The book of Enoch

The reader who comes to peruse the Book of Enoch for the first time will find much that appears to him strange and unattractive; he must not, however, be repelled by this; for in due time he will come to other parts of the book which he will soon see to be of real value from many points of view. But even regarding the less attractive parts, he will find that when these are carefully studied they contain more that is of interest than appears upon the surface. Unfortunately, the opening portion (i.—xxxvi.), which is naturally read first, contains a good deal of the least important parts of the whole book; some passages are even repellent. It is well to remember the point, already referred to, that there are at least four quite independent books included in the “Book of Enoch,” exclusive of certain “Noah” fragments and other pieces (see below); the student is, therefore, advised to treat these as separate works, and to read them as such. There is no reason to begin with the book which happens to come first, especially as the first thirty-six chapters do not all belong together.[17] But, in any case, it will be found most useful to have some general idea of the contents of each of the different books before beginning to read them. For this purpose a brief résumé of each is given here.

i.The Book of Enoch (chapters xii.-xxxvi.). The book opens with a Dream-Vision of Enoch. In this dream Enoch is asked to intercede for the watchers of heaven, i. e. the angels, who had left their heavenly home to commit iniquity with the daughters of men. He writes out the petition (cp. the title “Enoch the Scribe”) the fallen angels make, and then retires to await the answer, which comes to him in a series of visions. These visions are not quite easy to follow; they are evidently incomplete and somewhat confused; in all probability the text has suffered in transmission. At any rate, the petition is refused; Enoch declares to the fallen angels the doom which, as he has been taught in the visions, is to be their lot; the final words of the message which he is bidden to give them are: “You have no peace” (xii.-xvi.). There follow then accounts of the different journeys which Enoch makes, being conducted by angels of light, through certain parts of the earth, and through Sheol. After the account of the first journey (xvii.-xix.) a short enumeration is made of the archangels, seven in number, and their functions (xx.). In the second journey is described the place of final punishment of the fallen angels: “This place is the prison of the angels and here they will be imprisoned for ever.” From thence Enoch is taken to Sheol; then to the west, where he sees the luminaries of heaven.

After that the angels show him “seven magnificent mountains,” upon one of which is the throne of God; he sees also the Tree of Life, which is to be given to the holy and righteous after the great Judgement. From thence he comes back to the centre of the earth and sees the “blessed place,” Jerusalem, and the “accursed valley” (xxi.-xxvii.). The book concludes with what appear to be fragments of other journeys, to the east, to the north, and to the south. Of special interest here is the mention of the Garden of Righteousness, and the Tree of Wisdom (xxviii.-xxxvi.).

Much that is written in these chapters may appear pointless and uninspiring; but we must bear in mind the purpose that lies behind it all. The fallen angels were believed to have brought sin on to the earth; all the wickedness of the world the Apocalyptist traces back to them. This cause of sin must be wholly destroyed before righteousness can come truly to its own. Therefore the Apocalyptist has a practical aim in view when describing in much detail the final place of punishment of the fallen angels; for here, too, are to come all those who by sin are the offspring of this race. No less does he delight in telling of the abode of joy prepared for the righteous. That all these descriptions were constructed out of the imagination of the Apocalyptist, based largely, no doubt, upon popular tradition, did not detract from their practical value for the people of his day. He was a preacher of righteousness who looked forward in absolute conviction to the final overthrow of sin; and all his visions have as their motive-power the yearning for and belief in the triumph of righteousness over sin. One of a like mind wrote later on, in a kind of preface to his book, these significant words, which sum up the essence of the teaching of this book:

And destroy all the spirits of the reprobate, and the children of the Watchers, because they have wronged mankind. Destroy all wrong from the face of the earth, and let every evil work come to an end: and let the plant of righteousness and truth appear: and it shall prove a blessing: the works of righteousness and truth shall be planted in truth and joy for evermore.

ii.The Parables (chapters xxxvii.-lxxi.). There are three Parables, or Similitudes, and they all have as their underlying thought the destruction of evil and the triumph of righteousness, as in the preceding book. But here some new and important elements are introduced which give special value to this book.

The first parable (xxxviii.-xliv.) is a prophecy of coming judgement upon the wicked, and especially the kings and mighty ones on the earth. On the other hand, the Apocalyptist sees in his vision the abode and resting-places of the righteous who are continually praising the “Lord of Spirits”; this is the usual title given to God in this book. Here occurs the first mention of the “Elect One” (cp. Luke xxiii. 35). In the presence of the Lord of Spirits are also the four Archangels and innumerable companies of other angels. Here he learns many secrets of the heavens; a fragment on Wisdom (xlii.), which recalls some passages in Ecclus. xxiv., comes in the middle of the secrets, and is clearly out of place. The second parable (xlv.-lvii.) continues the same theme and further develops it. Of special importance is the sitting of the Elect One on the throne of glory as Judge (xlv. 3), and the mention of His title, “Son of Man” (xlvi. 2). The thought of the vindication of the righteous is marred by their joy at vengeance upon the wicked. A particularly striking passage is chapter xlviii. 1-7, which speaks of the inexhaustible fountain of righteousness reserved for the holy and elect in the presence of the Son of Man and of the Lord of Spirits. The Apocalyptist prophesies further of the repentance of the Gentiles (chapter l.), an universalistic note of significance, and speaks of the Resurrection of the dead in a notable passage:

The parable ends with an account of the Judgement, followed by two short passages on the last struggle of the heathen powers against Israel (lvi. 5-8), and the return from the Dispersion (lvii.), which do not appear to be in their original place. The third parable (lviii.-lxxi.) has clearly suffered largely from the intrusion of alien matter, and is probably incomplete. Its main theme is the final Judgement upon all flesh, and especially upon the great ones of the earth; the Judge is the Son of Man. Some of the passages which speak of the future reward of the righteous are full of beauty; the following is well worth quoting:

iii.The Book of the Courses of the Heavenly Luminaries (chapters lxxii.-lxxxii.). In lxxiv. 12 it says: “And the sun and the stars bring in all the years exactly, so that they do not advance or delay their position by a single day unto eternity; but complete the years with perfect justice in 364 days.”[18] This gives the key-note of this book, viz. that time is to be reckoned by the sun, not by the moon (see further on this the section on Authorship, above). Until we come to chapter lxxx. this book is uninteresting in the extreme; it purports to tell in detail of the laws by which the sun, moon, stars and the winds are governed; they are described by Uriel, “the holy angel,” to the Apocalyptist. The four quarters of the world, the seven mountains and the seven rivers are also dealt with. “The author has no other interest save a scientific one coloured by Jewish conceptions and beliefs.”[19] It is, however, different when we come to chapter lxxx. 2-8; the whole tone alters in these verses, in which it is said that owing to the sin of men the moon and the sun will mislead them. An ethical thought is thus brought in which is wholly lacking in the previous chapters of this book; this is also true of chapter lxxxi.; it is probable that neither of these chapters stood here originally.

Regarding the point of the 364 days to the year which the writer of this book makes, Charles says that “he did this only through sheer incapacity for appreciating anything better; for he must have been acquainted with the solar year of 365¼ days. His acquaintance with the Greek cycles shows this.... The author’s reckoning of the year at 364 days may be partly due to his opposition to heathen systems, and partly to the fact that 364 is divisible by seven, and amounts to fifty-two weeks exactly.”[20] In any case, he is opposed to the lunar year, the Pharisaic way of reckoning time; and this is an important point in favour of Sadducæan authorship. It will be noted that this book was written in post-Maccabæan times; it was after the Maccabæan struggle that the Sadducees and Pharisees appeared as parties definitely opposed to one another.[21]

iv.The Dream-Visions (chapters lxxxiii.-xc.). This book consists of two dream-visions; the first deals with the judgement brought upon the world by the deluge on account of sin; the origin of sin is again traced to the angels who fell. It concludes with a hymn of praise to God in which a prayer is offered that all flesh may not be destroyed (lxxxiii.-lxxxiv.). The second dream-vision is much longer; it gives in brief outline the history of the world to the founding of the Messianic Kingdom. First, the patriarchs, symbolized by bulls, etc. (lxxxv.); then the fallen angels, also described in symbolic language, and their punishment (lxxxvi.-lxxxviii.). The history then proceeds to deal more specifically with Israel from the time of Noah to the Maccabæan revolt (lxxxix.-xc. 19). Throughout the dream-vision symbolic language is used; the faithful in Israel are spoken of as the sheep, while the Gentiles are symbolized by wild beasts and birds of prey.

The dream-vision concludes with some familiar eschatological notes: the judgement and condemnation of the wicked; the establishment of the New Jerusalem; the conversion of the Gentiles, who become subject to Israel; the gathering-in of the dispersed Israelites; the resurrection of the righteous dead, and the setting-up of the Messianic Kingdom on the appearance of the Messiah (xc. 20-38).

v. The Concluding Section of the Book (xcii.-cv.; xci. 1-10, 18, 19 also belong here) is a complete, though short, work; but there are some obvious interpolations, and it is quite possible that some parts of the text are dislocated. This makes the understanding of the book difficult; but if we follow Charles’s guidance here the difficulties will disappear. He says that this concluding piece has “in some degree suffered at the hands of the final editor of the book, both in the way of direct interpolation and of severe dislocations of the text. The interpolations are: xci. 11, xciii. 11-14, xciv. 7d, xcvi. 2. The dislocations of the text are a more important feature of the book. They are confined (with the exception of xciii. 13-14, and of cvi. 17a which should be read immediately after cvi. 14) to xci.-xciii. All critics are agreed as to the chief of these. xci. 12-17 should undoubtedly be read directly after xciii.... Taken together xciii. 1-10, xci. 12-17 form an independent whole—the Apocalypse of Weeks—which has been incorporated in xci.-civ.... The remaining dislocations need only to be pointed out in order to be acknowledged. On other grounds we find that xci.-civ. is a book of different authorship from that of the rest of the sections. Now, this being so, this section obviously begins with xcii.: ‘Written by Enoch the Scribe,’ etc. On xcii. follows xci. 1-10, 18, 19 as a natural sequel, where Enoch summons his children to receive his parting words. Then comes the Apocalypse of Weeks, xciii. 1-10, xci. 12-17.

This book is concerned with the question of the final reward of the righteous and the final punishment of the wicked. But a new teaching of great importance is put forth here. Hitherto it had been taught that although much incongruity and apparent injustice were to be found on this earth owing to the suffering of the righteous and the prosperity of the wicked, nevertheless all things would be righted in the world to come, where the wicked would receive their deserts, and the righteous would come to their own. In this book it is taught that retribution will overtake the wicked, and the righteous will have peace and prosperity, even on this earth, with the setting-up of the Messianic Kingdom; and that at the last there will come, with the final judgement, the destruction of the former heaven and earth, and the creation of a new heaven. Then will follow the resurrection of the spirits of the righteous dead who will live for ever in peace and joy, while the wicked will perish everlastingly. The important point, which is a development, is the idea of the punishment of the wicked taking place on this earth, the very scene of their unrighteous triumphs.

vi. The Noah Fragments (vi.-xi. lvii. 7-lv. 2, lx. lxv.-lxix. 25, cvi., cvii.). These fragments are not of much importance; the main topics touched upon are the fall of the angels and sin among men in consequence; judgement on mankind, i. e. the Deluge, and the preservation of Noah.

The first five chapters are generally held to be as late as any part of the whole collection; they deal with the punishment hereafter of the wicked and the blessedness of the righteous. Chapter cviii., which reads like a final word to the whole collection, touches upon the same theme.