Book of Enoch

Post by **_john b** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 10:51 am

Hi all,
A friend of mine had a question that I thought I'd seek out some help with.

John,
I was reading this website about aliens really being angels, yeah I know far out stuff. Anyway it mentions the Book of Enoch as a text of scripture that was never canonized. Have you heard of this text, and have you ever read it? Any feedback would be great.
Dean

I know a "Book of Enoch" exists and that it is not an inspired text of Scripture, but that's about the extent of what I know about it. Does anyone know:
1. It's origins?
2. What it contains?
3. Why is it not considered inspired?

Thanks

Post by **_mattrose** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 11:45 am

We don't really know it's origins and that is the main reason it is no considered inspired. It does contain the interpretation of Genesis 6 that the 'sons of God' were 'angels' who had sexual relations with human women.

Interestingly enough, I was just reading Augustine's "The City of God" the other day and he was talking about how the book of Enoch was not kept guarded by the High Priests throughout Old Testament History like the other OT Canonical books. He was of the opinion that since we know it isn't actually by Enoch, it isn't trustworthy. He was also of the opinion that the 'sons of god equals angels' theory was pretty dumb.

Post by **_TK** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 12:31 pm

john- you might find this thread interesting/enlightening on this topic:

http://www.wvss.com/forumc/viewtopic.php?t=1996

TK

Post by **_Paidion** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 1:53 pm

In the book of Jude we read in verses 14 and 15

It was of these [men] also that Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with his holy myriads, to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness which they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

The Book of Enoch contains a statement which is similar to this quote:

Behold,he comes with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon them, and destroy the wicked, and reprove all the carnal for everything which the sinful and ungodly have done and committed against him.

There is no doubt in my mind that Jude's source for his statement about Enoch's prophecy was the Book of Enoch.

The book begins thus:

The word of the blessing of Enoch, how he blessed the elect and the righteous,who were to exist in a time of trouble; rejecting all the wicked and ungodly. Enoch, a righteous man, who was with God, answered and spoke, while his eyes were open, and he saw a holy vision in the heavens. This the angels showed me. From them I heard everything, and understood what I saw; that which will not take place in this generation, but in a generation which is to succeed at a distant period, on account of the elect.

It does not seem clear that the author is identifying himself as Enoch. He speaks of Enoch in the third person. Then he states what he himself saw.

When I first heard of the book of Enoch, I became excited. I supposed that it had actually been written by the historic Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. But the evidence seems to show that it was written in the second century B.C., and as I indicated above, the author may be laying no claim to being the historic Enoch, but only of receiving the same vision or prophecy that Enoch had received long before.

The following has been quoted from Wikipedia:

A number of the Church Fathers thought it to be an inspired work, particularly Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Origen, Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian, based on its quotation in Jude.

The early Christian father Tertullian wrote c. 200 that the Book of Enoch had been rejected by the Jews because it contained prophecies pertaining to Christ.

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.

It seems that Jude quoted from it as authoritative and/or canonical. So it is rather difficult to accept the book of Jude as canonical while rejecting the Book of Enoch.

Some attempt to do this by saying Jude did not regard the book as canonical, but, under the inspiration of the Holy Sprit, he merely quoted a passage which happened to be true, from the book .