the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Encyclopedias
Enoch
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (Hebrews Chanok', חֲנוֹךְ, initiated; according to Philo, De poet. Caini, § 11, from חֵן, with the suffix ךָ = חִנֵּךְ [ἑρμηνευεται Ε᾿νὼχ χάρις σου ], i.e., thy favor; Sept. and N.T. Ε᾿νώχ, Josephus ῎Ανωχος, Vulg. Henoch), the name of several men.
1. The eldest son of Cain (Genesis 4:17), who called the city which he built after his name (Genesis 4:18). B.C. post 4041. It is there described as being east of Eden, in the land of Nod, to which Cain retired after the murder of his brother. (See NOD). Ewald (Gesch. 1:356, note) fancies that there is a reference to the Phrygian Iconium, in which city a legend of "Αννακος was preserved, evidently derived from the biblical ac count of the father of Methuselah (Steph. Byz. s.v. Ι᾿κόνιον; Suid. s.v. Νάννακος ). Other places have been identified with the site of Enoch with little probability; e.g. Anuchta (Ptolemy, 6:3, 5) in Susiana, the Heniochi (Ptolemy, 5:9, 25; Strabo, 11:492; Pliny, 6:10, 12) in the Caucasus, etc. (Huetius, De Paradiso, c. 17; Hasse, Entdeckung, 2:35; Gotter, De Henochia urbe, Jen. 1705 [of little value]; Sticht, De urbe Hanochia, Jen. 1727).
2. Another antediluvian patriarch, the son of Jared and father of Methuselah (Genesis 5:21 sq.; Luke 3:28 : in 1 Chronicles 1:3, the name is Anglicized "Henoch"). — B.C. 3550-3185. He was born when Jared, was 162 years old, and after the birth of his eldest son in his 65th year he lived 300 years. From the period of 365 years assigned to his life, Ewald (Isrl. desch. 1:356), with very little probability, regards him as "the god of the new year," but the number may have been not without influence on the later traditions which assigned to Enoch the discovery of the science of astronomy (ἀστρολογία, Eupolemus ap. Euseb. Praep. Ev. 9:17, where he is identified with Atlas). After the birth of Methuselah it is said (Genesis 5:22-24) that Enoch "walked with God 300 years ... and he was not; for God took him" (לָקִח ). The phrase "walked with God" (הַתְהִלֵּךְ אֶתאּה אֵֹלהַים ) is elsewhere only used of Noah (Genesis 6:9; comp. Genesis 17:1, etc.), and is to be explained of a prophetic life spent in immediate converse with the spiritual world (Book of Enoch, 12:2, "All his action was with the holy ones, and with the watchers during his life"). There is no farther mention of Enoch in the O.T., but in Ecclesiasticus (49:14) he is brought forward as one of the peculiar glories (οὐδὲ ε ‹ ς ἐκτίσθη ο ‹ ος Ε᾿ .) of the Jews, for he was taken up (ἀνελήφθη, Alex. μετετέθη ) from the earth. "He pleased the Lord and was translated [Vulg. into Paradise], being a pattern of repentance" (Sirach 44:14). In the Epistle to the Hebrews the spring and issue of Enoch's life are clearly marked. "By faith Enoch was translated (μετετέθη ), that he should not see death . . for before his translation (μετάθεσις ) he had this testimony, that he pleased God." The contrast to this divine judgment is found in: the constrained words of Josephus: " Enoch departed to the Deity (ἀνεχώρησε πρὸς τὸ θεῖον ), whence [the sacred writers] have not recorded his death" (Ant. 1:3, 4). In the Epistle of Jude, Judges 1:14; (comp. Enoch 60:8) he is described as " the seventh from Adam;" and the number is probably noticed as conveying the idea of divine completion and rest (comp. August. c. Faust. 12:14), while Enoch was himself a type of perfected humanity, "a man raised to heaven by pleasing God, while angels fell to earth by transgression" (Ireneus, 4:16, 2). Elijah was in like manner translated; and thus was the doctrine of immortalitypalpably taught under the ancient dispensation.
The biblical notices of Enoch were a fruitful source of speculation in later times. Some theologians disputed with subtilty as to the place to which he was removed, whether it was to Paradise or to the iimmedLate presence of God (comp. Feuardentius, ad Iren. 5:5), though others more wisely declined to discuss the question (Thilo, Cod. Apocr. N.T. page 758). On other points there was greater unanimity. Both the Latin and Greek fathers commonly couple Enoch and Elijah as historic witnesses of the possibility of a resurrection of the body and of a true human existence in glory (Iren. 4:5, 1; Tertull. de Resurr. Carn. page 58; Jerome, c. Joan. Hierosol. § 29, 32, pages 437, 440); and the voice of early ecclesiastical tradition is almost unanimous in regarding them as "the two witnesses" (Revelation 11:3 sq.) who should fall before "the beast," and afterwards be raised to heaven before the great judgment (Hippol. Fragm. in Daniel 22; de Antichr. 43, Cosmas Indic. page 75, ap. Thilo, κατὰ τὴν ἐκκλησιαστικὴν παράδοσιν; Tertull. de Anima, page 59; Amzbros. in Psalms 45:4; Evang. Nicod. c. 25, on which 'Thilo has almost exhausted the question, Cod. Apoc. N.T. page 765 sq.). This belief removed a serious difficulty which was supposed to attach to their translation, for thus it was made clear that they would at last discharge the common debt of a sinful humanity, from which they were not exempted by their glorious removal from the earth (Tertull de Anima, 1.c.; August. Op. imp. c. Jul. 6:30). In later times Enoch was celebrated as the inventor of writing, arithmetic, and astronomy (Euseb. Prcp. Ev. 9:17). He is said to have filled 300 books with the revelations which he received, and is commonly identified with Edris (i.e., the learned), who is commemorated in the Koran (cap. 19) as one "exalted [by God] to a high place" (comp. Sale, ad loc.; Hottinger, Hist. Orient. page 30 sq.). Visions sand prophecies were commonly ascribed to him, which he is said to have arranged in a book. This book was delivered to his son, and preserved by Noah in the ark. After the Flood it was made known to the world, and handed down from one generation to another (see Yuchasin, f. 134; Eusebius, Hist. Ecclesiastes 7:32; Cedren. Hist. page 9; Barhebr. Chron. page 5). But these traditions were probably due to the apocryphal book "which bears his name (comp. Fabric. Cod. Pseudep. V.T. 1:215 sq.). See below. Some (Buttm. Mythol. 1:176 sq.; Ewald, 1.c.) have found a trace of the history of Enoch in the Phrygian legend of Annacus (῎Αννακος, Νάννακος ), who was distinguished for his piety, lived 300 years, and predicted the deluge of Deucalion. See Heber, De pietate et fatis Enochi (Bamb. 1789); Bredenkamp, in Paulus, Memor. 2:152; Danz, in Meuschen's N.T. Talm. Page 722; Schmieder, Comment. in Galatians 3:19 (Nurnbn, 1826), page 23; Buddei Hist. Ecclesiastes V.T. 1:162; Drusius, De Henoch, in the Crit. Sacri. 1, 2; Pfeiffer, Decas select. exerc. page 12; D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Or. 1:624; Robertson, The Prophet Enoch (Lond. 1860); Pfaff, De raptu Henochi (Tub. 1739); Hall, Works, 11:185; Alexander, Hist. Ecclesiastes 1:142; Calmet, Commentary, 8:10, 27; Hunter, Sacred Biog. page 24 sq.; Robinson, Script. Char. 1; Rudge, Lect. on Genesis 1:72; Evans, Script. Biog. 3:1; Kitto, Bible Illust. 1:123; Bell, Enoch's Walk (Lond. 1658); Heidegger, Hist. Patriarcharum, i; Saurin, Disc. 1:65; Boston, Sermons, 1:230; Doddridge, Works, 3:329; Slade, Sermons, 2:447; Williams, Sermons, 2:367.
3. The third son of Midian, and grandson of Abraham by Keturah (Genesis 25:4, A.V. "Hanoch;" 1 Chronicles 1:33, "Henoch"). B.C. post 1988.
4. The eldest son of Reuben (A.V. "Hanoch," Genesis 46:9; Exodus 6:14; 1 Chronicles 5:3), from whom came "the family of the Hanochites" (Numbers 26:5). B.C. 1873.
5. In 2 Esdras 6:49; 2 Esdras 6:51, "Enoch" stands in the Lat. (and Eng.) version for one of the two famous amphibious monsters, doubtless correctly Behemoth in the Ethiopic.
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Enoch'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/e/enoch.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
