Troublesome TopicGENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE BOOK OF ENOCH

Enoch was a righteous man whom God took to heaven without allowing him to suffer the primary curse of sin – death (Gen 5:24). His sayings were passed down for many generations through oral tradition.

The fact that Enoch’s sayings were passed down in oral tradition for a long time was not a problem. Many ancient cultures had a number of people who were known for memorizing large amounts of material and faithfully reciting it for others to hear.

As an example, most Bible scholars believe that the entire book of Job was memorized and recited in that fashion from the time of Job’s death, about the time of Abraham, until the time of the Jewish exile to Babylon when it was finally written down. That may have been 1,000 years or more. What we have in the book of Job today is probably quite close to the way it started out, such was the care and fidelity of those who memorized it and recited it without changing anything.

Later, Enoch was the subject of abundant apocryphal literature. At first revered only for his piety, he was later believed to be the recipient of secret knowledge from God. Britannica.com/topic/First-Book-of-Enoch.)

Described in broad strokes, two myths shape the Book of Enoch. The first “ascribes the origins of evil to the rebellion of certain angels who mated with women and begat a race of giants that devastated the earth and whose demonic spirits continue to produce sin and misery.” The second myth describes how “Enoch was taken to heaven, where he learned the secrets of the universe and of the coming judgment.” https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org/sidebar/dead-sea-scrolls-spotlight-the-book-of-enoch/

There are three writings that are called the Book of Enoch, designated:

1Enoch (the Ethiopic Book of Enosh),

2Enoch (the Slavic Book of the Secrets of Enosh),

3Enoch (the Hebrew Book of Enoch).

It is to 1 Enoch that we will be referring to because it is the only one that is relevant to our discussion.

1 Enoch contains five parts that were composed at different times by different authors. They were not written with unity in mind, but were brought together at a later date. They are:

The Book of Watchers (ch 1-36){How the Nephilim originated}

The Book of Parables (ch 37-71) {How God tried to punish the Nephilim with the flood}

The Astronomical Book (ch 72-82) (also called Book of Luminaries)

The Book of Dream Visions (ch 83-90)  (Also called Animal Apocalypse)

The Epistle of Enoch (ch 91 – 108)

(The Book of Giants is NOT part of the Book of Enoch, but covers similar material and expresses a similar interpretation).

The Ethiopic version of the Book of Enoch is the only complete extant version, is considered by almost everyone to have suffered many additions and amendments. It cannot be the words of Enoch himself. Neither is it trusted by vary many scholars outside of Ethiopia.

The Bible does quote Enoch once, in Jude verses 14-15. In the quote, Enoch was alarmed at the wickedness of the culture around him. We gather from the fact that the Epistle of Jude quotes something considered to have been said by Enoch that some of the Book of Enoch is reliable and some is not. Therein lies one of the problems with the Book of Enoch; it contains unreliable material that was obviously added later.