The Book of Enoch Read online

  The canonization of the Old Testament is well documented in Jewish and Christian scholarship.[21] Though claims have been made for the canonicity of 1 Enoch by some early Church Fathers, it was not considered to be Scripture by any of the ancient traditions.

  The traditional thirty-nine books that we now call the Old Testament, was referred to in the New Testament and other Second Temple literature as “the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44).[22] There is no manuscript or historical evidence that 1 Enoch was ever a part of this traditional threefold designation.

  The earliest manuscripts we have of Old Testament canonical writings are from 400-300 B.C. from the library of Qumran.[23] But as Bauckham points out, the Enoch literature and other apocryphal works at Qumran were evidently valued as literary works by the Essene community but were not included in their canon of Scripture.[24]

  The Septuagint (LXX) was considered the authoritative Greek translation from around 200-100 B.C. and was quoted or alluded to by Jesus and the apostles.[25] The LXX did include additional apocryphal books along with the traditional threefold division, but 1 Enoch was not one of them.[26]

  The Hebrew Masoretic texts (MT), compiled between A.D. 500 and 900 by Jewish scribes, is considered by both Christians and Jews to be one of the most authoritative set of manuscripts reflecting the ancient Jewish canon.[27] 1 Enoch was never a part of this set.

  The only manuscript collection that does include 1 Enoch as canonical is the Ethiopic canon of the Coptic Church. But this designation was solidified sometime in the 13th century A.D. in response to Western pressure and under Muslim influence.[28]

  Outside the Canon. In his commentary on 1 Enoch, George Nickelsburg catalogues the widespread influence that the book of Enoch had on both Jewish and Christian literature. Though the Old Testament canon never included 1 Enoch, its Watchers/giants storyline was quoted as spiritually authoritative in other significant Second Temple Jewish literature such as the Wisdom of Jesus ben Sira, the Genesis Apocryphon, Wisdom of Solomon, Philo of Alexandria, Josephus, 2 and 3 Enoch, The Life of Adam and Eve, as well as some of the Targumim.[29]

  The book of Jubilees, a highly regarded Jewish text, written sometime in the 2nd century B.C., draws explicitly from 1 Enoch as Scripture under the claim that Enoch had received his vision from the angels of God:

  Jubilees 4:17-22

  [Enoch] wrote in a book the signs of the heaven… And he was therefore with the angels of God six jubilees of years. And they showed him everything which is on earth and in the heavens… And he wrote everything, and bore witness to the Watchers, the ones who sinned with the daughters of men because they began to mingle themselves with the daughters of men so that they might be polluted. And Enoch bore witness against all of them.[30]

  Because the Christian Church arose within a milieu of Jewish apocalypticism, Enochic texts and traditions had much influence on Christian thought outside the New Testament. 1 Enoch translator E. Isaac writes, “1 Enoch played a significant role in the early Church; it was used by the authors of the Epistle of Barnabas, the Apocalypse of Peter, and a number of apologetic works. Many Church Fathers, including Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Origen, and Clement of Alexandria, either knew 1 Enoch or were inspired by it. Among those who were familiar with 1 Enoch, Tertullian had an exceptionally high regard for it.”[31]

  Indeed, the epistle of Barnabas, young Origen, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian all considered 1 Enoch to be Scripture. Tertullian wrote in “Concerning The Genuineness Of “The Prophecy Of Enoch,” “I am aware that the Scripture of Enoch, which has assigned this order (of action) to angels, is not received by some, because it is not admitted into the Jewish canon either…But since Enoch in the same Scripture has preached likewise concerning the Lord, nothing at all must be rejected by us which pertains to us; and we read that “every Scripture suitable for edification is divinely inspired.”…To these considerations is added the fact that Enoch possesses a testimony in the Apostle Jude.”[32]

  Church father Justin Martyr quotes 1 Enoch’s angelic mating with women and their revelation of occultic arts to humans as an apologetic argument explaining the true origin of gods mating with women in pagan mythologies.[33]

  Isaac concludes that starting in the 4th century, Enoch fell into disfavor in the West with the negative reviews of influential theologians like Julius Africanus, Augustine, Hilary, and Jerome. He then explains that it was the medieval mind that relegated 1 Enoch to virtual oblivion outside of Ethiopia before it was resurrected in 1773 by the discovery of Scottish explorer James Bruce, who returned to Europe with several manuscripts of the Ethiopic Enoch.[34]

  Though skepticism of 1 Enoch was surely warranted, Nickelsburg suggests that some skeptics were influenced by biases apart from Biblical arguments. For instance, the gnostic manipulation of Enochic texts by the Manichean heresy made both Jerome and Augustine uncomfortable with its popularity, leading them to dismiss it as apocryphal.[35] Augustine, having a personal background in Manicheanism, displayed a tendency to react against the interpretation of angels with corporeal bodies because of its alleged affinity to his Gnostic past.[36] With his singular influence on the Western Church, Augustine laid the foundation for the rejection of Enochian concepts within that tradition.

  But we must learn our lesson from Augustine’s fallacy of guilt by association. Just because some aberrant sects or non-Christian cults may value 1 Enoch does not make it an unworthy text, especially since it has a long pedigree of acceptance within the historic orthodox Christian faith. After all, non-Christian cults of all kinds do the same thing with the Bible. Abuse of a text does not negate proper use.

  The Book of Enoch and the New Testament

  Though the book of 1 Enoch is not considered Scripture, this does not invalidate its claims to accuracy or reliable spiritual information. Orthodox Christian believers maintain that only the Old and New Testaments are the “God-breathed” or inspired Word of God (2Tim. 3:15-16). That is, they are the sole infallible authority of God’s revelation to humankind. But in the Church’s desire to affirm the absolute canonical truth value of God’s Word, Chrisitans too often dismiss the contingent truth value of non-canonical works. They can become guilty of “dehumanizing” the authorship of Scriptures in their desire to maintain a priority of the authorship of God. The truth is that the authorship of Scripture for Christianity, like the incarnation of Christ, is rooted in both human and divine origins.[37]

  The doctrine of the Inspiration of Scripture is not like the claims of Islam. Christians do not believe that the human authors merely recorded the words of God like secretaries taking audible dictation. Nor does Inspiration mean that God magically controlled the hands of the authors to write what he alone wanted, like some kind of automatic writing from a spirit. Rather, God providentially breathed his intent into the words that men were writing in very human contexts, employing very human sources.[38]

  It may surprise those who hold a high view of Scripture that some of the New Testament writers used the book of Enoch as source material. They may even bristle at the suggestion and seek to deny it or downplay it because of the implications they fear of connecting holy writ to human writ. But it is important to understand that the admitted use of non-canonical sources by writers of Scripture was an all too common activity of God.

  There are well over fifty references in the Scriptures to just over twenty non-canonical source texts used by Biblical authors that are lost to history. These are non-Biblical sources that the writers of Scripture actually mention as being sources of information for their writing of Scripture. Noted scholar James Charlesworth lists a few of them in his examination of lost writings related to the Bible:

  The Book of the Wars of Yahweh (Num. 21:14)

  The Book of the Just [or Jasher] (Josh. 10:13, 2 Sam. 1:18)

  The Book of the Acts of Solomon (1 Kgs. 11:41)

  The Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel (1 Kgs. 14:19, 2 Chr. 33:18; cf. 2 Chr. 20:34)

  The Boo
k of the Annals of the Kings of Judah (1 Kgs. 14:29, 15:7)

  The Annals of Samuel the seer (1 Chr. 29:29)

  The History of Nathan the prophet (2 Chr. 9:29)

  The Annals of Shemaiah the prophet and of lddo the seer (2 Chr. 12:15)

  The Annals of Jehu son of Hanani (2 Chr. 20:34)

  An unknown and untitled writing of Isaiah (2 Chr. 26:22)

  The Annals of Hozai (2 Chr. 33:18)

  An unknown lament for Josiah by Jeremiah (2 Chr. 35:25).[39]

  With a repertoire of non-Biblical source texts like this acknowledged by the very writers of Scripture, Christians simply cannot afford to dismiss influential non-canonical texts as irrelevant or unworthy of studious respect. Especially those who proclaim sola scriptura, since the Scriptures themselves grant such explicit respect to their sources.

  Unfortunately all of these sources are lost to history, except one: 1 Enoch.[40] This book of Enoch is one such source whose direct and indirect influence can be seen on significant portions of the New Testament. As a matter of fact, 1 Enoch is quoted directly in the epistle of Jude. But before we examine that explicit example, let’s take a look at the implicit impact of Enoch on the New Testament.

  Son of Man. Nickelsburg lays out evidence for the influence of 1 Enoch on the New Testament appropriation of Son of Man Christology. Though Daniel 7 is clearly a source for Jesus’ self-designation as Son of Man, Nickelsburg argues that it cannot explain the totality of the Son of Man doctrine as portrayed in the Gospels, a doctrine that reveals development in the Intertestamental period through 1 Enoch in particular.

  Daniel 7 portrays a vision of the Son of Man on a cloud approaching the throne of the Ancient of Days, surrounded by ten thousands of his holy ones and receiving a kingdom of glory and dominion as vice regent of that throne.

  But Nickelsburg argues that the New Testament Son of Man engages in more judicial responsibilities than Daniel’s kingly ruler. For instance, in Daniel 7, the Son of Man is enthroned after judgment. But in passages such as Mark 8:38 and Matt. 10:32-33, the Son of Man comes in judgment, which is more like Enoch’s interpretation of Daniel 7 in the Parables of Enoch than simple dependence on Daniel 7.[41]

  Mark 13:26-27 speaks of those who will see the Son of Man coming to gather his “chosen ones,” in a manner made familiar in the resurrection imagery of 1 Enoch 51; 61:2-5 and 62:14-15.

  The parable of the sheep and the goats told by Jesus in Matt. 25:31-46 speaks of the Son of Man coming in his glory with his angels before his throne. He then divides them up unto eternal life and eternal damnation. While this is surely reflective of the throne imagery in Daniel 7, what is not is the judgment of nations and their consignment by the angels to torment or glory based on their treatment of the “elect ones” we read about in 1 Enoch:[42]

  1 Enoch 62:5-15

  One half portion of them shall glance at the other half; they shall be terrified and dejected; and pain shall seize them when they see that Son of Man sitting on the throne of his glory… But the Lord of the Spirits himself will cause them to be frantic, so that they shall rush and depart from his presence… So he will deliver them to the angels for punishments in order that vengeance shall be executed on them—oppressors of his children and his elect ones… The righteous and elect ones shall be saved on that day; and from thenceforth they shall never see the faces of the sinners and the oppressors. The Lord of the Spirits will abide over them; they shall eat and rest and rise with that Son of Man forever and ever. The righteous and elect ones shall rise from the earth and shall cease being of downcast face. They shall wear the garments of glory.[43]

  As Isaacs concludes, “There is little doubt that 1 Enoch was influential in molding New Testament doctrines concerning the nature of the Messiah, the Son of Man, the messianic kingdom, demonology, the future, resurrection, final judgment, the whole eschatological theater, and symbolism. No wonder, therefore, that the book was highly regarded by many of the earliest apostolic and Church Fathers.”[44]

  Enoch and the New Testament. R.H. Charles, one of the earliest experts on the Pseudepigrapha and Enoch, listed about sixty examples where the language of the New Testament reflected possible Enochian influence. He concluded, “1Enoch has had more influence on the New Testament than has any other apocryphal or pseudepigraphic work.[45]

  Here is just a sampling of these many linguistic connections: [46]

  New Testament

  1Enoch

  1 John 1:7. ‘walk in the light’.

  92:4. ‘walk in eternal light’.

  2:8. ‘the darkness is past’.

  58:5. ‘the darkness is past’.

  15. ‘Love not the world nor the things that are in the world’.

  108:8. ‘love … nor any of the good things which are in the world’.

  Rev. 2:7. ‘the tree of life’. Cf. 22:2, 14, 19.

  25:4–6. The tree of life.

  3:5. ‘clothed in white raiment’.

  90:31. ‘clothed in white’.

  20. ‘I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me’.

  62:14. ‘and with that Son of Man shall they (i.e. the righteous) eat and lie down and rise up’.

  6:15. Compare the fear of the kings of the earth, and the princes, and the chief captains, and the rich, and the strong, when they see ‘the face of him that sitteth on the throne’.

  62:3. ‘the kings, and the mighty, and the exalted 5… shall be terrified… and pain shall seize them when they see that Son of Man sitting on the throne of his glory’.

  15. ‘He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them’.

  45:4. ‘I will cause Mine Elect One to dwell among them’.

  9:1. ‘I saw a star from heaven fallen to the earth’.

  86:1. ‘And I saw … and behold a star fell from heaven’.

  20:13. ‘the sea gave up the dead …, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them’.

  51:1. ‘in those days shall the earth also give back that which has been entrusted to it, and Sheol also shall give back … and hell shall give back …’.

  20:15. ‘cast into the lake of fire’.

  90:26. ‘cast into this fiery abyss’.

  Rom. 8:38. ‘angels … principalities … powers’. Cf. Eph. 1:21; Col. 1:16

  61:10. ‘angels of power and … angels of principalities’.

  1 Cor. 6:11. ‘justified in the name of the Lord Jesus’.

  48:7. ‘in his (i.e. the Messiah’s) name they are saved’.

  2 Cor. 4:6. ‘to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’.

  38:4. ‘the Lord of Spirits has caused His light to appear (emended) on the face of the holy, righteous and elect’.

  Col. 2:3. ‘in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’.

  46:3. ‘the Son of Man … who reveals all the treasures of that which is hidden’.

  1 Thess. 5:3. ‘then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child’.

  62:4. ‘Then shall pain come upon them as on a woman in travail’.

  2 Thess. 6:15. ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’.

  9:4. ‘Lord of lords … King of kings’.

  Heb. 4:13. ‘there is no creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do’.

  9:5. ‘all things are naked and open in Thy sight, and Thou seest all things, and nothing can hide itself from Thee’.

  12:9. ‘Father of Spirits’.

  37:2. ‘Lord of Spirits’ (and passim in Parables).

  Acts 3:14. ‘the Righteous One’ (= Christ).

  53:6. ‘the Righteous and Elect One’ (= Messiah).

  John 5:22. ‘He hath committed all judgement unto the Son’.

  69:27. ‘the sum of judgement was given unto the Son of Man’.

  Luke 9:35. ‘This is My Son, the Elect One’.

  40:5. ‘the Elect One’ (i.e. the Messiah). Cf. 45:3, 4 ‘Mine Elect On
e’; 49:2, 4.

  Matt. 19:28. ‘when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory’.

  62:5. ‘When they see that Son of Man sitting on the throne of his glory’.

  ‘ye also shall sit on twelve thrones’.

  108:12. ‘I will seat each on the throne of his honour’.

  25:41. ‘prepared for the devil and his angels’.

  54:4, 5. ‘chains … prepared for the hosts of Azâzêl’.

  The argument could be made that the examples of linguistic overlap between the book of Enoch and the New Testament are circumstantial or even cultural coincidence. After all, didn’t the Old Testament use terms like walking in light and darkness? Didn’t everyone of that time period use metaphors such as kingly gods sitting on their thrones?

  Not entirely. That is, as Charles points out, four titles appear for the first time in 1 Enoch’s Book of Parables applied to a personal Messiah.[47] “Christ” or “The Anointed One” applies to priests or royalty in the Old Testament, but is transformed into the ideal Messianic King first in 1 Enoch 48:10 and 52:4 before the New Testament. “The Righteous One” and “the Elect One” likewise first appear with Messianic designation in 1 Enoch 38:2; 53:6; 40:5; 49:2 and others. As noted above, even the “Son of Man” was transformed in his identity from Old Testament king to New Testament judge by way of 1 Enoch.

  As Charles argues, the notions of Sheol, resurrection, demonology and future life that are barely mentioned in the Old Testament, are expanded upon in 1 Enoch in a way that corresponds to the New Testament usage of the terms.[48] The sheer volume and repetition of phrases and concepts between 1 Enoch and the New Testament may not prove absolute dependence, but certainly suggest a strong familiarity and interaction with that tradition of ideas – a tradition of Second Temple literature that all points back to its own dependence upon 1 Enoch.[49] The preponderance of the evidence supports Charles’ claim that, “Doctrines in Enoch…had an undoubted share in moulding the corresponding New Testament doctrines, or are at all events necessary to the comprehension of the latter.”[50]