The Book of Enoch

Enoch prophesied according to Jude 1:14-15 …

"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

The following passage is from the apocryphal Book of Enoch, (which has questionable authenticity) as directly from him or based upon handed down tradition.

"Behold he comes with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon them, and to destroy the wicked, and to strive (at law) with all the carnal for everything which the sinful and ungodly have done and committed against him."

Compare how much alike what Jude writes with what Enoch has been given credit for saying … or does Jude just quote from The Book of Enoch with his own words? Had Jude read The Book of Enoch or was he just continuing to hand down Jewish tradition?

The Book of Enoch … which was known to the fathers of the second century, was lost for some centuries with the exception of a few fragments; but an entire copy written in Hebrew was found in an Ethiopic Bible, in 1773, by Bruce. It became known to modern students through a translation from this into English by Archbishop Lawrence, in 1821.

The book consists of revelations supposed to have been given to both Enoch and Noah, and its object is to vindicate the ways of divine providence, to set forth the retribution reserved for sinners, angelic or human, and "to repeat in every form the great principle that the world … natural, moral, and spiritual … is under the immediate government of God." (It is, isn't it?)

Besides an introduction, the book embraces five parts …

1.) A narrative of the fall of the angels, and of a tour of Enoch in company with an angel through heaven and earth, and of the mysteries seen by him.
2.) Parables concerning the kingdom of God, the Messiah, and the Messianic future.
3.) Astronomical and physical matter; attempting to reduce the images of the Old Testament to a physical system.
4.) Two visions, representing symbolically the history of the world to the Messianic completion.
5.) Exhortations of Enoch to Methuselah and his descendants.

The book shows no Christian influence, is highly moral in tone, and imitates the Old Testament myths.

The reference to the contest of Michael the archangel with the devil, over the body of Moses in Jude 9; because it is not mentioned anywhere in the Old Testament, but interestingly is found in the apocryphal Book of Enoch, probably raised doubts as to its authenticity in Jude.

As to The Book of Enoch, if quoted by Jude; his quotation of a passage from The Book of Enoch gives an inspired sanction only to the truth of that passage, not to the whole book itself.

I think, as there is some slight variation between Jude's statement and The Book of Enoch, that Jude, though probably not ignorant of The Book of Enoch, agrees with the current tradition of the Jews as to Enoch's prophecies; just as Paul, in 2nd Timothy 3:8 (below) mentions the names of the Egyptian magicians … Jannes and Jambres … although they are not mentioned in the Old Testament.

In all events, the prophecy ascribed to Enoch by Jude was really Enoch's, being sanctioned as such by the inspired writer Jude. So also the narration as to the Archangel Michael's dispute with Satan concerning the body of Moses therefore is … by Jude's inspired authority … declared true.

2nd Timothy 3:8 … "Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses …"

The names of these two men are not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. They are supposed to have been two of the magicians who resisted Moses in Exodus 7:11 … who opposed their miracles to those of Moses and Aaron. It is not certain where the apostle Paul obtained their names; but they are frequently mentioned by many Hebrew writers, and also by others; so there can be no reasonable doubt that their names were correctly handed down by tradition.

Nothing is more probable than that the names of the more distinguished magicians who attempted to imitate the miracles of Moses, would be preserved by tradition; and although they are not mentioned by Moses himself, this should not lead us to doubt the truth of the tradition respecting their names.

By the rabbinical writers, they are mentioned as the Egyptian magicians who opposed Moses in Egypt, and are also called "the sons of Balaam." The more common account is that they were the princes of the Egyptian magicians. There is no reason to doubt that these were in fact the leading men who opposed Moses in Egypt, by attempting to work counter-miracles.

This is not an endorsement of The Book of Enoch as true. I just found some interesting facts and comparisons worth knowing.

Resource material edited from the "Albert Barnes" and "Jamieson, Fausset and Brown" Commentaries.



Comments welcome.