William J. Deane · 4 of 16

The Book of Enoch · Part 1

In the Epistle of St. Jude the following passage occurs (vers. 14, 15): “And to these also, Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have ungodly wrought, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” The question immediately arises, Is the apostle quoting from some writing extant in his day, or citing merely a prophecy preserved by tradition? The language does not help to a solution of the inquiry. Jude writes: “Enoch προεφήτευσε . . . λέγων.” This might be said equally of an actual quotation or of a traditional report. But when it was discovered that the Fathers and other early writers often referred to a writing of Enoch and quoted sentences therefrom, it was obvious that they were acquainted with some document which bore the patriarch’s name, and which was extensively known in early Christian centuries. Thus, in the Epistle of Barnabas (as it is called), a work composed at the end of the first Christian century, we read (iv. 3): “The final stumbling-block hath approached, concerning which it is written, as Enoch says, For to this end the Lord hath shortened the times and the days, that His beloved may hasten and come into the inheritance.” In the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs and in the Book of Jubilees, the words of Enoch are frequently cited, and the resemblances to passages in our work are numerous. In the former, at least, nine passages contain distinct references to Enoch’s prophetical writings; and in the latter not only is the book often used without acknowledgment, but it is also expressly mentioned. Justin Martyr does not quote it by name, but his views concerning the angels and their connection with man are plainly identical with and derived from this book. That Irenæus made use of it is evident. Thus he says: “Enoch also, pleasing God without circumcision, man though he was, discharged the office of legate towards the angels,” a fact nowhere mentioned but in our work; “and was translated, and is preserved still as witness of the just judgment of God” (chaps. xiv., xv.). Tertullian seems to have regarded it as inspired. “These things,” he writes, “the Holy Ghost, foreseeing from the beginning the future entrance of superstitions, foretold by the mouth of the ancient seer Enoch.” He adopts Enoch’s story of the fall of the angels (which, indeed, is common to other of the Pseudepigrapha), and their introduction of mechanical arts, sorcery, and astrology; and while acknowledging that it was not received into the Jewish Canon (armarium Judaicum), he endeavours to show how it could have been preserved in the Deluge and handed down to Christian times, and that it was rejected by the Jews because it too plainly testified of Christ. Origen took a lower view of its authority, but he refers to it more than once, using its language and adopting the ideas, as emanating from one of the greatest of prophets. Clement of Alexandria regards it with a certain respect while denying its inspiration. “I must confess,” says St. Augustine, “that some things of Divine character were written by Enoch, the seventh from Adam, since this is testified by the Apostle Jude in his canonical Epistle; but they are deservedly excluded from the Jewish Scriptures, because they lack authority and cannot be proved genuine.” In the Apostolic Constitutions the book, is reckoned among Apocrypha, and it is placed in the same category in the Synopsis Athanasii and the Catalogue of Nicephorus. By the fifth century the book seems to have sunk out of sight, and little or nothing more was heard of it till Scaliger (1540–1609) discovered some fragments of it in an unpublished MS. of the Chronographia of Georgius Syncellus (A.D. 792), and printed them. The extracts are given by Fabricius, by Laurence and Dillmann, and of them all but one are found in our present text of Enoch. The exception is a short passage about the doom pronounced on the mountain where the angels made their impious conspiracy, and on the sons of men involved in their crime. The extracts in Syncellus’ work tend to show that the Book of Enoch was extant in the Eastern Church for some time after it had practically disappeared from the Western. That the book was also in the hands of the Jews of medieval times has been proved by references in the Zohar, a kind of philosophical commentary upon the law, which contains the most ancient remains of the Cabala. Thus we read: “The Holy and the Blessed One raised him (Enoch) from the world to serve Him, as it is written, ’For God took him.’ From that time a book was delivered down which was called the Book of Enoch. In the hour that God took him, He showed him all the repositories above; He showed him the tree of life in the midst of the garden, its leaves and its branches. We see all in his book.” And again, “We find in the Book of Enoch, that after the Holy and Blessed One had caused him to ascend, and showed him all the repositories of the superior and inferior kingdom, He showed him the tree of life, and the tree respecting which Adam had received a command; and He showed him the habitation of Adam in the Garden of Eden:” Further traces of the book have been discovered in other Rabbinical writings, but we need not linger on these.

From the above and similar allusions it was clear to all scholars that a book extant under the name of Enoch had been well known in earlier days; but for some centuries nothing more certain came to light; the appetite of critics had nothing more definite to feed upon. It remained for the great traveller Bruce to satisfy the long-unappeased desire for further information. In the year 1773, Bruce astonished the learned world by claiming to have secured in Abyssinia, and brought safely home, three copies of an Ethiopian version of the Book of Enoch. An idea, indeed, had long prevailed (whence originating it is hard to say) that such a version did exist; and it was thought at one time that a certain tract, transmitted from Egypt, and purchased by Peiresc for the Royal Library at Paris, was the identical work. This was found not to be the case; and warned by former disappointment, scholars awaited the examination of Bruce’s MSS. with some anxiety. Of the three copies brought to Europe, one, a most magnificent quarto, was presented by the finder to the Library at Paris, and another to the Bodleian at Oxford; the third, kept in his own possession, was included in a MS. of the Scriptures, where it is placed immediately before the Book of Job; assuming an unquestioned position among the canonical books. On hearing that Paris possessed this treasure, Dr. Woide, librarian of the British Museum, immediately set out for France, armed with letters to the ambassador desiring him to procure the learned scholar access to the work. This was done, and Dr. Woide transcribed the whole book, and brought the transcript with him to England. His knowledge of Ethiopic was not sufficient to enable him to attempt a translation. He might have spared himself much trouble had he been aware that Oxford possessed a copy of the work; but the University itself received the present very quietly, and let it rest undisturbed on its shelves for many years. The Parisian MS. was noticed in the Magasin Encyclopédique by the Orientalist, De Sacy, who published therein a translation of certain passages. But it was not till the year 1821 that the book was fully brought before the world. In that year Dr. Laurence, then Professor of Hebrew at Oxford, and afterwards Archbishop of Cashel, published a translation of the whole, with preliminary dissertation and notes. This has been more than once reprinted, and was supplemented in 1838 by the publication of the Ethiopic text. The discovery of five different codices enabled Dillmann to put forth a more correct text; and his edition, with its German translation, introduction, and commentary, is now the standard work on the subject. There is another German version by Hoffmann, for the latter part of which he had the benefit of a MS. in the library of Frankfort-on-the-Maine, lately, brought from Abyssinia; and there is also an English translation by Professor Schodde, of America, printed at Andover in 1882; but nothing seems likely to supersede Dillmann’s edition, unless, indeed, the discovery is some day made of the original text from which the Ethiopic version was rendered. There was indeed at one time a hope of some additional light from Mai’s discovery of a small fragment in Greek among the manuscripts of the Vatican Library. But further investigation led to the mortifying fact that no more was to be found; and as the portion extended only from ver. 42 to ver. 49 of chap. lxxxix., it was of little practical utility.

As to the language of the original work, there is no reason to doubt that it was Hebrew or Aramæan. It is true that the fragments of Syncellus and those found by Mai in the Vatican Library are all in Greek, and it was from Greek exemplars that the quotations in the Fathers were made; but a critical examination of these extracts and of the Abyssinian version leads to the conclusion that they are derived from a Hebrew source. To favour this verdict, critics are induced by such evidence as the following: there are in the version a great number of Hebrew idioms and expressions equally foreign to Greek and Ethiopic, and all capable of being easily rendered back into Hebrew; the writer or writers were thoroughly acquainted with the Scriptures in the original, and did not employ the Septuagint version; the names of the angels and archangels are of Hebrew etymology, viz. Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Sarakael, Gabriel; the appellations of the winds can only be explained by a reference to the Hebrew, the east wind being so called because it is the first, according to Hebrew etymology, and the south, because the Most High there descends, the Hebrew term being capable of this interpretation. The names of the sun, Oryares and Tomas, are Semitic; so are those of the conductors of the months, Melkeel, Helemmelek, Meleyal, Narel, etc.; and, as Dr. Gloag observes, Ophanim, mentioned in connection with the cherubim and seraphim, is the Hebrew word for the “wheels” in Ezekiel. We are, then, tolerably secure in assuming the hypothesis of a Hebrew original. We have no criteria, to enable us to judge when it was translated into Greek. The Ethiopic version was made directly from the Hebrew, subsequently to the translation of the Old Testament into Ethiopic; but the date is undetermined. If it keeps as close to the original as the rendering of Holy Scripture does, it may be regarded as a faithful and accurate representation of the text.

In the Ethiopic MSS. the work is divided into twenty sections; but the chapters are not uniformly arranged. Dillmann has retained the twenty sections, and subdivided them into 108 chapters, marking the verses of each chapter for greater distinctness of reference. This distribution is now generally followed.

We will first give a sketch of the contents of the work before discussing its date and authorship, and gathering the lessons which it teaches.

The book may be said roughly to consist of five parts, with an introduction and a conclusion. The general introduction, which is contained in the first five chapters, commences thus: “The words of blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect and the righteous who shall exist in the time of trouble, when the wicked and ungodly shall be removed. Enoch, a righteous man, whose eyes God had opened, so that he saw a holy vision in the heavens, which the angels showed me, answered and spake.” The account proceeds in the first person; but throughout there is no consistency shown in this matter, changes from the first to the third person being frequent, and marking the hand of an editor or interpolator. The vision was for future generations, and in it he learned that God would come down on Mount Sinai with all His hosts to execute judgment, punishing the wicked, rewarding the righteous. Then occurs the original of the passage quoted by St. Jude: “Behold, He comes with myriads of saints to sit in judgment on them, and will destroy the ungodly, and contend with all flesh for everything which the sinful and ungodly have done and committed against Him.” Enoch observed the regular order of everything in heaven and earth, which obeyed fixed laws and never varied, and he contrasts the fate of the good and the evil; the latter shall find no peace and curse their day, while the former shall have light, joy, and peace for the whole of their existence. The above prelude affords a glimpse of the nature of the Book, with its allusions to natural phenomena and its eschatological views.

The first division is contained in chaps. vi.–xxxvi., and is subdivided into three sections. Section i. (chaps. vi.–xi.) narrates the fall of the angels and its immediate consequences. Seeing the beauty of the daughters of men, two hundred angels under the leadership of Semyaza bound themselves by an oath to take wives from among mortal women. For this purpose they descended on Mount Hermon, and in due time became parents of giants of fabulous height and size. These monsters devoured all the substance of men, and then proceeded to devour men themselves; they also taught mankind all kind of destructive arts, and vice flourished under their instruction. And men cried aloud to heaven, and the four archangels heard them, and appealed to God in their behalf. And God sent Uriel to Noah, the son of Lamech, to warn him of the flood, and ordered Raphael to bind Azazel, and lay him in a dark cleft in the wilderness, there to remain till the fire received him at the day of judgment. Gabriel had to set the giants one against the other that they might perish by mutual slaughter; to Michael fell the duty of punishing the evil angels; they were to witness the destruction of their offspring, and then be buried under the earth for seventy generations till the judgment day, when they should be cast into eternal fire. Then when all sin and impurity shall be purged away “at the end of all generations,” the plant of righteousness shall appear, and a new order of things; the saints shall live till they have forgotten a thousand children, and shall die in peace; the earth shall be fruitful, and be planted with all manner of trees; no corruption, or crime, or suffering shall be found therein; “in those days,” with God, “I will open the store-chambers of blessing which are in heaven, that they may descend upon the earth, and on the work and labour of men. Peace and righteousness shall join together, in all the days of the world and through all the families of the earth.”

Section ii. (chaps. xii.–xvi.). After it has been said that Enoch was hidden from men’s sight, being wholly engaged with the holy ones, he himself tells how the good angels sent him to the fallen angels, whose intercourse with heaven was entirely cut off, to announce their doom. Terrified, they entreat him to write for them a petition to God for forgiveness; he complies with their request, leaves their unholy neighbourhood, and, retreating to the region of Dan, falls asleep, and has a vision of judgment, which he afterwards is commissioned to unfold to the disobedient angels. Their petition is refused now and for ever. And the dread answer was given to him, as he relates, in a vision, wherein he was rapt to the palace of heaven and the presence of the Almighty, of which he gives a very noble description.

Section iii. (chaps. xvii.–xxxvi.) gives an account of Enoch’s journeys through heaven and earth under the guidance of angels, in the course of which he is made acquainted with the wonders of nature hidden from man, with places, powers, and beings which have relation to revealed religion, Messianic hopes, and the last days. He is taken to the place where the storm-winds dwell, and the sun obtains its fire, and the oceans and the rivers of the nether world flow; he saw seven luminous mountains in the south-east, formed of precious stories, and the place where the disobedient stars were suffering punishment, and that which, though now untenanted, shall be the penal-prison of the rebel angels after the final judgment when they are released from their present chains. On inquiring for what crime the stars (regarded as living beings) were thus sentenced, he is informed by Uriel that they had transgressed the commandment of God and came not forth in their proper season. He next passes to the west, where is Hades, the region where the souls of the dead are kept till the judgment; it is divided into four places, unto one of which all souls are assigned. In the course of his journeys he comes again to the seven fiery mountains, and in a beautiful valley finds the tree of life, whose fruit shall be given to the elect. Then going to the centre of the earth, he sees the holy land and the city Jerusalem, described as “a blessed and fruitful place, where there were branches continually sprouting from the trees planted therein.” Here, too, he was shown the accursed valley (Gehenna), where the wicked shall suffer their eternal penalty in the sight of the righteous, who shall reign in Zion, and praise the Lord for His just vengeance on the evil-doers. He proceeds from Jerusalem eastward to the earthly Paradise, planted with odorous and fruit-bearing trees, lying at the very ends of the earth, and containing the tree of knowledge, of which Adam and Eve ate. Here, where the vault of heaven rests on the earth, he beholds the gates whence come forth the stars and the winds, and, instructed by the angel, writes their names and order and seasons. And, arriving at the north, he sees the three gates of the north-wind, and, going westward and southward, the three gates of these winds. Conducted again to the east, he praises the Lord who created all these wondrous things for His glory.

The second division, contained in chaps. xxxvii.–lxxi., is called “The second Vision of Wisdom,” and consists of three parables, allegories, or similitudes, through the medium of which Enoch relates the revelations which he received concerning the ideal future and the secrets of the spiritual world. Many of the matters which he mentions we should treat as physical phenomena; in his view they assume a higher relation, and are therefore differentiated from the objects described in the preceding division which concerned only this earth and the lower heavens. The first similitude or figurative address (chaps. xxxviii.–xliv.) speaks first of the time when the separation between the righteous and sinners shall be made, and the angels shall dwell in communion with holy men. Then Enoch relates how he was carried to the extremity of heaven, and saw the celestial abodes prepared for the righteous, where they bless and magnify the Lord for ever and ever, and the special seat ordained for himself. He beholds the innumerable hosts of angels and sleepless spirits who surround the throne of God, and particularly the four archangels, Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and Phanuel, to whom are assigned special duties. He is shown the secrets of heaven, the weighing of men’s actions in the balance, the rejection of sinners from the abodes of the just, the mysteries of thunder and lightning, winds, clouds, dew, hail, mist, sun, and moon. Of these heavenly bodies the regular course and motion are their praise of God for creation and preservation, and this ceaseless praise is their rest. He finds the habitation of Wisdom in heaven, as man on earth would not receive her, but welcomed only iniquity. And lastly, he observes how the stars are called by name, and their courses weighed and examined, and recognises in their regularity and obedience a picture of the life of the righteous on earth.

The second similitude (chaps. xlv.–lvii.) describes the coming of “the Chosen One,” the Messiah, and the operations of His judgment on the good and the evil. Sinners shall be taken from the earth and sent down to hell to await punishment; the righteous shall dwell with Messiah in peace and happiness. Enoch proceeds to give further description of the person and office of Him whom he calls “Son of man.” To this important delineation we shall have to refer in detail hereafter; suffice it here to give a mere outline of the representation. He sees this Personification of righteousness in company with the Ancient of Days, and he is taught that He alone shall reveal all mysteries; He shall overthrow all worldly powers, among which are included sinners who scorned and refused to praise the Lord, and shall put an end to all unrighteousness. The glorification of the elect after the final judgment is further revealed, how they shall drink of the fountain of wisdom and righteousness; and hold full communion with the saints and angels. The Son of man existed before the world was created, and shall be in the presence of God for ever, and shall bring light and healing to the people. In Him all wisdom and righteousness dwell, and at His presence iniquity passes away like a shadow. In Messiah’s days shall be made the great change in the condition of the good and evil, and even then it will not be too late for the evil to repent, for great is the mercy of the Lord of spirits. At this time, too, shall occur the resurrection of the dead, the righteous rising with their bodies to enjoy Messiah’s kingdom, the souls of the wicked being consigned to the place of punishment. There shall then be no use for metals; gold, silver, copper are needed no longer; no earthly riches can save one from judgment. A further vision shows the place and instruments of punishment. In the midst of this account is inserted an interpolation concerning the Noachic Deluge, which is of later date than the visions, and is derived from a different source. Then follows a prophetical view of the last battle of the worldly powers against the Theocracy, and their overthrow before Jerusalem; and the final vision displays the Israelites returning to their own land from all countries whither they have been dispersed, and falling down before the Lord of spirits.

The third address (chaps. lviii.–lxix.) contains a further description of the blessedness of the righteous contrasted with the misery of sinners in Messiah’s kingdom. In it are inserted many particulars concerning the Deluge, of which Noah, not Enoch, is the narrator. Probably these portions have been introduced by a later editor desirous of showing how the earlier judgment was a figure and an anticipation of that in Messiah’s days. Likewise, there is in this address a recapitulation, with some differences, of those physical details which have been previously noticed. The blessedness of the saints is comprised in light, joy, righteousness, and everlasting life. Amid the intimations of the future thus given, Enoch also obtains some curious lore concerning thunder and lightning, the manner and object of their operation. Here follows the interpolation concerning the Flood, which introduces Noah receiving the vision “in the five hundredth year, on the fourteenth day of the seventh month, of the life of Enoch.” This is evidently out of place and disconnected with the immediate subject. While showing to Noah the course of the coming judgment, the angel unfolds various meteorological secrets, attributing all the forces of nature to the agency of spirits. Then the narrative returns to the Messianic revelation, and the seer is shown the new Jerusalem, the abode of the elect; he sees the judgment of the saints, he hears their praise and worship of Almighty God in union with all the host of heaven; he hears the sentence passed on the mighty of this world, who shall in vain supplicate the mercy of the Son of man. Five chapters now succeed, containing a further account of revelations made to Noah concerning the Flood, and his deliverance therefrom, and concerning the fall of the angels and their punishment, and the warning thence derived for the mighty of later times. The names of these angels are given, and the special evil which each effected. One of these is called Penemue, and his sin was that he taught men “the art of writing with ink and paper, whereby many have gone astray from that time to the present.”

The Book of Similitudes concludes with some personal details about Enoch himself. An interpolated paragraph relates that he was taken up to Paradise; but the genuine text describes how in an ecstasy he was raised to heaven, and God promised to give him a seat among the saints in the future Messianic kingdom.

The third division of the book, comprised in chapters lxxii.–lxxxii., is entitled “The Book of the Revolutions of the Lights of Heaven,” and is occupied greatly with astronomical details, which do not give a high idea of the scientific attainments of the writer. The attempt to bring into a system the notions concerning such phenomena scattered throughout the Old Testament, in the popular ignorance of science, could not fail to produce much error and confusion, and has little interest for the theologian, unless we conceive that they have been introduced in order to oppose current heathen ideas, in which case they would have a certain historical use. This portion of the work falls conveniently into three sections. Section 1 treats of the courses of the sun, moon, and stars. The regular revolutions of the sun are explained, and the varying duration of day and night at different seasons; the waxing and waning of the moon are described and accounted for; it is shown how four intercalary days are rendered necessary, and how the luminaries go forth from the twelve gates of heaven. In section 2 the abodes and operations of the winds are noticed. Three of them proceed from each quarter, and occasion various effects, healthful or pernicious. At the end is an allusion to seven mountains, rivers, and islands, which cannot be identified. The third section reverts to the subject of the sun and moon, and gives the names by which they are known and further particulars respecting their connection with one another. All these matters, which Uriel showed to Enoch, the seer divulges to his son Methuselah. The angel likewise revealed to him the changes in the order of nature which shall occur in the days of sinners, in punishment of whom all seeming irregularities are sent. Before his spirit returned to earth, Enoch is bidden to read the heavenly tablets wherein all the future was written, even “all the deeds of men, and all the children of flesh upon earth, unto the remotest generations.” On perusing this record; Enoch breaks forth in praise of God; he is then conducted by “three holy ones” (i.e. probably the three archangels inferior to Michael) to his own home, and informed that he should be left there for one year, during which he should teach what he had learned to his children; and the section concludes with his address to Methuselah, directing him to preserve with all care the writings committed to him, and to note the importance of correctness in matters connected with the reckoning of the year, and the revolutions of the heavenly bodies, and the changes of the seasons.

The fourth division of the book (chaps. lxxxiii.–xci.) recounts two visions which Enoch saw before he was married, while sleeping in the house of his grandfather Malalel (Mahalaleel). The first vision relates to the Flood; he sees the earth sinking into a great abyss, and prays that God will not wholly destroy the whole race of man, satisfying His just wrath by punishing only the evil. The second vision is more comprehensive and important; it embraces the history of the world from Adam until the establishment of the kingdom of Messiah. The account is derived almost entirely from the canonical Scripture, a transparent symbolism being used throughout. Men are represented under the image of animals, the patriarchs and chosen people being denoted by domesticated animals, as cows and sheep, while heathen and oppressive enemies are designated as wild beasts and birds of prey. The fallen angels are called stars; and the colours of the animals are symbolical—white for purity and righteousness, black for wickedness and disobedience. Thus concerning primitive man we read, a white bullock (Adam) sprang forth from the earth, and then a white cow (Eve), and afterwards there came a black bullock (Cain) and a red (Abel). The black bullock slew the red which vanished from the earth. And this black bullock begat many black cattle. And the white cow gave birth to a white bullock (Seth), which in turn begat much white cattle. In this way the history is allegorised. The offspring of the intercourse of the angels with the daughters of men is adumbrated as elephants, camels, and asses. The archangels’ defeat of these sinful spirits Enoch beholds from a high place where he remains till the day of judgment. Thence he sees the advance of the Flood, and Noah’s preservation in the vessel; his three sons are respectively white, red, and black, and the severance of the Shemites from the others is distinctly noticed. The history of the Israelites is traced from Abraham to Moses, then to the settlement in the Holy Land; then we have the time of the Judges, and the annals are continued on through the Kings to the Exile. The restoration is duly chronicled, and oppressions under the Greeks and Syrians are darkly foreshadowed. In chap. lxxxix. the Lord delivers the sheep into the power of lions, tigers, and other beasts of prey, which began to tear them in pieces. He Himself forsook their house and tower, which, however, were not now destroyed. The seer’s words in the following paragraph have proved a crux to all interpreters. The Lord commits the punishment of the chosen people, represented as sheep, to seventy shepherds, who rule successively in four series, in the proportion of twelve, twenty-three, twenty-three, twelve. “I saw until three and twenty shepherds overlooked the herd, and they completed in their time fifty-eight times. Then were little lambs born of those white sheep, and they began to open their eyes and to see and to cry out to the sheep. And the sheep hearkened not unto them. And the ravens flew upon the lambs, and took one of them, and tore and devoured the sheep. And I saw horns grow upon those lambs, and the ravens threw down the horns, until one great horn grew, one from those sheep, and then their eyes were opened. It looked upon them, and cried unto them, and the youths (the lambs) saw it and ran unto it.” Then comes an account of a terrible conflict between the birds of prey and the lambs; but the former could not prevail against the horn. “He (the horn) struggled with them, and cried out for help. And there came the man who wrote the names of the shepherds and laid them before the Lord of the sheep, and he came to the assistance of the youth; and the Lord Himself came in wrath, and all who saw Him fled away before His face; while the birds assembled together, and brought with them all the sheep of the field to break the horn of the youth.” But their efforts are vain, and in the end they are themselves destroyed by the Lord. This defeat introduces the Messianic epoch, when Israel shall rise superior to the heathen, and Messiah shall judge all sinners, whether angels or men, and shall establish the new Jerusalem, which shall be filled with a holy people gathered from all quarters.