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:
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 it has received,
And Hell shall give back that which it owes.
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:
And the righteous and elect shall have risen from the earth,
And ceased to be of downcast countenance.
And they shall have been clothed with garments of glory,
And they shall be garments of life from the Lord of Spirits:
And your garments shall not grow old,
Nor your glory pass away before the Lord of Spirits.
A large Noah fragment comes in the middle of the Parable (see p. xxvi
below). The close of this Parable is contained in lxix. 26-29; the
account of Enoch’s final translation (lxx.), and two of Enoch’s visions
(lxxi.) are out of place.
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. 7^d, 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. 17^a 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. The
original order of the text, therefore, was: xcii. xci. 1-10, 18, 19,
xciii. 1-10, xci. 12-17, xciv. These dislocations were the work of the
editor, who put the different books of Enoch together, and added lxxx.
and lxxxi.”[22]
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.