3773 - Book of Enoch by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jun 11, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 23.

3773 — Book of Enoch

By Editor

Can you tell us in the "Question Corner" what is positively known about the book of Enoch? W. L. B.

Concerning this among authorities various opinions have been advanced. The "Popular and Critical Bible Encyclopœdia" tells us that "it seems to have been composed a little before Christ's appearance, by a Jew who had studied well the book of Daniel. At the same time we freely confess that the Saviour is spoken of in terms expressive of His dignity, character, and acts, surpassing the descriptions which other Jewish books present. Several circumstances render it apparent that it was originally composed in the Hebrew or Chaldee language." The object of the book seems to have been to comfort and strengthen the people of the time when it was written. Some think that it is possibly quoted by Jude, while there is question whether Jude really quoted the book of Enoch or not. This book may have been based on earlier sayings of Enoch, embodying them in its text.

The Standard Dictionary, however, speaks of two books of Enoch. The Ethiopic Enoch first became known in modern times through copies brought from Abyssinia in 1773 by J. Bruce, the traveler. That book contains 107 chapters, consisting of at least three primary works fused together by an editor. These three parts are the book of Enoch proper, chapters 1-36 and 72-105; the book of similitude, chapters 37-71; and the apocalypse of Noah, or more correctly, certain fragments of a book which probably existed as a whole under some title, ascribed to Noah. The book recounts the punishment of the sinning angels. And in doing this, Enoch narrates his extensive travels through the universe. In the fragment pertaining to Noah, the subject of the Flood is pictured as an event of the future (from the view-point of Enoch, of course), including accounts of leviathan, behemoth, and various nature elements, which come into play in the great catastrophe.

Then there is described the Slavonic Enoch. This book was made accessible in modern times in 1896 by Professor Charles and Mr. Morfill. This book is divided into sixty-eight chapters. The Slavonic book of Enoch was evidently at first written in Greek. After all that has been said upon it, it would be difficult to prove that this is the book of Enoch to which the apostle Jude refers. It would be more likely to believe that the writer of these books of Enoch bases his on some earlier writing which may have contained some of the teachings of Enoch.