W H Boulton Jude and the Book of Enoch the Testimony July 1932

W H Boulton

Jude and the Book of Enoch

©The Testimony, July 1932 pp.214-218

The recent discovery in Egypt of aNew Testament manuscript earlier indate than any hitherto known, hasraised once again questions concerningthe nature and status of the mysterious"Book of Enoch" because thatbook is included in the manuscript incompany with those familiar to themodern student of scripture.The Book of Enoch, sometimesknown as 1 Enoch, or alternatively theEthiopic Enoch (in contradistinctionto the "Slavonic" Enoch, a very differentwork) is perhaps the most importantbook of the obscure period thatelapsed between Old Testament timesand New, and is certainly the most importantwork of what is often knownas "Jewish Apocalyptic". From thepurely literary point of view [1] Hebrewwriting reached its greatest development at the time of the Exile and Restoration.

[1.These observations are not to be construed asmeaning that the literary point of view is theonly, or the most important point of view, northat there is no vital difference between thebooks of the canon and the apocryphal writings.On the best of authority, that of Jesus himself,we accept the books from Genesis to Malachi.In the absence of evidence we cannot accept theextraordinary Jewish apocalyptic as inspired. ]

It is to these periods thatmost of the prophetic books of theOld Testament belong, and both intheir beauty of thought and grandeurof language they surpass the literatureof other times. But even in the timesof the later minor prophets the political

and moral temper of the peoplewas changing, in that a spirit of rigidformalism was developing. It was toreach its full development in Pharisaismin New Testament times. Formalismwas not favourable to the spiritof prophecy, and it was responsible fortwo distinct literary tendencies. Thosewho would be moral reformers deliveredtheir messages more and morein the form of signs and visions, andbegan to write anonymously. Even inthe Old Testament these tendenciesmay be seen, for parts of Zechariah areapocalyptic, and it is just possible thatMalachi is anonymous [2].

[2."Malachi" means "my messenger", a phrasewhich is used in the prophecy more than once.In 2 Esdras (an apocryphal work of N.T. times)he is called "Malachi, which also is called theangel of the Lord".]

After theclose of the Old Testament canon bothtendencies became stronger, and thebooks that were written were usuallyfull of apocalyptic visions, and wereascribed to any patriarch whose namethe real author could use as a screen.Thus books are extant in the names ofEnoch, Melchizedek, the twelve patriarchs,Moses, and others. The Bookof Enoch is the most important, becausethe most influential, of thesepseudepigraphical writings. It waswritten partly in Hebrew and partly inAramaic, between about B.C. 200 andthe beginning of the Christian era, butit has been known principally through the Ethiopic version having been usedvery extensively by the ancient churchof Ethiopia.The book consists of five main portions,which may, for the sake ofbrevity and clearness, be set out intabular form[3].

[3.This division is taken from the translation andcommentary by R. H. Charles, D.Litt., D.D.(2nd Edition, 1912).]

(1) Chapters 1-36 :
Prophecies, often poetic in form,of doom upon the wicked, and atheory of the origin of evil andviolence in the world.

(2) Chapters 37-71 :
A series of visions, mostly inpoetic form, of the manifestationof the Messiah in glory, and ofthe punishment that should fallupon the wicked, both of angelsand men. An account of thetranslation of Enoch.

(3) Chapters 72-82. "The Book ofthe Courses of the HeavenlyLuminaries·" :
Λ treatise on the nature andmovement of the sun, moon andstars, the sequence of the seasons,and the calendar.

(4) Chapters 83-90. The DreamVisions :
A series of visions, of which theprincipal recounts the history ofthe world from the creation tothe messianic kingdom, which

was regarded as then imminent.The symbology represents Israelas sheep, and gentile nations aswild beasts.

(5) Chapters 91-104 :

A miscellaneous collection of admonitionsand prophecies concerningreward and punishment.

Three more chapters, 105-108, consistof independent fragments.

It is obvious to the most cursoryreader that "Enoch" cannot be thoughtof as a single book in the sense thatthe prophecy of Jeremiah or the bookof Psalms can be, for it is neither thework of a single individual nor a collectionof works similar in import ordesign. It is a collection of fragmentswhich have been grouped together,with little attempt at editorial arrangement,only because of a traditional ascriptionto the patriarch Enoch.

When the great esteem in which thebook was held in New Testament timesis realised, the question inevitably arises whether it has not in fact the authority of scripture. The only directcitation in the New Testament is that made in the Epistle of Jude (Jude 14 cites 1 Enoch 1:9), but manyexpressions used by New Testament writers are reminiscent of "Enoch''.
By the writers of other lesser known Jewish writings of the same period it was regarded as inspired, and in theEpistle of Barnabas, the writings ofIraneaus, Tertullian and other patristic literature the same recognition isgiven. It was only in the third andfourth centuries of the Christian era, when the millennium was ceasing tobe the central hope of the church, thatthe book fell completely into disrepute. In relation to the New Testament canon the choice of books wasa wise one. The question now is, wasthe church right in rejecting"Enoch"?

To answer this question reasonablyand without prejudice, is a very difficulttask because of the complexity ofits authorship. Parts are childish in theextreme* parts are coarse, almost obscene,and most of the book is crudeand unlovely by comparison with theOld Testament. But there are portionsthat are written in the grand traditionof the prophets, and which might havebeen taken from the pages of, say Joelor Zechariah.

"And there shall stand up in that day
all the kings and the mighty

And the exalted and they that holdthe earth

And they shall see and recognise
How he sits in the throne of his glory
And righteousness is judged beforehim

And no lying word is spoken beforehim

Then shall pain come upon them ason a woman in travail

And one portion of them shall lookon the other

And they shall be terrified

And they shall be downcast of countenance

And pain shall seize them

When they shall see that Son of Man

Sitting on the throne of his glory."

Yet the careful consideration of suchpassages reveals nothing new. Theyneed be inspired only in the verylimited sense that they are the poeticoutpourings of a mind steeped in thewritings of the prophets, and living inearnest expectation of the consummation.Further, there is a sustained vindictivenessin them which, althoughperhaps not entirely absent from someparts of the scriptures, is in "Enoch"quite unrelieved by any hint of themercy and compassion of theAlmightysuch as temper the more familiar picturesof the coming of the Messiah.In "Enoch" he is the invincible warrior,the Lord of Glory, and his day isone of anguish and affliction, of cursingand chastisement, of unceasing bloodshed.

The whole picture is reminiscentrather of Isaiah 34, where the prophetsees the mountains melted withthe blood of the nations, rather thanof chapter 32, "rivers of water in a dryplace, the shadow of a great rockin a weary land". One may search"Enoch" in vain for anything approaching,either in spirit or in beauty,the seventy-second Psalm. To assert the inspiration of "Enoch",indeed, would be an insult to the intelligence.The section called the"Book of the courses of the HeavenlyLuminaries" for example, will notstand even the examination whichother contemporary systems of astronomywill bear. The system of "celestialspheres" taught by the Greeks wasa definite attempt to explain the observedphenomena, but "Enoch" canonly give a curious and extraordinarilytedious description of the various"portals" by which the sun, moon,and stars enter and leave the world systemon their diurnal courses, and ofthe orders of angels who, under thegeneral presidency of Uriel, propelthem across the face of the sky. Combinedwith this treatise is a thoroughlywrong-headed attempt to compile acalendar giving a year of 364 days, apparentlyfor no better reason than becausethat number, being divisible byseven, is more appropriate than 365. It is particularly strange that thisshould be ascribed to Enoch, becauseowing to the duration of his life of 365years, he was popularly supposed bythe Jews to have been the discovererof the true length oftheyear

[4.In contrasting the books of both Old and NewTestaments with apocryphal writings, whetherJewish or Christian, it is interesting to noticethe extent to which the science of a bygone ageis taught. Speaking generally, primitive scienceis present in the scriptures as a background only,and the real message of the book is as true inthis age of stars and atoms as when it was firstwritten. But the apocryphal writings often becomeludicrous by their insistence upon, anddetailed description of, things that are foolish inthe light of the most elementary knowledge ofthis scientific age. To anyone who questions thevalidity of the canon, this fact is not withoutinterest. ]

On the whole, an impartial consideration confirms the judgment of the early church. "Enoch" cannot be readas scripture. But it is unfortunate thatthe book should have dropped so completely from the Christian library. Puerile, coarse and vindictive as muchof it is, there are parts that are well worthy of attention for the light thatthey throw on some of the thoughtsand expressions of the New Testament. A good example of the illustration which the book affords of New Testament expressions is contained inthe quotation given above, for referring to the manifestation of his kingdom, Jesus used identical words, saying "when the Son of Man shall sit inthe throne of his glory". It is interesting to trace the use of the phrase "Son of Man". Its meaning in "Enoch" finds its inspiration inDaniel 7, 13, where the prophet saw one like a son of man, [5] who came"with the clouds of heaven to theAncient of Days".

[5.Not "the son of man", see R.V. The words'son of" do not always signify descent, butrather kinship or likeness, thus "a son of Belial"or, in name form, "Benjamin" (son of the righthand) or Barnabas (son of consolation). Inpoetic literature it was used more for emphasis,"God is not a man that he should lie,Nor a son of man that he should repent"(Num. 23, 19, and see Psalm 8, etc.).Thus "like a son of man" is an emphatic wayof saying "like a man" compare Dan. 3, 25, R.V. "like a son of the gods"). The Son ofMan is "The Man" in the same definite sensethat Jesus would say "I am he" and would be asked "art thou he that should come?"]

It is this manifestation that is developed in the parables" of Enoch in which the title"Son of Man" is used, and in theJewish mind there was no misunderstanding of its meaning. It referred to a supernatural being who should berevealed in glory in the day of the finaltriumph. But his identity with God'ssuffering servant was not understood,neither may have he always beenidentified with the human Messiah, forwhile the disciples referred to Jesus asthe Christ, and spoke of his kingdom,none but he used of himself the titleSon of Man. Indeed this use puzzled hishearers, and when on one occasion hespoke of the Son of Man being "liftedup", they asked, not "who is the Sonof Man?", but "who is this Son ofMan?" as though the title was beingapplied to another. They were notready to understand that the greatnessof Christ rested not in outwardmajesty, but in the hidden things ofthe heart.

The Book of Enoch contains an elaborateangelology. There is an angelicworld, peopled not only by goodspirits, the servants of the Lord God,some of whom are described by name,but also by a host of wicked angelswho were responsible for much of theevil that is in the world, and who arethemselves subject to punishment atthe hands of the mightiest of the hierarchyof the heavens. These angelswho sinned are identified with the sonsof God who "saw the daughters ofmen that they were fair" (Gen. 6).Whatever may be understood bythemodern student by these obscurewords, there cannot be the slightestquestion that they were believed bythe Jews to refer to a physical adulterybetween angels and womankind- andit was popularly understood that itwas the progeny of these unnaturalunions who filled the earth with violenceand brought down the wrath ofthe Almighty in the waters of the deluge.It seems reasonable to supposethat the references made in the epistlesof Peter and Jude to angels that keptnot their first estate, and that sinned,are to be explained in terms of thisbelief. The phraseology of the contextsin which the words occur can bematched almost exactly from "Enoch"and other apocryphal literature.

Thepunishment meted out to the delinquentangels is always associated ratherwith darkness and gloom than with activetorture. Concerning the leader ofthe rebels the command is given to"bind him hand and foot, and cast himinto the darkness place upon himrough and jagged rocks and cover himwith darkness". Peter says that theywere cast down to hell, but the wordis neither Hades or Gehenna, but Tartaros,which has the meaning of a deepabyss. Another apocryphal workknown as the "Book of the Secrets ofEnoch" contemporary with the NewTestament, but reflecting more Greekinfluence than our "Enoch", has asimilar description of the rebel angel"hurled from the heights with his angels,and he was flying in the air continuallyover the abyss".The book also describes how thesesame angels led mankind into ways ofwickedness, and behind all the superstitionand mythology there is a veryshrewd conception of the things thathave been a curse to the world, for thearts they taught were in brief, the useof weapons, cosmetics and dyes, witchcraftand astrology. If all the evil thathas come from these three things, war,vanity, and magic, were gathered alltogether, it would surely be no smallpart of the burden that has oppressedour race.

If it is felt impossible in these daysto give literal credence to any of thesethings, it can only be assumed that thewriters of the New Testament wereready to use legend and folklore asJesus was ready to use superstitiousbeliefs in the parable of the rich manand Lazarus, and of the seven evilspirits who came to make the last stateof the man worse than the first.The most disturbing feature whichthe book of Enoch presents to a studentof scripture is the extreme similaritybetween some of its languageand imagery and that of the book ofRevelation. Time and time again theNew Testament work seems to drawits ideas from the apocryphal, anddoubts spring to the mind as to thevalue of the symbolism of the Apocalypse.

Careful thought, however,shows the similarity to be only superficial,and a simple analogy suppliesthe explanation. If it were to pleasethe Most High to speak to us in vision,surely He would speak in our ownlanguage, but this would not identifyHis message with other English literature,although a foreigner might asserta great similarity in grammatical construction.So in presenting to the exilein Patmos visions of that which shouldshortly come to pass, the Spirit usedan ideology that was familiar to himand whose import he could not possiblymisunderstand. The similaritygoes no farther. There is no portionof Enoch comparable in sustainedconsistency, and it is certain that noportion has as yet been demonstratedto be a prophecy in the same sense asRevelation.To sum up, the book of Enochcomes to us as a valuable commentaryon the mental background of NewTestament times, and its one hundredand eight chapters are full of interest.

But any attempt to use its theology orits ideology as a frame upon which tobuild up a conception of the work ofChrist is sure to lead to failure by distortingthe picture of the Master.Against this hotch-potch of nationalbigotry and superstition, with its cosmosof heavenly luminaries floatingserenely through the portals of theheavens, and its anticipation of a consummationof universal slaughter, thepersonality of Jesus stands in sharpcontrast. Sometimes the language isthe same, but the message differs asthe light from darkness. We read"Enoch" as students, eager to penetratethe dark and tortuous passagesthrough which the developing thoughtof man has passed, but we sit at thefeet of Jesus to hear his word in reverenceand humility.

W. H. Boulton 1932