The book of Enoch about the fallen watchers, the human women, the bloodthirsty giants. Should Christians read it since Jude quotes it? Why is it not included in the Bible as part of the canon?
Who wrote this book and what is this book all about? In this video we're going to dive a deeper look into this book. It's a mysterious book and it has gained a lot of attraction lately, not just among Christians but also among those who are into new age and other religions.
So first and foremost, what is this? The book of Enoch is an ancient book with five separate parts by different authors plus segments from the book of Noah thrown in there for good measure. Who wrote this book?
Actually nobody knows who wrote this book. The authorship of the book of Enoch like many other ancient books is not very clear. It is attributed to Enoch, the great grandfather of Noah but it was not actually written by him.
Enoch is considered a legendary figure and the attribution to him is part of this work, that's called pseudepigrapha. It's the writings of people that are actually not true writers of these works meaning, that the true authors used his name to give the extra aura of ancient wisdom and authority but Enoch actually never wrote this book. The book of Enoch was most likely written by multiple authors over several centuries with estimates ranging from 3rd century BC to 1 century AD.
This period of time is known as the second temple period in Jewish history. It's a time where there was a lot of religious writing and thought, outside of the Hebrew Bible. Now, what is the Book of Enoch all about?
Let me break down the five parts of this book. The first book is the book of the watchers. It's 1 Enoch 1 through 36.
Now this section tells about the fallen angels who are called the watchers, who descend to the earth and marry human women, resulting in the birth of hybrid giants known as the nephilim. You probably have heard a similar story in the book of Genesis. Enoch is the righteous man, chosen by God to receive wisdom and knowledge.
He's shown the secrets of the universe including the workings of the heavens and acts as this intercessor in between heaven and the earth. The watchers asked Enoch to intercede on their behalf before God but they are denied forgiveness and are bound and cast into the abyss as the punishment for their action. So that's the first book, 36 chapters.
Now the second book is the book of the parables. 1 Enoch 37 through 71. This section contains three parables that deal with the themes of divine judgment and the coming Messiah kingdom.
It introduces the concept of the Son of Man, a heavenly figure that will judge the wicked and establish a righteous kingdom. This term is later used actually in the New Testament in reference to Christ. Now the third book of Enoch is the book of the heavenly luminaries.
1 Enoch 72 till 82. Here, Enoch is given knowledge about the movements of the heavenly bodies. The sun, moon and the stars suggesting a particular interest in astronomy and its connection to the divine order.
It describes a solar calendar that is different from the lunar calendar used by the Hebrews at the time. The next book of Enoch is the book of dreams and visions. 1 Enoch 82 till 90.
Enoch has two visions. The first one is about the great flood and the second one is about the history of Israel symbolically represented by animals. These visions, they recount the history of the world from the time of Adam to the establishment of the Messianic kingdom and now the last book of Enoch is the book of the epistle of Enoch.
1 Enoch 81 until 108. This final section includes the series of encouragements to the righteous and the warnings to the sinners. Revelations about the future including the resurrection and the final judgment.
It ends with an appendix that reaffirms the judgment and the importance to living in righteousness. So now, these are the five books of Enoch within 1 Enoch. The one that has a lot of interest and probably where you have heard different references to is the first book that I've highlighted is the book of the watchers.
Now, I'm going to break down the book of the watchers just a little bit more so that you will know kind of where some of these ideas have been coming from. The book of the watchers which is the first book of Enoch which has 36 chapters, that book I'm going to break it down a little bit more into the descend of the watchers, chapters 1-5 and that's when Enoch starts with a warning about the great judgment against the watchers, a group of angels who have sinned. These angels see the earth's women as beautiful.
So they decide to leave their heavenly home to marry them. This of course is forbidden and their actions start causing problems on the earth and then if you go a little bit down, chapter 6-16, you will see the sins of the watchers and the nephilim. The angels now on earth teach humans various forbidden knowledge and crafts which lead to warfare, sorcery and all other sins.
Now this angel and human union produced this hybrid offspring called nephilims, who are the giants that bring pretty much havoc on this earth and actually consume the humans alive, leading to widespread despair and chapters 17 through 36 talk about Enoch's mediation and the judgment on the watchers. The watchers realize that they have done wrong and they ask Enoch to speak to God on their behalf hoping for forgiveness. Enoch ascends to the heavens where he receives visions and is told about the natural order and why the watchers cannot be forgiven.
God declares that the watchers must be bound and imprisoned in the earth and their giant children must be eliminated and the judgment is carried out and Enoch is given more revelation about the workings of the cosmos. You probably have heard this especially in reference in the book of Genesis about the sons of God you know sleeping with the daughters of men and then this hybrid offspring is being produced and then the flood comes in to wipe out the hybrid offspring and there's a lot of debate on that. There's some people saying that they were just the descendants of Cain.
I lean more toward the fact that they were actually angels who have rebelled against God and who have violated their domain and have created hybrid descendants or hybrid humans that were devouring people and then God had to wipe them out and so but this actual idea is also supported in the book of Enoch. That's not why I lean toward that idea because it's supported in the book of Enoch but it seems to make most sense in concerning the explanation of Genesis chapter 6 and I have other videos that deal with that that we will link below. Now, why was the book of Enoch not included in the Bible?
Now, the term pseudepigrapha refers to the collection of ancient books written from about 200 BC to about 200 AD and they're not considered part of the canon by most Jewish and Christian traditions. The word pseudepigrapha actually comes from Greek words meaning, 'false' and 'to write,' indicating that the works are falsely attributed to authors who did not actually write them. So that kind of tells you right away why it's not in the Bible.
It's part of the collection of these books that are falsely being attributed to different people who didn't write them and the Bible is the book of truth and so that right away should be a red flag why it shouldn't be in the Bible. Now these texts often bear the names of Biblical characters but they were not written by them or within their lifetime. The book of Enoch is not included in the Jewish or Christian scriptures with an exception actually of Ethiopian Orthodox church which regards the book of Enoch as part of the canon, as part of the scriptures but the Jewish and the Christian scriptures do not have it.
Now, Jude actually quotes the first of Enoch. Jude 1:14 and 15 says, 'Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. ” Now it actually quotes from 1 Enoch 1:9 I'm going to read it to you straight from 1 Enoch, And behold!
He cometh with tens of thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment upon all, and to destroy all the ungodly, and to convict all flesh of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. So Jude quotes from Enoch but it does not mean that all of the book of Enoch is inspired. Paul quotes a pagan philosopher in Titus 1:12 but it doesn't mean that everything that this philosopher wrote is the holy scripture.
No scholar believes that the book of Enoch was truly written by Enoch. So just because Jude quotes a portion of Enoch does not mean that Jude thought that the entire book of Enoch was valid or that it was scripture. Finally, what should Christians do about this mysterious book of the 1 Enoch?
It does provide insights into the beliefs and culture and religious understanding of this period between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Also, it gives us some understanding about the second temple Judaism. It's important to understand the second temple Judaism because it was this forming period for both Judaism and Christianity.
We also see that the themes that are in Enoch, they do appear in New Testament passages. Not only the reference of Jude but also even this idea of judgment, the coming of the Messiah, these themes are in the New Testament as well as it has apocalyptic genre and the prime example of this apocalyptic literature, we see visions, angelic things, we see the end of the world scenarios which is present both in Daniel and in Revelation. We should treat the book of Enoch and all other books in the same manner that we treat all other books that we call Apocrypha and I have a whole video about that which some things they say are true and correct but much of it is false and historically inaccurate.
Apocrypha books are interesting. They're fascinating but they're not accurate and they're fallible documents from history. They are not inspired and they're not part of the scripture.
DrMichael Heiser said this about the book of Enoch, Just because bad people like new agers and people who practice occult use the particular book like Enoch does not mean that the book itself is bad. Bad people use the Bible but we don't throw it out and he would say that use Enoch in its own context. The second temple period not in the context of aliens meaning, you can read it.
What you have to understand is that a lot of the stuff is not true and the whole idea that it's written by Enoch is also not true and so you have to use wisdom and it's not part of the Bible. It's not part of canon. It's not because Christians were trying to reject some mysterious information is because a lot of that information is deeply flawed.
So if you've never read the book. Well, this gave you pretty much a little summary. If you read it, I'm pretty sure you came to the similar conclusions and so if you've enjoyed this video, let me know in the comments below what you learned today.
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