The text of theBook of Genesis says Enoch lived 365 years before he was taken by God. The text reads that Enoch "walked with God: and he was no more; for God took him" (Gen 5:21–24), which is interpreted as Enochentering heaven alive in some Jewish and Christian traditions,[2][3] and interpreted differently in others.[4]
Several etymologies have been proposed for the name Enoch (חֲנוֹךְḤănōḵ).Philo of Alexandria proposed it meant "your grace" (from Hebrewḥēn), whileJerome derived it from the verb (ḥ-n-ḵ), meaning to train, initiate, dedicate, inaugurate,[8] giving a meaning "dedicated". Modern scholars have proposed meanings including "follower", "inaugurated", and "wise" or "clever".[9]
Enoch appears in theBook of Genesis of thePentateuch as the seventh of the ten pre-DelugePatriarchs. Genesis states that each of the pre-Flood Patriarchs lived for several centuries. Genesis 5 provides a genealogy of these ten figures (from Adam to Noah), providing the age at which each fathered the next, and the age of each figure at death. Enoch is considered by many to be the exception, who is said to "not see death" (Hebrews 11:5). Furthermore,Genesis 5:22–24 states that Enoch lived for 365 years, which is shorter than other pre-Flood Patriarchs, who are all recorded as dying at over 700 years of age. The brief account of Enoch in Genesis 5 ends with the cryptic note that "he was not; for God took him."[10] This happens 57 years after Adam's death and 69 years before Noah's birth.
The Book of Enoch (aka 1 Enoch), composed inHebrew orAramaic and preserved inGe'ez, first brought to Europe byJames Bruce from Ethiopia and translated into English by August Dillmann and Reverent Schoode[11] – recognized by theOrthodox Tewahedo churches and usually dated between the third century BC and the first century AD.
2 Enoch (aka Book of the Secrets of Enoch), preserved inOld Church Slavonic, and first translated in English by William Morfill[12] – usually dated to the first century AD.
3 Enoch, a Rabbinic text in Hebrew usually dated to the fifth century AD.
These recount how Enoch was taken up toHeaven and was appointed guardian of all the celestial treasures, chief of thearchangels, and the immediate attendant on theThrone of God. He was subsequently taught all secrets and mysteries and, with all the angels at his back, fulfills of his own accord whatever comes out of the mouth of God, executing His decrees. Some esoteric literature, such as 3 Enoch, identifies Enoch asMetatron, the angel which communicates God's word. In consequence, Enoch was seen, by this literature and the Rabbinickabbalah of Jewish mysticism, as the one who communicated God's revelation to Moses, and, in particular, as the dictator of theBook of Jubilees.
The Book of Giants is a Jewishpseudepigraphal work from the third century BC and resembles the Book of Enoch. Fragments from at least six and as many as eleven copies were found among theDead Sea Scrolls collections.[13]
The third-century BC translators who produced theSeptuagint inKoine Greek rendered the phrase "God took him" with the Greek verbmetatithemi (μετατίθημι)[14] meaning moving from one place to another.[15]Sirach 44:16, from about the same period, states that "Enoch pleased God and was translated intoparadise that he may give repentance to the nations." The Greek word used here forparadise,paradeisos (παράδεισος), was derived from an ancient Persian word meaning "enclosed garden", and was used in the Septuagint to describe the garden of Eden. Later, however, the term became synonymous for heaven, as is the case here.[16]
In classical Rabbinical literature, there are various views of Enoch. One view regarding Enoch that was found in theTargum Pseudo-Jonathan, which thought of Enoch as a pious man, taken to Heaven, and receiving the title ofSafra rabba (Great scribe). After Christianity was completely separated from Judaism, this view became the prevailing rabbinical idea of Enoch's character and exaltation.[17]
According toRashi[18] [fromGenesis Rabbah[19]], "Enoch was a righteous man, but he could easily be swayed to return to do evil. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, hastened and took him away and caused him to die before his time. For this reason, Scripture changed [the wording] in [the account of] his demise and wrote, 'and he was no longer' in the world to complete his years."
Among the minorMidrashim, esoteric attributes of Enoch are expanded upon. In theSefer Hekalot, Rabbi Ishmael is described as having visited theSeventh Heaven, where he met Enoch, who claims that earth had, in his time, been corrupted by the demons Shammazai, andAzazel, and so Enoch was taken to Heaven to prove that God was not cruel.[17] Similar traditions are recorded in Sirach. Later elaborations of this interpretation treated Enoch as having been a pious ascetic, who, called to mix with others, preached repentance, and gathered (despite the small number of people on Earth) a vast collection of disciples, to the extent that he was proclaimed king. Under his wisdom, peace is said to have reigned on earth, to the extent that he is summoned to Heaven to rule over thesons of God.
The New Testament contains three references to Enoch.
The first is a brief mention in one of the genealogies of the ancestors of Jesus in theGospel of Luke. (Luke 3:37).
The second mention is in theEpistle to the Hebrews which says, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." (Hebrews 11:5 KJV). This suggests he did not experience the mortal death ascribed to Adam's other descendants, which is consistent with Genesis 5:24 KJV, which says, "And Enoch walked with God: and he[was] not; for God took him."
The third mention is in theEpistle of Jude (1:14–15) where the author attributes to "Enoch, the Seventh from Adam" a passage not found in Catholic and Protestant canons of the Old Testament. The quotation is believed by most modern scholars to be taken from1 Enoch 1:9 which exists in Greek, in Ge'ez (as part of the Ethiopian Orthodox canon), and also in Aramaic among theDead Sea Scrolls.[20][21] The same scholars recognise that 1 Enoch 1:9 itself is amidrash of Deuteronomy 33:2.[22][23][24][25][26]
The introductory phrase "Enoch, the Seventh from Adam" is also found in 1 Enoch (1 En. 60:8), though not in the Old Testament.[27] In theNew Testament this Enoch prophesies "to"[note 1] ungodly men, that God shall come with His holy ones to judge and convict them (Jude1:14–15).
Enoch (above right) in the ethiopic Enoch manuscriptGunda Gunde 151, depicted as scribe (Geʽez: ጸሓፊṣaḥāfi). On the leftElijah (above) andElisha (bottom) are depicted, the other scribe (right bottom) isEzra.
The Book of Enoch was excluded from both the Hebrew Tanakh and the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint. It was not considered canon by either Jewish or early Christian readers. However, Church Fathers such asJustin Martyr,Athenagoras of Athens,Irenaeus,Clement of Alexandria,Origen,Tertullian, andLactantius all speak highly of Enoch and contain many allusions to the Book of Enoch as well as in some instances advocating explicitly for the use of the Book of Enoch as Scripture.[31][32][33][34][35][36]
The letter of Jude's citation of the Book of Enoch as prophetic text encouraged acceptance and usage of the Book of Enoch in early Christian circles. The main themes of Enoch about the Watchers corrupting humanity were commonly mentioned in early literature. This positive treatment of the Book of Enoch was associated withmillennialism which was popular in the early Church. Whenamillennialism began to be common in Christianity, the Book of Enoch, being incompatible with amillennialism, came to be widely rejected. After the split of the Oriental Orthodox Church from the Catholic Church in the 5th century, use of the Book of Enoch was limited primarily to the Oriental Orthodox Church. Eventually, the usage of the Book of Enoch became limited to Ethiopian circles of the Oriental Orthodox Church.
Another common element that some Church Fathers, likeJohn of Damascus, spoke of, was that they considered Enoch to be one of thetwo witnesses mentioned in theBook of Revelation. This view still has many supporters today in Christianity.
Elijah and Enoch – seventeenth-century icon, Historic Museum in Sanok, Poland
Among theLatter Day Saint movement and particularly inthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Enoch is viewed as having founded an exceptionally righteous city, namedZion, in the midst of an otherwise wicked world. This view is encountered in thestandard works, thePearl of Great Price and theDoctrine and Covenants, which states that not only Enoch, but the entire peoples of the city of Zion, weretaken off this earth without death, because of their piety. (Zion is defined as "the pure in heart" and this city of Zion will return to the earth at theSecond Coming ofJesus.) TheDoctrine and Covenants further states that Enoch prophesied that one of his descendants,Noah, and his family, would survive a Great Flood and thus carry on the human race and preserve the Scripture. TheBook of Moses in thePearl of Great Price includes chapters that give an account of Enoch's preaching, visions, and conversations with God. They provide details concerning the wars, violence and natural disasters in Enoch's day, but also reference the miracles performed by Enoch.
The Book of Moses is itself an excerpt fromJoseph Smith's translation of the Bible, which is published in full, complete with these chapters concerning Enoch, byCommunity of Christ, in theJoseph Smith Translation of the Bible, where it appears as part of the Book of Genesis. D&C 104:24 (CofC) / 107:48–49 (LDS) states that Adam ordained Enoch to the higher priesthood (now called thepriesthood of Melchizedek, after the great king and high priest) at age 25, that he was 65 when Adam blessed him, and that he lived for an additional 365 years until he and his city were blessed, making Enoch 430 years old at the time that "he was not, for God took him" (Genesis 5:24).
Additionally in LDS theology, Enoch is implied to be the scribe who recordedAdam's blessings and prophecies atAdam-ondi-Ahman, as recorded in D&C 107:53–57 (LDS) / D&C 104:29b (CofC).
Most Muslims identify Enoch as the Qur'anic prophetIdris. However, some etymological research suggests that the Greek version of the nameEzra (Esdras) is a more plausible origin for the name Idris.
Aside from Enoch and Ezra, Idris is also frequently identified asHermes Trismegistus. ThisHermetic identification of Idris isn't necessarily exclusive to his identification as a Biblical figure. While there is some dispute over whether or not Idris was Hermes Trismegistus, those who interpret Idris as Hermes Trismegistus also generally agree he was a Biblical prophet.
^The use of dativetoutois in the Greek text (προεφήτευσεν δὲ καὶτούτοις instead of the normal genitive with προφητεύω prophēteuōperi auton, "concerning them") has occasioned discussion among commentators including: Ben Witherington,[28] John Twycross,[29] and Cox S.[30]
^Moster, David (2013). "Enoch (Son of Cain)".Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception Online. de Gruyter.doi:10.1515/ebr.enochsonofcain.,Moster, David (2013). "Enoch (Son of Jared): Old Testament".Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception Online. de Gruyter.doi:10.1515/ebr.enochsonofjared.
^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, p. 711,ISBN978-0-9778737-1-5
^"The initial oracle in chapters 1–5 is a paraphrase of part of Deuteronomy 33,24" George W. E. Nickelsburg, The nature and function of revelation 1 Enoch, Jubilees and some Qumranic documents, 1997
^Lars Hartman, Asking for a Meaning: A Study of 1 Enoch 1–5 ConBib NT Series 12 Lund Gleerup, 1979 22–26.
^George WE Nickelsburg & James C Vanderkam, 1 Enoch, Fortress 2001
^R.H. Charles, The Book of Enoch, London SPCK, 1917
^E. Isaac, 1 Enoch, a new Translation and Introduction in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha ed. Charlesworth, Doubleday 1983–85
^Richard BauckhamJude and the relatives of Jesus in the early church p206 etc.
^Ben Witherington,Letters and Homilies for Jewish Christians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Hebrews, James and Jude: "who might be tempted to follow the teachers' example), nonetheless, Jude says that this prophecy refersto these (toutois) false teachers in Jude 14" p624
^John Twycross,The New Testament in the original Greek: with notes by C. Wordsworth His warning is addressedto them as well to those of his own and future ages. p140
^Cox S.,Slandering Celestial Beings Hyderabad 2000 "..but instead Jude wrote proepheteusen toutois (verb + dative case pronoun plural) "prophesied TO these men".." p16
