The Book of Enoch & the New Testament

The Book of Enoch & the New Testament
Jeffrey T. McCormack
 
I would like to step outside of the Bible in order to step back into the Bible – well sort of something like that. I’d like to start by stating these basic principles that I believe most everyone here would agree with. The Bible was written by an ancient people of a different time, culture and mentality than us. We know and understand that there are many things we struggle to understand in the scriptures because of this fact. And because of this, we take to the study of ancient writings, people and times. But, as we know, not everyone does this sadly.
 
The battle continues over the opinions on the creation account and the book of Genesis. Studies in the writings from the surrounding nations at the time period of the writing of Genesis give scholars insight into the types of writing styles and language use for the period. Through this, alternative meanings can be discovered for words we thought we understood already.
 
The same principle is applied to our study of Scripture elsewhere – we have to understand the culture and it’s use of phrases, idioms and terminology, in order to best understand what was written in Scripture at the time.
 
I wish to take a look at one piece of influential literature, an ancient writing that you have probably at least heard of its name – the Book of Enoch. I hope to show you how this writing, which was lost or ignored by the church for nearly two thousand years, was actually a key influential writing that had a big impact upon our New Testament Scriptures.
 
Now, when it comes to the discussion of extra-biblical literature like this, people tend to have different reactions. Mention something like the Apocrypha to a Protestant – their instinct is to raise their fists in preparation for a fight. When you bring up Jewish writings that come from the biblical period, people either simply ignore or dismiss them as useless, or simply deny they contain any truth at all, and think instead that they contain error and myth.
 
We may hold to inspiration of Scripture, and we believe all of Scripture is true, but such a view does not require that we view everything outside the Scripture as necessarily false. Some people do exactly that, particularly when it comes to other scripture-like material from days of old. “If it was true, why did the early church not include it in the canon?” some may ask.
 
The Book of Enoch is understood by scholars to be one of the many apocalyptic writings that came out of the second temple period of Hebrew history. Part of what makes these books relevant to those who study the Bible today, is the fact that they are written in a similar manner as our New Testament, containing similar language, terminology and doctrines.
 
Most scholars also classify many of these writings as pseudepigraphal – pseudo meaning not genuine. This is because it seems to have been a common practice, they say, to find writings penned under the names of a famous or widely known figures from the past. There are many reasons why this practice was supposedly done, and so they believe these writings are not actually written by Enoch, since he lived several thousand years earlier than they have dated this book.
 
Well, for the larger part of church history, the Book of Enoch was lost to the church. The early church period after the Apostle had it, with even some sects of the church, like the Ethiopic branch, holding it as indeed sacred and part of their canon. It was considered as scripture in the Epistle of Barnabas and by many of the early Church Fathers, such as Athenagoras, Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Irenaeus and Tertullian, who called the Book of Enoch “Holy Scripture,” and wrote c. 200 that the Book of Enoch had been rejected by the Jews because it contained prophecies pertaining to Christ.
 
In looking at another of the reasons why the book was rejected by some, I found what I think is an amazing quote from author Joseph Lumpkin, who is not a preterist, but states this about church history:
 
Since any book stands to be interpreted in many ways, Enoch posed problems for some theologians. Instead of reexamining their own theology, they sought to dispose of that which went counter to their beliefs. Some of the visions in Enoch are believed to point to the consummation of the age in conjunction with Christ’s second coming, which some believe took place in AD 70 (in the destruction of Jerusalem). (Joseph B. Lumpkin – The Books of Enoch: The Angels, The Watchers and The Nephilim, p 16)
 
His implication here seems to be saying that some in the early days of the church believed the second coming was in AD 70. Sadly he does not develop that or explain any further as to where he is pulling this tidbit of information from.
 
He does go on to mention that the “70 generations” discussed in Enoch was a problem for scholars too, because they thought it indeed could not be stretched beyond the first century. Kind of like what troubles people about Daniel’s 70 weeks. So in the end, we find it to begin being discredited after the Council of Laodicea and then later church fathers denied the canonicity of the book. Some even considered the letter of Jude uncanonical because it refers to this “apocryphal” work. The book eventually fell from view for almost two thousand years, and was only rediscovered and published in English around the turn of the nineteenth century.
 
A short side note. When I was researching some additional info on the 70 generations mentioned in Enoch, I stumbled upon a general forum discussion on religion, and found someone who was struggling with this issue. He said:
 
In Enoch, it predicts the Messiah will arise 70 generations after Enoch, ‘seventh from Adam.’ This in itself would be harmless if Enoch was just a fairytale, but in Luke’s genealogy of Jesus there are indeed 70 from Enoch to Jesus!
 
It seems that (a) Enoch correctly predicted it, (b) Luke modified the genealogy here and there to make it match Enoch, (c) Enoch is again taking from it (Luke). Something is going on here! If Luke just made something up like that, how can we be sure he didn’t just make up or borrow things from older non-inspired texts as he saw fit?
 
What also seems a bit troubling is that Enoch says the judgement will occur 70 generations after Enoch; at the time of Christ. Christ says he would return before the generation had passed away, again fitting in with Enoch. So here we have another conundrum: either (a) Christ was a false prophet or (b) the Preterist interpretation is correct and he somehow returned before the generation ended. (www.city-data.com, post 3/9/2010 by Trimac20)
 
Two things to note – he may indeed be correct in implying that Luke, as a first century writer, may have been borrowing from the Book of Enoch, as we will be looking into further as we go. Secondly, it is worth noting that based on his study of the book he was beginning to show leanings towards a Preterist understanding of things.
 
Back to the topic, after falling from view for almost two thousand years, when the Book of Enoch rediscovered, it was actually assumed that it must have been a writing that was penned some time after the Christian era. The main reason for this was because it had so many quotes, paraphrases and concepts that were found within the New Testament. However, this view changed after the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Ten fragments of the Book of Enoch were found among these scrolls which lead some scholars to believe the book may have been used widely as a prayer book, teacher’s manual or study text. But its inclusion within the Dead Sea Scrolls reveals that the book was actually in existence before the time of Christ. As Lumpkin puts it:
 
These (Dead Sea) scrolls force a closer look and reconsideration. It became obvious that the New Testament did not influence the Book of Enoch; on the contrary, the Book of Enoch influenced the New Testament. (Joseph B. Lumpkin – The Books of Enoch: The Angels, The Watchers and The Nephilim, p 11)
 
There are actually three books of Enoch that you will find out there, but I will only be discussing the first of those three – commonly known as the Ethiopic Book of Enoch, or 1st Enoch. It contains 107 chapters which scholars divide the book into 5 main sections.
 
The first 36 chapters is commonly known as the Book of the Watchers, and describes the activities surrounding the Genesis 6 procreation between the sons of God and the daughters of men and Enoch being taken to heaven in relation to the judgment for that.
 
Section two is chapters 37-71, referred to as the Book of Parables, and is usually the center of debate among scholars. It relates to the Book of Watchers, but it contains the development of ideas surrounding the final judgment of those even outside of the fallen angels discussed in section one. It is also where we see the appearance of a person referred to with the terms “Son of Man,” “Righteous one,” “Chosen one,” and “Messiah.”
 
Chapters 72-82 are known as the Astrological Book, as it describes the knowledge revealed during Enoch’s trip to Heaven regarding the movements of the heavenlies bodies, the firmament, and the Solar calendar.
 
Chapters 83-90 are referred to as the book of Dream Visions, and describes visions of the history of Israel down through the intertestamental period. It is for this reason that many scholars conclude that the book of Enoch – or at least this section of it – must have been written during the intertestamental period, and not earlier, since it contained history only up until that time. The Ethiopic church though, held this book was indeed written before the flood, and that this section was indeed prophetic visions of things to come.
 
Chapters 83-84 deal with the first vision, dealing with events surrounding the deluge, and 85-90 is the history of the world up through the establishment of the Messianic kingdom.
 
The final chapters, 91-107, are referred to as the Epistle of Enoch, or the Book of Warnings and Blessings of Enoch, are is usually further broken down into five covered topics: Exhortation, Apocalypse of Weeks, Epistle, the Birth of Noah, and the Conclusion.
 
As I mentioned earlier, the Book of Enoch is considered one of the writings known as apocalyptic. There are many such Hebrew writings that are outside the canon of scripture. As writer Michael Stone puts it:
 
Many of these writings were very much concerned with eschatological matters, the imminence of the end of days and the way men should act in this last period preceding that end. Moreover, the end of days was not just seen as a chance event, but was understood as having been fixed in advance, as had the whole course of history from creation. (Michael Edward Stone – Scriptures, Sects and Vision: A Profile of Judaism from Ezra to the Jewish Revolts, Pg. 61)
 
So, for a those who thrive in eschatological type studies, these types of books should sound fascinating to us, right? I admit that is one of the key reasons I started looking in to them. And it was actually brother Ed Stephens who sold me my first copy of the Book of Enoch – so blame him for leading me down this path.
 
Let me take a brief stop here to chase a rabbit trail. There is a doctrinal theory out there that states the Bible does not teach a determined set plan of Yahweh, but that things are open ended, dependent on man’s actions and reactions, and that many results are not even totally known to Yahweh. This is basically the view known as Open Theism.
 
A few months ago I was in a discussion on Facebook with someone within our eschatological camp that I would have considered to be well read. He was espousing this view of Open Theism, going on about how the Hebrew people didn’t believe in a view of Yahweh as being a deterministic God who knew everything about the future. I granted to him that maybe while strictly considering it from only the canon of Hebrew Scriptures his view may appear to have credence, but that it fails miserably to be so in the light of the even larger amount of ancient Hebrew writings like those pseudepigraphal and intertestamental writings. His response was that he had never read any of them.
 
So here is a person, spouting off and belittling others – especially those holding to predestination type views – and speaking in an authoritative manner about the historic beliefs of the Hebrews, yet by his own admission, he is ignorant of all but a few of their writings. Real scholarship comes about by a fairly thorough look at a wealth of such information before coming to such concrete conclusions as he was doing.
 
If the Hebrews indeed had a totally open view of history and Yahweh’s knowledge of it, then the whole realm of prophecy is almost useless, as it is always subject to change due to man thwarting the hoped for outcome. This fellow even stated that if Yahweh had been unsuccessful in convincing Moses to act on his behalf, then he would have raised up someone else to do the task. I don’t know about you, but I find such a view to be extremely radical and thoroughly unbiblical.
 
Author Michael Edward Stone summarizes the position by somewhat agreeing that looking strictly at some of the Hebrew Scriptures, events of history appear to be contingent on the action of men, but he then continues:
 
In many of the Pseudepigrapha, however, a determinism is clearly presented. God fixed the times in advance; they can be calculated (by Him at least); human action is of no weight in determining the course of history. Moreover, these views were conceived under the very strong impression of the dualistic opposition of the world to come and this world. (Michael Edward Stone – Scriptures, Sects and Vision: A Profile of Judaism from Ezra to the Jewish Revolts, pg 62)
 
So, either Yahweh’s people had a total flipping of opinion in their view and writing on Yahweh over time, or the deterministic nature of the Hebrew scriptures have been misunderstood by us. I am one who already sees much determinism throughout the Scriptures already, so finding it in these other writings is not such a change of position for me at all.
 
But now back to the path at hand. What benefit does the Book of Enoch provide for us when it comes to our canon of Scripture? Well, the most obviously answer comes from one of its primary uses by people today, and that is its relationship to the ongoing debate into the true meaning of Genesis 6 and the sons of God taking daughters of man as wives.
 
The Book of Enoch obviously sees the sons of God as indeed angelic entities procreating with human women and creating a hybrid race of giants. This is the common view on Genesis 6 that the ancient Hebrews and early church held, and the Book of Enoch is a key source for further promoting this understanding.
 
When it comes to this book in general, some quote it as if it were Scripture, while others condemn it as total myth and heresy. But if we find that it has been influential on some biblical writers and has influenced them in the writing of our canon of Scripture, then it would demand further consideration, would it not?
 
Let’s start with a look at what little we know about the man Enoch just from the Scriptures. Genesis 5 tells us Enoch is the son of Jared, that at age 65 he had a son, Methuselah, and that he lived another 300 years after fathering Methuselah, and at that time, at age 365, he “was not, for God took him.” So the fact that we are told that he was no more after age 365, a lifespan that pales in comparison to those of that time living hundreds of years longer, this gives us a clue something is different here. We are told he “walked with God” which carries the connotation of a direct and immediate relationship with God. Enoch’s walk with God was different than those around him.
 
In Genesis 6:9, we are told that Noah similarly “walked with God,” and we know how special he ended up being. And as special as Noah was, Enoch was likewise special. Note that we are not told he died as all of those around him in the genealogy verses are said to have done, but just that he “was not.” This is the only time in this genealogy chapter that “was not” is used, and scholars agree it cannot mean simply that he died. And of course we are told in the book of Hebrews that he indeed had not died in this instance:
 
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him… (Hebrews 11:5 ESV)
 
Beyond that, the only other mentionable content about Enoch we have is in the book of Jude, which we will deal with further in a bit. It states:
 
It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (Jude 14-15 ESV)
 
As mentioned, the Book of Enoch was held in high esteem in the early Christian church, but translator E. Isaac concluded that the book fell into disfavor around the 4th century in the West due to the negative reviews of it by influential theologians like Julius Africanus, Augustine, Hilary and Jerome, and that it was the medieval mind that was responsible for it becoming virtually oblivious to the church until its rediscovery in 1773 by Scottish explorer James Bruce.
 
Some believe it fell in disfavor because the text was at a time manipulated by those in the Manichean heresy camp, and therefore Jerome and Augustine outright dismissed it as apocryphal because of its popularity – not on any scriptural basis though. It was Augustine, with his early background in Manicheanism that was the most influential with his rejection, and he laid the foundation for the modern church’s continued rejection. Brian Godawa sums it up well, stating:
 
But we must learn our lessons from Augustine’s fallacy of guilt by association. Just because some aberrant sects of non-Christian cults may value 1 Enoch does not make it an unworthy text, especially since it has a long pedigree of acceptance within the historic orthodox faith. After all, non-Christian cults of all kinds do the same thing with the Bible. Abuse of a text does not negate proper use. (Brian Godawa – When Giants Were Upon the Earth, pg. 18)
 
Now while we are not saying that 1 Enoch is to be considered Scripture, many people do not even realize just how influential it was on our New Testament writers, some of whom appear to have used it directly as source material for doctrines that they then injected into what we today hold as canon of Scripture.
 
Say that the Book of Enoch as a non-canonical writing was a source of historical and doctrinal truths is not as odd of a thought as it may sound to some. Scholars note that there are well over fifty references in the Scriptures to just over twenty non-canonical source texts used by Biblical authors that are currently still lost to history. These are non-Biblical texts that the writers of Scripture canon specifically mention as being either the source of truths for the information they wrote in Scripture, or are promoted as suggested reading for further truth and reference for what they wrote in Scripture. A few examples of such mentioned works would be:
 
The Book of the Wars of Yahweh (Num 21:14), the Book of Jasher (Joshua 10:13), the Book of the Acts of Solomon (1 Kings 11:41), the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel (1 Kings 14:19), the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah (1 Kings 14:29), the Annals of Samuel the Seer (1 Chr. 29:29), the History of Nathan the Prophet (2 Chr. 9:29), and many others, but you get the gist of the point being made. Basically, with such evidence of an acknowledgement of non-Biblical sources by the very writers of Scripture canon, we cannot simply dismiss such influential texts as totally irrelevant of unworthy of inspection.
 
Unfortunately, at present all of these types of works remain lost, except one, the Book of Enoch. And the fact is that this book was considered to be one such source that contains information with both a direct and indirect influence on our New Testament writings. The Book of Enoch would have been one of those books that was probably wide read by the Jewish people of the first century. It appears to be one that was obviously known by most people, as we find in the New testament not only a direct quote here and there, but quite a large amount of direct allusions to doctrines expressed within it.
 
Terms like “Son of Man,” for instance. Many will simply say this terminology that Yeshua employs is harking back to its appearance in Daniel 7, and there is no denying that there is an obvious connection. However, what little we are told in Daniel regarding that designation does not directly correlate to the extensive use we find throughout the New Testament. One scholarly work argues that while Daniel 7 shows a vision of the Son of Man on a cloud approaching the throne of the Ancient of Days and receiving a kingdom of glory and dominion, the New Testament Son of Man engages in a more judicial office that the one presented in Daniel.
 
In Daniel he is enthroned after judgment, but in places like Mark 8:38 and Matt. 10:32-33, the Son of Man comes in judgment. This difference aligns much more closely to those teachings contained in the Parables of Enoch. Mark 13:26-27 tells us:
 
And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. (Mark 13:26-27 ESV)
 
This Son of Man text goes beyond what Daniel 7 states, but aligns more closely with the resurrection imagery contained in 1 Enoch 51, 61 and 62. Another example we can look at is the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46:
 
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. (Matthew 25:31-33 ESV)
 
He goes on to speak of those who did this, that and the other thing, and those who did not do any of those things, and then concludes in verse 46 by stating “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Now while Daniel 7 gives us a reference to a kingly throne idea, it does not present us with any kind of real judgment of nations motif like we find here. However, this type of motif is indeed reflective of what we are told in the Book of Enoch chapter 62 where we are told of the gathering of the people for judgment:
 
One half portion of them shall glance at the other half; they shall be terrified and dejected; and pain shall seize them when they see the Son of Man sitting on the throne of his glory…
 
But the Lord of the Spirits himself will cause them to be frantic, so that they shall rush and depart from his presence…
 
So he will deliver them to the angels for punishments in order that vengeance shall be executed on them – oppressors of his children and his elect ones…
 
The righteous and elect ones shall be saved on that day; and from thenceforth they shall never see the faces of the sinners and the oppressors. The Lord of the Spirits will abide over them; they shall eat and rest and rise with that Son of Man forever and ever. The righteous and elect ones shall rise from the earth and cease being of downcast face. They shall wear the garments of glory.
 
How about what we learn in John 5 about judgment and the Son:
 
The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son… (John 5:22 ESV)
 
Sounds like almost a direct quote from Enoch 69:
 
And he sat on the throne of his glory, and the sum of judgment was given to the Son of Man. (Enoch 69:27)
 
Now, let’s take a look briefly at some from the Book of Revelation. Let’s start with the discussion of the blood of the martyrs in Rev 6:
 
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer… (Revelation 6:9-11 ESV)
 
Enoch had foretold this in similar manner:
 
In those days the prayer of the righteous shall have ascended, and the blood of the righteous from the earth shall be before the Lord of spirits. In those days the holy ones who dwell above in heavens shall unite with one voice and supplicate and pray and praise, and give thanks and bless the name of the Lord of spirits on behalf of the blood of the righteous which has been shed, that the prayer of the righteous may not be in vain before the Lord of spirits, that they may have justice, and that they may not have to wait forever. (1 Enoch 47:1-2)
 
And sure we are all familiar with what we are told in Rev. 20:
 
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:12-15 ESV)
 
Well, this correlates pretty closely with what we find in Enoch 47 and 51:
 
In those days I saw the Head of Days when He seated himself on the throne of His glory, and the books of the living were opened before Him; and all His host which is in heaven above and His counselors stood before Him. And the hearts of the holy were filled with joy because the number of the righteous had been offered, and the prayer of the righteous had been heard, and the blood of the righteous not been required before the Lord of spirits. (1 Enoch 47:3-4)
 
And in those days shall the earth also give back that which has been entrusted to it, and Sheol also shall give back that which is has received, and hell shall give back that which is owes. For in those days the Elect One shall arise, and he shall choose the righteous and holy from among them. For the day has drawn near that they should be saved. (1 Enoch 51:1-2)
 
So, here is a question that hit me as I was studying this, and it is a question worth pondering I think. If we accept the Book of Revelation as inspired canon of Scripture – which we do; and if we understand it as prophecy revealed beforehand to John – which we do; then what do we do when we find very similar or identical “prophetic” scenarios in the Book of Enoch, written hundreds of years earlier than Revelation, but that correlates with it? Just food for thought.
 
Another example of the Son of Man theme that is beyond what we are told in Daniel can be found in 1 Enoch 48:
 
And at that hour that Son of Man was named in the presence of the Lord of spirits….Even before the sun and the signs were created, before stars of heaven were made, His name was named before the Lord of spirits. He shall be a staff to the righteous and they shall steady themselves and not fall. And he shall be a light of the Gentiles, and the hope of those who are troubled of heart. (1 Enoch 48: 2-4)
 
Could it be that Paul was drawing from this Enochian storyline when in Romans he speaks of such things as:
 
So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. (Romans 11:11 ESV)
 
And then he goes on to discuss Gentiles coming to faith along side of the remnant – ie the righteous who steady themselves in Christ so as not to fall? Hopefully you are starting to see that there is an uncanny amount of similarities presented in the Book of Enoch.
 
There are so many other examples of parallel language and scenarios found in the Book of Enoch, and not all of them are necessarily so much of a full expression of whole scenarios as we have seen, some are simply key terms and references that are not clearly seen in the Hebrew Scriptures. These types of thoughts and terminologies are influential in how we now view key doctrines that the church holds as sacred. On this topic, writer E. Isaacs concludes:
 
There is little doubt that 1 Enoch was influential in molding New Testament doctrines concerning the nature of the Messiah, the Son of Man, the messianic kingdom, demonology, the future, resurrection, final judgment, the whole eschatological theater, and symbolism. No wonder, therefore that the book was highly regarded by many of the earliest apostolic and Church Fathers. (E. Isaac, A New Translation and Introduction – The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha)
 
One of the earliest experts on Enoch and other Pseudepigrapha writings is R.H. Charles, and he went on to list about sixty examples where the language of the New Testament reflected possible Enochian influence, then coming to the conclusion that:
 
1 Enoch has had more influence on the New Testament than has any other apocryphal or pseudepigraphal work. (R.H. Charles, Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, Vol. 2)
 
Let us now look at a sampling of some of the terminology parallels between the New Testament and 1 Enoch that Charles presents. Again, these are mostly terms and ideas that are found in the New Testament with no real Hebrew scripture correlation, but are almost directly pulled from 1 Enoch:
 
 

 
This last one here in Luke is a little bit more interesting than how it is listed in the gospels of Matthew and Mark. In those two versions of the story, it essentially just says “this is my son, listen to him.” Here in Luke, we have the addition of the term “the Elect One, ” and as Lumpkin puts it:
 
The “Elect One” is a most significant term (found 14 times) in the Book of Enoch. If the book was indeed known to the Apostles of Christ, with its abundant descriptions of the Elect One who should “sit upon the throne of glory” and the Elect One who should “dwell in the midst of them,” then the great scriptural authenticity is justly accorded to the Book of Enoch. Then the “voice out of the cloud” tells the Apostles, “This is my Son, the Elect One”…. the one promised in the Book of Enoch. (Joseph B. Lumpkin – The Books of Enoch: The Angels, The Watchers and The Nephilim, pg 15)
 
Now, list of these kinds of comparisons goes on, but hopefully these give you an idea of some of the similar language and thoughts originating from the Book of Enoch.
 
Another interesting point of view that scholars have noticed, is that in some instances, we find that some terms have had one understanding in how they were presented or applied in the Hebrew Scriptures, but then those terms have taken on a different meaning and understanding in 1 Enoch. And then it became that new understanding that was presented in Enoch that was then brought over into the New Testament.
 
R.H. Charles argues that things like the notion of Sheol, demonology and future life which are barely mentioned in the Hebrew scriptures, are given more light and expanded upon in 1 Enoch, and that this expanded view corresponds to the New Testament usages.
 
Now before I get to the bulk of what I wish to cover, I want to take a quick look at the idea of the Messiah, and what the book of Enoch reveals about him. We know in the Hebrew scriptures that we have a fairly clouded view of who or what he was to be, yet we have a much clearer view once Christ comes on the scene.
 
So let’s consider what we know about the Messiah from the canon of Scripture, and consider it with what the Book of Enoch tells us about Him. These are scattered bits of information throughout Enoch, and R.H. Charles has done the leg-work to pull them together into a more cohesive view much of what Enoch says about this coming Messiah. From the Book of Enoch we find that the Messiah was going to be:
 

• Not of human descent, but is a supernatural being
• Given four titles used for the first time in Enoch and then in the NT:
  • The Christ (46:10, 52:4)
  • The Righteous One (38:2, 53:6 → Acts 3:14, 7:52, 22:14)
  • The Elect One (40:5, 45:3, 4ff → Lk 9:35, 23:35)
  • The Son of Man
• Judge of the world and revealer of all things
• Messianic champion and ruler of the righteous
• As judge, who possesses righteousness, wisdom and power
• The righteous one in an extraordinary sense (38:2, 53:6)
• Possessor of righteousness, and it dwells in Him (46:3)
• Has wisdom which could find no dwelling place on Earth (42)
• Wisdom dwells in Him, and the Spirit of Him who gives knowledge (49:3)
• Secrets of wisdom stream forth from His mouth (51:3)
• Wisdom is poured forth like water before Him (49)
• In Him abodes the spirit of power (49:3)
• Possesses universal dominion (62:6)
• Is the revealer of all things
• His appearance reveals the revelation of good and the unmasking of evil
• Brings light to everything hidden (righteousness and sin) (46:3, 49:2,4)
• Brings life to those that have perished on land and sea, and those in Sheol (51:1, 65:5)
• Evil when unmasked will vanish from His presence (49:2)
• All judgment has been committed to Him (69:27)
• He will sit on the throne of His glory (45:3, 62:3,5)
• Which is likewise the throne of God (47:3, 51:3)
• All men, righteous and wicked, and all angels He will judge (51:2, 55:4, 61:8, 62:2,3)
• By the words of His mouth will He slay the ungodly (62:2)
• He is the stay of the righteous (48:4)
• The avenger of the life of the righteous (48:7)
• The preserver of the righteous and their inheritance (48:7)
• Will vindicate the earth as the possession for the righteous (51:5)
• Cause the face of the righteous to shine with joy (51:5)
• He will cover the righteous with life (62:15)
• He will make the righteous resplendent with light (39:7)
• Make the righteous “become angels in heaven” (51:4)
• He will abide in closest communion with righteous for ever (62:14)
• Will be in the immediate presence of Yahweh (Lord of Spirits) (39:7)
• His glory is for ever and ever, His might to all generations (49:2)

 
Hoping you see how closely the things mentioned in the Book of Enoch are with what we see and believe from the what we have learned from the New Testament about the Messiah. Now, moving away from the Messiah character directly, and placing him into the overarching prophecy of the works of the Son of Man and history, we find many more similarities with what we find in the New Testament.
 

• The watchers (angels) fell and lead mankind astray (54:6)
• The were punished immediately, bound for judgment (54:5)
• Held to await final judgment (54:6, 55:3, 64)
• In the meantime mankind sins, and denies Lord of Spirits (38:2, 41:2)
• Kings and the mighty trust in their sceptre and glory (63:7)
• They oppress the elect of the children of God (62:11)
• Prayer of the righteous ascends, their blood crying for vengeance (47:1)
• Suddenly the Head of Days will appear, with the Son of Man (46:2-4, 48:2)
• Judgment is declared on all according to their deeds (91:1)
• Fallen angels cast into a fiery furnace (54:6)
• Kings and mighty men given to destruction as they burn and vanish away 48:9-10, 62:12)
• They are tortured in Gehenna by the angels of punishment (53: 3-5; 54:1-2)
• Other sinners driven from face of earth- Son of Man slays them with the word of His mouth (62:6)
• Sins banished (49:2)
• Heaven and earth transformed (45:4-5)
• Righteous and elect have their mansions therein (39:5, 41:2)
• The light of the Lord of Spirits shines upon them (38:4)
• They live in the light of eternal light (58:3)
• They seek after light and find righteousness and peace with the Lord of Spirits (58:3-4)
• They grow in knowledge and righteousness (58:5)

 
Surely you can see this storyline from Enoch is likewise presented and playing out in our New Testament Scriptures. It is no wonder why those 17th century readers of the rediscovered Book of Enoch supposed it to have been written after the New testament, the parallels are almost uncanny. Now, let us return our attention to the passage in Jude that we mentioned in the first lecture. This is one of the few stronger passages that show an even clearer dependence on the Enochian texts.
 
It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (Jude 14-15 ESV)
 
This is a direct quoting of 1 Enoch 1:9, but one thing worth noting is that Jude states here that what Enoch is doing in this verse is prophesying. Referring to a verse from Enoch as being a prophecy sure feels like he is adding much more weight to it than if he was just quoting it as a secular type source like we see occasionally in Scripture. The other thing that is notable in studying both books further, is that Jude does not simply quote a verse and move on, but in fact continues to follow the content patterns of 1 Enoch along with allusions and echoes of its phrases and language throughout his letter.
 
Both books share the primary apocalyptic theme of the punishment of the ungodly. And they both do so by pointing to an evil in their day and stating it is a fulfillment of a past prophetic proclamation. Not only do both books appeal to ancient judgment examples as a connection to the promised judgment coming to the present ungodly company, but they both look back to the same ancient corruption of the angelic watchers who corrupted humanity.
 
1 Enoch chapters 1-36 of course deal in great detail with those Watchers that Jude touches upon. And in Jude 13, he condemns “wandering stars,” which is a common Hebrew idiom in both the Hebrew Scriptures and Pseudepigrapha that is referring to divine beings. They are also referred to as the “host of heaven,” a term which also denotes deity. We also find the stars of heaven referred to as “heavenly host” which are likened to pagan deities (Deut 4:19) as well as those angelic Sons of God that surround his throne (Psa. 89:5-7, Job 38:7). So it is of no surprise that Enoch discusses those fallen angelic Watchers using the imagery of imprisoned stars.
 
The angel said (to me), “This place is the (ultimate) end of heaven and earth; it is the prison house for the stars and the powers of heaven… they are the ones which have transgressed the commandments of God.” (1 Enoch 18:14-15)
 
So Jude pulls that similar theme in when he condemns those wandering stars by saying it is for them that “the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever” (v 13). And Jude speaks of these ungodly villains as those who “pervert the grace of God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Yeshua the Christ” (v. 4). This aligns with the declaration against the angels found in 1 Enoch 67:10, where it says:
 
So the judgment shall come upon them, because they believe in the debauchery of their bodies and deny the spirit of Yahweh. (1 Enoch 67:10)
 
This theme of fleshly defilement and of the rejection of authority that Jude mentions in verse 8 are likewise the traits of those angels in verse 6 that “did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling.” Who are the angels mentioned in Jude? It is plainly evident, as some scholars point out, that Jude is obviously pulling directly from 1 Enoch chapters 6-19, being the earliest existing manuscript that holds an account of the fall of the angelic Watchers. Enoch plainly states, in talking to the fallen Watchers:
 
Wherefore have ye left the high, holy, and eternal heaven, and lain with women, and defiled yourselves with the daughters of men and taken to yourselves wives, and done like the children of earth, and begotten giants (as your) sons? And though ye were holy, spiritual, living the eternal life, you have defiled yourselves with the blood of women, and have begotten (children) with the blood of flesh, and, as the children of men, have lusted after flesh and blood as those also do who die and perish. (1 Enoch 15:3-5)
 
Of those Watchers who sinned, Jude says they were “kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day” – which is closely connected with 1 Enoch 10:12:
 
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. 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. (1 Enoch 10:13-14)
 
A quick note while looking at this verse, and this was touched upon earlier when mentioning that forum post. We note here that the angels were held for 70 generations, at the end of which time would be the day of judgment. In the Gospel of Luke, he counts 70 generations leading up to their present time and the time of Christ. Christ said the judgment would occur within his generation – being the 70th generation, thus correlating to Enoch’s prediction time frame. And the book of Revelation, which discusses the tossing of the devil and his angels into the lake of fire likewise lines up with what Enoch tells us about events surrounding the judgment and timing of the first century.
 
All of this combined just shows us an additional confirmation for the timing of an event that was to take place in that first century time frame, and not thousands of years later or in our future as many teach today. Now when it comes to Jude 6 and 7, there are a couple ways you can look at that connection. Some modern commentators go through the motions to disconnect any idea of the two verses being comparisons to each other. They’ll say these two verses are just two examples of judgment, and are not being compared to each other.
 
They will contend that verse 6 speaks of these angels, which they sometimes attempt to make out as mere men and not heavenly beings; and then say that verse 7 is speaking of the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah being compared to those cities that surrounded them. So when it says that they “in like manner indulged…” it is referring to those surrounding cities indulging in like manner to what Sodom and Gomorrah had done.
 
Sadly, such an interpretations does not hold up when examined strictly by the original text, but also even more so it fails when considered in light of other Second Temple texts that Jude is obviously pulling from. What we have here is a condemnation of heavenly angelic beings who left their heavenly abode and sinned and held for judgment. Then we have a comparison of sin to those angels in verse 7. Let’s see these together:
 
And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day– (Jude 6 ESV)
 
just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 7 ESV)
 
So we have angels sinning, and then, just like them, we have a single group being discussed, the collective group of Sodom, Gomorrah and the surrounding cities. And what about them? They – Sodom, Gomorrah and their surrounding cities – “likewise” or as some translations have it “in like manner” – they “indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire.” In like manner to whom? The angels in the previous verse.
 
So what we have here is a telling of how the angels as well as Sodom, Gomorrah and their cities were all guilty of indulging in sexual immorality. We see this connection clearly displayed in other Second Temple writings, such as:
 
Do not become like Sodom, which departed from the order of nature. Likewise the Watchers departed from nature’s order; the Lord pronounced a curse upon them at the Flood. (Testament of Naphtali 3:4-5)
 
Thou didst destroy those who aforetime did iniquity, among whom were giants, trusting in their strength and boldness, bringing upon them a boundless flood of water. Thou didst burn up with fire and brimstone the men of Sodom, workers of arrogance, who had become known of all for their crimes, and didst make them an example to those who should come after. (3 Maccabees 2:4-5)
 
Let them not take to themselves wives from the daughters of Canaan; for the seed of Caanan will be rooted out of the land. And he told them of the judgment of the giants, and the judgment of the Sodomites, how they had been judged on account of their wickedness, and had died on account of their fornication, and uncleanness, and mutual corruption through fornication. (Jubilees 20:4-5)
 
So hopefully, you can now see that a connecting of the angelic judgment with the judgment upon Sodom and surround cities, is not unique to Jude, but is indeed just something Jude has actually borrowed from other non-canonical writings. And that in all places, both groups are mentioned together and are labeled as being guilty of similar acts.
 
This should also help solidify the argument that these two verses in Jude are indeed being used in comparison to one another, and that indeed the “likewise” in Jude 7 is calling back to compare to verse 6 and the sin of the angels for indulging likewise in sexual immorality. To sum up, I appreciate the way Brian Godawa put it:
 
Jude’s linking of Sodom with the days of Noah and the sexual sin of the Watchers is a literary doublet that reinforces the Enochian Watcher paradigm. Combined with the other Enochian allusions, echoes, and linguistic memes in Jude this certainly provides a preponderance of evidence of the extensive dependency of Jude upon 1 Enoch far beyond the single quotation in verses 14-15. (Brian Godawa – When Giants Were Upon the Earth, pg. 30)
 
Now I turn the attention to 2 Peter 2:4-11
 
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked…; then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. (2 Peter 2:4-11 ESV)
 
As we found in Jude, we have angels who sinned and were cast in chains awaiting judgment, followed by a mention of Noah, which reveals to us that the timing of this sinning of the angels was prior to the flood, and this is then followed by again mentioning a connection with Sodom’s destruction, and he also connects that to the lust of defiling passion and despising of authority in his own time.
 
While this section is usually understood by scholars as borrowing from the Jude passage, note that Peter adds a bit more to it than Jude, and that extra information he mentioned adds even more to the obvious connection between this verse and the Book of Enoch as his source.
 
Peter says not only that the angels were in chains awaiting judgment, but that they were in chains and cast into hell. Now the word here translated as “hell” is actually better translated as Tartarus, not Gehenna, which is typically used for the English word hell. Thayer’s Greek lexicon defines it as:
 
The name of the subterranean region, doleful and dark, regarded by the ancient Greeks as the abode of the wicked dead, where they suffer punishment for their evil deeds;
 
Tartarus is considered to be the deepest location in Sheol, and the Greeks taught that the gigantic Titans were chained and held there. Enoch however, says that this is the place where the fallen angels, the Watchers, were chained and held for judgment.
 
Now they shall say unto themselves: Our souls are full of unrighteous gain, but it does not prevent us from descending from the midst thereof into the burden of Sheol.
 
And after that their faces shall be filled with darkness
And shame before that Son of Man,
And they shall be driven from his presence,
And the sword shall abide before his face in their midst.
 
Thus spake the Lord of Spirits: This is the ordinance and judgement with respect to the mighty and the kings and the exalted and those who possess the earth before the Lord of Spirits.
 
And other forms I saw hidden in that place. I heard the voice of the angel saying: These are the angels who descended to the earth, and revealed what was hidden to the children of men and seduced the children of men into committing sin. (1 Enoch 63:10-64:1)
 
So we have Peter, who is considered to be borrowing from Jude, but could be himself borrowing directly from Enoch since we see he adds this additional element not in Jude. The end result is, we have two section of Holy Scripture that are clearly borrowing from the Book of Enoch for their doctrinal basis that is now part of our canon of Scripture. Also note, in neither instance do they attempt to fix or correct a view of the “Watchers procreating with women” view, but actually add comments that favor that view of Genesis 6.
 
But wait – theres more! Flipping back to Peter’s first letter, chapter 3, we find yet another connection:
 
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. (1 Peter 3:18-20 ESV)
 
So we have spirits in prison, and they are tied to, or originating from events surrounding and preceding Noah and the flood. And what event are we told in Scripture directly preceded the flood time period? Of course, Genesis 6:
 
When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose… The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them… (Genesis 6:1-2, 4 ESV)
 
So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (Genesis 6:7-8 ESV)
 
And of course, the Book of Enoch fills in the gaps with a story of what happened around that time period, and of which we have seen some of the NT writers have referenced from in their own writings, and never once is there any attempt made to correct the people on the Genesis 6 “Watchers with women” idea.
 
The verse in Peter is a verse that has perplexed scholars for some time. Many ideas have been discussed behind who these spirits are, where they were, and what was being preached to them. Finding answers to this dilemma is clearly almost impossible by relying strictly on the canon of Scripture. And hopefully by now you are starting to see that even the author Peter was not solely relying on what we consider canon of Scripture.
 
The spirits here originate as being from Noah’s day, imprisoned or bound surrounding that time frame. And this idea lines up nicely with what we have already seen in 1 Enoch 10 with the disobedient angels who were bound and imprisoned in Sheol until the judgment. Beyond that connection, some scholars even lay out how the book of 1 Peter reflects a great influence from Enochian literature throughout. In his commentary on Enoch, Nickelsburg actually lays out a chart showing a multitude of corresponding ideas and terms between the entirety of 1 Peter and 1 Enoch 108. Here are some examples from his list:
 
 

 
So, when it comes to this Book of 1 Enoch, we have a manuscript that has a long history of acceptance in varying degrees within the ancient people of Yahweh up through the early centuries of church history. Out of the many books explicitly mentioned within the canon of Scripture, it is the only one we currently have in existence that appears to be the original source. Within it, we get a glimpse into interpretations that have obviously been influential on many New testament doctrines that we now hold dear.
 
Doctrines surrounding topics such as the Messiah, the Kingdom, the Son of Man, demons, the final judgment and more are found here in ways that are more clearly presented than they are as found in the Hebrew scriptures. And as we’ve seen, the views found there have been carried over into much of the doctrines as they are presented within the New testament Scriptures.
 
It is understandable that those who hold the canon of Scripture in high esteem tend to be uncomfortable with some of the doctrines contained within 1 Enoch – the Watchers/giants storyline as well as the detailed ancient cosmology all sound so foreign to modern readers. But that was not the case for the early church and first century writers.
 
I have personally had recent conversations where every type of excuse was given to get around various scriptures in an effort to avoid the clear and historical view on these things. And I can understand the issue, as there are many things that just sound too odd. But we must remember we are approaching these things with a much more enlightened and scientifically geared mindset, which causes our views to be skewed.
 
Many things of the supernatural and spiritual realm are alien to us today. The more we study ancient Hebrew writings and their understandings, as well as their surround ancient near East neighbors, the more we find such strange sounding doctrines to deal with.
 
So, what does this all mean to us? Why am I bringing up this topic?
 
Well, most people don’t read the intertestamental and Pseudepigraphal writings, feeling they offer little to nothing to the Christian. Hopefully I have at least opened your eyes in some small way to see how in fact, at least this one writing was very influential in the doctrines we find propagated in the New Testament that shape our theological belief. That being the case, it would be of great benefit to further study and understand this obvious source material that those first century writers were pulling from. Yes, there are many other writings from the same period that could have been brought up, some which can be shown to have been influential too, but none as clearly as Enoch was.
 
When we study the Bible, we practice Sola Scriptura, and we compare Scripture to Scripture. We are quick to point out that a best understanding of the NT is found in a better understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures. We also use the force of that practice when we debate issues with others, saying that unless our opponent can prove a doctrine from an Old Testament originating source, then their case is weak. Well, if E. Isaac and other scholars were indeed write in saying as I quoted earlier, that “There is little doubt that 1 Enoch was influential in molding New Testament doctrines concerning the nature of the Messiah, the Son of Man, the messianic kingdom, demonology, the future, resurrection, final judgment, the whole eschatological theater, and symbolism, “ then we may actually have another source of influential theology that needs our attention if we are to gain an even better understanding of some New Testament doctrines.
 
If NT writers were indeed drawing from and applying doctrinal influence from Enoch and these types of non-canonical intertestamental writings also, and if these were understandings that altered or expanded upon the Old Testament understandings on a topic, and then those different understandings were brought over and applied within our New Testament, then could it be that we may be missing information in our understanding by ignoring them in our studies?
 
Could the church gain a better understanding of the New Testament from also considering the teachings of some of the intertestamental writings, especially ones like Enoch where the influence is so clearly brought into the New Testament? I believe it is a question worth asking at least.
 
I will close with this closing paragraph from Godawa’s book:
 
But the preponderance of evidence shows that not only does the new Testament letter of Jude quote directly from 1 Enoch 1 (Book of the Watchers), but the entire letter and it’s alternate version in 2 Peter, show signs of literary and theological dependency on the rest of the Book of the Watchers (Chaps. 1-36), as well as chapter 80 (Book of Luminaries), chapter 46 (Book of Parables), and chapter 100 ( Epistle of Enoch). 2 Peter shows evidence of structural and thematic dependency on 1 Enoch 17-22 and 108.
 
But the fact is, the entire New Testament shows such a multitude of allusions and linguistic echoes of the entire corpus of 1 Enoch, that one can safely say, the book and its basic interpretations may not be Scripture, but are surely legitimated by the Bible and are therefore worthy of study and high regard by the Christian Church. (Brian Godawa – When Giants Were Upon the Earth, pg. 34)