The Book of Enoch

The Bible, revered by many religious institutions and especially Conservative Christians, is believed to be the inspired and inerrant Word of God. This doctrinal position affirms that the Bible is unique, free of error, and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, equipping the man of God for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16, 17).

While no other text can claim this same authority, the Book of Enoch is an ancient Jewish religious work attributed to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. This text played a crucial role in shaping the worldview of the authors of the New Testament, who were familiar with it and even quoted from it in the Epistle of Jude (Jude 1:14-15), where it is attributed to "Enoch the Seventh from Adam" (1 En 60:8). The Dead Sea Scrolls community also utilized this text.

While some churches, such as the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, include Enoch in their biblical canon, other Christian denominations and scholars consider it as having historical or theological non-canonical interest. It is frequently used as supplemental material in academic settings to help students and scholars better understand the cultural and historical context of the early Christian Church.

The Book of Enoch provides valuable insight into what many ancient Jews and early Christians believed about God's revelation, as noted by Dr. Michael S. Heiser in the Introduction to his book Reversing Hermon: "For those to whom 1 Enoch sounds unfamiliar, this is the ancient apocalyptic literary work known popularly (but imprecisely) as the Book of Enoch."

Most scholars believe that 1 Enoch was originally written in Aramaic, perhaps as early as the 3rd century B.C. The oldest fragments of the book were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls and dated to around the second century B.C., placing it firmly in the Second Temple Period (ca. 500 B.C. - 70 A.D.), also known as the Intertestamental Period.

The Watcher story of 1 Enoch is an expansion of the episode described in Genesis 6:1-4, where the "sons of God" (Hebrew: beney ha-elohim) came to the "daughters of man" (Gen 6:4; ESV). In the Enochian version, the Watchers, a term used for the divine sons of God, are the focus of this supernatural rebellion. While the story occupies only a small space in Genesis, it received considerable attention during the Second Temple Period.

The Enochian version of the events in Genesis 6:1-4 preserves and transmits the original Mesopotamian context for these verses. Every element of Gen 6:1-4 has a Mesopotamian counterpart, providing the rationale for why these verses were included in the inspired text. While these connections can be found in the Old Testament, they are scattered and presented unsystematically. In contrast, Second Temple Jewish literature like 1 Enoch presents a more comprehensive and organized account of the Mesopotamian touchpoints with Gen 6:1-4.

In conclusion, the Book of Enoch is intended to be an important supplemental resource for serious researchers and students in the study of the Bible, helping to uncover the cultural and historical context that shaped the worldview of the authors of the New Testament.

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