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Bible Dictionaries
Enoch Book of
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or Introductory.-The Ethiopic Book of Enoch (or 1 Enoch, as it is now more conveniently denominated) is the largest, and, after the canonical Book of Daniel, the most important of the Jewish apocalyptic works which have so recently come to be recognized as supplying most important data for the critical study of NT ideas and phraseology. The Book-or rather the Books-of Enoch the reader will find to be a work of curious complexity and unevenness. It is a wonderful mass of heterogeneous elements; in fact, it is quite a cycle of works in itself-geographical, astronomical, prophetic, moral, and historical. In this medley we find certain recurring notes. The temporary success and triumph of the wicked, idolaters, luxurious, rich, oppressors, rulers, kings, and mighty ones, and the present sufferings of the righteous, are continually contrasted with their future destiny-after death or after judgment, according to the views of the particular author as to the moment at which moral discrimination will begin. Another recurring note is the subservience of natural phenomena to spiritual and quasi-personal forces, which in turn are responsible and as a rule obedient to God. Repeatedly and with dramatic force the unfailing order of Nature is contrasted with the disobedience of man. Yet another recurring feature, and one common to this apocalyptic literature, is the reserving of the visions and the books of Enoch for the last days, for the elect to read and understand. On the other hand, there is ever and anon a baffling change in the presentation of ideas about the Kingdom, the Messiah, the form of the future judgment and life after death. The pictures of the Messianic Kingdom take on a shifting, ever-changing form, in accordance with the views of the author and the particular tribulations under which each individual writer was labouring. Judgment is mediated now by angels of punishment, now by the archangels, or the sword of the righteous or internecine strife, or by the Son of Man, or exercised immediately by God Himself. Darkness and chains and burning fire, valleys and the abyss, loom large in all descriptions of the place and mode of punishment. There is a highly developed angelology, in keeping with the general conception of God’s transcendence, and an equally developed demonology, which is connected with the interest of the various authors in the problem of the seat and origin of evil. The power of prayer-whether that of the angels, the departed holy ones, or the righteous on earth-is recognized, especially in the bringing in of judgment. The space devoted to the calendar, however, and the movements of the heavenly bodies, and the secrets of natural forces, stands in sheer contrast to the NT silence on those subjects.
We cannot close without quoting Charles’s words in his introduction (Book of Enoch, 1912, p. x):
‘In the age to which the Enoch literature belongs there is movement everywhere, and nowhere dogmatic fixity and finality. And though at times the movement may be reactionary, yet the general trend is onward and upward.’ This work is the most important historical memorial ‘of the religious development of Judaism from 200 b.c. to 100 a.d., and particularly of the development of that side or Judaism, to which historically Christendom in large measure owes its existence.’
We have only to take the single example of the unique portrait of the ‘Son of Man’ in the Parables-eternally pre-existent with God, recognized now by the righteous, and hereafter to be owned and adored by all, even His foes-to be assured of the truth of this verdict.
1. Contents.
Section i.: chs. i.-xxxvi.
i-v.-Enoch takes up his parable: God’s coming to judgment to help and bless the righteous and destroy the ungodly (i. 1-9); Nature’s unfailing order (ii. 1-v. 3) contrasted with sinners’ disobedience; a curse on them, but forgiveness, peace, and joy for the elect (v. 4-9).
vi.-xi. (Noachic fragment).-Fall of certain angels, through union with women (vi. 1-vii. 1); birth of giants who devour mankind and drink blood (vii. 2-6). Knowledge of arts, magic, and astronomy imparted by fallen angels (viii. 1-4). Cry of souls of dead for vengeance (viii. 4, ix. 3, 10) heard by the four archangels, who bring their cause before God (ix. 1-11). God sends Uriel to Noah to warn him of approaching Deluge (x. 1-3). Raphael is to bind Azazel in desert in Dudael till judgment day, and heal the earth (x. 4-7); Gabriel to destroy giants by internecine strife (x. 9-10, 15), Michael to bind Semjaza and his associates for seventy generations in valleys of the earth (x. 11-14). All evil is to cease, and the plant of righteousness (i.e. Israel) to appear (x. 16). All the righteous are to escape and live till they beget thousands of children (x. 17), the earth is to yield a thousandfold, all men are to become righteous and adore God (x. 21). Sin and punishment will cease for ever (x. 22), Store-chambers of blessing in heaven will be opened (xi.).
xii-xvi.
A Dream Vision of Enoch.-Enoch is hidden from men (xii. 1) and is sent to the fallen angels (‘Watchers’) with the message: ‘no peace nor forgiveness’ (xii. 4-6), which he delivers to Azazel (xiii. 1, 2) and the others (xiii. 3); they beseech Enoch to write a petition for them (xiii. 4-6); as he reads it he falls asleep and sees visions of chastisement, which he recounts to them (xiii. 7-10). The message of the vision is given in xiv. 1-7; the manner of it in xiv. 8-xvi. 4. He ascends in the vision to heaven, post crystal walls into a crystal house and a greater house beyond, to the blazing throne of the Great Glory (xiv. 20), whom no angel can behold. He entrusts Enoch with the message to the Watchers; they had sinned in taking wives (xv. 3-7); from the dead giants’ bodies proceed evil spirits which, remaining on earth, do all harm with impunity till the Great Judgment (xv. 8-xvi. 1); the Watchers’ doom is repeated (xvi. 2-4).
xvii-xxxvi.
Enoch’s two journeys: through the earth and to Sheol.
(a) xvii.-xix.-Enoch is brought to the ends of the earth and views treasuries of stars, and the winds that uphold heaven (xvii. 1-xviii. 3), and seven mountains of precious stones (xviii. 6), and beyond, a deep abyss of fire (xviii. 11), and further, an utter waste (xviii. 12) with seven stars like burning mountains, bound for ten thousand years for not observing their appointed times (xviii. 13-16). Here stand the fallen angels, whose spirits seduce men to idolatry (xix. 1) and their wives, turned into sirens (xix. 2).-(b) xx-xxxvi.-The seven archangels-Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Saraqael, Gabriel, Remiel-and their functions (xx.). Enoch proceeds to chaos and the seven stars and the abyss of xviii. 12-16 (xxi. 1-7), which is the final prison of the fallen angels (xxi. 8-10). Elsewhere in the west he sees a great mountain with three (‘four’ in text) hollow places (=Sheol), to contain men’s souls till the Great Judgment-one for martyrs like Abel and other righteous men, with a bright spring of water (xxii. 5-9), one for unpunished sinners (xxii. 10, 11), one for sinners (who suffered in life), who never rise (xxii. 12-13). Thereafter, still in the west, he sees the fire of the heavenly luminaries (xxiii.), and elsewhere again, beyond a mountain range of fire, seven mountains of precious stones, the central one to be God’s throne on earth, with the tree of life (xxiv. 1-xxv. 3) to be transplanted after the judgment to the holy place, where the righteous shall eat of it and live a long life on earth (xxv. 4-6). In the middle of the earth Enoch sees a holy mountain (Zion) with its surrounding summits and ravines (xxvi.), and the accursed valley (of Hinnom) which is to be the scene of the Last Judgment (xxvii.). Thence he goes east (xxviii-xxxiii.), past fragrant trees and mountains, over the Erythraean Sea and the angel Zotiel (xxxii. 2), to the garden of the righteous, and the Tree of Wisdom, which is fully described (xxxii. 3-6). Thence to the earth’s ends whereon heaven rests, with three portals for the stars in east and west (xxxiii. 3, xxxvi. 2, 3) and three in north and south for the winds (xxxiv. 1-3, xxxvi. 1).
Section ii.: chs. xxxvii.-lxxi.
-The Parables.
xxxvii. 1 commences ‘the second vision … of wisdom’; till the present day such wisdom has never been given as is embodied in these three Parables recounted to those that dwell on the earth (xxxvii. 4, 5).
xxxviii-xliv.
The First Parable.-When the Righteous One appears, where will the sinners’ dwelling be? Then shall the kings and mighty perish and be given into the hands of the righteous and holy (xxxviii.). [Descent of the Watchers-an interpolation (xxxix. 1, 2).] A whirlwind carries off Enoch to the end of the heavens; he views the dwelling-places of the holy who pray for mankind, and the Righteous One’s abode under the wings of the Lord of Spirits (xxxix. 3-14); an innumerable multitude, and four presences (=archangels)-Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and Phanuel-and their functions (xl.); heaven’s secrets and weighing of men’s actions (xli. 1, 2); secrets of natural phenomena and sun and moon; their chambers and weighing of the stars (xli. 3-9, xliii. 1, 2, xliv.); the stars stand for the holy who dwell on the earth (xliii. 4). A fragment.-Wisdom goes forth, and finds no dwelling-place among men, so returns to heaven; while unrighteousness is welcomed and remains with men (xlii.).
xlv.-lvii.
-The Second Parable.-The lot of the apostates: the new heaven and earth. Those who deny the name of Lord of Spirits are preserved for judgment (xlv. 1, 2). ‘Mine Elect One’ on throne of glory shall try men’s works; heaven and earth transformed (xlv. 3-6). The Head of Days and Son of Man (xlvi. 1-4) shall put down the kings and the mighty; they have no hope of rising from their graves (xlvi. 5-8). ‘In those days’ the prayer of the righteous united with angelic intercession was heard (xlvii. 1, 2); the Head of Days on the throne of His glory, books of the living opened, vengeance of righteous at hand (xlvii. 3, 4). Enoch sees the inexhaustible fountain of righteousness: ‘at that hour’ the Son of Man was ‘named’ in the presence of the Lord of Spirits; he is a staff to the righteous, the light of the Gentiles: in His name the righteous are saved; kings and mighty are to bum like straw (xlviii.); infinite wisdom and power of the Elect One (xlix.). [1.-An interpolation?-In those days the holy became victorious; the others (i.e. Gentiles) witness this and repent-they have no honour, but are saved in the name of the Lord of Spirits.] In those days earth, Sheol, and Abaddon give up what they hold. The Elect One arises, sits on God’s throne, and chooses out the righteous amid universal rejoicing (li.). Enoch sees seven metal mountains (symbols of world-powers): they will serve the Anointed’s dominion (lii. 4), and melt before the Elect One (lii. 6). Next he sees a deep valley with open months, and angels of punishment preparing instruments of Satan to destroy the kings and the mighty (liii. 1-5); after this the Righteous and Elect One shall cause the house of His congregation to appear (liii. 6). In another part he sees a deep valley with burning fire; here the kings and the mighty are cast in (liv. 1, 2), and iron chains made for Azazel’s hosts, whom four archangels will cast into the burning furnace on that great day (liv. 3-6), after judgment by the Elect One (Leviticus 3, 4); angels of punishment with scourged are seen proceeding to cast the Watchers’ children into the abyss (lvi. 1-4). [Fragments.-(a) liv. 7-Leviticus 2 (Noachic).-Punishment by waters impending, promise of non-recurrence. (b) lvi. 5-8.-The angels are to stir up the Parthians and Medes to tread upon the land of God’s elect, but ‘the city of my righteous’ shall hinder their horses; they shall slay one another, and Sheol shall devour them in presence of the elect. (c) lvii. 1-3.-A host of wagons is seen, earth’s pillars are shaken by the noise (return of Dispersion).]
lviii.-lxxi.
-The Third Parable.-Endless light and life for righteous (lviii.). [Secrets of lightnings, an intrusion (lix.).] [Noachic fragment (for’ Enoch’ read ‘Noah’ in lx. 1).-The Head of Days on the throne of glory announces the judgment (lx.1-6, 25); Leviathan a female monster, and Behemoth a male, parted, one in the abysses of the ocean, the other in the wilderness to the east of the garden (Eden) where Enoch was taken up; they shall feed … (presumably till given as food to the elect as in 2 Bar. xxix. 4; 4 Ezr. 6:52) (lx. 7-10, 24); chambers of winds, secrets of thunder, spirits of the sea, hoarfrost, snow, mist and rain (lx. 11-23).]
Third Parable resumed.-The angels are seen with long cords; they go to measure Paradise (lxx. 3) and recover all the righteous dead from sea or desert (lxi. 1-5); the Lord of Spirits places the Elect One on the throne of glory to judge (lxi 6-9); all the heavenly hosts, Cherubim, Seraphim, and Ophannim, angels of power and of principalities, the Elect One, the powers on earth and over water, the elect who dwell in the garden of life, and all flesh shall join in praising God (lxi. 10-13). The kings and the mighty are called upon to recognize the Elect One, now seated on the throne; pained and terrified, they glorify God (lxii. 1-6) and adore the Son of Man; but are delivered to the angels for punishment (lxii. 9-12); the righteous had previously known the Son of Man, though hidden from the beginning, and shall eat and lie down and rise up for ever with Him, and be clothed with garments of glory and of life (lxii. 7, 8, 13-16); unavailing repentance and confession of the kings and the mighty (lxiii.); vision of fallen angels in Prison (lxiv.). [Noachic fragment (lxv.-lxix. 25).-Noah calls on Enoch at the ends of the earth; he is told judgment is imminent because of sorcery and idolatry, and the violence of the Satans; Noah is to be preserved: from him shall proceed a fountain of righteous and holy (= Israel) for ever (lxv.); the angels of punishment hold the Flood in check (lxvi.); Noah is told that the angels are making an ark for him (lxvii. 1-3); God will imprison the angels, who had taught men how to sin, in the burning valley, which Enoch had shown Noah; thence proceed waters which now heal the bodies of the kings and the mighty (lxvii. 8), but it will one day become a fire ever-burning (lxvii. 13). Enoch gives Noah these secrets in the book of Parables (lxviii. 1). Michael and Raphael are astonished at the sternness of the judgment upon the fallen angels (lxviii. 2-5); the names of the fallen angels and Satans who led them astray and taught men knowledge and writing (lxix. 1-13); the hidden name and oath which preserve all things in due order (lxix. 14-25).]
Close of Third Parable.-Universal joy at the revealing of the Son of Man, who receives ‘the sum of judgment’ (lxix. 26-29). [Two fragments belonging to Parables: (a) lxx.-Enoch finally translated on the chariots of the spirit, and set between the north and the south (i.e. in Paradise). (b) lxxi.-‘After this’ he is translated in spirit; he sees the sons of God, the secrets of heaven, the crystal house, and countless angels and the four archangels, the Head of Days, the Son of Man, who brings in endless peace for the righteous.]
Section iii.: chs. lxxii.-lxxxii.-The Book of the Courses of the Heavenly Luminaries.
The sun (lxxii.), the moon and its phases (lxxiii.), the lunar year (lxxiv.), the stars, the twelve winds and their portals (lxxvi.), the four quarters of the world, the seven great mountains, rivers, islands (lxxvii.), the moon’s waxing and waning (lxxviii.), recapitulation (lxxix., lxxx. 1), perversion of Nature and the heavenly bodies owing to man’s sin (lxxx. 2-8). Enoch sees the heavenly tablets containing men’s deeds to all eternity, and is given one year to teach them to Methuselah (lxxxi.); his charge to Methuselah to hand on the books to the generations of the world; blessing on the observers of the true system of reckoning-year of 364 days (lxxxii. 1-9); stars which lead the seasons and the months (lxxxii. 10-20).
Section iv.: chs. lxxxiii.-xc.-Two Dream Visions: (a) lxxxiii., lxxxiv.; (b) lxxxv.-xc.
(a) Vision of earth’s destruction: Mahalalel bids Enoch pray that a remnant may remain (lxxxiii. 1-9); prayer of Enoch for survival of plant of eternal seed (= Israel) (lxxxiii. 10-lxxxiv. 6). (b) Second dream, in which Enoch sees Adam and other patriarchs under symbolism of bulls, etc. (lxxxv.); stars (= angels) fall from heaven, and unite with cattle (lxxxvi., lxxxvii.); the first star is cast into the abyss; evil beasts slay one another (lxxxviii.). In symbolism Enoch sees the history of Noah and the Deluge; Israel at the Exodus, crossing the Jordan, under the Judges; the building of the Temple; the two kingdoms; the Fall of Jerusalem (lxxxix. 1-67). Israel is entrusted to the Seventy Shepherds (=angelic rulers) from the Captivity to the Maccabaean revolt (lxxxix. 68-xc. 12); the enlightened lambs (= Chasids) and the great horn (= Judas Maccabaeus) (xc. 6-12). The final assault of the heathen; a great sword is given to the sheep (= Jews); the Lord of the sheep intervenes (xc. 13-19); a throne is erected in the pleasant land for Him; the sealed books are opened; the sinning stars are cast into the abyss of fire, also the Seventy Shepherds; the blinded sheep into the abyss in the midst of the earth (= Gehenna) (xc. 20-27); the old house (= Temple) is removed; the Lord of the sheep brings a new house, greater and loftier; the sword is sealed up; all the sheep ‘see’ (i.e. are enlightened); a white bull (= Messiah) is born, and is adored by all; the others are all transformed into white bulls, and the Lord of the sheep rejoices over them all alike; Enoch awakes and weeps [xc. 28-42).
Section v.: chs. xci.-civ.
(a) Enoch’s Book for his Children, (xcii. 1).-God has appointed days for all things; the righteous are to arise from sleep and walk in eternal light, and sin is to disappear (xcii.). Methuselah and his family are summoned and exhorted to love righteousness; violence must increase, but judgment will follow; idols will fail, and the heathen be judged in fire for ever; the righteous are to rise again (xci. 1-11).
(b) Apocalypse of Weeks.-1st week: Enoch born. 2nd: the first end; Noah saved. 3rd: Abraham elected as the plant of righteous judgment. 4th: the law for all generations made. 5th: house of glory … built. 6th: all Israel blinded; Elijah ascends to heaven; the Dispersion. 7th: general apostasy; the elect righteous elected to receive seven-fold instruction concerning all creation (= Enoch’s revelations). 8th: week of righteousness and of sword; Temple rebuilt for ever; all mankind converted. 9th: righteous judgment revealed to the whole world; sin abolished. 10th: great eternal judgment on angels; new heaven; thereafter weeks without number for ever (xciii., xci. 12-17).
(c) Warnings and woes.-Warnings against paths of unrighteousness (xciv. 1-5); woes against oppressors and rich (xciv. 6-11) and sinners (xcv. 2-7); hope for righteous (xcvi. 1-3); their prayer heard (xcvii. 5); woes against the luxurious and the rich (xcvi. 4-8, xcvii. 1-10). Warnings against indulgence; sin is of man’s own devising, and every sin is every day recorded in heaven (xcviii. 1-8); sinners are prepared for the day of destruction; they will be given into hands of righteous (xcviii. 9-16). Woes on godless and law-breakers (xcix.); the righteous are to raise prayers and place them before the angels, who are to place the sin of sinners for a memorial before the Most High (xcix. 3). Sinners are to destroy one another (c. 1-3); angels descend into secret places and gather all who brought down sin (i.e. fallen angels); the righteous and holy receive guardians till an end is made of sin; though the righteous sleep long, they have nothing to fear; angels, sun, moon, and stars will witness to the sins of sinners (c. 4-13); God is obeyed by all Nature, therefore His law should be observed by men (ci.). Terrors of the judgment-day; the righteous who died in misery are not to grieve but await judgment (cii. 1-5). Taunts of sinners-after death we and the righteous are equal (cii. 6-11). Enoch knows a mystery from the heavenly tablets-the spirits of the righteous dead shall live and rejoice (ciii. 1-4); woes of sinners who died in honour-their spirits descend into darkness, chains, and burning flame (ciii. 5-8); woes of the righteous (ciii. 9-15); yet in heaven the angels remember them for good, and their names are written; they shall shine as lights of heaven (civ. 1, 2); ‘cry for judgment, and it shall appear’ (civ. 3). The writings of Enoch are to be given to the righteous-they give joy, uprightness, and wisdom (civ. 9-13).
[Messianic fragment (cv.).-God and the Messiah to dwell with men.] [Noachic fragment (cvi.-cvii.).-Lamech has a wondrous son; Methuselah inquires of Enoch at the ends of the earth about him; Enoch replies that a Deluge is to come because of sin introduced by the fallen angels; this son shall alone be saved-sin will arise again after him till the final annihilation of evil.] An independent addition (cviii.).-Another book written by Enoch ‘for his son and those who keep the law in the last days’; the righteous are to wait for the destruction of the ungodly, whose spirits suffer in fire (cviii. 1-6); the spirits of the humble who lived ascetic lives and belonged to the generation of light shall God bring forth in shining light and seat each on the throne of his honour in never-ending splendour (cviii. 7-15).
2. Title.-The work is referred to under several titles. Of these the oldest are (a) the Books of Enoch (Test. Jud. xviii. 1, Test. Lev. x. 5 [A]; Origen, c. Celsum, v. 54, in Num. Hom. 28:2-this title is implied in the division of the work into books; 1 En xiv. 1, lxxii. 1, lxxxii. 1, xcii. 1, cviii. 1; Syncellus, Chronographia [ed. Dind., 1829, i. 20, etc.]); (b) the Words of Enoch (Jub. xxi. 10; Test. Benj. ix. 1; cf. 1 En. i. 1, xiv. 1). Other titles are (c) the Book of Enoch (Test. Lev. x. 5 [a]; Origen, de Princ. i. iii. 3, etc.); (d) the Writing of Enoch (Test. Lev. xiv. 1; Tertullian, de Cultu Fem. i. 3); (e) Enoch (Judges 1:14; Ep. Barn. iv. 3; Clem. Alex., Eclog. Proph. [ed. Dind., 1869, iii. 456, 474]; Origen, in Ioannem, vi. 25, c. Celsum, v. 54; Tertullian, de Cultu Fem. ii. 10, de Idol. iv., xv.).
3. Canonicity.-That the work was recognized as inspired in certain Jewish circles appears from the above references in Jubilees and the Test. XII. Patriarchs. St. Jude quotes a passage from it as an authentic prophecy of Enoch. The Epistle of Barnabas (xvi. 5) refers to it in the words λέγει γὰρ ἡ γραφή; Athenagoras (Leg. pro Christianis, 24) as ἀ τοῖς προφήταις ἐκπεφώνηται; Tert. (de Idol. xv.), ‘Spiritus … prececinit per … Enoch’; (de Cultu Fem. i. 3), ‘scio seripturam Enoch … non recipi a quibusdam, quia nec in armarium Judaicum admittitur … cum Enoch eadem scriptura etiam de Domino praedicarit, a nobis quidem nihil omnino rejiciendum est, quod pertineat ad nos.… A Judaeis potest jam videri propterea reiecta, sicut et cetera quae Christum sonant.’ Origen, however, in c. Celsum, v. 54, says: ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις οὐ πάνυ φέρεται ὡς θεῖα τὰ ἐπιγεγραμμένα τοῦ Ἐνὼχ βιβλία. Chrysostom (Hom. in Genesis 6:1), Jerome (Com. in Psalms 132:3), and Augustine (de Civ. Dei, XV. xxiii. 4) denounce the work as apocryphal, and this opinion henceforward prevails.
4. Critical structure and dates.-That the work was composite might be inferred from the external evidence of the titles, ‘Books’ or ‘Words of Enoch,’ under which the work is quoted in other writings. But internal evidence is more decisive. The frequent headings, such as ‘the book written by Enoch’ (xcii. 1), ‘another book which Enoch wrote’ (cviii. 1), and the divergence of historical outlook, of method of treatment, of ideas and phrases, in the various parts, point even more clearly to the fact that the work in its present form is a redaction of several of the more prominent writings belonging to a diffuse and varied cycle of literature passing under the name of Enoch. The work as we have it falls naturally into five quite distinct main sections as shown in 1 above:
Section i.: Visions and journeys (for contents see above).
-xii.-xxxvi. belong to the earliest Enochic portion of this section; they are pre-Maccabaean, as, unlike lxxxiii-xc, they make no reference to Antiochus’ persecution. They fall into subsections: xii-xvi. (out of their original order), xvii-xix., xx-xxxvi. Chs. vi-xi. belong to the earlier Book of Noah (see below). Chs. i-v. appear to be an introduction written by the final editor of the entire work. The problem in this section is the origin of evil, which is traced to the fall of the Watchers. There is no Messiah; God Himself is to abide with men (xxv. 3); all the Gentiles will become righteous and worship God (x. 21); the righteous are admitted to the tree of life and live patriarchal lives with very material joys and blessings.
Section ii.: The Parables (formerly known as ‘the Similitudes’)
There are three Parables (xxxviii.-xliv., xlv.-lvii., lviii.-lxix.), while xxxvii. forms an introduction, and lxx. a conclusion to them. Ch. lxxi. belongs to the Third Parable. There are many interpolations. Some are from the Book of Noah-lx., lxv-lxix. 25 confessedly, and probably xxxix. 1-2, liv. 7-Leviticus 2 as well. Behind the Parables proper lie two sources, as Beer (Kautzsch’s Apok. and Pseud. ii. 227) has shown: one deals with the ‘Son of Man’-xl. 3-7, xlvi-xlviii. 7, lii. 3-4, lxi. 3-4, lxii. 2-lxiii., lxix. 26-29, lxx-lxxi., and has ‘the angel who went with me’ as Enoch’s interpreter; the other deals with ‘the Elect One’-xxxviii-xxxix., xl. 1-2, 8-10, xli. 1-2, 9, xlv., xlviii. 8-10, l-lii. 1-2, 5-9, liii-liv. 6, Leviticus 3 -lvii., lxi. 1-2, 5-13, lxii. l, and has the ‘angel of peace’ as interpreter of the vision (so Charles, Enoch, p. 65). Only the former source attributes pre-existence to the Son of Man (xlviii. 2). This section is full of peculiar features, e.g. ‘Lord of Spirits’ as a Divine title; Phanuel replaces Uriel as the fourth archangel. The angelology is more developed: besides Cherubim, we have Seraphim, Ophannim, angels of power and of principalities. And so is the demonology: the origin of evil is traced back to the Satans and an original evil spirit-world. The Messiah is eternally pre-existent, and all judgment is committed to Him. The date of this section appears to lie between 95 and 64 b.c. and probably between 95 and 79. ‘The kings and the mighty’ are evidently the later Maccabaean princes and their Sadducaean supporters. The mighty cannot refer to the Romans; it must refer to the Sadducaean nobles, who did not support the Herods. The problem is the oppression of the righteous by the kings and mighty, and the solution consists in a vision of the coming liberator and vindicator, the Messiah of supernatural power and privilege.
Section iii.: The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries
Chs. lxxii-lxxviii., lxxxii., lxxxix. are original to this section; lxxx. and lxxxi. are interpolations. The conceptions at times approach those of i-xxxvi., but the points of divergence are very numerous. The date is not ascertainable. The object is to establish the solar year of 364 days as a Divine law revealed as early as the time of Enoch (lxxiv. 12 as emended. Cf. Jub. vi, 32-36).
Section iv.: The Dream Visions
There is only one interpolation-xc. 14b, xc. 13-15 and xc. 16-18 are doublets. There is close agreement with and evident knowledge of vi-xi., but no dependence on them. The conceptions are more spiritual and developed. The date would be before 161 b.c., as Judas Maccabaeus is still warring (xc. 13); the end is expected to be about 140 b.c., as the fourth period of twelve shepherds would end then. The problem is the continued depression of Israel after the Return, which is attributed to the neglect of its seventy angelic guardians.
Section v.-This section really commences with xcii. 1 (see heading), and the original order of the first four chapters was xcii., xci. 1-10, 18-19, xciii. 1-10, xci. 12-17, xciv.; of these xciii. 1-10, xci. 12-17 form the short ‘Apocalypse of Weeks.’ There is a close resemblance throughout xci-civ. to i-xxxvi., in phrases, references, and ideas, but the divergences are not less numerous (see Charles, p. 219ff.). The righteous alone rise, and in spirit only, not in body, to walk in eternal light in heaven. Contrast the crude materialism of i-xxxvi. The date is determined by the interpretation we put on ciii. 14, 15-‘the rulers … did not remove from us the yoke of those that devonred us and dispersed us and murdered us.’ If the massacre of the Pharisees by John Hyrcanus is meant, the date must be later than that year-94 b.c., (cf. Parables). Otherwise, 104-95 b.c. (so Charles). The problem is ethical (the seeming impunity of the prosperous wicked-who, however, at death descend to Sheol and the name for ever), not national, as in lxxxiii-xc.
cv.-An independent Messianic fragment; cvi-cvii.-part of the earlier Book of Noah; cviii. presupposes i-xxxvi. and xci-civ., and is later in date, and strongly ascetic, if not Essene, in tone.
Book of Noah.-Scattered through the work we find a series of more or less fragmentary passages-vi-xi., liv. 7-Leviticus 2, lx., lxv-lxix. 25, cvi-cvii., and probably xxix. 1, 2a)-which generally refer to Noah and the Deluge. Their inclusion appears to be due to the final editor, who forced into what are often awkward contexts fragments of this earlier work, or series of works, which we also know from Jub. vii. 20-39, x. 1-15, xxi, 10.
5. The text.-The text is not extant in the original Semitic form, but we possess a Greek translation of a part, and an Ethiopic version of the whole.
(1) The Greek version exists in duplicate to some extent. (a) The superior in point of text is to be found in Syncellus (Chronographia, ed. Dind. i. 20-23, etc.), who quotes vi-x. 14, xv. 8-xvi. 1, and also gives viii. 4-ix. 4 in variant form. He also gives a quotation ‘from the first book of Enoch concerning the watchers’ (ed. Dind. i.-47) which does not occur in our present text. (b) The longer but less accurate text for i-xxxii. (and xix. 3-xxi. 9 in duplicate) was discovered in 1886-7 at Akhmîm, and published by Bouriant in 1892. Another fragment, in tachygraphic characters, exists in a Vatican Greek manuscript -no. 1809 (see at end of this article ).
(2) The Ethiopic version, which is a translation from the Greek, is known in 29 Manuscripts , of which 15 are in England. The best are numbered gg1 mqtu in Charles’s Ethiopic text (q.v. [Note: quod vide, which see.] ). This text is inferior to that of the Syncellus Greek and is much nearer to that of the Akhmîm Fragment (known generally as the ‘Gizeh Greek’).
(3) The Latin version is a mere fragment, cvi. 1-18, discovered in 1893 by M. R. James in the British Museum. and published by him in that year in Texts and Studies ii. 3.
(4) The quotations, both Greek and Latin, except for those in Syncellus, add little to the restoration of the true text. See Lawlor, article in Journal of Philology, xxv. [1897] 164-225, and Charles’s Introductions under ‘Influence on Patristic Literature’ in his two recent editions.
6. Original language.-The original language is now admitted to be Semitic-either Hebrew or Aramaic. Chs. vi-xxxvi. were almost certainly in Aramaic. The transliterations φουκά (xviii.8), μανδοβαρά (xxviii. 1), and βαβδηρά (xxix. 1), all show the Aramaic termination; while in vi. 7 and viii. 3 the proper names are only appropriate in Aramaic. To the rest of the book (except lxxxiii-xc, which was possibly in Aramaic) Charles unhesitatingly assigns a Hebrew original, In xxxvii-lxxi. Schmidt (OT and Semitic Studies, 1908, ii. 336-343) argues for Aramaic, but is answered by Charles.
7. Poetical element.-This bulks largely in 1 Enoch, but was first recognized by Charles, who Prints it in verse form in his two recent editions. Its recognition is of use in helping at times to restore the true order, and at times to excise dittographs.
8. Influence on NT
(1) Diction and ideas.-(a) The Epistle of St. Jude is remarkable for containing, with the possible exception of 2 Timothy 3:8, the only two direct citations from pseudepigraphs in the NT. And of those two citations the only one made by name is from the Book of Enoch, which is quoted as though it possessed much the same authority as a canonical book of prophecy. It may be instructive to compare the words in Jude with the text of Enoch as restored by Charles:
| Judges 1:14-15 -Ἱδοὺ ἦλθεν Κύριος ἐν ἀγίαις μυριάσιν αὐτοῦ, ποιησαι κρίσιν κατὰ πάντων, καὶ ἐλέγξαι πάντας τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς | 1 En. i. 9-Ἰδοὺ ἔρχεται σὺν ταῖς μυρίασιν ἁγίαις αὐτοῦ, ποιῆσαι κρίσιν κατὰ πάντων, καὶ ἀπολέσαι πἀντας τοὑς ἀσεβεῖς. |
| περὶ πάντων τῶν ἔργων ἀσεβείας αὐτῶν ὧν ἠσεβησαν καὶ περὶ πάντων τῶν σκληρῶν ὧν ἐλάλησαν κατʼ αὐτοῦ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἀσεβεῖς | καὶ ἐλέγξαι πᾶσαν σάρκα περὶ πάντων ἔργων τῆς ἀσεβείας αὐτῶν ὧν ἠσέβησαν καὶ σκληρῶν ὧν ἐλάλησαν λόγων κατ αὐτοῦ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἀσεβεῖς. |
For the σκληροὶ λόγοι cf. 1 En. v. 4, xxvii. 2. Further, St. Jude’s description of Enoch as ‘the seventh from Adam’ is identical with that in the Noachic interpolation in the Parables (lx. 8).
The Epistle is full of reminiscences of Enoch. Cf. Judges 1:4, ‘denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ,’ with 1 En. xlviii. 10, ‘they have denied the Lord of Spirits and His Anointed’; Judges 1:6, ‘angels which … left their proper habitation,’ with 1 En. xii. 4, ‘the Watchers … who have left the high heaven, and xv. 7, ‘as for the spiritual ones or the heaven, in heaven is their dwelling’; Judges 1:6, ‘kept in everlasting hands under darkness unto the judgment of the great day,’ with 1 En. x. 4-6, ‘Bind Azazel … and cast him into the darkness … and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there for ever … and on the day of the great judgment he shall be cast into the fire,’ and x. 11, 12, ‘Bind Semjaza … bind them fast for seventy generations … till the judgment that is for ever and ever is consummated’; Judges 1:13, ‘wandering stars,’ with 1.En. xviii. 15, xxi. 2, 3, 6.
(b) 2 Peter is closely related to Jude, and 2 Peter 2:4 is more than an echo of Judges 1:6. The fuller details, indeed, may be due to 1 Enoch, while the juxtaposition of the first judgment on the angels in 2 Peter 2:4 with the Deluge in 2 Peter 2:5 is characteristic of 1 Enoch as it stands, especially in its Noachic interpolations, e.g. x. 1-16, lxv. 1-lxvii. 4. As Noah is called ‘a preacher of righteousness’ in 2 Peter 2:5, we might venture to assume that this title implies that he, and not Christ, was taken to be the preacher to the spirits in prison in 1 Peter 3:19 by the author of 2 Peter. If this be admitted, 1 Peter 3:19-20 might possibly be claimed as witnessing to the original form of the Noah Apocalypse in which it was not Enoch but Noah who was sent to reprimand the Watchers (see 1 En. xii. 1-4, ‘Enoch was hidden … and his activities had to do with the Watchers.… “Enoch, thou scribe of righteousness, go declare to the Watchers” ’). In support of this view we may note (α) that the references to the sin of the angels are all (except lxxxvi. 1) in Noachic passages; (β) that in defiance of chronology and the context the name ‘Noah’ has been altered to ‘Enoch’ in lx. 1; that ‘the longsuffering of God waited’ in 1 Peter 3:20 seems to echo 1 En. lx. 5, ‘until this day lasted His mercy; and He hath been merciful and longsuffering.…’ Cf. too lxvi. 2 and lxvii. 2, where angels hold the waters in check and other angels are constructing the ark, with 1 Peter 3:20, ‘while the ark was a-preparing.’ On the other hand, of course, there are great exegetical difficulties in 1 Peter 3:19-20 in the way of this view, though ‘the spirits … which aforetime were disobedient’ suggests angelic and not human offenders, and the prison of the angels is a commonplace in 1 En. (x. 4, 12, xix. 1, xxi. 10, lxvii. 4, etc.).
(c) In St. John’s First Epistle we have the frequent contrast between light and darkness so characteristic of 1 Enoch: e.g. 1 John 1:7 ‘walk in the light’ || 1 En. xcii. 4; 1 John 2:8 ‘the darkness is passing away’ || 1 En. lviii. 5. The warning in 1 John 2:15 ‘love not the world, neither the things that are in the world,’ has a close parallel in 1 En. cviii. 8, ‘loved not any of the good things which are in the world,’ and in xlviii. 7.
(d) For St. James’s woes against the rich (5:1-6), only paralleled in the NT by our Lord’s words on the danger of trusting to wealth, cf. 1 En. xlvi. 7, lxiii. 10, xciv. 8-11, xcvi. 4-8, xcvii. 8-10.
(e) The Book of Revelation is naturally full of Jewish apocalyptic phraseology and imagery, and parallels are abundant with 1 Enoch. (α) Angelology.-‘Seven (arch) angels’ (Revelation 8:2; ?Revelation 1:4; Revelation 4:5) || 1 En. xx. 1-8, xc. 21; ‘four living creatures’ (Revelation 4:6) || ‘four presences’ (1 En. xl. 2-9); ‘have no rest day and night’ (Revelation 4:8) || 1 En. xxxix. 13; angels offer men’s prayers to God (Revelation 8:3-4; cf. Revelation 5:8) || 1 En. ix. 1-3, xlvii. 2, xcix. 3; angels of winds (Revelation 7:1) and of waters (Revelation 16:5) || 1 En. lxix. 22. (β) Demonology.-‘A star from heaven fallen unto the earth’ (Revelation 9:1)-for phrase cf. 1 En. lxxxvi. 1; ‘Satan … accuser of our brethren … before our God’ (Revelation 12:9-10) || ‘Satans … before the Lord of Spirits … to accuse them who dwell on the earth’ (1 En. xl. 7); the false prophet ‘deceiveth them that dwell on the earth’ (Revelation 13:14) || the ‘hosts of Azazel … leading astray those who dwell on the earth’ (1 En. liv. 56); idolatry as demon worship (Revelation 9:20) || 1 En. xix. 1, xcix. 7. (γ) Boasting of rich.-‘I am rich and have gotten riches’ (Revelation 3:17) || ‘we have become rich with riches and have possessions’ (1 En. xcvii. 8). (δ) Stages of judgment.-Prayer of saints for vengeance (Revelation 6:10) || 1 En. xlvii. 2, etc.; terror of the kings and the great at the sight of ‘him that sitteth on the throne’ and at ‘the wrath of the Lamb’ (Revelation 6:16) || ‘when they see that Son of Man sitting on the throne of His glory’ (1 En. lxii. 5); the sinners’ blood rises to the horses’ bridles (Revelation 14:20) || to the horses’ breasts (1 En. c. 3); books opened (Revelation 20:12) || 1 En. xc. 20; book of life (Revelation 20:12) || books of the living (1 En. xlvii. 3); Satan bound for a thousand years (Revelation 20:2) and then cast into lake of fire (Revelation 20:10) || Semjaza and his associates bound for seventy generations (1 En. x. 12) and then led off to the abyss of fire (x. 13). (ε) Resurrection.-The sea, death, and Hades give up their dead (Revelation 20:13) || the earth, Sheol, and hell (1 En. li. 1), the desert and the sea (lxi. 5) restore their dead. (ζ) The future rewards of the righteous.-‘Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord’ (Revelation 14:13) || ‘Blessed is the man who dies in righteousness’ (1 En. lxxxi. 4); saints in white raiment (Revelation 3:5) || angels clothed in white (1 En. xc. 31) and saints (clad) in shining light (cviii. 12); ‘fountains of waters of life’ (Revelation 7:17) || a ‘bright spring of water’ (1 En. xxii. 9; cf. xlviii. 1); eat with Christ (Revelation 3:20) || ‘with that Son of Man shall they eat and lie down and rise up for ever’ (1 En. lxii. 14); sit on throne with Christ (Revelation 3:21; cf. Revelation 20:4) || ‘I will seat each on the throne of his honour’ (cviii. 12); Christ will spread His tabernacle over them (Revelation 7:15) || ‘I will cause my Elect One to dwell among them’ (1 En. xlv. 4); ‘no curse any more’ (Revelation 22:3) || ‘no sorrow or plague,’ etc. (1 En. xxv. 6).
(f) In Acts we have a parallel with 1 Enoch: Acts 10:4 ‘thy prayers … are gone up for a memorial before God’ || 1 En. xcix. 3 ‘raise your prayers as a memorial … before the Most High.’
(g) Hebrews.-With Hebrews 4:13; Hebrews cf.1 En. ix. 5 ‘all things are naked and open in thy sight, and thou seest all things and nothing can hide itself from thee’; cf. also Hebrews 11:10; Hebrews 12:22 (the heavenly Jerusalem built by God Himself) with 1 En. xc. 29; 11:5 refers to the translation of Enoch and understands ‘walked with God’ in Genesis 5:24 as ‘pleased God.’ Cf. 1 En. xv. 1.
(h) St. Paul’s Epistles.-1 Thessalonians 5:3 || 1 En. lxii. 4 ‘then shall pain come upon them as on a woman in travail’; Romans 8:38 (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:7, Ephesians 1:21, Colossians 1:16) || 1 En. lxi. 10 ‘angels of power and … of principalities.’ With 2 Corinthians 4:6; 2 Corinthians cf.1 En. xxxviii. 4 ‘the Lord of Spirits has caused his light to appear (so Charles) on the face of the holy, righteous, and elect’; 2 Corinthians 11:31 || 1 En. lxxvii. 1 ‘He who is blessed for ever’; Galatians 1:4 || 1 En. xlviii. 7 ‘this world of unrighteousness’; Philippians 2:10 || 1 En. xlviii. 5 ‘shall fall down and worship before him (= Son of Man)’; Colossians 2:3 || 1 En. xlvi. 3 ‘the Son of Man … who revealeth all the treasures of that which is hidden’; 1 Timothy 1:9 || 1 En. xciii. 4 ‘a law shall be made for the sinners’; 1 Timothy 1:15 || 1 En. xciv. 1 ‘worthy of acceptation’: 1 Timothy 5:21 || 1 En. xxxix. 1; 1 Timothy 6:16 || 1 En. xiv. 21 ‘none of the angels could enter and could behold his face by reason of the magnificence and glory, and no flesh could behold him.’
(i) NT in general.-Phrases which recur in the NT are ‘Lord of lords and King of kings’ (1 En. ix. 4, Revelation 17:14; cf. 1 Timothy 6:15); ‘holy angels’ (1 En. lxxi. 1, etc., Revelation 14:10, etc.; cf. Acts 10:22); ‘the generation of light’ (1 En. cviii. 11): cf. Ephesians 5:8 ‘children of light,’ 1 Thessalonians 5:5 ‘sons of light’ (so Luke 16:8, John 12:36).
(2) Theology
(a) The Messiah.-The ‘Son of Man’ in the Parables is pre-existent: ‘before the sun and the signs were created, before the stars of the heaven were made, his name was named before the Lord of Spirits’ (xlviii. 3), ‘for this reason hath he been chosen and hidden before him, before the creation of the world and for evermore’ (xlviii. 6), ‘for from the beginning the Son of Man was hidden, and the Most High preserved him in the presence of his might, and revealed him to the elect’ (lxii. 7; cf. xxxix. 6, 7, xlvi. 1-3). For ‘before the creation’ cf. Colossians 1:17, and for ‘from the beginning’ cf. John 1:1, 1 John 1:1, Revelation 1:17; Revelation 21:6; Revelation 22:13, and for ‘revealed’ cf. 1 Timothy 3:16, 1 John 3:5; 1 John 3:8, and esp. 1 Peter 1:20. He is a supernatural being. In Daniel 7:13 the ‘one like unto a son of man’ is brought before God and dominion is bestowed on him. In 1 En. xxxix. 6, 7, xlvi. 1, 2, lxii. 7 the ‘Son of Man’ is with God (cf. John 1:1) and will sit on His throne (li. 3). He is the ideally Righteous One (xxxviii. 2)-‘the Righteous and Elect One (liii. 6; cf. xlvi. 3); cf. Acts 3:14; Acts 7:52; Acts 22:14; 1 John 2:1. He is the Elect (xl. 5, xlv. 3, 4, xlix. 2, 4, etc.); cf. Luke 9:35; Luke 23:35; the Anointed or Christ (xlviii. 10, lii. 4). He has all knowledge (xlvi. 3, xlix. 2, 4), all wisdom (xlix. 1, 3, li. 3), all dominion (lxii. 6; cf. Matthew 28:18). ‘The sum of judgment’ is ‘given unto the Son of Man’ (lxix. 27; cf. John 5:22; John 5:27). God ‘appoints a judge for them all and he judges them all before Him’ (xli. 9; cf. Acts 17:31). He judges both men and angels (li. 2, Leviticus 4, lxi. 8, lxii. 2, 3). He is Vindicator of the righteous (but not redeemer of mankind). He has ‘preserved the lot of the righteous’ (xlviii. 7) and will be ‘the hope of those who are troubled of heart’ (xlviii. 4). He has been revealed to the righteous (lxii. 7) and in due time will ‘cause the house of his congregation to appear’ (liii. 6). Outside the Parables God Himself is the Judge (cf. 1 Peter 1:17, Revelation 20:12); in the Parables it is the Son of Man (cf. 1 Peter 4:5, Revelation 6:16-17; Copyright Statement
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