Bulletized

The topic is the Book of Enoch, specifically First Enoch, as there is more than one.

• A previous lecture focused on its origin and canonicity in the Ethiopian and Eritrean churches.
• This lecture will deep dive into the first Book of Enoch.
• The Epistle of Jude (New Testament, before Revelation) quotes Enoch.
• Jude, author of the epistle, is traditionally considered the brother of Jesus and James (leader of the Jerusalem Church).
• The brothers of Jesus are usually understood as half-brothers (children of Joseph, not Mary).
• Jude refers to himself as "servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James" likely due to James's significant authority in the Jamesian church.
• James is a very important figure in the Jamesian church, comparable to John the Baptist.
• The Epistle of Jude is literarily dependent on the Epistle of James, and 2 Peter is dependent on Jude.
• These three texts represent the thinking and position of the Jamesian church.
• Jude, James, and 2 Peter are pseudonymous (written by someone other than the named author).
• Scholars date Jude to the late 1st or early 2nd century, originating from the Jamesian church.
• Jude warns against "intruders" who "pervert the grace of our God into debauchery."
• The Jamesian church observed Mosaic law, unlike other Christian communities focused on grace.
• "Perverting Grace into debauchery" may be a veiled reference to Paul and Pauline Christian communities.
• Jude believes these false teachers were predicted by old prophets, specifically Enoch.
• Jude quotes Enoch saying, "See the Lord is coming with 10, thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment on all..."
• The quote from Enoch is not found in Genesis, where Enoch is mentioned only briefly as the seventh generation from Adam.
• Genesis 5:18-24 describes Enoch's life, how he "walked with God, then he was no more because God took him."
• "God took him" was interpreted by early readers as Enoch being taken up into heaven.
• The Septuagint translates "God took him" as mety, meaning "moving from one place to another" or "transporting."
• The 3rd-century Book of Sirach states Enoch "was taken up as an example of repentance to all generations."
• During the Second Temple Period (inter-testamentary), new forms of revelation emerged, differing from direct prophetic speech.
• Apocalyptic visions, shared through angels, became common.
• Authors of apocalypses often assumed the authority of a famous biblical figure (pseudepigraphy).
• Examples of pseudepigraphic books include Daniel, Moses, Ezra, Abraham, Solomon, and Enoch.
• Enoch was a natural choice for pseudepigraphy due to the Genesis reference that God took him to heaven.
• The word "apocalypse" means "unveiling" or "revelation" and also implies the end of the world.
• Apocalypses respond to unfulfilled prophecy and the failure of the Deuteronomic answer to evil (suffering due to turning away from God).
• In the Second Temple Period, Jewish people were monotheistic but still suffered, leading to questions about evil.
• Some Jewish sects disagreed with the Temple Elite, who collaborated with foreign rulers.
• Drawing on Persian and Zoroastrian ideas, apocalypses incorporate cosmic dualism (struggle between good and evil).
• Zoroastrianism predicted an apocalypse with a destroyed world, restored paradise, resurrection of the righteous, saviors, and eternal punishment for the wicked.
• These ideas, absent in earlier Hebrew Bible texts, entered mainstream Judaism after exposure to Persian and Zoroastrian thought.

Books of Enoch:

• First, Second, and Third Enoch are unrelated texts written at different times by different authors.
• First Enoch (Ethiopic Book of Enoch):
  • Originally in Aramaic or Aramaic/Hebrew, full text survives only in Ge'ez (Ethiopic).
  • Some parts date to 3rd or 2nd centuries BCE.
  • Quoted directly in the New Testament (Jude).
  • Influenced language and ideas in Matthew, Luke/Acts, John, many of Paul's letters, 1 John, Hebrews, and Revelation.
  • Fragments found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, indicating importance to Jewish sects like the Essenes.
  • Two major Ethiopic versions (Alpha and Beta), with Alpha closer to Aramaic.
  • 11 Aramaic fragments from Dead Sea Scrolls, some with sections not in the Ethiopic version.
  • Greek translation fragments survive, and Latin/Coptic fragments exist.
  • Popular with early Christian writers (e.g., Tertullian), but rejected by later influential figures like Augustine and Jerome, leading to its exclusion from most Christian canons.
  • Survives in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Church's Bible.
  • Relatively long text, subdivided into five major composite books:
    • Book of the Watchers: Expansion of Genesis 6 (sons of God taking human wives) and Genesis 4 (beginnings of civilization).
      • Earliest component, dating to 4th or 3rd centuries BCE.
      • Sons of God are explicitly called angels.
      • 200 Fallen Angels, led by Semjâzâ, descended on Mount Hermon.
      • They took human wives and begot giants 300 cubits tall, who consumed humanity.
      • Fallen Angels (e.g., Azazel, Semjâzâ) taught mankind forbidden knowledge (weapons, magic, astrology, etc.), leading to chaos.
      • Archangels (Michael, Uriel, Raphael, Gabriel) alert God.
      • God sends Uriel to Noah to warn him of the flood.
      • Raphael binds Azazel in a desert pit until the day of judgment.
      • Connects the flood narrative to a future apocalypse and Hellfire punishment.
      • Enoch is reintroduced as "Enoch the Scribe" and acts as an intermediary for the Watchers, but their appeal is denied.
      • Enoch is given a grand vision of the cosmos, journeying through heaven, earth, and the underworld.
      • Describes God's "storehouses" for lightning, wind, and the "Cornerstone of the Earth."
      • Enoch journeys to a magnificent mountain resembling God's throne, where he sees the Tree of Life.
      • Michael explains this is God's throne, and the Tree of Life will be moved to Jerusalem for the righteous in the new paradise.
      • Mixes anti-diluvian/Edenic imagery with post-apocalyptic predictions.
    • Astronomical Book (Chapters 72-82):
      • Enoch is shown the precise workings of the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets by Uriel.
      • Discusses the Enochic calendar, a solar calendar 364 days long.
      • Divided into four equal seasons of 91 days (two 30-day months, one 31-day month).
      • No intercalary leap days or months, making it inaccurate over time but slowly.
      • Its key feature is that it maintains a perfect alignment with the 7-day week (364 = 52 x 7).
      • Contrasts with the inaccurate "Babylonian Luna solar calendar" used by Sadducees and rabbis.
    • Book of Similitudes (Parables of Enoch):
      • Dated 1st century BCE to 3rd century CE (possible Christian interpolations).
      • Contains three lengthy apocalyptic parables explaining the cosmos, predicting the end of the world, final judgment, punishment of the damned (including Watchers), resurrection, glorification of the righteous, and a new paradise.
      • Popular among devout individuals critical of the Temple Elite's collaboration with foreign rulers.
    • Book of Dreams and Visions:
      • Enoch recounts two visions to Methuselah.
      • First vision predicts the flood.
      • Second vision is an allegorical retelling of biblical history down to the Maccabean Revolt (c. 163-142 BCE).
      • Called the "animal apocalypse" where individuals/groups are represented by animals (e.g., Israelites are sheep, Philistines are dogs, Egyptians are bears).
      • Predicts an imminent (but unfulfilled) end of the world.
    • Epistle of Enoch:
      • Composite text, including exhortations to Methuselah, an "apocalypse of weeks" (history divided into periods leading to apocalypse), a proper letter from Enoch, a fragment from a Book of Noah, and a final conclusion by the redactor.
      • Written perhaps 2nd or 1st centuries BCE.
• Second Enoch (Slavonic Enoch):
  • Survives entirely only in Old Church Slavonic.
  • From a