Amongst many personages the Book of Enoch is of interesting and these many personages range from those interested in the Bible, history, literature in general, UFO/Alien enthusiasts, those who claim that certain books were purposefully kept out of, if not removed from, the Bible, etc.
Who are this Enoch and the book of which we speak? Well, the first issue is easy to answer and the second has been the topic of debate for millennia.
Thus, firstly; who is Enoch? Well, this brings us to whence comes this entire issue in the first place and that is the New Testament at Jude 1:14-15 which reads:
Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, “to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
Thus, we harken back to Genesis and go on from there to see who Enoch was:
And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch (Genesis 4:17).
Interestingly, the city was dedicated to Enoch and Enoch actually means dedicated. Perhaps Cain had the building of a city in mind when he named him (by the way, if you are asking that age old question where did Cain get his wife?, see here).
We also learn of Enoch’s children:
To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech (Genesis 4:18).
Well, that is all well and good but you may be thinking that since Cain was the son of Adam and Enoch was the son of Cain then Enoch could not have been “the seventh from Adam.” Well, this is because there are two Enochs in the Bible. The genealogy of Adam is listed as 1-Adam begot 2-Seth who begot 3-Enosh (Enosh and Enoch are different) who begot 4-Cainan (Cain and Cainan are different) who begot 5-Mahalalel who begot 6-Jared who begot 7-Enoch.
So we have identified the correct Enoch and yet, we know virtually nothing about him except for one astonishing, and quite succinct, reference:
And Enoch walked with God; and he [was] not, for God took him (Genesis 5:24).
Enoch’s name comes up once again in the Old Testament in 1st Chronicles 1:3 and in the New Testament at Luke 3:37 in which case both references are to genealogy. Then in Hebrews 11:5 we are told:
By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
And that’s all folks! So, we know that the Enoch with whom we are dealing is the seventh from Adam, that he prophesied and that he [was] not, for God took him (and this may be an appropriate place to state, “whatever that means”).
Well, what we are told that he prophesied was something “about these men.” Which men?:
Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving [only] themselves. [They are] clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever (Jude 1:11-13).
Yet, this was just for context as the key issue is that we are told what Enoch prophesied:
“Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
Dead Sea Scroll 1 Book of Enoch fragment
The issue is that the quoted statement is not recorded in the Old Testament so whence comes it? Well, as the New Literal Translation-NLT notes, “The quotation comes from intertestamental literature: Enoch 1:9.” This is where the debate’s rubber meets the road and it has been traveling down the road for some time.
Thus, apparently, Enoch made some statements but, more than statement, he wrote a book. Now the question becomes: where is it and why is it not in the Bible (not even in the Roman Catholic Bible which includes the Apocrypha or deuteron canonical books)?
Let us first note that we must also ask “Which Book of Enoch?” In fact, in some editions of Enoch the statement is not found in 1:9 but 2:1.
To make a long polemic short; some claim that Enoch is not directly quoted by the New Testament at all and some that there is only one actual quotation, the one by Jude. The issue is that the statements attributed to Enoch could have been quoted, both by Jude and by the writer of the Book of Enoch, from parts of the Old Testament.
For example, let us consider the Jude quotation of Enoch, “the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints.” Now note Deuteronomy 33:2, “The LORD…came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones.”
But, overall the issue is that Jude does, in fact, refer to Enoch having prophesied; the issue becomes whether we have any of his prophecy. According to Jude, we certainly have one sentence.
One reason that many are rather taken with the Book of Enoch (some are taken enough to claim that it is scripture and thus belongs in the Bible) is that they claim that it fills in gaps regarding various biblical mysteries, if I may employ such a term. For example, the text is employed so as to explain the succinct statements in Genesis about Sons of God, daughters of men, giant men of renown, etc.—the Genesis 6 affair.
The fill in the gapers need to be very careful about this because the fact is that such texts were often written for the very purpose of filling in gaps. That is to say that anonymous authors took it upon themselves to weave tall tales, place the name of a biblical character on the text and passed it off as a lost book. The point is not that we can actually know that this is the case with the Book of Enoch but that it has been done and we should be aware and beware. This is also important because some who claim that the book does belong in the Bible, essentially, open the Bible up and thus go on to claim that other books may belong there as well. It is at this point that everyone picks their favorite apocrypha, pseudopigrapha, Gnostic text, etc. and claim that these belong therein as well.
Some second century AD church leaders reference the Book of Enoch but when, where and how they were aware of the text is largely unknown including; where the text was and why it seems to have disappeared is still unknown (and is fuel for the fires of conspiracy theorizing). For centuries all we had to go by were fragments until 1773 AD when an extant text was found within an Ethiopic Bible.
Two issues; the phrase “an extant text” was italicized purposefully in order to emphasize that while we may have an extant version (by the way) of a “Book of Enoch,” there are various versions. That it was found within an Ethiopic Bible is not surprising as the further people moved from Jerusalem, the more they opened the Bible more and more so as to allow into it that which they saw fit.
Those who simplistically claim that since it is within the canon of one church, the Ethiopic, it is therefore canonical, should consider that since 1545-1563 AD Council of Trent another church, the Catholic, has had books in its canon that they, themselves, may not consider canonical. Breaking open the canon for the love of portions of a version of a Book of Enoch is not as simple a task as one may at first think, especially if one has not thought much about it.
Some Christians are pleased enough, or so it seems, to state that the Book of Enoch in within the Ethiopic church’s canon and therefore proves that it was “in the Bible” and was “taken out / removed” by ______ (fill in the blank with your favorite “they”; the Illuminati, the Catholic Jesuits, etc., etc., etc.).
Well, as per Hans Peter Ruger’s article “The Extent of the Old Testament Canon,” (The Bible Translator 40, 1989 AD, pp. 301-303) and Bruce Metzger’s “Bible” section of the Oxford Companion to the Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993 AD, p. 79) the “Ethiopic Narrower Canon” includes the Book of Enoch and/but also Jubilees, 3 & 4 Ezra, Tobit, Judith, additions to Esther, 1, 2 & 3 Macabees, extra psalms, extra proverbs, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach aka Ecclesiasticus (not to be confused with nor associate with Ecclesiastes) and Baruch (including Letter of Jeremiah).
In other words, the apocryphal books found within the Catholic canon are in the Ethiopic canon as well; will those who argue that the Book of Enoch in within the Ethiopic church’s canon likewise argue in favor of these texts? Incidentally, if you are curious as to the problems with these texts see our essay: Roman Catholic Doctrine of Purgatory, part 2—The Apocrypha. For more info on the canon in general see Gospel of Judas, part 2 of 7 : Substandard Double Standard.
There are also other texts which are utterly unrelated to any ancient Enochian text but which have employed the name Enoch nevertheless and for the sake of cache. One such example is that New Age “Keys of Enoch” by Dr. J. J. Hurtak who also employed another biblical name so as to lend weight to his New Age beliefs (he needed the weight because his beliefs have been weighed and found wanting) under the name The Melchizedek Method (see here for details).
Yet, closer to the Book of Enoch’s home is the Slavic or Slavonic Book of Enoch, which came to light in 1892 AD, the text of which resembles the Ethiopic text but not enough so as to conclude that they are merely different translations of one common and original text. Note that the Slavic version—2 Slavonic Enoch aka The Book of the Secrets of Enoch—states that Enoch was directed to write the heavenly secrets in 366 books (Ch. 23:3 and 68:3). Did he do so, where are they, will they too, if ever found, be said to belong in the Bible? These are questions with no current answer.
Note carefully that the Ethiopic text was translated from Greek which was translated from Aramaic. The Greek and Aramaic fragments that we have do not contain the Enoch 1:9 statement that Jude quotes (remember that Jude quotes Enoch but not necessarily that which we know as being the Book of Enoch).
There was an Enoch scroll found at Qumran amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls which is known as 4Q201. It is a fragmentary manuscript which states (transcribed by J. T. Milik, amended by J. C. Greenfield; translation by J. C. Greenfield):
12. …But you have changed your works, 13. [and have not done according to his command, and tran]sgressed against him; (and have spoken) haughty and harsh words, with your impure mouths,
14. [against his majesty, for your heart is hard]. You will have no peace.
13. [They (the leaders) and all … of them took for themselves] 14. wives from all that they chose and [they began to cohabit with them and to defile themselves with them]; 15. and to teach them sorcery and [spells and the cutting of roots; and to acquaint them with herbs.]
16. And they become pregnant by them and bo[re (great) giants three thousand cubits high …]
Bottom line here is that the fragments consists of merely the above verses out of a “book” that consists of 108 chapters. When you hear the claim that “the Book of Enoch” was found amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls keep in mind that “the book” was not found but only a mere fragment—and a fragment that does not contain the Jude statement. Moreover, since the Book of Enoch is a compilation of various texts, one cannot logically argue that since the above fragments were found that therefore, all five books, all 108 chapters were considered to be the Book of Enoch two millennia ago by the Essenes at Qumran.
Now, how, from what source, was Jude able to quote Enoch? That is unknown, some options are; from reading the Book of Enoch, from oral tradition or from direct revelation of the Holy Spirit. But we cannot simply say he read the Book of Enoch as the question is: which version of what we generically term the Book of Enoch?
There are many claims about missing books of the Bible and just as many conspiracy theories about why they are missing. Many people, of course, claim that their preferred worldview-philosophy-theology has been kept out of the Bible by the powers that be. The Protestant Reformers claimed that the Roman Catholic Church added books to the Bible. The Catholics claimed that the Protestants took some out. Eastern spiritualists (Buddhists and Hindus, for example) claim that reincarnation was taken out. Gnostics claim that the Gnostic gospels (which are not gospels at all) were kept out. And on it goes. For canonization issues please see: Canonization Controversy.
That a book is mentioned in the Bible does not mean that it was inspired (keeping in mind that Jude does not reference a book by Enoch). For some or another reason some of the following books have not, as far as we know, been preserved:
The Book of the Wars of Yahweh (Numbers 21:14).
The Book of Jasher (Joshua 10:13; 2 Samuel 1:18).
The Book of the Rights and Duties of the King (1 Samuel 10:25).
Solomon’s three thousand proverbs (1 Kings 4:32).
Solomon’s Thousand and Five Songs (1 Kings 4:32).
Solomon’s manual on botany and manual on biology (1 Kings 4:33).
The Book of the Acts of Solomon (1 Kings 11:41).
The Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel (1 Kings 14:19).
The Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah (1 Kings 15:7).
The Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel (2 Chronicles 16:11).
The Midrash of the Book of the Kings (2 Chronicles 24:27).
The Acts of the Kings of Israel (2 Chronicles 33:18).
The Chronicles of King David (1 Chronicles 27:24).
The Chronicles of Samuel the Seer (1 Chronicles 29:29).
The Chronicles of Nathan the Prophet (1 Chronicles 29:29).
The History of Nathan the Prophet (2 Chronicles 9:29).
The Vision of Isaiah (2 Chronicles 32:32).
The Chronicles of Gad the Seer (1 Chronicles 29:29).
The Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite (2 Chronicles 9:29).
The Visions of Iddo the Seer (2 Chronicles 9:29).
The Genealogical Records by Iddo the Seer (2 Chronicles 12:15).
The Midrash/ Treatise of the Prophet Iddo (2 Chronicles 13:22).
The Chronicles of Shemaiah the Prophet (2 Chronicles 12:15).
The Chronicles of Jehu the son of Hanani (2 Chronicles 20:34).
The Acts of Uzziah Written by Isaiah the Prophet (2 Chronicles 26:22).
The History of Hozai (2 Chronicles 33:19).
The Book of the Laments (2 Chronicles 35:25).
The Memorial Book about the Amalekites (Exodus 17:14).
The Book of the Covenant (Exodus 24:7).
The Book of the LORD (Isaiah 34:16).
The Book of the Chronicles (Nehemiah 12:23).
The Annals of the Kings of Media and Persia (Esther 10:2).
The Chronicles of King Ahasuerus (Esther 2:23).
Note that no book(s) by Enoch are listed within the Bible.
In keeping with the issue of reference to uninspired books and quotations within the Bible, note that the apostle Paul wrote:
For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain.
One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”
This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth (Titus 1:10-14).
Here we see that a Cretan is quoted and is said to be a prophet or rather, specifically, “a prophet of their own.” According to the view that the Book of Enoch is scripture, we would conclude that this Cretan is a prophet and that the text whence came the quote is inspired, kept out of the Bible by the powers that be, belongs therein, etc.
As it turns out, by tracking down the quotation, the Cretan has been identified as Epimenides who was a Greek philosopher-poet who lived circa 7-6 century BC. He is referred to by Paul as prophetes which Strong’s G4396 defined, primarily, as “in Greek writings, an interpreter of oracles or of other hidden things” which seems quite applicable. Enoch is said to have propheteuo that is, one who has prophesied (Strong’s G4395).
Paul also referenced Moses’ confrontation with the Egyptian magicians Jannes and Jambres (2 Timothy 3:8). These names are not preserved within the canon of the Old Testament but come to us from extra-biblical tradition.
As for the similarities, which some call quotations, shared between the Old Testament and the Book of Enoch, one must ask: who is enjoying the shadow of whom? There is no reason to assume that Old Testament was quoting the Book of Enoch nor, conversely, that the Book of Enoch was quoting the Old Testament. And yet, if our only historical knowledge of the Book of Enoch only goes about as far back as just prior to the time of Jesus, then it is more likely that the writer of the Book of Enoch was quoting the Old Testament.
But what of the New Testament’s correlation with the Book of Enoch? Even in Jude’s specific reference to a statement by Enoch which he prophesied; it could be a case much like that of Paul quoting Greek poetry and Jewish tradition—the particular statements quoted are inspired but the rest of the text/tradition is not.
In fact, Jude does not call Enoch a prophet but states that he “prophesied.” But is not someone who prophesied a prophet? That would certainly seem logical. Perhaps, the issue is the definition of “prophet.” We generally think of a prophet as being a fortune teller of sorts that is, a person who foretold the future. That, roughly speaking, certainly appears to be one of the functions of the prophet and the one upon which we focus however, there is more to it than that. Let us harken back to two pivotal references to prophesying in the Old Testament:
If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, “Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,” you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.
But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.
If your brother, your mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him. But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you (Deuteronomy 13:1-11).
I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be [that] whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require [it] of him.
But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.
And if you say in your heart, “How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?”—when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that [is] the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him (Deuteronomy 18:18-22).
Simply stated; according to the Old Testament laws—which the Jews/Hebrews/Israelites agreed to live by in a particular place and time—prophet-hood was very, very serious business. None were to speak in the name of other gods (gods who were worshiped in very vile manners including all sorts of sexual perversions and human, including child, sacrifice) and even if they spoke in the name of the LORD you would know that they were false if what they claimed to have been disclosed to them by the LORD did not happen. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for prophet is nabiy’, Strong’s H5030 (previously, prophets were called seers as per 1 Samuel 9:9).
The New Testament refers to many prophets as it references Old Testament personages, as it mentions contemporary false prophets, Jewish prophets, pagan false prophets, the final and ultimate false prophet who works along with the beasts, etc. In fact, when the New Testament is being emphatic about the prophet being false, such as the beasts’ cohort, it employs the term pseudoprophetes (Strong’s G5578) the meaning of which is quite obvious and literal.
Now, there comes a point when the details of establishing and managing the manner in which believers, followers of The Way, Christians, were to conduct themselves in their worship (what some would call how to do church) prophet-hood is mentioned.
Note that it is also not unknown of being told of a prophet, or prophetess, but not being told anything that they prophecy. For example, Anna was a prophetess who, “never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers” we know that when Joseph and Mary went to the Temple with the young Jesus she, and note the generic nature of the statement, “came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:37-38).
By the way, note that v. 40 states that Jesus, “continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him”—so much for Jesus’ “missing years,” for more on this see: Jurassic Ark – Christ’s “Lost Years”
We also know that “Philip the evangelist…had four virgin daughters who prophesied” (Acts 21:7-9) but we know nothing about what they had to say.
There are many prophets about whom we know virtually nothing but a name and nothing, or virtually nothing of that which they prophesied. For example:
1st Kings 11:29 “the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite”
1st Kings 16:7 “the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani”
1st Kings 18:4 “a hundred prophets”
2nd Kings 14:25 “Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher”
2nd Chronicles 12:5 “Shemaiah the prophet”
2nd Chronicles 9:29 and 2nd Chronicles 13:22 “the visions of Iddo the seer” and “the treatise of the prophet Iddo”
2nd Chronicles 15:8 “Oded the prophet”
The same is the case with various female prophetesses:
Exodus 15:20 “Miriam the prophetess”
2nd Kings 22:14 “Huldah the prophetess”
Nehemiah 6:14 “Noadiah the prophetess”
Luke 2:36 “prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel”
Acts 21:9 “this man had four virgin daughters who were prophetesses”
Ultimately, with regards to the role or office of the New Testament prophet, let us keep in mind that 1st Corinthians 14:3 states, “But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation” and not “for fortune telling,” “future telling,” “foretelling,” “forth-telling,” etc. solely although such is not excluded.
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