4Q201 (En ara)
Copied ca. 200-150 B.C.E.

The Pseudepigraphical Book of Enoch

The Patriarch Enoch

Origins in Sumerian Mythology
"According to the biblical narrative (Genesis 5:21-24), Enoch lived only 365 years (far less than the other patriarchs in the period before the Flood). Enoch 'walked with God; then he was no more for God took him'."
     - Milik, Jazef. T., ed. The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

"The Enoch literature seems to offer an alternative to the form of Judaism that centers upon the Mosaic covenantal law. It appeals to a myth of great evil and punishment in ancient times and calls on people to be righteous because another judgment is coming. That righteousness is apparently defined in Enoch's writings, not in the Mosaic law. In other words, the appeal here is to a much earlier time in history, before the division of nations. Was Enoch chosen to make a wider appeal than Moses who lived after the nation of Israel had begun? There is ample reason for believing that the biblical and pseudepigraphic Enoch is a reflection of Mesopotamian traditions about the seventh antediluvian king Enmeduranki of Sippar, a king who was associated with the sun god and with divination. Enoch, the seventh pre-flood patriarch in the Bible, taught a solar calendar and received revelations about the future through mantic means such as symbolic dreams."
     - James C. Vanderkam

"According to Sumerian chronicles of the earlier times, it was at Eridu's temple that Enki, as guardian of the secrets of all scientific knowledge, kept the ME's - tabletlike objects on which the scientific data were inscribed. One of the Sumerian texts details how the goddess Inanna (later known as Ishtar), wishing to give status to her 'cult center' Uruk (the biblical Erech), tricked Enki into giving her some of those divine formulas. Adapa, we find, was also nicknamed NUN.ME, meaning "He who can decipher the ME's'. Even unto millennia later, in Assyrian times, the saying 'Wise as Adapa' meant that someone was exceedingly wise and knowledgeable....The 'wide knowledge' imparted by Enki to Adapa included writing, medicine, and - according to the astronomical series of tablets UD.SAR.ANUM.ENLILLA ('The Great Days of Amu and Enlil') - knowledge of astronomy and astrology."
"...It is almost certain that the biblical 'Enoch' was the equivalent of the Sumerian first priest, EN.ME.DUR.AN.KI ('High Priest of the ME's of the Bond Heaven-Earth'), the man from the city Sippar taken heavenward to be taught the secrets of Heaven and Earth, of divination, and of the calendar. It was with him that the generations of astronomer-priests, of Keepers of the Secrets, began."
     - Zecharia Sitchin, When Time Began

"The learned savant
who guards the secrets of the gods
will bind his favored son with an oath
before Shamash and Adad...
and will instruct him in the secrets of the gods."
"Thus was the line of priests created,
those who are allowed to approach Shamash and Adad."
     - Sumerian tablet (W. G. Lambert, Enmeduranki and Related Material)

"The legend [of Enoch] begins...with the Sumerian King List. This is a list of rulers before the Flood, and is preserved in several forms, including Berossus. Here one of the kings, often given as the seventh (as Enoch is in his list), is called Enmeduranki or Enmeduranna. He is generally associated with the city of Sippar, which was the home of the cult of the sun god Shamash. Moreover, in other texts this Enmeduranki was the first to be shown, by Adad and Shamash, three techniques of divination: pouring oil on water, inspecting a liver, and the use of a cedar (rod), whose function is still unclear. These were to be transmitted from generation to generation, and in fact became the property of the guild of baru, the major group of diviners in Babylon.
"These details show how the biblical portrait of Enoch may have been compiled from Enmeduranki: each is seventh in the antediluvian list; the biblical 365 preserves the affinity to the sun, rather than the sun god; walking with God (or perhaps, 'angels'?) suggests the intimacy between god(s) and man. The final connection links not with Enmeduranki, but with a fish-man (apkallu), with which each of the first seven kings associated and from whom they learnt all kinds of knowledge. Enmeduranki's apkallu, called Utu'abzu, is mentioned in another cuneiform text, where he is said to have ascended to heaven. This last link remains provisional, but at all events, the writer of Genesis 5:21-24 appears to either have created Enoch as a counterpart of Enmeduranki or, equally probably, to have alluded to an already existing Jewish tradition about Enoch, already modeled on the earlier figure."
     - John Rogerson and Philip Davies, The Old Testament World

"One cannot rule out the possibility that, as Enmduranki and Enoch, Adapa too was the seventh in a line of sages, the Sages of Eridu, and thus another version of the Sumerian memory echoed in the biblical Enoch record. According to this tale, seven Wise Men were trained in Eridu, Enki's city; their epithets and particular knowledge varied from version to version. Rykle Borger, examining this tale in light of the Enoch traditions ('Die Beschworungsserie Bit Meshri und die Himmelfahrt Henochs' in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 33), was especially fascinated by the inscription on the third tablet of the series of Assyrian Oath Incantations. In it the name of each sage is given and his main call on fame is explained; it says thus of the seventh: 'Uta-abzu, he who to heaven ascended'. Citing a second such text, R. Borger concluded that this seventh sage, whose name combined that of Utu/Shamash with the Lower World (Abzu) domain of Enki, was the Assyrian 'Enoch'.
"According to the Assyrian references to the wisdom of Adapa, he composed a book of sciences titled U.SAR d ANUM d ENLILA - 'Writings regarding Time; from divine Anu and divine Enlil'. Adapa, thus, is credited with writing Mankind's first book of astronomy and the calendar."
     - Zecharia Sitchin, When Time Began

"Henceforth, the seventh king shall be known by his Semitic name. 'Enoch' (meaning 'initiated' or 'dedicated') may have abdicated his throne. He took his son (the biblical Methuselah) on a journey to the west. They settled at Moriah, where Enoch built an underground temple, having been inspired in a dream. Then he engraved cuneiform characters on two triangles made of solid gold. The first delta was concealed at Moriah. Methuselah was entrusted with the second. He took the object back to Sippar. Enoch remained at Moriah, to become the old man on the mountain. He lived 365 years, according to Genesis, and then he died. Or did he vanish into thin air?"
     - enoch@execulink.com, "Enoch"

The Secrets of Enoch

"Enoch was the first who invented books and different sorts of writing. The ancient Greeks declare that Enoch is the same as Mercury Trismegistus [Hermes], and that he taught the sons of men the art of building cities, and enacted some admirable laws...He discovered the knowledge of the Zodiac, and the course of the Planets; and he pointed out to the sons of men, that they should worship God, that they should fast, that they should pray, that they should give alms, votive offerings, and tenths. He reprobated abominable foods and drunkenness, and appointed festivals for sacrifices to the Sun, at each of the Zodiacal Signs."
     - Hebraeus

According to Masonic lore, Enoch was the inventor of writing, "that he taught men the art of building", and that, before the flood, he "feared that the real secrets would be lost - to prevent which he concealed the grand Secret, engraven on a white oriental porphyry stone, in the bowels of the earth."
     - Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia

"In his Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus writes that Adam had forewarned his descendants that sinful humanity would be destroyed by a deluge. In order to preserve their science and philosophy, the children of Seth therefore raised two pillars, one of brick and the other of stone, on which were inscribed the keys to their knowledge.
     - Manly P. Hall, Masonic, Hermetic, Quabbalistic & Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy

The children of Seth "also were the inventors of that peculiar sort of wisdom which is concerned with the heavenly bodies, and their order. And that their inventions might not be lost before they were sufficiently known, upon Adam's prediction that the world was to be destroyed at one time by the force of fire, and at another time by the violence and quantity of water, they made two pillars, the one of brick, the other of stone: they inscribed their discoveries on them both, that in case the pillar of brick should be destroyed by the flood, the pillar of stone might remain, and exhibit those discoveries to mankind; and also inform them that there was another pillar of brick erected by them. Now this remains in the land of Siriad to this day."
     - Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews Bk I, Ch II, Sn 3

According to one legend, Enoch had foreknowledge of the coming Deluge.

"The patriarch Enoch....constructed an underground temple [at Moriah] consisting of nine vaults, one beneath the other, placing in the deepest vault a triangular tablet of gold [a 'white oriental porphyry stone' in one version] bearing upon it the absolute and ineffable name of Deity. According to some accounts, Enoch made two golden deltas. The larger he placed upon the white cubical altar in the lowest vault and the smaller [inscribed with strange words Enoch had gained from the angels] he gave into the keeping of his son, Methuselah, who did the actual construction work of the brick chambers according to the pattern revealed to his father by the Most High. In the form and arrangements of these vaults Enoch epitomized the nine spheres of the ancient Mysteries and the nine sacred strata of the earth through which the initiate must pass to reach the flaming Spirit dwelling in its central core."
     - Manly P. Hall, Masonic, Hermetic, Quabbalistic & Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy

"The vaults were then sealed, and upon the spot Enoch had two indestructible columns constructed - one of marble, so that it might 'never burn', and the other of Laterus, or brick, so that it might 'not sink in water'.
"On the brick column were inscribed the 'seven sciences' of mankind, the so-called 'archives' of Masonry, while on the marble column he 'placed an inscription stating that a short distance away a priceless treasure would be found in a subterranean vault'. Enoch then retired to Mount Moriah, traditionally equated with the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where he was 'translated' to heaven.
     - Andrew Collins, From the Ashes of Angels - The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race (1996) p. 13

Methuselah "took the object back to Sippar. Enoch remained at Moriah, to become the old man on the mountain. He lived 365 years, according to Genesis, and then he died. Or did he vanish into thin air?"
     - Brian , "ENOCH The Greatest Story Never Told"

Rediscovery of the Vaults
"In time, King Solomon uncovered the hidden vaults while constructing his legendary temple and learned of their divine secrets. Memory of these two ancient pillars of Enoch was preserved by the Freemasons, who set up representations of them in their lodges. Known as the Antediluvian Pillars, or Enoch's Pillars, they were eventually replaced by representations of the two huge columns named 'Jachin' and 'Boaz', said to have stood on each side of the entrance porch to Solomon's Temple."
     - Andrew Collins, From the Ashes of Angels - The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race (1996) p. 13

Enoch's "name signified in the Hebrew, INITIATE or INITIATOR. The legend of the columns, of granite and brass or bronze, erected by him, is probably symbolical. That of bronze, which survived the flood, is supposed to symbolize the mysteries, of which Masonry is the legitimate successor from the earliest times the custodian and depository of the great philosophical and religious truths, unknown to the world at large, and handed down from age to age by an unbroken current of tradition, embodied in symbols, emblems, and allegories."
     - General Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma

The Three Books

Discovery of the "Lost Text"
"The Greek word pseudepigrapha is a Greek word meaning 'falsely superscribed,' or what we moderns might call writing under a pen name. The classification, 'OT Pseudepigrapha,' is a label that scholars have given to these writings."
     - Craig A. Evans, Noncanonical Writings and New Testament Interpretation, (1992) p. 22

"The Book of Enoch is a pseudepigraphical work (a work that claims to be by a biblical character). The Book of Enoch was not included in either the Hebrew or most Christian biblical canons, but could have been considered a sacred text by the sectarians."
     - Milik, Jazef. T., ed. The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

The Book of Enoch is "an ancient composition known from two sets of versions, an Ethiopic one that scholars identify as '1 Enoch', and a Slavonic version that is identified as '2 Enoch', and which is also known as The Book of the Secrets of Enoch. Both versions, of which copied manuscripts have been found mostly in Greek and Latin translations, are based on early sources that enlarged on the short biblical mention that Enoch, the seventh Patriarch after Adam, did not die because, at age 365, 'he walked with God' - taken heavenward to join the deity."
     - Zecharia Sitchin, When Time Began

"I Enoch, also known as the Ethiopic Apocalypse of Enoch, is the oldest of the three pseudepigraphal books attributed to Enoch, the man who apparently did not die, but was taken up to heaven (Gen 5:24). The book was originally written in either Hebrew or Aramaic, perhaps both, but it survives in complete form only in Ethiopic (Ge'ez), and in fragmentary form in Aramaic, Greek (1:1-32:6; 6:1-10:14; 15:8-16:1; 89:42-49; 97:6-104), and Latin (106:1-18)."
"The materials in I Enoch range in date from 200 B.C.E. to 50 C.E. I Enoch contributes much to intertestamental views of angels, heaven, judgment, resurrection, and the Messiah. This book has left its stamp upon many of the NT writers, especially the author of Revelation."
     - Craig A. Evans, Noncanonical Writings and New Testament Interpretation, (1992) p. 23

"Prior to the eighteenth century, scholars had believed the Book of Enoch to be irretrievably lost: composed long before the birth of Christ, and considered to be one of the most important pieces of Jewish mystical literature, it was only known from fragments and from references to it in other texts. James Bruce changed all this by procuring several copies of the missing work during his stay in Ethiopia. These were the first complete editions of the Book of Enoch ever to be seen in Europe."
     - Graham Hancock, The Sign and the Seal

"The Book of Enoch remained in darkness until 1821, when the long years of dedicated work by a professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford were finally rewarded with the publication of the first ever English translation of the Book of Enoch. The Reverend Richard Laurence, Archbishop of Cashel, had labored for many hundreds of hours over the faded manuscript in the hands of the Bodleian Library, carefully substituting English words and expressions for the original Geez, while comparing the results with known extracts, such as the few brief chapters preserved in Greek by Syncellus during the ninth century."
     - Andrew Collins, From the Ashes of Angels - The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race (1996) p. 21

"The original Aramaic version was lost until the Dead Sea fragments were discovered."
"The original language of most of this work was, in all likelihood, Aramaic (an early Semitic language). Although the original version was lost in antiquity, portions of a Greek translation were discovered in Egypt and quotations were known from the Church Fathers. The discovery of the texts from Qumran Cave 4 has finally provided parts of the Aramaic original. ...Humankind is called on to observe how unchanging nature follows God's will."
     - Milik, Jazef. T., ed. The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

Composition
"1 Enoch, preserved in a full, 108-chapter form in Ethiopic, consists of five parts and one appended chapter. It originated in Aramaic (perhaps Hebrew for chaps. 37-71), was translated into Greek, and from Greek into Ethiopic."
     - James C. Vanderkam (Professor of Hebrew Scriptures at the University of Notre Dame)

"The Aramaic Book of Enoch...very considerably influenced the idiom of the New Testament and patristic literature, more so in fact than any other writing of the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha."
     - Norman Golb, Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?, (1995) p. 366

"As it now stands, I Enoch appears to consist of the following five major divisions:
    (1) The Book of the Watchers (chaps. 1-36);
    (2) The Book of the Similitudes (chaps. 37-7l);
    (3) The Book of Astronomical Writings (chaps. 72-82);
    (4) The Book of Dream Visions (chaps. 83-90); and
    (5) The Book of the Epistle of Enoch (chaps. 91-107)."
     - Craig A. Evans, Noncanonical Writings and New Testament Interpretation, (1992) p. 23

"Chaps. 1-36 The Book of the Watchers may date from the third century BCE. Parts of its text have been identified on several copies from Qumran cave 4; the earliest fragmentary manuscript (4QEnocha) dates, according to the editor J.T. Milk, to between 200 and 150 BCE. All Qumran copies are in the Aramaic language."
     - James C. Vanderkam

"James Vanderkam divides the first part of 1 Enoch into five sections:
    1-5 a theophany followed by an eschatological admonition
    6-11 the angel story (stories)
    12-16 Enoch and the failed petition of the angels who descended,
    17-19 Enoch's first journey,
    20-36 Enoch's second journey (chap. 20 is a list of angels who are connected with the journeys)."
     - Tom Simms (CrossTalk)

"Chaps. 37-71 The Book of Parables (or the Similitudes of Enoch) may have been composed in the late first century BCE; a number of scholars prefer to place it in the first or even the second century CE. Milik assigns it to the late third century CE. No fragments of these chapters have been found at Qumran, and some think their original language was Hebrew, not Aramaic."
     - James C. Vanderkam

As described in the Book of the Parables:
"On the one side are God, the heavenly entourage, the agents of his judgment...and God's people...On the other are the chief demon Azazel, his angels, and the kings and the mighty...[who] would have their counterparts among the Roman generals, governors, triumvirs, and monarchs whose activities in Judaea are well documented in the sources."
     - George Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah

"Chaps. 72-82 The Astronomical Book, like the Book of Watchers, may date from the third century BCE; the oldest copy of it seems to have been made not long after 200 BCE. Sizable portions of the text are preserved on four copies, written in Aramaic, from Qumran cave 4. The Aramaic original appears to have been much different and much longer than the Ethiopic text, adding far more astronomical details."
     - James C. Vanderkam

Authorship
"The Judaic Law of the Pentateuch had come to be conceived as the final and supreme revelation of God ... there was now no room for independent representatives ... such as the post-Exilic prophets. As Zechariah made clear in his parable of the Foolish Shepherd, 'a man could, or ought to be put to death for setting himself up as a prophet.'"
     - Ian Wilson, Jesus, The Evidence, p. 62

"Thus the names of pseudonymous authors were used, of Isaiah or even ancient Enoch."
     - Chris King, "The Apocalyptic Tradition"

King argues that 1 Enoch is an unmistakable product of Hellenistic civilization (although its roots are firmly embedded in Mesopotamian and Persian tradition).

"A world view so encyclopaediac that it embraced the geography of heaven and earth, astronomy, meteorology, medicine was no part of Jewish tradition - but was familiar to educated Greeks, but attempting to emulate and surpass Greek wisdom, by having an integrating divine plan for destiny, elaborated through an angelic host with which Enoch is in communication through his mystical travels.quot;
     - Chris King, "The Apocalyptic Tradition"

Although the Book of Enoch is considered as apocryphal, it was clearly known to early Christian writers as the following quote from 1 Enoch 1:9 indicates:

"In the seventh (generation) from Adam Enoch also prophesied these things, saying: 'Behold, the Lord came with his holy myriads, to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners spoke against him'."
     - Jude 14-15

A Dream or Literary Licence?

"And I went off and sat down at the waters of Dan, in the land of Dan, to the south of the west of Hermon: I read their petition till I fell asleep. And behold a dream came to me, and visions fell down upon me, and I saw visions of chastisement, and a voice came bidding (me) I to tell it to the sons of heaven, and reprimand them."
     - 1 Enoch 13:7b-8

"What one can say about Enoch in 1 Enoch 13 (and this applies to Daniel and Ezekiel also) is that the narrative has a seer or a prophet engage in the ritual for an incubation oracle by sleeping at a sacred spring, etc. So we have a pseudepigraphical character (at least for Enoch and Daniel) depicted as engaging in an actual ritual (for that matter, 4 Ezra has Ezra spend a week in the fields eating flowers). While all of this may represent a deliberate fiction, it does at least develop its fiction in terms of the ancient world's fascination with the seeking of dreams and visions for oracular purposes. For that matter, the fascination with seeking dreams and visions includes the recording of those dreams, as the inscriptions from the temples of Asclepius show, so we have some kind of contact between dreaming (or visions) and written documents. The problem in knowning what to make of the apocalypses is that they are pseudepigraphical, but they are at least depicting their pseudepigraphical characters engaging in rituals that were thought by the ancients to stimulate oracular dreams. The issue for the historian is not epistemology but the conceptual world of the people writing the texts."
     - David W. Suter (Mediators)

These texts, which evolved into Hekhalot literature, were evidently written by scribes familiar with folk traditions of magic to compete with the more learned rabbis.

"The experiences described in the Hekhalot literature do not seem much like mysticism. There is no thought of mystical union. God is nearly as remote in the heavenly throne room as he is on earth. Nor is Hekhalot esotericism merely magic: it includes visionary experiences atypical of magic and often seems to be functioning in the context of a community. I propose therefore that the most illuminating framework for these experiences is shamanism."
"The clearest example of an initiatory disintegration and reintegration in the Hekhalot literature is found in one of its latest strata: the description of the transformation of the mortal Enoch into the angel Metatron in 3 Enoch 3-15 (paras. 4-19). Enoch's experience is much like that of the shamans:"
     - James R. Davila, "Hekhalot Literature and Mysticism"

(2) Later Writings

2 Enoch
"2 Enoch, or the Slavonic Apocalypse of Enoch, was written late first century C.E. in Egypt by a Jew. It survives only in late Old Slavonic manuscripts. It may have been composed originally in Aramaic or Hebrew, later being translated into Greek, and later still being translated into Old Slavonic. It is an amplification of Gen 5:21-32 (from Enoch to the Flood). Major theological themes include:
     (1) God created the world out of nothing (24:2);
     (2) seven heavens (30:2-3) and angelic hosts;
     (3) God created the souls of men before the foundation of the earth (23:5);
     (4) abodes of heaven and hell are already prepared for righteous and sinners; and
     (5) ethical teachings, which at times parallel those of the NT and Proverbs."
     - Craig A. Evans, Noncanonical Writings and New Testament Interpretation, (1992) p. 23

3 Enoch
"3 Enoch 1-16 [is] a work that existed by the 9th century C.E., and that obviously contains earlier traditions."
     - James Davila, "Enoch as a Divine Mediator"

"3 Enoch, or the Hebrew Apocalypse of Enoch, was supposedly written by Rabbi Ishmael the 'high priest' after his visionary ascension into heaven (d. 132 C.E.). Although it contains a few Greek and Latin loan words, there is no reason to suspect that the original language of 3 Enoch was anything other than Hebrew. Whereas some of the traditions of 3 Enoch may be traced back to the time of Rabbi Ishmael, and even earlier, the date of composition is probably closer to the fifth or sixth centuries. It was probably written in or near Babylon. The book may be divided into the following four major parts:
     (1) The ascension of Ishmael (chaps. 1-2);
     (2) Ishmael meets the exalted Enoch (chaps. 3-16);
     (3) a description of the heavenly household (chaps. 17-40); and
     (4) the marvels of heaven (chaps. 41-48)."
     - Craig A. Evans, Noncanonical Writings and New Testament Interpretation, (1992) p. 24

"Here are a few examples of parallels between the two works [1 Enoch and 3 Enoch]:
There is a story or stories about precious metals and how they will not avail their users and those who make idols from them (1 Enoch 52; 65:6-8; 67:4-7 // 3 Enoch 5:7-14).
One of the characters is a hostile angel named Azaz'el/Aza'el (1 Enoch 54:5; 55:4; 69:2 // 3 Enoch 4:6; 5:9);
Enoch ascends to heaven in a storm chariot (1 Enoch 52:1; 70:1-3; // 3 Enoch 6:1; 7:1);
Enoch is transformed into an angel (1 Enoch 71:11-17 // 3 Enoch 9:1-5; 15:1-2);
Enoch as an exalted angel is enthroned in heaven (1 Enoch 55:4; 61:8; 62:1-5; 69:29 // 3 Enoch 10:1-3; 16:1);
and he receives a revelation of cosmological secrets of creation (1 Enoch 69:16-26 // 3 Enoch 13:1-2)."
     - James Davila, "Enoch as a Divine Mediator"

"...The parallels between the Similitudes and 3 Enoch 3-15 are centered around eight elements in both pericopae:
     (1.) The heroes of the work (Rabbi Ishmael and Enoch: a biblical character and an extra-biblical character)
     (2.) Angelology (good and evil angels)
     (3.) Enoch / Metatron versus the 'elect one' 'the son of man'
     (4.) The throne and the Shekinah
     (5.) Eschatology
     (6.) The oath / power inherent in letters
     (7.) The heavenly ascent and
     (8.) Wisdom."
     - Bankole Davies-Browne, "Abstract 3 - Enoch and the Similitudes of Enoch"

The Secrets

"...The ONLY...geographical landmarks in 'Original Enoch' refer to Galilee!
In I En.6, the 'angels, the children of heaven...descended into Ardos, which is the summit of Hermon.'
"In 13.7, Enoch has been sent to deliver imprecations against the fallen angels and offer their prayers for forgiveness. 'And I went and sat down upon the waters of Dan - in Dan which is on the southwest of Hermon - and I read their memorial prayers until I fell asleep.' (Peter's Confession in Mk.8.27-30 is delivered in the environs of Caesarea Philippi, on the southwest approach to Hermon.)
"In 13.8-9 Enoch's story continues, 'I came unto them while they were conferring together in Leya'el, which is between Lebanon and Sanzer...' Though 'Sanzer' is uncertain, apparently 'Leya'el' represented the Valley of Jezreel in Galilee."
     - Philip B. Lewis (CrossTalk)

The similitudes of Enoch do not contain geographical markers and "could have been added to I Enoch virtually anywhere except Qumran (where they are absent)."
     - Mahlon Smith (CrossTalk)

"In the Book of Enoch the arcane wisdom is said to have been betrayed to mankind by fallen angels, but a Talmudic tradition claims that God whispered it to Moses on Mount Sinai. According to this tradition its secrets were then imparted to seventy elders who thereafter transmitted them orally to their successors."
     - David Conway, Ritual Magic

"One of the most remarkable features of 1 Enoch is that the law revealed to Moses on Mt. Sinai plays almost no part in it at all. It could be objected that it would be more surprising if it did have a role, since 1 Enoch is, of course, about Enoch who lived before the flood (see Gen 5:21-24) and thus long before the law was revealed. The argument would be that the authors of 1 Enoch were consistent about their pseudepigraphic attribution of the material to Enoch and therefore did not commit the anachronism of having him teach and obey the law of Moses.
"But there is a flaw in that argument because at least two places in the book should mention the law revealed on Mt. Sinai. The two places are in the two principal apocalypses, the Apocalypse of Weeks and the Animal Apocalypse. Both of these revelations cover the period when Israel was in the wilderness and, according to the Pentateuch, received the covenantal law."
     - James C. Vanderkam

While the Apocalypse of Weeks mentions the law of Moses, There is "nothing added to suggest its importance or character". In the Animal Apocalypse the law of Moses is even less evident:

"And that sheep (= Moses) went up to the summit of a high rock, and the Lord of the sheep sent it to them. And after this I saw the Lord of the sheep standing before them, and his appearance (was) terrible and majestic, and all those sheep saw him and were afraid of him. And all of them were afraid and trembled before him; and they cried out after that sheep with them which was in their midst: 'We cannot stand before our Lord, nor look at him.' And that sheep which led them again went up to the summit of that rock; and the sheep began to be blinded and to go astray from the path which it had shown to them, but that sheep did not know."
     - 1 Enoch 89:29-32

"Nothing is said here about God's giving the law to Moses; the only hint of it comes as the writer describes the straying of the sheep: they departed from the path Moses had shown them (see also v. 33). The aspects of the Sinai event that were more interesting than the law itself were the frightening appearance of the Lord and the fact that the people, right at that spot, made and worshiped the golden calf."
"The law is mentioned elsewhere in 1 Enoch (e.g., 5:4; 63:12 seems to be referring to a different law; law is used several times for the course of luminaries in chaps. 72-82 [e.g. 79:1-2]; 99:2 speaks of sinners who 'distort the eternal law' but it is not clear what this law is [cf. 104:10]; 108:1 mentions those who 'keep the law in the last days'). But the law is never identified as the law of Moses (or something of the sort); a more common usage of the term is for the laws of nature. This is astounding when one considers how important the judgment is in 1 Enoch and how often the writers speak of righteous, doing what is upright, etc. The Torah is also never mentioned in 2 Enoch."
     - James C. Vanderkam

"And I saw there something horrible: I saw neither a heaven above nor a firmly founded earth, but a place chaotic and horrible. And there I saw seven stars of the heaven bound together in it, like great mountains and burning with fire. Then I said: 'For what sin are they bound, and on what account have they been cast in hither?' Then said Uriel, one of the holy angels, who was with me, and was chief over them, and said: 'Enoch, why dost thou ask, and why art thou eager for the truth? These are of the number of the stars of heaven, which have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and are bound here till ten thousand years, the time entailed by their sins, are consummated.' And from thence I went to another place, which was still more horrible than the former, and I saw a horrible thing: a great fire there which burnt and blazed, and the place was cleft as far as the abyss, being full of great descending columns of fire: neither its extent or magnitude could I see, nor could I conjecture. Then I said: 'How fearful is the place and how terrible to look upon!' Then Uriel answered me, one of the holy angels who was with me, and said unto me: 'Enoch, why hast thou such fear and affright?' And I answered: 'Because of this fearful place, and because of the spectacle of the pain.' And he said unto me: 'This place is the prison of the angels, and here they will be imprisoned for ever.'"
     - 1 Enoch 21:1-10

"From the days of the slaughter and destruction and death of the giants, from the souls of whose flesh the spirits, having gone forth, shall destroy without incurring judgement -thus shall they destroy until the day of the consummation, the great judgement in which the age shall be 2 consummated, over the Watchers and the godless, yea, shall be wholly consummated."
     - 1 Enoch 16:1-2a

"There is a strong probability that the seven stars 'burning like great mountains' are identical with the seven evil demons of Assyrio-Babylonian sorcery:"
     - Colin Low, Liber Logaeth

"Destructive storms (and) evil winds are they,
An evil blast that heraldeth the baneful storm,
An evil blast, forerunner of the baneful storm,
They are mighty children, mighty sons,
Heralds of the Pestilence,
Throne-bearers of Ninkigal,
They are the flood which rushesth through the land.
Seven gods of the broad heaven,
Seven gods of the broad earth,
Seven robber gods are they.
Seven gods of might,
Seven evil gods,
Seven evil demons,
Seven evil demons of oppression,
Seven in heaven and seven on earth."

"There are many incantations and exorcisms against the terrible seven:"
     - Colin Low, Liber Logaeth

"Spirits that minish the land, Of giant strength,
Of giant strength and giant tread,
Demons (like) raging bulls, great ghosts,
Ghosts that break through all houses,
Demons that have no shame,
Seven are they!
Knowing no care,
They grind the land like corn;
Knowing no mercy,
They rage against mankind;
They spill their blood like rain
Devouring their flesh (and) sucking their veins,
Where the images of the gods are, there they quake (?)
In the Temple of Nabu, who fertilizeth the shoots of wheat.
They are demons full of violence,
Ceaselessly devouring blood."

"The evil giant offspring of the Nephilim in Jewish legend were also noted for their vast appetites, eating thousands of animals a day, and even human flesh (obviously a memory of large sacrificial offerings). The 'seven evil sons of Ea' described on ancient clay tablets are enumerated as the South Wind, a dragon with mouth agape, a grim leopard that carries off young, a terrible serpent, a furious beast, an evil windstorm and one that cannot be identified because of damage to the clay tablet. It is possible that these seven evil sons of Ea reappear in the Apocalypse, firstly as the seven angels with seven trumpets whose sounding progressively causes terrible events to occur that mark the end of the world, and also the 'seven angels with seven plagues' carrying bowls containing the wrath of God."
     - Colin Low, Liber Logaeth

The Enochian Tradition in Literature
There was a substantial Zoroastrian Influence on Judaism when Jewish exiles were exposed to the Persian religion during the Babylonian captivity.

"Some Jews adopted Enochian tradition in Babylon during the Exile and brought it back to Canaan when Cyrus gave them leave to Return. The Enochian Jews were detested by the priesthood in Jerusalem, and they were forced to 'flee' into the desert before 300 BCE. Naturally, they supported the Maccabees during the uprising of 165 BCE. The Enochians at Qumran 'updated' the text to include Judah the Hammer in the big story."
"The last of the Essene stragglers buried it [the secret book] in Cave IV at Qumran c.70 CE. The urban Christians and Jews of the Near East rejected it. The authors of the Apocalypse rewrote and retitled it, but they didn't understand the heptadic structure of the original lines, the arrangement of sevens. (The Revelation of St John is pure gibberish, a sloppy rehash of Babylonian myths and legends.) Only the students of the merkavah (in Babylonia) possessed the key to the Enochian mystery."
     - Brian , "ENOCH The Greatest Story Never Told"

"In the Qumran literature, God and the archangel Michael are arrayed against Belial in a struggle between good and evil that will culminate in a great eschatological battle involving both angelic and human forces, to be followed, at least according to one source, by a messianic age. D. [Maxwell J. Davidson, "Angels at Qumran: A Comparative Study of 1 Enoch 1-36, 72-108 and Sectarian Writings from Qumran", Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series 11; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1992] finds the classification of cosmic dualism inappropriate for the Enochic literature, however. The fall of the angels is dealt with promptly by the imprisonment of the offenders, who are to be judged at the end of time. While both groups relate the presence of evil in the world to angels, in the Enochic literature it is the disobedience of the Watchers that is the cause. In the Qumran literature, however, Belial is responsible for evil and seems to have been created for that role by God. The Qumran literature also reflects an 'inaugurated eschatology' in which the members of the community are already in association with the angels, while in 1 Enoch the seer alone comes into contact with angels. In the latter case, revelation is mediated by angels through Enoch, a function replaced by the authoritative interpretation of scripture in the distinctive Qumran pesharim.
"'Angels at Qumran' finds common elements between the two bodies of literature that suggest that the Qumran community was interested in 1 Enoch for its grounding in Jewish monotheism as well as the ideas and literature of the Hebrew Scriptures, for the 'sect mentality' evident in both groups of literature, for the eschatological anticipation of God's judgment and blessing, and for the solar calendar found in the Astronomical Book of Enoch and used in the Qumran community."

"It is difficult to imagine how the members of the Qumran sect could have read of the sins of the angels in 1 Enoch without making the connection with their own polemic against the priesthood."
     - David W. Suter, Ioudaios Review, Vol. 3.019, July 1993

Enoch's description of the punishment prepared for the fallen angels has clear parallels with the chaotic void in the Necronomicon.

"...The Book of Enoch has always been of great significance to Freemasons, and...certain rituals dating back to long before Bruce's time [1730-1794] identified Enoch himself with Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom."
     - Graham Hancock, The Sign and the Seal

(2) Enoch's Journey to Heaven

"Written both as a personal testament and as a historic review, the Ethiopic Book of Enoch, whose earliest title was probably The Words of Enoch, describes his journey to Heaven as well as to the four corners of Earth."
     - Zecharia Sitchin, The Stairway to Heaven

The Venerable Bede, an eighth-century English theologian and historian, wrote that "the seven heavens are (1) the Air, (2) the Ether, (3) Olympus, (4) the Element of Fire, (5) the Firmament, (6) the Angelical Region, and (7) the Realm of the Trinity.""
     - Richard L. Thompson, Alien Identities - Ancient Insights into Modern UFO Phenomena

The First Heaven
As recounted in 2 Enoch (The Book of the Secrets of Enoch), "this quite extraordinary tale begins with the unexpected arrival of the two 'very tall' men, with radiant faces and raiments that have 'the appearance of feathers', who enter Enoch's home and demand that he go with them. Having made his departure, the righteous patriarch is then taken up on to the wings of these two 'men' who carry him off to heaven."
     - Andrew Collins, From the Ashes of Angels - The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race (1996) pp. 152-153

"It seems that when the prophet Enoch was 'taken up', he saw the air and then the ether. Then he reached the first heaven, where 'two hundred angels rule the stars'..."
     - Richard L. Thompson, Alien Identities - Ancient Insights into Modern UFO Phenomena

"On approaching the paradisical realm, Enoch is allowed to rest temporarily on a moving cloud, and here he gazes out over 'the treasures of the snow and ice' and espies 'the angels who guard their terrible store-places'. Also set out before him is 'a very great sea, greater than the earthly sea'."
     - Andrew Collins, From the Ashes of Angels - The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race (1996) pp. 152-153

The Second Heaven
"Moving on to the Second Heaven, Enoch is abhorred to find angelic prisoners 'suspended', awaiting some form of eternal punishment. This made me recall the inhumane manner in which Shemyaza, the leader of the two hundred rebel Watchers, had been suspended upside down for his crimes against humanity. Those angels who guarded these poor, wretched souls are themselves 'gloomy in appearance, more than the darkness of the earth'. Seeing the mortal, the shackled prisoners cry out for the patriarch to pray for them, to which he responds: 'Who am I, a mortal man, that I should pray for angels?'"
     - Andrew Collins, From the Ashes of Angels - The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race (1996) p. 153

The Third Heaven
"In the third heaven, he saw the Tree of Life, with four streams, of honey, milk, oil, and wine, flowing from its roots. The Place of the Righteous is in this heaven and the Terrible Place where the wicked are tortured. There was also the 'place on which God rests when he comes into Paradise'."
     - Richard L. Thompson, Alien Identities - Ancient Insights into Modern UFO Phenomena

It was "a place such as has never been known for the goodliness of its appearance. And I saw all the trees of beautiful colors and their fruits ripe and fragrant, and all kinds of food which they produced, springing up with delightful fragrance. And in the midst (there is) the tree of life, in that place, on which God rests, when He comes into Paradise. And this tree cannot be described for its excellence and sweet odor. And it is beautiful more than any created thing."
     - 2 Enoch

"The Garden of Eden appears to have more in common with an Israeli kibbutz, or with the gardens of a Christian monastery, than with an ethereal kingdom peopled by angelic hosts. Moreover, the reference to the Tree of Life on which God 'rests, when He comes into paradise' is strangely reminiscent of the Tree of All Remedies, or the Tree of All Seeds, on which the Simurgh bird rests in Persian tradition. This heavenly tree is said to have been placed in the center of the Vourukasha Sea, which is itself located in the Airyana Vaejah, the Iranian domain of the immortals. Curiously enough, like the Garden of Eden, the Vourukasha Sea is seen as the gathering point of all water, fed by a mighty river named Harahvaiti. From this waterway come two separate rivers that flow out towards the east and west and spread throughout the whole of the land. They then return to the sea, their waters cleansed of any impurities."
     - Andrew Collins, From the Ashes of Angels - The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race (1996) p. 154

"Enoch's third heaven...seems very similar to the region known as Ilavrta-varsa, which is described in the Fifth Canto of the Bhagavata Purana. Thus, in Ilavrta-varsa there are four gigantic trees, and four rivers flow from their roots, including a river of honey. There is also a city called Brahmapuri, which is visited by Lord Brahma and which may correspond to the 'place on which God rests when he comes into Paradise'."
"According to the Fifth Canto of the Bhagavata Purana, Brahmapuri and the residences of eight prominent Devas [administrators of the Universe] are situated on the top of a mountain in Ilavrta-varsa called Meru, and therefore Mount Meru corresponds to the Greek Olympus. Thus, if Ilavrta-varsa corresponds to Enoch's third heaven, then it is also reasonable to say that this third heaven corresponds to the Greek Olympus."
     - Richard L. Thompson, Alien Identities - Ancient Insights into Modern UFO Phenomena

"I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know - God knows. And I know that this man - whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows - was caught up to Paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell."
     - 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 (the apostle Paul describing his own experience)

2 Cor 12:1ff "while it does seem to point to a heavenly ascent tradition, its connection is only very superficial as it contains no angel guide, no divine throne, no revelation {unless one counts v9), no vision of God, etc."
     - Paula Gooder (Mediators)

The Fourth Heaven
"In the fourth heaven, he saw luminaries, wondrous creatures, and the Host of the Lord."
     - Richard L. Thompson, Alien Identities - Ancient Insights into Modern UFO Phenomena

"In the Fourth Heaven Enoch enters what appears to have been another observatory, where he is able to study the 'comings and goings forth and all the rays of the light of the sun and moon'. Here he is able to measure the descent of the celestial bodies and compute their light, for he says that the sun 'has a light seven times greater than the moon'. He also realizes that there are 'four great stars' with another 8,000 stars in their charge. Here, once again, the angels' apparent interest in astronomy is reaffirmed. The study of the stars is, of course, listed among the forbidden sciences revealed to mortal kind by the rebel Watchers."
     - Andrew Collins, From the Ashes of Angels - The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race (1996) pp. 154-155

The Fifth Heaven
"...Enoch finds the two hundred Watchers who have transgressed the laws of heaven by revealing the forbidden arts and taking wives from among the Daughters of Men. For their misconduct, they have been incarcerated like lowly prisoners. As the mortal passes by they, too, call out for him to help their claim of innocence. These fallen angels are described as grigori - the Greek for Watchers. They are said to have looked 'like men', and to have borne a height 'greater than that of the giants (i.e. their Nephilim offspring)'. Enoch also recalls how 'their countenances were withered', bringing to mind the way in which the mythical Iranian kings would lose the royal farr ['glory'] if they turned their backs on the path of truth."
     - Andrew Collins, From the Ashes of Angels - The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race (1996) pp. 154-155

The Sixth Heaven
"In the Sixth Heaven Enoch encounters seven bands of angels whose faces, he says, were 'shining more than the rays of the sun. They were resplendent, and there is no difference in their countenance, or their manner, or the style of their clothing'. Like the angels in the First Heaven, these shining beings watch 'the revolution of the stars, and the changes of the moon, and the revolutions of the sun', even further evidence that the term 'Watchers' relates not to their observation of mortal kind, but to their observation of the movement of stars and their study of the cycles of time. Here the angels 'superintend the good or evil condition of the world', a reference perhaps to the study of climatology and seismology, and the way in which it affects the earth. These Watchers also 'arrange teachings, and instructions, and sweet speaking, and singing, and all kinds of glorious praise', for 'these are the archangels who are appointed over the angels'."
     - Andrew Collins, From the Ashes of Angels - The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race (1996) pp. 154-155

The Seventh Heaven
"In the seventh and final heaven Enoch witnesses whole hosts of great archangels, Cherubim, Seraphim, and all sorts of incorporeal powers that attend the throne of God. In a separate rendition of this story, the patriarch finds himself alongside a wall built of 'crystals' that is surrounded by mysterious 'tongues of fire'. Its 'groundwork' appears to be made of the same crystal-like stone, while of the building's interior, he recalls: 'Its ceiling was like the path of the stars and the lightnings ... A flaming fire surrounded the walls, and its portals blazed with fire. The temperature here also seemed contradictory, for it appeared to him 'as hot as fire and [as] cold as ice', all at the same time. There were apparently 'no delights of life therein', in other words he found no furniture or decoration, showing the apparent spareness and emptiness of this 'house'. Yet then fear overcame Enoch, who suddenly found himself trembling and quaking at the awesomeness of the strange sights around him."
"Moving quickly on to a second 'house' with a similar appearance, which 'excelled in splendor and magnificence and extent', Enoch now perceived a 'lofty throne' of crystal. Upon this were moving wheels as bright as the 'shining sun', and from beneath it appeared to come 'streams of flaming fire', so bright that he could not look upon them. And 'sat thereon' the throne was the Great Glory, whose 'raiment shone more brightly than the sun and was whiter than any snow'."
     - Andrew Collins, From the Ashes of Angels - The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race (1996) pp. 155-156

"None of the angels could enter and could behold His face by reason of, the magnificence and glory, and no flesh could behold Him. The flaming fire was round about Him, and a great fire stood before Him, and none around could draw nigh Him."
     - 2 Enoch

Note that in Zoroastrianism, fire was associated with the divine light of God (Ahura Mazda).

"There is even mention of the patriarch visiting an eighth, ninth and tenth heaven, yet this section has the look of a later interpolation hoping to emphasize to the reader that Enoch ends his life in paradise, in accord with the statements in the Book of Genesis concerning his translation to heaven."
     - Andrew Collins, From the Ashes of Angels - The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race (1996) pp. 156-157

The Eighth Heaven, called Muzaloth [signs of the zodiac/planets] was a place of the changing of the Season.
The Ninth Heaven, called Kuvachim, contained the Houses of the Signs of the Zodiac.
The last, Tenth Heaven is called Aravoth from which Enoch recognized the constellation whence came our first ancestors, the star Altair (in Aquila,) or as seen in The Book of Enoch and his translation into Heaven in a later chapter.

Click here to find out about the origins of the heavenly hierarchy.

(3) The Structure of the Universe

Heavenly Tablets

"And after that I saw all the secrets of the heavens, and how the kingdom is divided, and how the actions of men are weighed in the balance. And there I saw the mansions of the elect and the mansions of the holy, and mine eyes saw there all the sinners being driven from thence which deny the name of the Lord of Spirits, and being dragged off: and they could not abide because of the punishment which proceeds from the Lord of Spirits.
And I saw the chambers of the sun and moon, whence they proceed and whither they come again, and their glorious return, and how one is superior to the other, and their stately orbit, and how they do not leave their orbit, and they add nothing to their orbit and they take nothing from it, and they keep faith with each other, in accordance with the oath by which they are bound together."
     - 1 Enoch 41:1-2, 5b -6a

"In the Book of Enoch it was the archangel Uriel ('God is my light') who showed Enoch the secrets of the Sun (solstices and equinoxes, 'six portals' in all) and the 'laws of the Moon' (including intercalation), and the twelve constellations of the stars, 'all the workings of heaven'. And in the end of the schooling, Uriel gave Enoch - as Shamash and Adad had given Enmeduranki - 'heavenly tablets', instructing him to study them carefully and note 'every individual fact' therein. Returning to Earth, Enoch passed this knowledge to his old son, Methuselah."
     - Zecharia Sitchin, When Time Began

The knowledge granted Enoch included:

"All the workings of heaven, earth and the seas, and all the elements, their passages and goings and the thunderings of the thunder, and of the Sun and the Moon; the goings and changings of the stars; the seasons, years, days, and hours."
     - The Book of the Secrets of Enoch

"The visions obtained by the heaven journey etc. have in their contents the structure of heavens (or the throne/abode of God etc.) -- almost necessarily. But the same structure is underlying many cultic practices; first of all, the temple (tabernacle) structures and calendar (for the calendar is always based on the presupposed structure of the Universe). So, there is a basic unity between all the three -- visions' content, temple structure, and calendar. They are always parts of the same tradition, that is, the reality they are referring to is always intermediated by this tradition."
     - Basil Lourie (CrossTalk)

"The Book of Enoch, like so many canonical books of Christians and Jews, is an allegorical and metaphorical document about the calendrical battles fought for so many years between those who insisted that holy days be calculated according to the ancient astronomy and those who insisted that holy days be calculated according to the improved mathematical understandings of solar-lunar-astral periodicities. The 'Watchers,' 'Archers,' or 'Tetramorphs,' whom Ezekiel and the early Christian astronomers expressed as Lion, Ox, Man, and Eagle, are the four 'Guardian Stars' (Regulus, Aldebaran, Fomalhaut, and Antares) which fixed the two solstices and the two equinoxes to the wheel of time, the Zodiac or Ecliptic, back when archaic astronomy first was learning (the hard way) about precession of the equinoxes."
     - Lee Perry, Jesus Silenced (private correspondence)

STAR	CONSTELLATION	MAGNITUDE	DESCRIPTION
Regulus	Leo	1.36	Latin meaning "The Little King"' reflecting a common belief that the star ruled the affairs of heaven
Aldebaran	Taurus	0.87	Arabic Al Dabaran meaning "The Follower" - the brightest member of the Hyades which follows the Pleiades across the heavens
Fomalhaut	Piscis Austrinus	1.17	Arabic Fum al Hut meaning "The Fish's Mouth"
Antares	Scorpius	1.06	Greek anti ares meaning "The Rival of Mars" due to its red color or association of Scorpius with Mars in astrology

The Astronomical Book in 1 Enoch "explains the structure of the universe by describing the course of the sun in a 364-day year and of the moon in a 354-day year. The same two years (solar and lunar) with the same numbers of days are combined and correlated in a number of the calendrical documents found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The sun and moon pass through gates at the eastern and western sides of the heavens. Other sections of the booklet speak about the stars and winds and other related topics. All of the created order is under angelic and ulitimately under divine control.".
     - James C. Vanderkam

"...When the righteous dead are mentioned in 1 Enoch or Jubilees, they seem to be destined for a blissful existence as disembodied souls, a notion so un-Jewish that it is presumed to be a Greek idea. No particular sect is identified in these works although they were used extensively at Qumran."
     - Chris King, "The Apocalyptic Tradition"

Angelic Transformation
"...The chapters of 'l Enoch'...show us that the angelic forms of dead heroes, martyrs, and patriarchs were viewed as fulfillments of the prophecies in Daniel, since Enoch quotes that terminology in describing them. The Parables of Enoch contains several references to angelic transformation. In chapter, Enoch ascends to heaven while reciting hymns and blessings as do the Merkabah mystics, where he is overcome with the splendor and glory of the throne rooms. His face changes on account of the vision, which evidently reflects the experience of the prophecy that 'those who are wise shall shine as the stars' (Dan 11:2), because 1 Enoch 62:15 states that the elect shall shine as stars and be clothed with garments of glory. The Parables of Enoch thus describes the righteous as dwelling with the angels after death: 'So there my eyes saw their dwelling places with the holy angels, and their resting places with the holy ones' (lEn 39:5). So too in the parts of 1 Enoch attested at Qumran, Enoch promises the righteous that they 'will shine like the lights of heaven' (lEn 104:2) and 'make a great joy like the angels of heaven' (104:4). Thus, it seems safe to assume that when Enoch is transformed into a 'son of man' in 1 Enoch 71 he is being rewarded with angelic status, as Daniel 12 predicts. It might also be that much later Jesus 'Christ' was viewed as similarly rewarded on account of his martyr's death."
     - Alan F. Segal, "The Risen Christ and the Angelic Mediator Figures in Light of Qumran" in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (James H. Charlesworth, Ed. - 1992), p. 306

"And it happened after this that his living name was raised up before that Son of Man and to the Lord from among those who dwell upon the earth."
     - 1 Enoch 70:1

"The journey is taken by Enoch's name, not precisely his soul, again reflecting a level of mystical speculation that predates the importation of the Platonic notion of a soul."
     - Alan F. Segal, "The Risen Christ and the Angelic Mediator Figures in Light of Qumran" in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (James H. Charlesworth, Ed. - 1992), p. 306

Metatron
"This Enoch, whose flesh was turned to flame, his veins to fire, his eye-lashes to flashes of lightning, his eye-balls to flaming torches, and whom God placed on a throne next to the throne of glory, received after this heavenly transformation the name Metatron."
     - Gershom G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941/1961) p. 67

(This description was taken from 3 Enoch 15:1b-2; para. 19.)

"...After the series of transformations Enoch undergoes, both physical and spiritual, the status accorded to him and the knowledge granted him, as well and the name, the garb and the crown, the image of Metatron becomes like that of God Himself."
     - Joseph Dan, The Ancient Jewish Mysticism (1993), p. 119

In 2 Enoch, the patriarch is made "like one of His glorious ones" (i.e., like an archangel, not YHWEH), although Metatron is never mentioned this book.

"Metatron is a Hebrew corruption of either the Greek 'metadromos,' 'he who pursues with a vengeance,' or of 'meta ton thronon', 'nearest to the Divine Throne.'"
     - Robert Graves and Raphael Patai, Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis

Sanhedrin 38b refers to Metatron "which his name is like the name of his Lord".

"The rabbis often call God's principal angel Metatron. The term 'Metatron' in rabbinic literature and Jewish mysticism is probably not a proper name but a title adapted from the Greek word metathronos, meaning 'one who stands after or behind the throne'. If so, it represents a rabbinic softening of the more normal Hellenistic term synthronos, meaning 'one who is with the throne,' sharing enthronement or acting for the properly throned authority. The rabbis would have changed the preposition from one connoting equality (syn-, 'with') to one connoting inferiority (meta-, 'after or behind') in order to reduce the heretical implications of calling God's principal helping angel his synthronos."
     - Alan F. Segal, "The Risen Christ and the Angelic Mediator Figures in Light of Qumran" in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (James H. Charlesworth, Ed. - 1992), pp. 310-311

"It is quite possible that the word Metatron was chosen on strictly symbolical grounds and represents one of the innumerable secret names which abound in the Hekhaloth texts no less than in the gnostical writings or in the magical papyri. Originally formed apparently in order to replace the name Yahoel as a vox mystica, it gradually usurped its place. It is interesting, by the way, that the spelling in the oldest quotations and manuscripts is - a fact which is usually overlooked; this would seem to suggest that the word was pronounced Meetatron rather than Metatron. As a transcription of the Greek epsilon in the word Meta, the yod in the name would appear to be quite superfluous."
     - Gershom G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941/1961) p. 70

(3) The Preexisent Messiah

Like Lights in the Heaven
"A feature of chaps. 37-71 [the Similitudes of 1 Enoch] is the frequent reference to a person who is called 'the righteous one', 'the chosen one', 'the messiah', and 'the son of man' (for this last title three different formulations are used); at the end of the section (chap. 71) Enoch is identified as that son of man who functions as the eschatological judge, a judge who reverses the fortunes of his oppressed people and of their oppressors who are termed 'the kings and the mighty'".
     - James C. Vanderkam

"At the end of the Parables of Enoch (lEn 70-71), Enoch is mystically transformed into the figure of the 'son of man' on the throne: 'My whole body mollified and my spirit transformed' (lEn 71:1). This is an extraordinarily important event, as it underlines the importance of mystic transformation between the adept and the angelic vice-regent of God, giving a plausible explanation of how the sectarians that produced the visions in Daniel expected to be transformed into stars. Indeed, it is possible to say that 1 Enoch 71 gives us the experience of an adept undergoing the astral transformation prophesied in Daniel 12:2, albeit in the name of a pseudepigraphical hero."
"Unfortunately, 1 Enoch 71 is not evidenced at Qumran and may not have been known by the Qumran covenanters, since they appear to have substituted another group of chapters in place of the Parables of Enoch, of which 1 Enoch 71 is the climax."
     - Alan F. Segal, "The Risen Christ and the Angelic Mediator Figures in Light of Qumran" in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (James H. Charlesworth, Ed. - 1992), pp. 305, 306

"Among the most important objects which Metatron describes to Rabbi Ishmael ['Midrash to Solomon's Proverbs'] is the cosmic veil or curtain before the throne, which conceals the glory of God from the host of angels. The idea of such a veil appears to be very old; references to it are to be found already in Aggadic passages from the second century. The existence of veils in the resplendent sphere of the aeons is also mentioned in a Coptic writing belonging to the gnostic school, the Pistis Sophia.' Now this cosmic curtain, as it is described in the Book of Enoch, contains the images of all things which since the day of creation have their pre-existing reality, as it were, in the heavenly sphere. All generations and all their lives and actions are woven into this curtain; he who sees it penetrates at the same time into the secret of Messianic redemption, for like the course of history, the final struggle and the deeds of the Messiah are already pre-existently real and visible."
     - Gershom G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941/1961) p. 72

The Elect One and the Lord of Spirits

""And thus the Lord commanded the kings and the mighty and the exalted, and those who dwell on the earth, and said:
'Open your eyes and lift up your horns if ye are able to recognize the
Elect One.'
And the Lord of Spirits seated him on the throne of His glory,
And the spirit of righteousness was poured out upon him,
And the word of his mouth slays all the sinners,
And all the unrighteous are destroyed from before his face.
And there shall stand up in that day all the kings and the mighty,
And the exalted and those who hold the earth,
And they shall see and recognize How he sits on the throne of his glory,
And righteousness is judged before him,
And no lying word is spoken before him."
     - 1 Enoch 62:1-3

The Similitudes fall into four parts:
"'a' speaks of 'the Elect One' who is seen by Enoch (39.6), blessed by Raphael (40.5), who sits on the seat of glory, judging (45.3) and who dwells among the righteous in a transformed earth (45.4-5.
'b' describes a Son of man to whom righteousness belongs, who will open hidden store-rooms being destined to be victorious (46.3) and who removes kings and mighty ones (46.4). He is given a name by the Lord of the Spirits - 'staff for the righteous,'light of the gentiles,' and 'hope of the heartsick' (48.2-10) he 'became the Chosen One' (5), 'revealed wisdom to the righteous' (7) and appears to be the equivalent of the Messiah.
'c' describes The Elect One (again) who sits on the throne of the Lord of the Spirits (51.3) he is a risen one (5). Mountains melt before him and peace reigns when he appears (52.6,9) and judges Azaz'el (55.4). [56.5 refers to Parthians and Medes, apparantly referring to the invasions of 115-117 C.E.] In 61.5 the Elect One is 'the First Word' who has been set on the throne of judgment by the Lord of the Spirits. He is blessed by the vigilant ones (i.e. the Watchers), the holy ones in heaven, and 'all the elect ones who dwell in the garden of life' (a return to Eden?)
'd' in 62.6ff the Son of man who was concealed from the beginning sits on a throne, is the object of pleas for mercy. The righteous and elect ones shall 'eat and rest and rise with that Son of man for ever and ever.' Sinners are shamed before him (63.11). In 69.27-29 he has been revealed to the righteous, has seated himself on his throne of glory and confessions are heard by him. In 70.1 Enoch is translated before the Son of man and Lord of the Spirits, and in 71.17 the Similitudes end with 'there shall be length of days with that Son of Man and and peace to the righteous ones.'"

"IMO the distinctions between a-c and b-d are clear. They indicate two stages of interpolation, b-d with its Son of Man imagery being inserted in an a-c complex which had already been developed around the figure of The Elect One. The Son of Man (b-d) passages reflect Christian development, while both echo imagery from enthronement rites associated with the Feast of Booths in Judaism."
     - Philip B. Lewis (CrossTalk)

Future Ideal Figures
When promoted to the status of Son of Man, Enoch embodies three Future Ideal Figures:
(1) "The one like a son of man in Daniel 7:13-14. He is called Son of Man, or that Son of Man (three different Ethiopic phrases are involved). A nice example is in 1 Enoch 46:1-3, where the echoes of the heavenly scene in Daniel are clear. Whatever we make of the original meaning of Daniel 7, that Son of Man in the Similitudes is clearly an eschatological redeemer. (Other references to the Son of Man in the Similitudes are: 48:2; 62:5, 7, 9, 14; 63:11; 69:26, 27, 29; 70:1; 71:14, 17).
     - James Davila, "Enoch as a Divine Mediator"

"...4Q491 frag. 11...shows that the Qumran community entertained the idea of the enthronement, exaltation, and even divinization of a human being. Likewise, the enthroned Son of Man in the Similitudes of Enoch 'participates in God's unique sovereignty' rather than sharing in God's 'identity.' He, like Jesus, is worshiped as God's agent, not God per se.".
     - Adela Yarbro Collins

(2) "The (Davidic) Messiah. The title Messiah (i.e., Anointed One) is applied to the eschatological redeemer twice in the Similitudes (48:10 and 52:4). The language of the first passage echoes Psalm 2:2 and thus evokes the messianic traditions drawn in the Second Temple period out of the royal psalms.

(3) "The Servant of God in Deutero-Isaiah. This mysterious figure appears in the four servant songs in Isaiah 40-55 (roughly, Isa 42:1-7; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12) and two titles of the echatological redeemer in the Similitudes allude to him: the Righteous One (1 Enoch 38:2?; 47:1, 4; 53:6), and the Elect/Chosen One (39:6; 40:5; 45:3, 4; 48:6; 49:2, 4; 51:3, 5; 52:6, 9; 53:6; 55:4; 61:5, 8, 10; 62:1). The Servant is called the Righteous One in Isa 53:11 and is called chosen in Isa 42:1. He is also a light to the nations in Isa 42:6 and 49:6 (cf. 1 Enoch 48:4) and the shame of the kings of the world before the Servant (Isa 52:15) is echoed in 1 Enoch 62:9-10. It's interesting to note that, although the grievous suffering of the Servant is central to the figure in Isaiah, these sufferings are ignored in the Similitudes."
     - James Davila, "Enoch as a Divine Mediator"

"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 the Spirits."
     - 1 Enoch 48:4

The Messiah/Son of Man "first appears as preexistent in the apocryphal First Book of Enoch, which was originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic about 150 BC. From that period on, the concept of the Messiah who was created in the six days of Creation, or even prior to them or who was born at variously stated subsequent dates and was then hidden to await his time, became a standard feature of Jewish Messianic eschatology."
     - Raphael Patai, The Messiah Texts

"From the beginning the Son of Man was hidden,
And the Most High has preserved him
In the presence of His might,
And revealed him to the elect."
     - 1 Enoch 62:7

Other Enoch-related Sites

The Enoch Page The complete Charles translation of the Ethiopic Book of 1 Enoch plus related links Library of Ethiopian Texts, Prague Apocryphal texts including the Ethiopic Book of 1 Enoch (includes PDF download)

Hyperlinks

·Ancient Traditions of the Messiah
·The Book of Revelation
·John Dee
·The Emerald Throne
·The First Church
·Going Forth to Rule the World
·Heavenly Journeys
·H. P. Lovecraft
·Jesus - The Early Days
·Jesus in Jerusalem
·Into the Realm of the Spirit
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