Date of composition

• Scholars believe this composite work is from various authors who wrote between 300 BC to AD 160.
• The book states that the author is Enoch, Noah's great-grandfather. He is described as not dying: Genesis 5:23-24: "Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more because God took him away."

Type of book

• Only a few Orthodox accept this as deuterocanonical. (means "secondary or less sacred scripture")
• All other Christians view it as Apocrypha.

Length

• 108 chapters

Summary

• The book has five sections:
1. The Book of the Watchers, 1-36
• The first five chapters describe the Day of Judgment. The narrative then shifts to the story of the Nephilim from Genesis 6:1-4, expanding it significantly and even reinterpreting Biblical theology. In I Enoch, the Watchers are tasked with watching over humanity, but they eventually lust after human women and procreate with them, producing giants called the Nephilim. These giants introduce various forms of arts, science, and technology to humans but eventually seek to destroy them. Thus, the Nephilim introduced evil into the world instead of Adam and Eve. Humanity cries out to God, who hears them through the archangels' plea. God works through the archangels to defeat the Nephilim; for example, the Nephilim are killed in the flood. Enoch then travels with seven archangels to heaven, earth, hell, and, finally, paradise, where Enoch sees the "tree of wisdom" from the Garden of Eden.
2. The Book of Parables (or visions) of Enoch, 37-71
• Three visions are listed in chapters 37-59.
• First vision: Enoch is before the throne of God and sees many archangels and spirits.
• Second vision: Describes the Day of Judgment.
• Third vision: The life of saints freed from the realm of wickedness.
• Chapters 60-71 are sometimes referred to as the Book of Noah but only because Noah became the speaker. This occurred in Noah's 500th year when he received a vision from God about the upcoming flood. [Noah was 600 years old when the flood started.]
• Noah sees a cosmic battle and the resultant Judgment Day when all will be made right. Noah also views the suffering of the Watchers.
3. The Astronomical Book or Book of Luminaries, 72-82
• This book explains an intricate calendar. At the end, Enoch presents his writings to Methuselah, who is to care for them.
4. The Book of Dream Visions, 83-90
• Enoch shares his visions with Methuselah, including the coming flood.
• Most of this book involves what is known as the Animal Apocalypse. A brief history of the world is told with animals portraying people; this includes stars falling and impregnating cows, which refers back to the Watchers. The only person is Noah, who was at first a bull but then became a man. The flood occurs, with Noah's sons being bulls and producing different nations. The Israelites are portrayed as sheep, Saul, David, and Solomon are rams, and God is the God of the sheep (including the rams). The Egyptians are portrayed as wolves. The Temple is built, destroyed, and rebuilt, but rejected. Eventually, a new house or Temple is built, which fills with sheep and other animals who want to be healed. The Messiah is born there as a white bull. The sheep also turn into white bulls.
5. The Epistle of Enoch, 91-108 [Some copies end with an extended chapter 105, which includes 106-108]
• 91:1-5: This is not a letter but records Enoch leaving his son Methuselah and his family. Enoch encourages his family to stay strong in God. He then summarizes history in a discussion of various weeks.
• 91:6-100: He next describes the punishment meted out on the unrighteous.
• 101-104: Encouragement to the righteous. 104 ends with instructions not to change any of the wording in the writings.
• 105-108: Describes the birth of Noah and parting remarks from Enoch to his family.

Noteworthy from the book

• Connection to Jude and how to understand it.
• Two verses from the NT book of Jude are so similar to I Enoch 1:9 that it is very likely that Jude quoted from I Enoch.
• Jude 14-15 states: "Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: 'See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.'"
• 1 Enoch 1:9 states, "Behold, he comes with the myriads of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all, and to destroy all the wicked, and to convict all flesh for all the wicked deeds that they have done, and the proud and hard words that wicked sinners spoke against him."


• Author's note: Jude certainly used this verse from I Enoch. But this does not suggest that I Enoch is Scripture or even holy, only that Jude saw a similarity between this verse in I Enoch and the message God gave him.
• As an example, Paul quoted from Aratus in Acts 17:28; he quoted from Meanander in I Corinthians 15:33; and he quoted from Epimenides in Titus 1:12. In none of these cases did Paul mean to suggest that their words were scripture, only that he saw a similarity in them with his message. He used quotes that his audience was familiar with.
• Isaiah 23:16 is the same way. The end of Isaiah 23:15 states, "It will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute," and 23:16 includes a quote from that song. Isaiah is not suggesting that the "Song of the Prostitute" should be Scripture, only that a situation described in that song is similar to a situation found in a song that was apparently well known.
• The same happens on Sunday morning when pastors refer to popular songs, shows, movies, stories, or quotes from popular Christian books or websites. The pastors are not suggesting that they are sacred, only that the pastor's message and those figures and stories have similar points.
• Therefore, the fact that Jude quoted from I Enoch and that he references the Assumption of Moses did not mean that he believed those books should be Scripture, but that his audience was familiar with those books. Jude, like any pastor, was trying to make a connection between a book or reading the audience recognized and his message.