Book of Enoch

The Book of Enoch, also called 1 Enoch, is an ancient Jewish text attributed to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. It is a collection of five parts: the Book of the Watchers (chapters 1-36), the Parables or Similitudes (37-71), the Astronomical Book (72-82), the Dream Visions (83-90), and the Epistle of Enoch (91-108). The Book of the Watchers is the oldest part and the fullest ancient account of the Watchers. Do not confuse it with 2 Enoch (the Slavonic Enoch) or 3 Enoch (the Hebrew Enoch), which are separate works.

Genesis says Enoch walked with God and was taken (Genesis 5:21-24; Hebrews 11:5). Jude names him “the seventh from Adam” and quotes the book: “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all” (Jude 14-15). The quotation matches 1 Enoch 1:9. Jude calls the words prophecy. That quotation does not settle the status of the whole book, but it shows that a New Testament writer treated the text as authoritative.

The book circulated before the time of Christ. Qumran Cave 4 produced fragments of about eleven Aramaic copies of Enoch among the Dead Sea Scrolls, including the Book of the Watchers, which scholars date to the third century BC. The complete text survives in Ge’ez, the classical language of Ethiopia. Greek fragments and a short Latin fragment also survive. The Epistle of Barnabas cites Enoch (4:3). Tertullian defended it as Scripture (On the Apparel of Women 1.3), and Clement of Alexandria knew it.

Canon status differs by tradition. Protestants and Catholics do not count it as canon. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church include it in their canon. Many Western church leaders rejected it, and Augustine said the Jewish canon excluded it because of its great age and doubts about its authenticity (City of God 15.23). It fell out of use in the Western church after Augustine, and the Ethiopian church preserved it.

Europe rediscovered the complete book in the modern era. The Scottish explorer James Bruce brought three Ge’ez copies back from Ethiopia in 1773. Richard Laurence published the first English translation in 1821. R. H. Charles published his translation, The Book of Enoch, in 1912, and it remains a widely used scholarly edition.

The Book of the Watchers records the oath, the leaders, the teachings, and the judgment of the Watchers. In 1 Enoch 6, two hundred angels descend on Mount Hermon under their leader Shemihazah and swear an oath to carry out their plan together. The text names twenty chief leaders. They take wives, and the women bear giants who consume the food of men and then turn on them (1 Enoch 7). The Watchers teach forbidden arts. Azazel teaches the making of weapons and cosmetics, and others teach charms, spells, and the reading of signs (1 Enoch 8). The archangels bring the cry of the earth to God (1 Enoch 9). God sends Raphael to bind Azazel, Michael to bind Shemihazah and his companions until the day of judgment, and Gabriel to destroy the giants (1 Enoch 10). In chapters 12-16, Enoch carries the Watchers’ petition to God and receives a refusal. Chapter 15 says the spirits of the giants become evil spirits on the earth.

The New Testament shares several of these ideas. Jude 6 and 2 Peter 2:4 describe angels bound in chains until judgment, and Jude 14-15 quotes the book directly.

## My View

I believe the Book of Enoch is an accurate revelation by the Holy Spirit. I believe it is the most relevant ancient text for today’s generation.