Anyone even remotely aware of social media religious content has heard of the book of Enoch. It seems anyone who wants to claim knowledge of ancient mystical secrets unknown to the modern world cites the book of Enoch. If they are questioned about the legitimacy of this book, they are quick to point out that the New Testament quotes it, so it must be a reliable source. They may go on to claim it was the source material for Genesis. That it explains the origins of Greek and Roman mythology. That it describes a golden anti antediluvian world of giants and demigods who built significant ancient structures and maybe even became demons.One of those making such claims is Billy Carson who has been largely delegitimized by his appearance alongside Wes Huff on a recent podcast. Many of his ilk still claim to have special insights into the past, the future and the Spirit world, largely because of their extra-Biblical knowledge of ancient bible related texts. Chief among these sources is the book of Enoch.
For the purpose of this article, I would like to address a fairly simple question. What is the book of Enoch and what does it mean that Jude quotes from it.
The book describes a golden anti antediluvian world of giants and demigods who built all of the significant ancient structures and maybe even became daemons. It is an ancient pseudepigraphal book which along with a number of oth
A recent popular example is Billy Carson ( of 4biddenknowledge fame ). He made guest appearances on the Joe Rogan podcast, as well as other large interview style online talk shows. He has been largely delegitimized by his appearance alongside Wes Huff (PHD candidate and ancient document scholar at University of Toronto) on Mark Minard’s Elevating Beyond Podcast. Many of his ilk still claim to have special insights into the past and future and the spirit world, largely because of their knowledge of ancient bible related texts. Michael Knowles hosted Tim Alberino aka “the rogue archaeologist” who drew heavily from the book of Enoch in his presentation.
For this article, I would like to address two fairly simple questions. What is the book of Enoch and what does it mean that Jude quotes from it.
The book of Enoch is part of the pseudepigrapha, these are books written during the intertestamental period and attributed to Jewish patriarchs. Often these books seek to explain or otherwise amplify texts from scripture which people may be curious about but which do not get a great deal of attention by inspired authors. We might compare this today to fan fiction, which seeks to flesh out minor incidents that a favourite novel only alludes to.
Specifically, the book of Enoch starts from Genesis 5:21-24 and 6:1-4. In this text we read
“ When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.”
This description stands out because unlike everyone else in the chapter Enoch is not said to have died. This becomes a matter of considerable discussion for Jewish interpreters. Enoch is also seventh from Adam a number often believed to have special theological significance. Because we have more information about Enoch than most others in the chapter, he seems to be a character of some significance and yet we know relatively little about him. The book of Enoch takes advantage of this lack of detail and uses it as an opportunity to fill in the blanks with elaborate fictitious content.
The work we are discussing is rightly called 1st Enoch as differentiated from 2nd and 3rd Enoch which are different books with different focuses. Furthermore it should be pointed out that even 1st Enoch is widely acknowledged to be a conglomeration of several different sources.
The historical Enoch lived before the flood, The book of Enoch appears to have been written thousands of years later during the intertestamental period. So the man mentioned in Genesis five can’t be the actual author. We do find the book among the dead sea scrolls which says something about it’s age and popularity in the years leading up to the life of Christ.
The book contains several visions of Enoch which tell of fallen angels, a coming messiah, the future state of the faithful, and God’s justice winning out in the end.
The discussion of fallen angels has been the matter most discussed in recent times. In connection with that, the book speculates on who the sons of God were in Genesis 6:1-4. Further how their intermarriage with the daughters of men led to the rise and activities of the Nephilim. Curiosity seekers are draw to these questions and eager to believe that this book has answers provided by a reliable person who was there when it happened. The problem of course is that Enoch was long gone before someone assumed his name and wrote an imaginary version of events.
This document gained enough popularity to be included in the collection of works among the dead sea scrolls. Fragments of it were found in Cave 4 at Qumran along with fragments from 574 other manuscripts. It was part of a library that included portions of Biblical books, Biblical commentaries, Apocryphal books, books on Jewish law, prayers, sectarian documents and others.
The book is also quoted by some early church fathers again indicating familiarity with, and popularity among, not just ancient Jews but also ancient Christians.
This brings us to our second point of discussion why does Jude quote it?
Jude is writing to warn of false teaching and further to encourage the faithful to defend the truth (Jude 3-4). He offers a series of warnings giving examples of those who have abandoned God’s truth down through history. Then beginning in verse 8 Jude starts to describe the nature of these people.
As a final warning Jude makes the point that Enoch seventh from Adam prophesied about these people saying “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousand 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 is using a well-known contemporary source as an example of the point he is making. In doing so Jude does not force us to conclude that 1st Enoch was inspired by God or that it was written by Enoch. He is simply using a truth expressed by an influential contemporary work to bolster his warning. The most we can say is that Jude guided by inspiration believes the statement describing judgment to be a true warning worth heeding.
It should be noted that Jude is not the only New Testament writer to do this. The Apostle Paul quoted a number of popular writings to make various points in his teaching:
- Epimenides and Aratus Acts 17:28 “For in him we live and move and have our being”
- Menander I Cor 15:33 “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die”
- Epimenides Titus 1:12 “the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and idle gluttons!”
Jude may have used a quote from a different pseudepigraphical book “The assumption of Moses” in verse 9. Both Clement of Alexandria and Origen attribute the quote to that work.
The same principle is at play, Jude is using a cultural reference that his readers would be familiar with to make his point. As mentioned above, these examples do not mean that Paul or Jude affirm anything more than the specific quote used. It is still a common practice for a teacher to use a quotation that hearers or readers will understand and identify with. We should not read too much into the fact that New Testament authors sometimes do this.
Ancient religious writing can help us gain insights into the concepts with which people were familiar. They can also help translators learn about words and phrases. They may supply important historical context, helping us understand the meaning of scripture.
That said, there was a reason ancient Jews didn’t accept 1st Enoch as an inspired book or include it in the Bible. Rather, they saw it as human speculation not divine revelation.
Lest we miss the point, we would all do well to heed Jude’s warning as it remains as important today as it was for those who first read it.
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Further Reading: If you are interested in reading the whole document, there are various free sources online. An excellent 2 volume work edited by James Charlesworth and entitled “Old Testament Pseudepigrapha” can be ordered online.