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All About The Book of Enoch
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While
this book today is non-canonical
in most Christian churches, it was explicitly quoted[2]
in the New
Testament (Letter
of Jude 1:14-15) and by many of the early Church
Fathers. The Ethiopian
Orthodox Church to this day regards it to be canonical.
It is wholly extant only in the Ge'ez
language, with Aramaic
fragments from the Dead
Sea Scrolls and a few Greek
and Latin
fragments. There is no consensus among Western scholars about the
original language: some propose Aramaic, others Hebrew,
while the probable thesis according to E. Isaac is that 1 Enoch,
as Daniel,
was composed partially in Aramaic and partially in Hebrew[2]:6.
Ethiopian scholars hold that Ge'ez
is the language of the original from which the Greek and Aramaic copies
were made, pointing out that it is the only language in which the
complete text has been found[3].
According
to Western scholars its older sections (mainly in the Book of the
Watchers) date from about 300 BCE and the latest part (Book
of Parables) probably was composed at the end of the 1st century
BCE;[4]
it is argued that all the writers of the New Testament were familiar
with it and were influenced by it in thought and diction.[5]
Content
The
Book of Enoch describes the fall of the Watchers,
the angels
who fathered the Nephilim.
The fallen angels went to Enoch to intercede on their behalf with God
after he declared to them their doom. The remainder of the book describes
Enoch's visit to Heaven in the form of a vision, and his revelations.
The
book consists of five quite distinct major sections (see each section
for details):
The
shared view[6]
is that these five sections were originally independent works (with
different dates of composition), themselves a product of much editorial
arrangement, and were only later redacted
into what we now call 1 Enoch. This view is now opposed only
by a few authors who maintain the literary integrity of the Book of
Enoch, one of the most recent (1990) being the Ethiopian Wossenie Yifru[3].
Józef Milik has suggested that the Book
of Giants found amongst the Dead
Sea Scrolls should be part of the collection, appearing after the
Book of Watchers in place of the Book of Parables, but for various
reasons Milik's theory has not been widely accepted.
Canonicity
The book is referred
to, and quoted, in Jude
14-15:
- "And
Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these [men], saying,
Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute
judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them
of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and
of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against
him."
Compare
this with Enoch 1:9, translated from the Ethiopic (found also in Qumran
scroll 4Q204=4QEnochc ar, col I 16-18[7]:711)
- "And
behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones To execute judgement
upon all, And to destroy all the ungodly: And to convict all flesh
Of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed,
And of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against
Him."
Another probable Biblical reference can be found in I
Peter 3:19,20 to En. 21:6. 1 Enoch is considered as Scripture
in the Epistle
of Barnabas (16:4)[8]
and by many of the early Church
Fathers as Athenagoras[9],
Clement
of Alexandria[10],
Irenaeus[11]
and Tertullian[12]
who wrote c. 200 that the Book of Enoch had been rejected by
the Jews because it contained prophecies pertaining to Christ.[13]
However,
some later Fathers denied the canonicity of the book and some even considered
the letter of Jude uncanonical because it refers to an "apocryphal"
work[14].
By the fourth century it was mostly excluded from Christian lists of
the Biblical
canon, and it was omitted from the canon by most of the Christian
church (the Ethiopian Orthodox Church being an exception).
The
traditional view of the Ethiopic Orthodox Church, which reckons 1
Enoch as an inspired document, is that the Ethiopic text is the
original one, written by Enoch himself. In their view the following
opening sentence of Enoch is the first and oldest sentence written in
any human language, since Enoch was the first to write letters:
- "ቃለ፡
በረከት፡ ዘሄኖክ፡
ዘከመ፡ ባረከ፡ ኅሩያነ፡
ወጻድቃነ፡ እለ፡ ሀለው፡
ይኩኑ"
- "በዕለተ፡
ምንዳቤ፡ ለአሰስሎ፡
ኲሉ፡ እኩያን፡ ወረሲዓን።"
- "Qāla
barakat za-Hēnōk zakama bārraka ḫirūyāna
wa-ṣādḳāna 'ila halaw yikūnū baʿilata
mindābē la'asaslō kʷilū 'ikūyān
wa-rasīʿān"
- "Word
of blessing of Henok, wherewith he blessed the chosen and righteous
who would be alive in the day of tribulation for the removal of all
wrongdoers and backsliders."
Manuscript
tradition
Ethiopic
The most extensive
witnesses to the Book of Enoch exist in the Ge'ez
language. Robert
Henry Charles’ critical edition of 1906 subdivides the Ethiopic
manuscripts into two families:
Family α:
thought to be more ancient and more similar to the Greek versions:
Family β:
more recent, apparently edited texts
Aramaic
Eleven Aramaic-language
fragments of the Book of Enoch were found in cave 4 of Qumran
in 1948,[15]
and are in the care of the Israel
Antiquities Authority. They were translated for and discussed by
Józef
Milik and Matthew Black in The Books of Enoch[16].
Another translation has been released by Vermes and Garcia-Martinez
[17].
Milik described the documents as being white or cream in color, blackened
in areas, made of leather which was smooth, thick and stiff. It was
also partly damaged with the ink blurred and faint.
-
4Q201
= 4QEnoch a ar, Enoch 2,1-5,6; 6,4-8,1; 8,3-9,3.6-8
- 4Q202 = 4QEnoch
b ar, Enoch 5,9-6,4; 6,7-8,1; 8,2-9,4; 10,8-12; 14,4-6;
- 4Q204 = 4QEnoch
c ar, Enoch 1,9-5,1; 6,7; 10,13-19; 12,3; 13,6-14,16; 30,1-32,1;
35,; 36,1-4; 106,13-107,2;
- 4Q205 = 4QEnoch
d ar; Enoch 89,29-31; 89,43-44
- 4Q206 = 4QEnoch
e ar; Enoch 22,3-7; 28,3-29,2; 31,2-32,3; 88,3; 89,1-6;
89,26-30; 89,31-37
- 4Q207 = 4QEnoch
f ar
- 4Q208 = 4QEnastr
a ar
- 4Q209 = 4QEnastr
b ar; Enoch 79,3-5; 78,17; 79,2 and large fragments that
do not correspond to any part of the Ethiopian text
- 4Q210 = 4QEnastr
c ar; Enoch 76,3-10; 76,13-77,4; 78,6-8
- 4Q211 = 4QEnastr
d ar; large fragments that do not correspond to any part
of the Ethiopian text
- 4Q212 = 4QEn
g ar; 91,10; 91,18-19; 92,1-2; 93,2-4; 93,9-10; 91,11-17;
93,11-93,1.
Also at Qumran (cave
1) have been discovered 3 tiny fragments in Hebrew
(8,4-9,4; 106).

Chester
Beatty XII, Greek manuscript of the Book of Enoch, 4th
century
Greek
and Latin
The
8th century work Chronographia Universalis by the Byzantine historian
George
Syncellus preserved some passages of the Book of Enoch in Greek
(6,1-9,4; 15,8-16,1). Other Greek fragments known are:
-
Codex
Panopolitanus (Cairo Papyrus 10759), named also Codex Gizeh or Akhmim
fragements, consists of fragments of two 6th century papyri
containing portions of chapters 1-32, recovered by a French
archeological team at Akhmim
in Egypt, and published five years later in 1892.
-
-
-
Oxyrhynchus
Papyri 2069: including only a few letters, that made the identification
uncertain, from 77,7-78,1; 78,1-3; 78,8; 85,10-86,2; 87:1-3
It
has been claimed that several small additional fragments in Greek have
been found at Qumran (7QEnoch: 7Q4, 7Q8, 7Q10-13), dating about 100
BC, ranging from 98:11? to 103:15[18]
and written on papyrus with gridlines, but this identification is highly
contested.
Of
the Latin
translation only 1,9 and 106,1-18 are known. The first passage occurs
in Pseudo-Cyprian
and Pseudo-Vigilius [19];
the second was discovered in 1893 by M.
R. James in a 8th century manuscript in the British
Museum and published in the same year[20].
History
Second
Temple period
The
1976 publication by Milik[16]
of the results of the paleographic dating of the Enochic fragments found
in Qumran made a breakthrough. According to this scholar, who studied
the original scrolls for many years, the oldest fragments of the Book
of Watchers are dated 200-150 BCE. Since the Book of Watchers
shows evidence of multiple stages of composition, it is probable that
this work was extant already in the third century BCE[21].
The same can be said about the Astronomical Book.
It was no longer possible to claim that the core of Book of Enoch was
composed in the wake of the Maccabean
Revolt as a reaction to Hellenization"[22]:93.
Scholars thus had to look for the origins of the Qumranic sections of
1 Enoch in the previous historical period, and the comparison
with traditional material of such a time showed that these sections
do not draw exclusively on categories and ideas prominent in the Hebrew
Bible. Some scholars speak even of an "Enochic Judaism"
from which the writers of Qumran scrolls were descended[23].
Margaret
Barker argues that "Enoch is the writing of a very conservative
group whose roots go right back to the time of the First
Temple"[24].
The main peculiar aspects of the Enochic Judaism are the following:
Most
Qumran fragments are relatively early, with none written from the last
period of the Qumranic experience. Thus it is probable that Qumran community
gradually lost interest in the Book of Enoch[27].
The
relation between 1 Enoch and the Essenes
was noted even before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls[28].
While there is consensus to consider the sections of the Book of Enoch
found in Qumran as texts used by the Essenes, the same is not so clear
for the Enochic texts not found in Qumran (mainly the Book of Parables):
it was proposed[29]
to consider these parts as expression of the mainstream, but not-Qumranic,
essenic movement. The main peculiar aspects of the not-Qumranic units
of 1 Enoch are the following:
-
a Messiah called "Son of Man", with divine attributes,
generated before the creation, who will act directly in the final
judgment and sit on a throne of glory (1 Enoch 46:1-4, 48:2-7, 69:26-29)[7]:562-563
- the sinners usually
seen as the wealthy ones and the just as the oppressed (a theme we
find also in the Psalms
of Solomon).
Early
Influence
Classical
Rabbinic
literature is characterized by near silence concerning Enoch. It
seems plausible that Rabbinic polemics against Enochic texts and traditions
might have led to the loss of these books to Rabbinic
Judaism.[30]
The
Book of Enoch plays an important role in the history of the Jewish mysticism:
the great scholar Gershom
Scholem wrote: "the main subjects of the later Merkabah
mysticism already occupy a central position in the older esoteric literature,
best represented by the Book of Enoch"[31].
Particular attention is paid to the detailed description of the throne
of God included in chapter 14 of 1 Enoch.
For the quotation
of the Book of Watchers in the Christian
Letter of Jude see section: Canonicity.
There
is little doubt that 1 Enoch was influential in molding New
Testament doctrines about the Messiah,
demonology,
the resurrection,
and eschatology[2]:19.
The Book of Enoch influenced also many Biblical
apocrypha, as Jubilees,
2 Baruch,
2 Esdras,
Apocalypse
of Abraham and obviously 2
Enoch.
The
Greek
text was known to, and quoted by nearly all the Church
Fathers: references can be found in Justin
Martyr, Minucius
Felix, Irenaeus,
Origen,
Cyprian,
Hippolytus,
Commodianus,
Lactantius
and Cassian[32]:430,
although these references come exclusively from the first five chapters
of 1 Enoch. After Cassian (died 435 CE), and before the modern
"rediscovery", some excerpts are given in the Byzantine
Empire by the 8th century monk George
Syncellus in his chronography and in the 9th century it is listed
as an apocryphon
of the New Testament by Patriarch Nicephorus[33].
Rediscovery
Outside
of Ethiopia,
the text of the Book of Enoch was considered lost until the beginning
of the 17th century, when it was confidently asserted that the book
was found in an Ethiopic (Ge'ez) language translation there, and Nicolas-Claude
Fabri de Peiresc bought a book that was claimed to be identical
to the one quoted by the Epistle of Jude and the Church Fathers.
Hiob
Ludolf, the great Ethiopic scholar of the 17th and 18th centuries,
soon claimed it to be a forgery produced by Abba Bahaila Michael[34].
Better
success was achieved by the famous Scottish traveller James
Bruce, who in 1773 returned to Europe from six years in Abyssinia
with three copies of a Ge'ez version[35].
One is preserved in the Bodleian
Library, another was presented to the royal
library of France, while the third was kept by Bruce. The copies
remained unused until the 1800s, Silvestre
de Sacy, in "Notices sur le livre d'Enoch"[36]
included extracts of the books with Latin translations (Enoch chapters
1,2,5-16,22,32). From this a German translation was made by Rink in
1801.
The first English
translation of the Bodleian/Ethiopic manuscript was published in 1821
by Richard
Laurence, titled The Book of Enoch, the prophet: an apocryphal
production, supposed to have been lost for ages; but discovered at the
close of the last century in Abyssinia; now first translated from an
Ethiopic manuscript in the Bodleian Library. Oxford, 1821. Revised
editions appeared in 1833, 1838, and 1842.
Laurence
in 1838 also released the first Ethiopic text of 1 Enoch to be
published in the West, under the title: Libri Enoch Prophetae Versio
Aethiopica. The text, divided into 105 chapters, was soon considered
unreliable as it was the transcription of a single Ethipic manuscript[37].
In
1833 Professor Andreas
Gottlieb Hoffmann of the University of Jena
released a German
translation, based on Laurence's work, called Das Buch Henoch in
vollständiger Uebersetzung, mit fortlaufendem Kommentar, ausführlicher
Einleitung und erläuternden Excursen. Two other translations
came out around the same time one in 1836 called Enoch Restitutus,
or an Attempt (Rev Edward Murray) and in 1840 Prophetae veteres
Pseudepigraphi, partim ex Abyssinico vel Hebraico sermonibus Latine
bersi (A. F. Gfrörer). However both are considered to be poor
- the 1836 translation most of all and is discussed in Hoffmann[38].
The first critical
edition, based on five manuscripts, appeared in 1851 as Liber Henoch,
Aethiopice, ad quinque codicum fidem editus, cum variis lectionibus,
by August
Dillmann. It was followed in 1853 by a German translation of the
book by the same author with commentary titled Das Buch Henoch, übersetzt
und erklärt. It was considered the standard edition of 1
Enoch until the work of Charles.
The generation of
Enoch scholarship from 1890 to the WW1 was dominated by Robert
Henry Charles. His 1893 translation and commentary of the Ethiopic
text already represented an important advancement as it was based on
ten additional manuscripts. In 1906 R.H. Charles published a new critical
edition of the Ethiopic text, using 23 Ethiopic manuscripts and all
available sources at his time. The English translation of the reconstructed
text appeared in 1912 and the same year in his collection of The
Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament.
The publication,
in the early 1950s, of the first Aramaic fragments of 1 Enoch
among the Dead Sea Scrolls profoundly changed the study of the document,
as it provided evidence of its antiquity and original text. The official
edition of all Enoch fragments appeared in 1976, by Jozef
Milik.
In 1978 a new edition
of the Ethiopic text was edited by Michael Knibb, with an English translation,
while a new commentary appeared in 1985 by Matthew Black. The renewed
interest in 1 Enoch spawned a number of other translations: in
Hebrew (A. Kahana, 1956), Danish (Hammershaimb, 1956), Italian (Fusella,
1981), Spanish (1982), French (Caquot, 1984) and other modern languages.
In
2001 George W.E. Nickelsburg published the first volume of a comprehensive
commentary on 1 Enoch in the Hermeneia series[25].
Since the year 2000, the Enoch
seminar has devoted several meetings to the Enoch literature and
has become the center of a lively debate concerning the hypothesis that
the Enoch literature attests the presence of an autonomous non-Mosaic
tradition of dissent in Second Temple Judaism.
The
Book of the Watchers
This
first section of the Book of Enoch describes the fall of the Watchers,
the angels
who fathered the Nephilim
(cf. the bene Elohim, Genesis
6:1-2) and narrates the travels of Enoch in the heavens. This section
is said to have been composed in the fourth/third 3rd century BCE according
to Western scholars.[39]
Content
of the Book of the Watchers
I-V. Parable of
Enoch on the Future Lot of the Wicked and the Righteous.
VI-XI. The Fall
of the Angels: the Demoralization of Mankind: the Intercession of the
Angels on behalf of Mankind. The Dooms pronounced by God on the Angels
of the Messianic Kingdom.
XII-XVI. Dream-Vision
of Enoch: his Intercession for Azazel
and the fallen
angels: and his Announcement of their first and final Doom.
XVII-XXXVI. Enoch's
Journeys through the Earth and Sheol:
Description
of the Book of the Watchers
The introduction
to the Book of Enoch tells us that Enoch is "a just man, whose
eyes were opened by God so that he saw a vision of the Holy One in the
heavens, which the sons
of God showed to me, and from them I heard everything, and I knew
what I saw, but [these things that I saw will] not [come to pass] for
this generation, but for a generation that has yet to come."
It discusses God
coming to Earth
on Mount
Sinai with His hosts to pass judgement on mankind. It also tells
us about the luminaries
rising and setting in the order and in their own time and never change.
- "Observe
and see how (in the winter) all the trees seem as though they had
withered and shed all their leaves, except fourteen trees, which do
not lose their foliage but retain the old foliage from two to three
years till the new comes."
How all things
are ordained by God and take place in his own time. The sinners shall
perish and the great and the good shall live on in light, joy and peace.
- "And
all His works go on thus from year to year for ever, and all the tasks
which they accomplish for Him, and their tasks change not, but according
as God hath ordained so is it done."
The first section
of the book depicts the interaction of the fallen angels with mankind;
Sêmîazâz
compels the other 199 fallen angels to take human wives to "beget
us children".
- "And
Semjâzâ, who was their leader, said unto them: 'I fear
ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to
pay the penalty of a great sin.' And they all answered him and said:
'Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations
not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.'. Then sware they all
together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And
they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on
the summit of Mount
Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn
and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it."
The names of the
leaders are given as "Samyaza
(Shemyazaz), their leader, Araqiel,
Râmêêl,
Kokabiel,
Tamiel,
Ramiel,
Dânêl,
Chazaqiel,
Baraqiel,
Asael,
Armaros,
Batariel,
Bezaliel,
Ananiel,
Zaqiel,
Shamsiel,
Satariel,
Turiel,
Yomiel,
Sariel."
This results in
the creation of the Nephilim
(Genesis)
or Anakim/Anak
(Giants) as they are described in the book:
- "And
they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was
three thousand ells[40]:
Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer
sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind.
And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and
fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood."
It also discusses
the teaching of humans by the fallen angels chiefly Azâzêl:
- "And
Azâzêl taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields,
and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and
the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use
of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of
costly stones, and all colouring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness,
and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became
corrupt in all their ways. Semjâzâ taught enchantments,
and root-cuttings, Armârôs the resolving of enchantments,
Barâqîjâl, taught astrology, Kôkabêl
the constellations, Ezêqêêl the knowledge of the
clouds, Araqiêl the signs of the earth, Shamsiêl the signs
of the sun, and Sariêl the course of the moon."
Michael,
Uriel,
Raphael,
and Gabriel
appeal to God to judge the inhabitants of the world and the fallen angels.
Uriel is then sent by God to tell Noah of the coming apocalypse
and what he needs to do.
- "Then
said the Most High, the Holy and Great One spoke, and sent Uriel to
the son of Lamech,
and said to him: Go to Noah
and tell him in my name "Hide thyself!" and reveal to him
the end that is approaching: that the whole earth will be destroyed,
and a deluge is about to come upon the whole earth, and will destroy
all that is on it. And now instruct him that he may escape and his
seed may be preserved for all the generations of the world."
God commands Raphael
to imprison Azâzêl:
- "the
Lord said to Raphael: 'Bind Azâzêl hand and foot, and
cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert, which
is in Dûdâêl (Gods Kettle/Crucible/Cauldron), and
cast him therein. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover
him with darkness, and let him abide there for ever, and cover his
face that he may not see light. And on the day of the great judgement
he shall be cast into the fire. And heal the earth which the angels
have corrupted, and proclaim the healing of the earth, that they may
heal the plague, and that all the children of men may not perish through
all the secret things that the Watchers have disclosed and have taught
their sons. And the whole earth has been corrupted through the works
that were taught by Azâzêl: to him ascribe all sin."
God gave Gabriel
instructions concerning the Nephilim and the imprisonment of the fallen
angels:
- "And
to Gabriel said the Lord: 'Proceed against the biters and the reprobates,
and against the children of fornication: and destroy [the children
of fornication and] the children of the Watchers from amongst men
[and cause them to go forth]: send them one against the other that
they may destroy each other in battle"
Some, including
R.H. Charles, suggest that 'biters' should read 'bastards' but the name
is so unusual that some believe that the implication that's made by
the reading of 'biters' is more or less correct.
The Lord commands
Michael to bind the fallen angels.
- "And
the Lord said unto Michael: 'Go, bind Semjâzâ and his
associates who have united themselves with women so as to have defiled
themselves with them in all their uncleanness. 12. And when their
sons have slain one another, and they have seen the destruction of
their beloved ones, bind them fast for seventy generations in the
valleys of the earth, till the day of their judgement and of their
consummation, till the judgement that is for ever and ever is consummated.
13. In those days they shall be led off to the abyss of fire: (and)
to the torment and the prison in which they shall be confined for
ever. And whosoever shall be condemned and destroyed will from thenceforth
be bound together with them to the end of all generations."
Book
of Parables
Dated:
presumed by western scholars to be written during 1st century BCE or
very beginning of 1st century CE.[41]
No
fragments of chapters 37-71 (Book of Parables) were found at
Qumran. This led J.T.
Milik in 1976[16],
in line with many scholars of the 19th century as Lucke (1832), Hofman
(1852), Wiesse (1856) and Phillippe (1868), to believe that those chapters
were written in later Christian times by a Jewish Christian to enhance
Christian beliefs with Enoch's authoritative name.
However,
J.H.
Charlesworth summarized[42]
the current scholarly consensus, saying: "It became obvious
that Milik had not proved his position, as Fitzmyer pointed out as soon
as The Book of Enoch had been published. Repeatedly the specialists
on I Enoch have come out in favor of the Jewish nature and its first
century CE origin, and probable pre-70 date. The list of specialists
on I Enoch arguing for this position has become overwhelmingly impressive:
Isaac, Nickelsburg, Stone, Knibb, Anderson, Black, VanderKam, Greenfield
and Sutter. The consensus communis is unparalleled in almost any other
area of research; no specialists now argues that I Enoch 37-71 is a
Christian and postdates the first century." .
The Book of Parables
appears to be based on the Book of Watchers, but presents a later
development of the idea of final judgement and eschatology,
concerned not only with the destiny of the fallen angels but also of
the evil kings of the earth. The Book of Parables uses the expression
"Son of Man" for the eschatological protagonist, who
is also called “Righteous One,” “Chosen One,”
and “Messiah”, and narrates his pre-existence and his sitting
on the throne of glory in the final judgment. See also Article Son
of Man.
Content
of the Book of Parables
XXXVIII-XLIV. The
First Parable.
XLV-LVII. The Second
Parable.
LVIII-LXXI. The
Third Parable.
The
Astronomical Book
Dated: written in
the fourth/third century BC according to theory of western scholars.
This book contains
descriptions of the movement of heavenly bodies and of the firmament
(as a knowledge revealed to Enoch in his trips to Heaven), and describe
a Solar
calendar that was later described also in the Book
of Jubilees and that was used by the Dead Sea sect. The use
of this calendar made impossible to celebrate the feasts in the same
days of the Temple
of Jerusalem.
The year was of
364 days, divided in 4 equal seasons
of 91 days each. Each season was composed of three equal months of 30
days plus an extra day at the end of the third month. The whole year
was thus composed of exactly 52 weeks, and every calendar day occurred
always on the same day of the week. Each year and each season started
always on Wednesday
(the fourth day of the creation
narrated in Genesis,
the day when the lights in the sky, the seasons, the days and the years
were created). It is not known exactly how they used to reconcile this
calendar with the astronomical
year (of about 365.24 days). Probably they used to add a intercalary
week every few years, in order to have the year always to start on Wednesday.
Content
of the Astronomical Book
-
LXXII.
The Sun.
- LXXIII. The Moon
and its Phases.
- LXXIV. The Lunar
Year.
- LXXVI. The Twelve
Winds and their Portals.
- LXXVII. The Four
Quarters of the World: the Seven Mountains, the Seven Rivers, Seven
Great Islands.
- LXXVIII. The
Sun and Moon: the Waxing and Waning of the Moon.
- LXXIX-LXXX.1.
Recapitulation of several of the Laws.
- LXXX.2-8. Perversion
of Nature and the heavenly Bodies due to the Sin of Men.
- LXXXI. The Heavenly
Tablets and the Mission of Enoch.
- LXXXII. Charge
given to Enoch: the four Intercalary days: the Stars which lead the
Seasons and the Months.
The
Dream Visions
The Book of Dream
Visions, containing a vision of a history of Israel all the
way down to what the majority have interpreted as the Maccabean
Revolt, is dated by most to Maccabean times (about 163-142 BC).
It was written before the Flood
according to the Ethiopian Christian Church.
Content
of the Dream Visions
LXXXIII-LXXXIV.
First Dream-Vision on the Deluge. LXXXV-XC. Second Dream-Vision of Enoch:
the History of the World to the Founding of the Messianic Kingdom.
Animals
in the second Dream-Vision
The second Dream-Vision
in this section of the Book of Enoch is an allegorical account of the
history of Israel, that uses animals to represent human beings and human
beings to represent angels.
One of several hypothetical
reconstructions of the meanings in the dream is as follows based on
the works of R.
H. Charles and G.
H. Schodde:
Description
of the Dream Visions
There are a great
many links between the first book and this one, including the outline
of the story and the imprisonment of the leaders and destruction of
the Nephilim. The dream includes sections relating to the book of Watchers:
- "And
those seventy shepherds were judged and found guilty, and they were
cast into that fiery abyss. And I saw at that time how a like abyss
was opened in the midst of the earth, full of fire, and they brought
those blinded sheep." - The fall of the evil ones
- "And
all the oxen feared them and were affrighted at them, and began to
bite with their teeth and to devour, and to gore with their horns.
And they began, moreover, to devour those oxen; and behold all the
children of the earth began to tremble and quake before them and to
flee from them." - The creation of the Nephilim et al.
86:4, 87:3, 88:2,
and 89:6 all describe the types of Nephilim that are created during
the times described in The Book of Watchers, though this doesn't mean
that the authors of both books are the same. Similar references exist
in Jubilees 7:21-22.
The book describes
their release from the Ark
along with three bulls white, red and black which are Shem, Japheth,
and Ham in 90:9. It also covers the death of Noah described as the white
bull and the creation of many nations:
- "And
they began to bring forth beasts of the field and birds, so that there
arose different genera: lions, tigers, wolves, dogs, hyenas, wild
boars, foxes, squirrels, swine, falcons, vultures, kites, eagles,
and ravens" 90:10
It then describes
the story of Moses and Aaron (90:13-15) including the miracle of the
river splitting in two for them to pass, and the creation of the stone
commandments. Eventually arriving at a "pleasant and glorious land"
(90:40) where attacked by dogs (Philistines), foxes (Ammonites, Moabites)
and wild boars (Esau).
- "And
that sheep whose eyes were opened saw that ram, which was amongst
the sheep, till it †forsook its glory† and began to
butt those sheep, and trampled upon them, and behaved itself unseemly.
45. And the Lord of the sheep sent the lamb to another lamb and raised
it to being a ram and leader of the sheep instead of that ram which
had †forsaken its glory†." - David replacing
Saul as leader of Israel
The creation of
Solomon's
temple it also describes the house which may be the tabernacle
"And that house became great and broad, and it was built for those
sheep: (and) a tower lofty and great was built on the house for the
Lord of the sheep, and that house was low, but the tower was elevated
and lofty, and the Lord of the sheep stood on that tower and they offered
a full table before Him". This interpretation is accepted by Dillmann
p 262, Vernes p 89, and Schodde p. 107. It also describes the escape
of Elijah
the prophet, In 1 Kings 17:2-24 he is fed by 'ravens' so if Kings uses
a similar analogy he may have been fed by the Seleucids.
- "saw
the Lord of the sheep how He wrought much slaughter amongst them in
their herds until those sheep invited that slaughter and betrayed
His place."
This describes
the various tribes of Israel 'inviting' in other nations 'betraying
his place' i.e. the land promised to their ancestors by God.
This part of the
book can be taken to be the kingdom splitting into the northern and
southern tribes. That is Israel and Judah eventually leading to Israel
falling to the Assyrians in 721 BC and Judah falling to the Babylonians
a little over a century later 587 BC.
- "And
He gave them over into the hands of the lions and tigers, and wolves
and hyenas, and into the hand of the foxes, and to all the wild beasts,
and those wild beasts began to tear in pieces those sheep."
- God abandons Israel for they have abandoned him.
There is also mention
in fifty nine of seventy shepherds with their own seasons; there seems
to be some debate on the meaning of this section some suggesting that
it's a reference to the 70 appointed times in 25:11, 9:2, 1:12. Another
interpretation is the seventy weeks in Daniel
9:24. However the general interpretation is that these are simply
Angels. This section of the book and later near the end describes the
appointment by God of the 70 angels to protect the Israelites from enduring
too much harm from the 'beasts and birds'. The later section (110:14)
describes how the 70 angels are judged for causing more harm to Israel
than he desired finding them guilty and are "cast into an abyss,
full of fire and flaming, and full of pillars of fire."
- "And
the lions and tigers eat and devoured the greater part of those sheep,
and the wild boars eat along with them; and they burnt that tower
and demolished that house." The sacking of Solomon's temple
and the tabernacle in Jerusalem by the Babylonians as they take Judah
in 587 BC/586 BC exiling the remaining Jews.
- "And
forthwith I saw how the shepherds pastured for twelve hours, and behold
three of those sheep turned back and came and entered and began to
build up all that had fallen down of that house;"
- "Cyrus
allowed Sheshbazzar,
a prince from the tribe of Judah, to bring the Jews from Babylon back
to Jerusalem. Jews were allowed to return with the Temple vessels
that the Babylonians had taken. Construction of the Second
Temple began." - History
of ancient Israel and Judah the temple is finished being built
in 515 BC.
The first part
of this next section of the book seem to clearly describe the Maccabean
revolt of 167 BC against the Seleucids.
The following two quotes have been altered from their original form
to make the meanings of the animal names clear.
- "And
I saw in the vision how the (Seleucids) flew upon those (faithful)
and took one of those lambs, and dashed the sheep in pieces and devoured
them. And I saw till horns grew upon those lambs, and the (Seleucids)
cast down their horns; and I saw till there sprouted a great horn
of one of those (faithful), and their eyes were opened. And it looked
at them and their eyes opened, and it cried to the sheep, and the
rams saw it and all ran to it. And notwithstanding all this those
(Macedonians)
and vultures and (Seleucids) and (Ptolemies)
still kept tearing the sheep and swooping down upon them and devouring
them: still the sheep remained silent, but the rams lamented and cried
out. And those (Seleucids) fought and battled with it and sought to
lay low its horn, but they had no power over it." 109:8-12
- "All
the (Macedonians) and vultures and (Seleucids) and (Ptolemies) were
gathered together, and there came with them all the sheep of the field,
yea, they all came together, and helped each other to break that horn
of the ram." 110:16
According to this
theory, the first sentence is most likely the death of High Priest Onias
III who is murdered which is described in 1 Maccabees
3:33-35 (dies aprox 171 BC). The 'great horn' clearly isn't Mattathias
the initiator of the rebellion as he dies a natural death as described
in 1 Maccabees
2:49. It's also not Alexander the Great as the great horn is described
as a warrior who has fought the Macedonians, Seleucids and Ptolemies.
Judas
Maccabeus (167 BC-160 BC) has fought all three of these, with a
large number of winning battles against the Seleucids over a large period
of time "they had no power over it". He is also described
as "one great horn among six others on the head of a lamb"
possibly pertaining to his five brothers and Mattathias. If you take
this in context of the history from Maccabeus time Dillman Chrest Aethiop
says verse 13 can find its explanation in 1 Maccabees iii 7; vi. 52;
v.; 2 Maccabees vi. 8 sqq., 13, 14; 1 Maccabees vii 41, 42 and 2 Maccabees
x v, 8 sqq. The evidence does seem to suggest that this is in fact the
life and times of Judas Maccabeus. He is eventually killed by the Seleucids
at the Battle of Elasa where he faced "twenty thousand foot soldiers
and two thousand cavalry". At one time it was believed this passage
possibly belonged to John
Hyrcanus; the only reason for this was the time between Alexander
the Great and John Maccabeus was too short. However it has been asserted
that evidence shows this section does indeed discuss Maccabeus.
It then describes:
- "And
I saw till a great sword was given to the sheep, and the sheep proceeded
against all the beasts of the field to slay them, and all the beasts
and the birds of the heaven fled before their face."
This might be simply
the "power of God", God was with them to avenge the death.
It may also be perhaps Jonathan
Apphus taking over command of the rebels to battle on after Judas
death. Other possible appearances are John Hyrcanus (Hyrcanus
I) (Hasmonean dynasty) "And all that had been destroyed
and dispersed, and all the beasts of the field, and all the birds of
the heaven, assembled in that house, and the Lord of the sheep rejoiced
with great joy because they were all good and had returned to His house."
Possibly describing John's reign a time of great peace and prosperity.
Certain scholars also claim Alexander
Jannaeus of Judaea is alluded to in this book.
The end of the book
describes the new Jerusalem, culminating in the birth of a Messiah:
- "And
I saw that a white bull was born, with large horns and all the beasts
of the field and all the birds of the air feared him and made petition
to him all the time. 38. And I saw till all their generations were
transformed, and they all became white bulls; and the first among
them became a lamb, and that lamb became a great animal and had great
black horns on its head; and the Lord of the sheep rejoiced over it
and over all the oxen."
Still another interpretation,
which has just as much as credibility, is that the last chapters of
this section simply refer to infamous battle of Armageddon,
where all of the nations of the world march against Israel; this interpretation
is supported by the War Scroll, which describes what this epic battle
may be like, according to the group(s) that existed at Qumran.
The
Epistle of Enoch
Dated: some scholars
propose a date somewhere between the 170 BC and the 1st century BC.
This
section can be studied as formed by five sub-sections[43],
mixed by the final redactor:
-
Apocalypse
of Weeks (93:1-10 91:11-17): this sub-section, dated usually
the first half of 2nd century BC, narrates the history of the world
using a ten periods (said "weeks") scheme, of which seven
regard the past and three the future events (the final judgment).
The climax is in the seventh part of the tenth week where new
heaven shall appear and there will be many weeks without
number for ever, and all shall be in goodness and righteousness.
- Exhortation
(91:1-10 91:18-19) this short list of exhortations to follow the righteousness
said by Enoch to his son Methuselah
looks like to be a bridge to next sub-section.
-
Epistle (92:1-5 93:11-105:2): the first part of the epistle
sketches the wisdom of the Lord, final reward of the justs and the
punishment of the evils, and the two separated paths of righteousness
and unrighteousness. Then we have six oracles against the sinners,
the witness of the whole creation against them and the assurance of
the fate after death. According Boccaccini[29]:131-138
the epistle is composed by two layers: a "proto-epistle",
with a theology near the deterministic viewpoint of the Qumran group,
and a slightly later part (94:4-104:6) that points out the personal
responsibility of the single, describing often the sinners as the
wealthy ones and the justs as the oppressed (a theme we find also
in the Book of Parables).
- Birth of Noah
(106-107): this part appears in Qumran fragments separated from the
previous text by a blank line, thus looking like an appendix. It narrates
of the deluge and of Noah
who is born already with the appearance of an angel. Probably this
text derives, as other small portions of 1 Enoch, from an originally
separated book (see Book
of Noah), but was arranged by the redactor as direct speech of
Enoch himself.
- Conclusion
(108): this second appendix was not found in Qumram and is considered
to be work of the final redactor. It highlights the "generation
of light" in opposition to the sinners destined to the darkness.
Content
of the Epistle of Enoch
XCII, XCI.1-10,
18-19. Enoch's Book of Admonition for his Children.
Names
of the fallen angels
Some of the fallen
angels that are given in 1 Enoch have other names such as
Rameel ('morning of God'), who becomes Azazel
and is also called Gadriel ('wall of God') in Chapter 69. Another
example is that Araqiel
('Earth of God') becomes Aretstikapha ('world of distortion')
in Chapter 69.
"Azaz"
as in Azazel means strength, so the name Azazel can refer
to strength of God. But the sense in which it is used most-probably
means impudent (showing strength towards) which comes out as
arrogant to God. This is also a key point to his being Satan
in modern thought.
The suffix of the
names 'el' means 'God' (List
of names referring to El) which is used in the names of high ranking
angels. The Archangels all include this such as Uriel (Flame of God)
or Michael "who is like God?". Another is given as
Gadrel, who is said to have tempted Eve.
Footnotes
-
^
There are two other books named "Enoch": 2
Enoch, surviving only in Old
Slavonic (Eng. trans. by R.
H. Charles 1896) and 3
Enoch (surviving in Hebrew,
c. 5th to 6th century CE).
- ^
a
b
c
E. Isaac 1 Enoch, a new Translation and Introduction in ed.
James Charlesworth The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Vol 1
ISBN
0385096305 (1983)
- ^
a
b
Wossenie Yifru, 1990 Henok Metsiet, Vol. I, Ethiopian Research
Council
- ^
Fahlbusch E., Bromiley G.W. The Encyclopedia of Christianity: P-Sh
pag 411, ISBN
0802824161 (2004)
- ^
"Apocalyptic Literature" (column 220), Encyclopedia
Biblica
- ^
Vanderkam, JC. (2004). 1 Enoch: A New Translation. Minneapolis:Fortress.
pp. 1ff (ie. preface summary). ; Nickelsburg, GW. (2004).
1 Enoch: A Commentary. Minneapolis:Fortress. pp. 7–8.
- ^
a
b
Clontz, T.E. and J., "The Comprehensive New Testament with complete
textual variant mapping and references for the Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo,
Josephus, Nag Hammadi Library, Pseudepigrapha, Apocrypha, Plato, Egyptian
Book of the Dead, Talmud, Old Testament, Patristic Writings, Dhammapada,
Tacitus, Epic of Gilgamesh", Cornerstone Publications, 2008,ISBN
978-0-977873-71-5
- ^
"Apocalyptic Literature", Encyclopedia
Biblica
- ^
Athenagoras of Athens, in Embassy for the Christians 24
- ^
Clement of Alexandria, in Eclogae prophetice II
- ^
Ireneaus, in Adversus haereses IV,16,2
- ^
Tertullian, in De cultu foeminarum I,3 and in De Idolatria
XV
- ^
The Ante-Nicene Fathers (ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson;
vol 4.16: On the Apparel of Women (De cultu foeminarum) I.3:
"Concerning the Genuineness of 'The Prophecy of Enoch'")
- ^
Cf. Gerome, Catal. Script. Eccles. 4.
- ^
The Online
Critical Pseudepigrapha
- ^
a
b
c
Josef T. Milik (with Matthew Black). The Books of Enoch, Aramaic
Fragments of Qumran Cave 4 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1976)
- ^
Vermes 513-515; Garcia-Martinez 246-259
- ^
P. Flint The Greek fragments of Enoch from Qumran cave 7 in
ed.Boccaccini Enoch and Qumran Origins 2005 ISBN
0802828787, pag 224-233
- ^
see Beer, Kautzsch, Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen, l.c. p.
237
- ^
M.R. James, Apocrypha Anecdota T&S 2.3 Cambridge 1893 pp.
146-150
- ^
John Joseph Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction
to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature (1998) ISBN
0802843719, pag. 44
- ^
a
b
c
Gabriele Boccaccini, Roots of Rabbinic Judaism: An Intellectual
History, from Ezekiel to Daniel, (2002) ISBN
0802843611
- ^
John W. Rogerson, Judith Lieu, The Oxford Handbook of Biblical
Studies Oxford University Press: 2006 ISBN
0199254257, pag 106
- ^
Margaret
Barker, The Lost Prophet: The Book of Enoch and Its Influence
on Christianity 1998 reprint 2005, ISBN
1905048181, pag 19
-
^ a
b
George W. E. Nickelsburg 1 Enoch: A Commentary on the Book of 1
Enoch, Fortress: 2001 ISBN
0800660749
- ^
John J. Collins in ed. Boccaccini Enoch and Qumran Origins: New
Light on a Forgotten Connection 2005 ISBN
0802828787, pag 346
- ^
James C. VanderKam, Peter Flint, Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls
2005 ISBN
056708468X, pag 196
- ^
see the page "Essenes" in the 1906 JewishEncyclopedia
-
^ a
b
Gabriele Boccaccini Beyond the Essene Hypothesis (1998) ISBN
0802843603
- ^
Annette Yoshiko Reed, Fallen Angels and the History of Judaism
and Christianity, 2005 ISBN
0521853788, pag 234
- ^
Gershom Scholem Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1995) ISBN
0805210423, pag 43
-
^
P. Sacchi, Apocrifi dell'Antico Testamento 1, ISBN
9788802076065
- ^
Cf. Nicephorus (ed. Dindorf), I. 787
- ^
Ludolf, Commentarius in Hist. Aethip., p. 347
- ^
Bruce, Travels, vol 2, page 422
- ^
Silvestre de Sacy in Notices sur le livre d'Enoch in the Magazine
Encyclopédique, an vi. tome I, p. 382
- ^
see the judgement on Laurence by Dillmann, Das Buch Henoch,
p lvii
- ^
Hoffmann, Zweiter Excurs, pages 917-965
- ^
The Origins of Enochic Judaism (ed. Gabriele Boccaccini; Turin:
Zamorani, 2002)
- ^
the Ethiopian text gives 300 cubits
(135 m), which is probably a corruption of 30 cubits (13.5 m)
- ^
Enoch and the Messiah Son of Man: Revisiting the Book of Parables
(ed. Gabriele Boccaccini; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007); Sabino Chiala',
Libro delle Parabole di Enoch (Brescia: Paideia, 19977)
- ^
James H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and the
New Testament, ISBN
0521301904 (1985) page 89
- ^
Loren T. Stuckenbruck, 1 Enoch 91-108 (2008) ISBN
3110191199
References
Editions, Translations,
Commentaries
Studies
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