at least five hundred years. The
earliest Ethiopic text was apparently made from a
Greek manuscript of the Book of Enoch, which itself
was a copy of an earlier text. The original was
apparently written in Semitic language, now thought
to be Aramaic.
Though it was once believed to be
post-Christian (the similarities to Christian
terminology and teaching are striking), recent
discoveries of copies of the book among the Dead
Sea Scrolls found at Qumran prove that the book was
in existence before the time of Jesus Christ. But
the date of the original writing upon which the
second century B.C. Qumran copies were based is
shrouded in obscurity. It is, in a word, old. It
has been largely the opinion of historians that the
book does not really contain the authentic words of
the ancient biblical patriarch Enoch, since he
would have lived (based on the chronologies in the
Book of Genesis) several thousand years earlier
than the first known appearance of the book
attributed to him.
Despite its unknown origins,
Christians once accepted the words of this Book of
Enoch as authentic scripture, especially the part
about the fallen angels and their prophesied
judgment. In fact, many of the key concepts used by
Jesus Christ himself seem directly connected to
terms and ideas in the Book of Enoch. Thus, it is
hard to avoid the conclusion that Jesus had not
only studied the book, but also respected it highly
enough to adopt and elaborate on its specific
descriptions of the coming kingdom and its theme of
inevitable judgment descending upon "the wicked" -
the term most often used in the Old Testament to
describe the Watchers.
There is abundant proof that Christ
approved of the Book of Enoch. Over a hundred
phrases in the New Testament find precedents in the
Book of Enoch. Another remarkable bit of evidence
for the early Christians' acceptance of the Book of
Enoch was for many years buried under the King
James Bible's mistranslation of Luke 9:35,
describing the transfiguration of Christ: "And
there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, 'This
is my beloved Son: hear him." Apparently the
translator here wished to make this verse agree
with a similar verse in Matthew and Mark. But
Luke's verse in the original Greek reads: "This is
my Son, the Elect One (from the Greek ho
eklelegmenos, lit., "the elect one"): hear him."
The "Elect One" is a most significant term (found
fourteen times) in the Book of Enoch. If the book
was indeed known to the apostles of Christ, with
its abundant descriptions of the Elect One who
should "sit upon the throne of glory" and the Elect
One who should "dwell in the midst of them," then
the great scriptural authenticity is accorded to
the Book of Enoch when the "voice out of the cloud"
tells the apostles, "This is my Son, the Elect One"
- the one promised in the Book of Enoch.
The Book of Jude tells us in vs. 14
that "Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied..."
Jude also, in vs. 15, makes a direct reference to
the Book of Enoch (2:1), where he writes, "to
execute judgment on all, to convict all who are
ungodly..." The time difference between Enoch and
Jude is approximately 3400 years. Therefore, Jude's
reference to the Enochian prophesies strongly leans
toward the conclusion that these written prophesies
were available to him at that time.
Fragments of ten Enoch manuscripts
were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The famous
scrolls actually comprise only one part of the
total findings at Qumran. Much of the rest was
Enochian literature, copies of the Book of Enoch,
and other apocryphal works in the Enochian
tradition, like the Book of Jubilees. With so many
copies around, the Essenes could well have used the
Enochian writings as a community prayer book or
teacher's manual and study text.
The Book of Enoch was also used by
writers of the noncanonical (i.e. apocryphal or
"hidden") texts. The author of the apocryphal
Epistle of Barnabas quotes the Book of Enoch three
times, twice calling it "the Scripture," a term
specifically denoting the inspired Word of God
(Epis. of Barnabas 4:3, 16:5,6). Other apocryphal
works reflect knowledge of the Enoch story of the
Watchers, notably the Testaments of the Twelve
Patriarchs and the Book of Jubilees.
Many of the early church fathers also
supported the Enochian writings. Justin Martyr
ascribed all evil to demons whom he alleged to be
the offspring of the angels who fell through lust
for women (from the Ibid.)-directly referencing the
Enochian writings. Athenagoras, writing in his work
called Legatio in about 170 A.D., regards Enoch as
a true prophet. He describes the angels which
"violated both their own nature and their office."
In his writings, he goes into detail about the
nature of fallen angels and the cause of their
fall, which comes directly from the Enochian
writings.
Many other church fathers: Tatian
(110-172); Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons (115-185);
Clement of Alexandria (150-220); Tertullian
(160-230); Origen (186-255); Lactantius (260-330);
in addition to: Methodius of Philippi, Minucius
Felix, Commodianus, and Ambrose of Milanalso-also
approved of and supported the Enochian
writings.
The twentieth-century discovery of
several Aramaic Enochian texts among the Dead Sea
Scrolls prompted Catholic scholar J.T. Milik to
compile a complete history of the Enochian
writings, including translations of the Aramaic
manuscripts. Milik's 400-page book, published in
1976 by Oxford (J. T. Milik, ed. and trans., The
Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4,
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976) is a milestone in
Enochian scholarship, and Milik himself is no doubt
one of the finest experts on the subject. His
opinions, based as they are on years of in-depth
research, are highly respected.
One by one the arguments against the
Book of Enoch fade away. The day may soon arrive
when the final complaints about the Book of Enoch's
lack of historicity and "late date" are also
silenced by new evidence of the book's real
antiquity.
///
Respectfully
Dr.
Earlene Stubblefield, D.D., B.Th.
Religion/Editor TVI Magazine
TVI Magazine, Tim & Tina
Kincaid-Williams, tvinews.net, Associated press,
Reuters, BBC, LA Times, NY Times and
VRA's D-Diaries were used in compiling and
ascertaining this news report.
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