Apocalyptic Literature (II) The Book of Enoch

The Biblical Enoch

Enoch (Hebrew: ha?no?kh) is a name occurring twice in the generations of Adam. In one, he is described as having had a city named after him, but it is the other occurrence for which the name is famous. Despite the fame, the second mention of the name merely says that “Enoch walked with God, and was not, for God took him” – (Genesis 5:24) , that he lived 365 years, and was an ancestor of Noah. Other mention of him is in Ecclesiasticus (Wisdom of Ben Sirah) 44:16 – “Enoch pleased the Lord, and was translated, being an example of repentance to all generations” . Despite the brief description, its highly esoteric nature lead Enoch to be one of the main two focal points for much of the 1st millennium BC Jewish mysticism In Islam, he is usually referred to as Idris, and regarded as a prophet, and the great-grandfather of Noah (referred to as Nuh).

In classical Rabbinical literature, there are divergent opinions of Enoch. After Christianity and Judaism had completely separated, the prevailing view regarding Enoch was that of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, which thought of Enoch as a pious man, taken to heaven, and receiving the title of Safra rabba (Great scribe). However, while Christianity was in the process of detaching itself from Judaism, the Jewish view was often highly negative. In these views, for example held by Abbahu, Rashi, and Ibn Ezra, Enoch was held to frequently lapse in his piety, and thus removed before his time, by a divine plague, in order to avoid further lapses.

Amongst the minor Midrashim, esoteric attributes of Enoch are expanded upon. In the Sefer Hekalot, Rabbi Ishmael is described as having visited the 7th heaven, where he meets Enoch, who claims that earth had, in his time, been corrupted by the demons Shammazai, and Azael, and so Enoch was taken to heaven to prove that God was not cruel. Similar traditions are recorded in Ecclesiasticus. Later elaboration of this interpretation treated Enoch as having been a pious ascetic, who, called to remix with others, preached repentance, and gathered (despite the fewness of people on the earth) a vast collection of disciples, to the extent that he was proclaimed king. Under his wisdom, peace is said to have reigned on earth, to the extent that he is summoned to heaven to rule over the sons of God. In a parallel with Elijah, in sight of a vast crowd begging him to stay, he ascends to heaven on a horse. In the Christian Bible (New Testament), the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews says:

 ”By faith Enoch was transferred, that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had transferred him; for before his transference he had the witness that he had pleased God well.” (Hebrews 11:5)

Jude (1:14-15) cites a passage from the Book of Enoch which has much perplexed interpreters. The question is whether Jude took this passage from any book written by Enoch, which might be extant in his time, or whether he received it by tradition or by revelation. It is most probable that he read it in a book attributed to Enoch, which though pseudepigraphal, might contain several truths; among others, this might be one which Jude favored with a supernatural degree of discrimination and might use for the purpose of instruction.Justin, Athenagoras, Irenaeus, Clemens Alexandrinus, Lactantius, and other borrowed an opinion out of this book of Enoch, that the angels had connection with the daughters of men, of whom they had offspring (’the giants of the past). Tertullian, in several places, speaks of this book with esteem; and would persuade us, that it was preserved by Noah during the deluge. It has, however, been rejected by the church, and Origen, Jerome and Augustin, mention it as of no authority. Specimens of an Ethiopian work known as the Book of Enoch have been brought into Europe, and translations of parts of it have been published. It should seem to be founded, as to its historical tenor, on the Mosaic history of the antediluvians, and the judgments that might naturally be expected to follow such enormous wickedness, violence, temerities and overeating, as were then practiced by the giants, or people in power. Some consider Enoch to be one of the Two Witnesses in the Book of Revelation due to the fact that he did not die according to Genesis 5:24.

Other Views about  Enoch 

Several scholars, beginning with Halévy, Cheyne, and Black, have proposed that the name Daniel, in the somewhat esoteric Ezekiel, was originally Enoch, and was emended after the Book of Daniel was written to shore up its authority. Ezekiel’s use of the name Daniel is regarded as unusual, as far as linguistic features, such as grammatical usage, go, and has lead many, even amongst apologists, to suppose that that Ezekiel’s Daniel and that of the Book of Daniel are different figures. Ezekiel’s Daniel is described as being known for his wisdom, and righteousness, attributes that would fit well if the original script named him as Enoch.

After the discovery of  Dead Sea scrolls at Qumran, some scholars speculate the possibility that the scrolls of Qumran are a kind of heritage from a specific Enochic/Essene sec.  In a book named “Beyond the Essene Hypothesis”, Gabriele Boccaccini  refines his model of Middle (Second Temple period, a.n) Judaism to include two priestly Judaic traditions, the Zadokite and the Enochic, the former inaugurating a trajectory that issues, after various transformations, in the post-70 emergence of Rabbinism and the latter serving as the matrix of the Essene movement, its Qumranian offshoot, and, ultimately, of early Christianity. From this perspective, Christianity ceases to be regarded as a new religion distinct from, but indebted to, earlier movements in Judaism; rather, it is the continuation and culmination of the Enochic tradition, with a Judaic pedigree no less authentic and ancient than that of the Rabbinic movement’s roots in the Zadokite tradition.

Boccacicni based her assumptions on the very precarious idea that some Jews adopted Enochian tradition in Babylon during the Exile and brought it back to Judea when Cyrus gave them leave to Return. The priesthood in Jerusalem detested the Enochian Jews, and they were forced to ‘flee’ into the desert before 300 BCE. Naturally, they supported the Maccabees during the uprising of 165 BCE. The Enochians at Qumran ‘updated’ the text to include Judah the Hammer (Maccabee) in the big story.”

Other scholar (in our opinion, more anchored in actual findings) James C. VanderKam    in his  book “The Books of Enoch: Sumerian Mithology?” conclude that the Enochic literature appeals to a myth of great evil and punishment in ancient times and calls on people to be righteous because another judgment is coming. That righteousness is apparently defined in Enoch’s writings, not in the Mosaic Law. In other words, the appeal here is to a much earlier time in history, before the division of nations. Was Enoch chosen to make a wider appeal than Moses who lived after the nation of Israel had begun does? There is ample reason for believing that the biblical and pseudepigraphic Enoch is a reflection of Mesopotamian traditions about the seventh antediluvian king Enmeduranki of Sippar, a king who was associated with the sun god and with divination. Enoch, the seventh pre-flood patriarch in the Bible, taught a solar calendar and received revelations about the future through mantic means such as symbolic dreams.

In the Hellenistic period, the Greeks declare that Enoch is the same as Mercury Trismegistus [Hermes], and that he taught the sons of men the art of building cities, and enacted some admirable laws. He discovered the knowledge of the Zodiac, and the course of the Planets; and he pointed out to the sons of men, that they should worship God, that they should fast, that they should pray, that they should give alms, votive offerings, and tenths. He reprobated abominable foods and drunkenness, and appointed festivals for sacrifices to the Sun, at each of the Zodiacal Signs.

Following the Hellenistic ideas of his time, Josephus Flavius  a hellenized Jew but a great historian writes that Adam had forewarned his descendants that sinful humanity would be destroyed by a deluge. In order to preserve their science and philosophy, the children of Seth therefore raised two pillars; one of brick and the other of stone, on which were inscribed the keys to their knowledge.

The children of Seth “also were the inventors of that peculiar sort of wisdom which is concerned with the heavenly bodies, and their order. And that their inventions might not be lost before they were sufficiently known, upon Adam’s prediction that the world was to be destroyed at one time by the force of fire, and at another time by the violence and quantity of water, they made two pillars, the one of brick, the other of stone: they inscribed their discoveries on them both, that in case the pillar of brick should be destroyed by the flood, the pillar of stone might remain, and exhibit those discoveries to mankind; and also inform them that there was another pillar of brick erected by them. Now this remains in the land of Siriad to this day. Fla. Josephus, “Antiquities of the Jews”  Bk I, Ch II, Sn 3

Finally the Masons adopt the Josephus story into Masonic lore, Enoch was the inventor of writing, “that he taught men the art of building”, and that, before the flood, he “feared that the real secrets would be lost – to prevent which he concealed the grand Secret, engrave on a white oriental porphyry stone, in the bowels of the earth . Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia

 With this kind of references and controversial opinions it is almost clear why the Enochic Literature remain for the Jews and Christian an apocrypha, one of the most interesting and probably one of the important.