THE BOOKS OF ENOCH For a number of years I have thought that there must exist some kind of written record that would give us more insight into the time of Noah. I knew that in the nation of Israel written material existed which was not included in the Bible. The Roman Catholic church has carried the so-called, Apocrypha but I did not want to read them. But for some reason the book of Enoch kept coming up in my mind, so I decided to read this book and see what it was all about. To my astonishment, when I searched my library for the book of Enoch, I found that it had been in my library for 17 years. THE LIFE OF ENOCH Enoch was born when Adam was 622 years old, and Adam lived together with Enoch 308 years. Enoch was taken by God 57 years after Adam died. Enoch was the 7th generation from Adam. The Bible does not tell us a lot about the life of Enoch, except the following verses: And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died. And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. Genesis 5:18-24 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. (Hebrews11:5) And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Jude 14-15 The apostles Peter and Jude quote the writings of Enoch in the Bible. But the most astonishing fact that I learned is that Jesus is referred to as the Son of man over and over again in all the four Gospels. It is also found in the Old Testament. During my 35 years as a Christian I have never looked at this title and asked myself this, what does this mean. Then I read the following in the First Book of Enoch, Chapter 48: At that hour, that Son of man was given a name, in the presence of the Lord of the Spirits, the Before Time, even before the creation of the sun and the moon, before the creation of the stars, he was given a name in the presence of the Lord of Spirits. He will become the light of the gentiles and he will become the hope of those who are sick in their hearts. All those who dwell upon the earth shall fall and worship before him; they shall glorify, bless, and sing the name of the Lord of Spirits. For this purpose he became the Chosen One; he was concealed in the presence of the Lord of the Spirits prior to the creation of the world, and for eternity. I Enoch 48:1-5 Compare this with what Luke wrote, as he quoted part of this passage: A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. Luke 2:32 Compare this with what the apostle John wrote: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. John 1:1-10 Compare this what the apostle Paul wrote: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11 The book of Enoch was preserved by the descendants of Abraham, not Gentile nations. The book of Enoch dates back to the period before the flood and must have been preserved by Noah and his sons, just like Noah had preserved the early writings of the book of Genesis. And we must remember that Enoch was Noah’s great, great grandfather. It is obvious that the knowledge of the creation and the life of Adam and Eve would be passed on from generation to generation. A written down record or an oral record passed from father to son through generations are the same. When the Flood took place there were only four men surviving, Noah and his three sons. I personally believe that the information now written down in the books of Enoch are true and reflect how life was during this terrible time of horror that is referred to as the days of Noah. The people of Israel were the only nation on earth which had received a revelation from God and worshiped the God of creation, not man-made deities. The passage I just quoted from the book of Enoch shows that Adam and his sons knew that the Son of man was going to be the Messiah, and that through him there would be salvation (Genesis 3:15). The word for God in Genesis, Chapter One, is Elohim, which means Gods in Hebrew. The passage in Enoch points to the deity of the Son of man, and that he is eternal, and that one day every knee shall bow before him. This understanding by Enoch points out that his knowledge had come by revelation from God himself, which is what the Bible is telling us about Enoch, that he walked with God in a special way. SOME FACTS ABOUT THE BOOK OF ENOCH Book One of Enoch is found complete only in the Ethiopic (Ge’ez) version, for which more that forty manuscripts are known to exist as of 1983. The original language was Hebrew, while some argue that the book was written in a mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic, like the book of Daniel. Fragments of I Enoch were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, which date back to around 200 years before Christ. Common sense should tell us that the written history of Adam and Eve, as found in the book of Genesis, did not survive in its original writings. Instead the knowledge was passed on from generation to generation, and it was Moses, who around 2600 years after Adam, wrote down what is today known as the book of Genesis. Therefore, my understanding is that the same process must have been true for the first book of Enoch. Just as the so-called Bible scholars are trying to DEBUNK the Bible, they are doing the same thing with the book of Enoch. Regardless of the spin that the scholars put on the book of Enoch, they all agree that it was written down in the first century A.D. by the Christian community. This will pose a great technical problem for the scoffers. During the first century A.D. electricity was not known to men, neither was cloning and genetic engineering known, yet both the Bible and the book of Enoch speak on these subjects. My personal belief is that the information in the Bible is a direct revelation from God, preserved by men through the power of the Holy Spirit. The additional information given in the book of Enoch is in total harmony with the Bible, but gives us more insight into the period between Adam and Noah. (Also see notes from Encyclopedia Britannica). Quoted: I lost the link, sorry.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 02:13:44 +0000
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