Introduction to the Book of Enoch

The Book of Enoch the Prophet with Commentary

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The Book of Enoch (also referred to as the Ethiopian Enoch or 1 Enoch) was once accepted by Jews and Christians as an authentic book, perhaps even on the level of Scripture or at least near Scripture, because Jude quotes from it; "14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: 'See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.'" This quote is from Enoch 1:9 in some editions, but chapter 2:1 of the original English edition.

Many phrases and concepts in the New Testament are very similar to those found in Enoch. "There is abundant proof that Christ approved of the Book of Enoch. Over a hundred phrases in the New Testament find precedents in the Book of Enoch" (http://reluctant-messenger.com/enoch.htm). In Luke 9:35, buried under the King James Translation, is an important concept of the Book of Enoch, that of the "Elect One": "And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, 'This is my beloved Son: hear him."

Apparently the translator here wished to make this verse agree with a similar verse in Matthew and Mark. But Luke's verse in the original Greek reads: "This is my Son, the Elect One (from the Greek ho eklelegmenos, lit., "the elect one"): hear him." (http://reluctant-messenger.com/enoch.htm)

"Elect" means "chosen." Most modern translations reflect this meaning, through translation; "This is my Son, whom I have chosen" (NIV); "My chosen one" (NAS); "whom I have chosen" (Today's English Version). The term, "Elect One" is found fourteen times in Enoch and is one of the key concepts of the book.

The writers of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs and the Book of Jubilees must have been familiar with the Book of Enoch, and the writer of the Epistle of Barnabas actually mentioned the book and quoted from it twice (4:3, 16:5,6).

Many of the early church fathers also believed in the Book of Enoch. Justin Martyr said demons are the authors of all evil and that they are the offspring of fallen angels and humans (Genesis 6), which was taken directly from Enoch.

Athenagoras wrote about fallen angels in his work, Legatio about 170 A.D., which comes from Enoch and he regards Enoch as a true prophet. Many other church fathers such as Tatian (110-172); Irenaeus (130?-202?), Bishop of Lyons (115-185); Clement of Alexandria (150-220); Tertullian (160-230) called Enoch "Holy Scripture"; Origen (186-255); Lactantius (260-330). Methodius of Philippi, Minucius Felix, Commodianus, and Ambrose also sanctioned the Book of Enoch, even Augustine.

According to the introduction of the 1883 edition of Enoch, Origen considered it on the same level as Psalm. Some people believe that Origen did not accept Enoch but he uses so much of its ideas that he must have accepted it. Origen said--

"We are not to suppose that a special office has been assigned by mere accident to a particular angel: as to Raphael, the work of curing and healing; to Gabriel, the direction of wars; to Michael, the duty of hearing the prayers and supplications of men." (De Principiis, chapter 8)

Origen could only have gotten his ideas on angels from Enoch. Archbishop Laurence, the translator of Enoch, believed that the writers of Jewish mystical book, the Zohar, must have possessed a copy of Enoch and he connects many passages of the Zohar with Enoch.

There was a book written in the 1800s called "Nineveh and Babylon" by a Mr. Layard, in which he says cups and bowls were found covered with inscriptions. These inscriptions were deciphered by Thomas Ellis of the Manuscript Department in the British Museum. The inscriptions served as charms against evil spirits, diseases, calamity, and sudden death. They were composed in Chaldean mixed with Hebrew words, but combined characters of Syriac and Palmyrene with the ancient Phoenician. These cups and bowls are believed to have belonged to descendents of Jews who were taken captive to Babylon.

"But the most important revelation attained through these discoveries of Mr. Layard lies in the interesting fact, mentioned in his work, that the names of the angels inscribed on these cups, and those recorded in the Book of Enoch, are, in many instances identical, so that no doubt remains as to the Hebrew-Caldee origin of that great Semitic work." (Laurence, Intoduction, p 14)

Though it was once a respected book, because of its controversial statements about fallen angels, it fell into disfavor among certain powerful theologians in the fourth century and banned at the Council of Laodicea.

The theme of the Book of Enoch dealing with the nature and deeds of the fallen angels so infuriated the later Church fathers that one, Filastrius, actually condemned it openly as heresy (Filastrius, Liber de Haeresibus, no. 108). Nor did the rabbis deign to give credence to the book's teaching about angels. Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai in the second century A.D. pronounced a curse upon those who believed it (Delitzsch, p. 223).


So the book was denounced, banned, cursed, no doubt burned and shredded–and last but not least, lost (and conveniently forgotten) for a thousand years. But with an uncanny persistence, the Book of Enoch found its way back into circulation two centuries ago. (John, www.bible2000.org/lostbooks/enochs2.htm)

The Book of Enoch which we have today was found by Scottish explorer James Bruce in 1773 in Abyssinia (Ethiopia). It was esteemed as an inspired book by the Ethiopian church, right along with the Bible. The book was translated into English by Dr. Richard Laurence, a Hebrew professor at Oxford, and first published in 1821.

There are several key concepts in Enoch are found in the New Testament, including Son of Man, the Elect One, Paradise, hell, and a coming day of judgment by fire. There is so much in it that is similar to the New Testament, that when it was rediscovered by Bruce it was alledged that Enoch was written by Christians. Then fragments of several different Enochian manuscripts were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, Qumran Cave 4. Now scholars believe the Book of Enoch was written during the 2nd or 3rd century B.C., but there is actually no proof of that because we only have copies of copies of copies which are translations from other languages. It is my firm belief that most of the book is actually the words of Enoch, but someone added a few stories about other persons and changed the name of the principle person to Enoch.

"1 Enoch, preserved in a full, 108-chapter form in Ethiopic, consists of five parts and one appended chapter. It originated in Aramaic (perhaps Hebrew for chaps. 37-71), was translated into Greek, and from Greek into Ethiopic."
- James C. Vanderkam (Professor of Hebrew Scriptures at the University of Notre Dame)


"The Aramaic Book of Enoch...very considerably influenced the idiom of the New Testament and patristic literature, more so in fact than any other writing of the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha."
- Norman Golb, Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?, (1995) p. 366

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