Enoch () is a figure in Biblical literature. He was considered the author of the Book of Enoch and also called Enoch the scribe of judgment. In addition to an appearance in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible, Enoch is the subject of many Jewish and Christian writings.
The Bible says that 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 some Christians interpret as Enoch entering Heaven alive.
This Enoch is not to be confused with Cain's son Enoch (Genesis 4:17). The Christian New Testament has three references to Enoch from the lineage of Seth (Luke 3:37, Hebrews 11:5, Jude 1:14-15).
Enoch was son of Jared and fathered Methuselah.
Video Enoch (ancestor of Noah)
Enoch in the Book of Genesis
Enoch appears in the Book of Genesis of the Pentateuch as the seventh of the ten pre-Deluge Patriarchs. Genesis recounts 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 5:22-29 states that Enoch lived 365 years, which is extremely short in the context of his peers, 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".
Maps Enoch (ancestor of Noah)
Apocryphal Books of Enoch
Three extensive apocryphal works are attributed to Enoch:
- 1st Book of Enoch, or simply the Book of Enoch, written in Ge'ez (Ethiopic), first time brought in Europe by James Bruce and translated in English by August Dillmann and Reverent Schoode - recognized by the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible and usually dated between the third century BC and the first century AD.
- 2nd Book of Enoch or the Book of the Secrets of Enoch, written in Old Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian and other slav languages, first translated in English by William Morfill - recognized by the Old Slavonic Bible usually dated to the first century AD.
- 3rd Book of Enoch, a Rabbinic text in Hebrew usually dated to the fifth century AD.
These recount how Enoch was taken up to Heaven and was appointed guardian of all the celestial treasures, chief of the archangels, and the immediate attendant on God's throne. He was subsequently taught all secrets and mysteries and, with all the angels at his back, fulfils of his own accord whatever comes out of the mouth of God, executing His decrees. Much esoteric literature like the 3rd Book of Enoch identifies Enoch as the Metatron, the angel which communicates God's word. In consequence, Enoch was seen, by this literature, and the Rabbinic kabbala of Jewish mysticism, as having been the one which communicated God's revelation to Moses, in particular, the dictator of the Book of Jubilees.
Enoch in Book of Giants
The Book of Giants is a pseudepigraphical Jewish work from the 3rd century BC and resembles the Book of Enoch. At least six and as many as eleven copies were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls collections.
Septuagint
The third-century BC translators who produced the Greek Septuagint rendered the phrase "God took him" with the Greek verb metatithemi (??????????) meaning moving from one place to another. Sirach 44:16, from about the same period, states that "Enoch pleased God and was translated into paradise that he may give repentance to the nations." The Greek word used here for paradise, 'paradeisos' (??????????), 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.
Enoch in classical Rabbinical literature
In classical Rabbinical literature, there are various views of Enoch. One view regarding Enoch was that found in the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, which thought of Enoch as a pious man, taken to Heaven, and receiving the title of Safra rabba (Great scribe). After Christendom was completely separated from Judaism, this view became the prevailing rabbinical idea of Enoch's character and exaltation.
According to Rashi [from Genesis Rabba], "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 minor Midrashim, esoteric attributes of Enoch are expanded upon. In the Sefer Hekalot, Rabbi Ishmael is described as having visited the 7th Heaven, where he met Enoch, who claims that earth had, in his time, been corrupted by the demons Shammazai, and Azazel, and so Enoch was taken to Heaven to prove that God was not cruel. 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 the sons of God. In a parallel with Elijah, in sight of a vast crowd begging him to stay, he ascends to Heaven on a horse.
Enoch in Christianity
New Testament
The New Testament contains three references to Enoch.
- The first is a brief mention in one of the genealogies of the ancestors of Jesus by Luke (Luke 3:37).
- The second mention is in Hebrews 11: 5 (KJV) 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." 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 the Epistle 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 from 1 Enoch 1:9 which exists in Greek, in Ge'ez (as part of the Ethiopian Orthodox canon), and also in Aramaic among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Though the same scholars recognise that 1 Enoch 1:9 itself is a midrash of the words of Moses "he came from the ten thousands of holy ones" from Deuteronomy 33:2.
The introductory phrase "Enoch, the Seventh from Adam" is also found in 1 Enoch (1 En. 60:8), though not in the Old Testament. In the New Testament this Enoch prophesies "to" ungodly men, that God shall come with His holy ones to judge and convict them (Jude 1:14-15).
Early Christianity
Early Christianity contains various traditions concerning the "translation" of Enoch.
Regarding the quotation in Jude, most of early Christianity considered it an independent quotation pre-dating the flood. Regarding the Book of Enoch itself Origen, Jerome and Augustin mention it, but as of no authority. Justin, Athenagoras, Irenaeus, Clemens Alexandrinus, Lactantius, and others borrowed an opinion out of this book of Enoch, that the angels had sexual relations with the daughters of men, of whom they had offspring ('the giants of the past'). Tertullian, in several places, speaks of this book with esteem and would persuade us that it was preserved by Noah during the deluge.
Medieval and Reformation
According to the Figurists (a group of Jesuit missionaries mainly led by Joachim Bouvet into China at the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century and based on ideas of Matteo Ricci 1552 to 1610), Fu Xi in China's ancient history is actually Enoch.
Modern Christianity
Enoch is not counted as a saint in Roman Catholic tradition, though Enoch has a saint's day, July 26, in the Armenian Apostolic Church. The "St. Enoch" in the place name St. Enoch's Square, Glasgow, is a corruption from the site of a medieval chapel to Saint Teneu, the legendary mother of Saint Mungo, and unconnected with Enoch.
Enoch is revered in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and the Enochic texts Jubilees and 1 Enoch regarded as the 13th and 14th books, respectively, of the Tewahedo Old Testament canon. Most churches, including the Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Protestant churches, do not accept the books.
Some Church Fathers, like St. John of Damascus, as well as some modern Evangelical commentators consider Enoch to be one of the Two Witnesses in the Book of Revelation due to the fact that he did not die according to Genesis 5:24. Two televangelists holding this view, for example, are Pastor John Hagee of Christians United for Israel and Hebrew Roots Bible teacher Perry Stone.
In LDS theology
Among the Latter Day Saint movement and particularly in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Enoch is viewed as having founded an exceptionally righteous city, named Zion, in the midst of an otherwise wicked world. This view is encountered in the Mormon scripture (see Standard Works), the Pearl of Great Price and the Doctrine and Covenants, which states that not only Enoch, but the entire peoples of the city of Zion, were taken 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 the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.) The Doctrine 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. The Book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price has several chapters that give an account of Enoch's preaching, visions and conversations with God. In these same chapters are details concerning the wars, violence and natural disasters in Enoch's day, and notable miracles performed by Enoch. The Book of Moses is itself an excerpt from Joseph Smith's translation of the Bible, which is published in full, complete with these chapters concerning Enoch, by Community of Christ, as the Holy Scriptures/Inspired Version 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 the Melchizedek, after the great high priest) at age 25, that he was 65 when Adam blessed him, and he lived 365 years after that until he was translated, so making him 430 years old when that occurred.
Additionally in LDS theology, Enoch is implied to be the scribe who recorded Adam's blessings and prophecies at Adam-ondi-Ahman, as recorded in D&C 107:53-57 (LDS) / D&C 104:29b (CofC).
Enoch in Islam
In Islam, Enoch (Arabic: ?????????, translit. 'Akhn?kh [commonly in Islamic literature]: 'Idr?s ?????????)) is identified with Idris, as for example by the History of Al-Tabari intrepretation and the Meadows of Gold. The Quran contains two references to Idris; in Surah Al-Anbiya (The Prophets) verse number 85, and in Surah Maryam (Mary) verses 56-57:
- (The Prophets, 21:85): "And the same blessing was bestowed upon Ismail and Idris and Zul-Kifl, because they all practised fortitude."
- (Mary 19:56-57): "And remember Idris in the Book; he was indeed very truthful, a Prophet. And We lifted him to a lofty station".
Idris is closely linked in Muslim tradition with the origin of writing and other technical arts of civilization, including the study of astronomical phenomena, both of which Enoch is credited with in the Testament of Abraham. Nonetheless, although some Muslims view Enoch and Idris as the same prophet while others do not, many Muslims still honor Enoch as one of the earliest prophets, regardless of which view they hold.
See also
- Adam and Eve (LDS Church)
- Entering Heaven alive
- Metatron
Notes
References
External links
- The Descendants of Adam, The Legacy of Cain, The Souls Elijah and Enoch
- Catholic Encyclopedia Henoch (1914)
- Andrei A. Orlov essays on 2 Enoch: Enoch as the Heavenly Priest, Enoch as the Expert in Secrets, Enoch as the Scribe and Enoch as the Mediator
- Ed. Philip P. Wiener Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Cosmic Voyages (1973)
- Dr. Reed C. Durham, Jr. Comparison of Masonic legends of Enoch and Mormon scriptures description of Enoch (1974)
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