We first learn of Enoch in Genesis 5 but it leaves us with questions. Hebrews 11 has the answers and Jude quotes Enoch. How did Jude come to know about the words of Enoch? They are not in the Bible. The answer, of course, is The Book of Enoch. A book which is actually quotes not only by Jude, but also James, the natural brother of Jesus.
The quote in (Jude 14-15) & (1 Enoch 1:9) is as follows:
In the seventh (generation) from Adam Enoch also prophesied these things saying: 'Behold, the Lord came with his holy myraids, to execute judgement on all, and to convict 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'
What is the book of Enoch and where did it come from?
Enoch was the grandfather of Noah [Genesis 5:19-32]. The Book of Enoch chapter 68:1...
And after that my grandfather Enoch gave me all the secrets in the book and in the parables which had been given to him, and he put them together for me in the words of the book of the parables.
This makes it possible for the Book to have survived the flood as it's not too hard to accept that Noah would have taken his Great Grandfather's writings with him onto the ark.
The Book of Enoch was extant centuries before the birth of Christ and yet it is considered by many to be more Christian in it's theology that Jewish. It was considered scripture by many early Christians. The earliest literature of the so-called 'Church Fathers' is filled with references to this mysterious book. The early second century 'Epistle of Barnabus' makes much use of the Book of Enoch. Second and Third century 'Church Fathers' like Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Origin and Clement of Alexandria all make use of The Book of Enoch. Tertullian (160-230 C.E) even called the Book of Enoch 'Holy Scripture'. The Ethiopic Church even added The Book of Enoch to its official canon. It was widely known and read during the first three centuries after Christ. This and many other books became discredited after the Council of Laodicea. And being under ban of the authorities, afterwards it gradually passed out of circulation.
At about the time of the Protestant Reformation, there came to be a renewed interest in the Book of Enoch which had long since been lost to the modern world. By the late 1400's rumours began to spread that somewhere a copy of the long lost Book of Enoch might still exist. During this time, many books arose claiming to be the long lost book and were later found to be forgeries.
The return of the long lost Book of Enoch to the modern world was credited to the famous explorer James Bruce, who in 1773 returned from six years in Abyssinia with three Ethiopic copies of the lost book. In 1821 Richard Laurence published the first English translation.
The famous R.H Charles edition was published in 1912. In the following years several portions of the Greek text surfaced. Then with the discovery of cave 4 of the Dead Sea Scrolls, seven fragmentary copies of the Aramaic text were discovered.
The book of Enoch is divided into 5 basic parts, but it is The Book of Parables (37-51) which give scholars the most trouble for it is primarily concerned with a figure called 'the messiah'; 'the righteous one'; 'the chosen one' and 'the son of man'. Chapter 46:1-2 [1]
There I beheld the Ancient of days whose head was like white wool, and with him another, whose countenance resembled that of a man. His countenance was full of grace, like that of one of the holy angles. Then I inquired of one of the angels, who went with me, and who showed me every secret thing, concerning this Son of man; who he was; whence he was; and why he accompanied the Ancient of days. [2] He answered and said to me, this is the son of man, to whom righteousness belongs; with whom righteousness has dwelt; and who will reveal all the treasures of that which is concealed: for the Lord of spirits has chosen him; and his portion has surpassed all before the Lord of spirits in everlasting uprightness.
The opening verses of the Book of Enoch tell us that the revelations in this book were not meant for Enoch's generation, rather a remote generation, and of course the book would make more sense to the generation after Christ. We know that the early Church made use of the Book of Enoch, but it was then all but lost, until recent times. Perhaps this book was meant for our generation, as it is widely available today after being concealed for over a millennia.
The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect and righteous, who will be living in the day of tribulation, when all the wicked and godless are to be removed, And he took up his parable and said... Enoch a righteous man, whose eyes were opened by God, saw the vision of the Holy One in the heavens, which the angels showed me, and from them I heard everything, and from them I understood as I saw, but not for this generation, but for a remote one which is for to come.
NOTE... The Day of Tribulation refers to that last traumatic week of years at the end of the 70 weeks of Gabriel's prophesy to Daniel. Before this the Kingdom of God will be restored to Israel thus fulfilling the prophesies of Malachi and The Lord Jesus Christ.
Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers... Elijah truly shall first come and restore all things.
At that time, the children of The Kingdom can therefore expect to see a fully accurate and complete version of The Book of Enoch, restored, believed and included with all the other inspired Christian writings.
In the structure of these leaflets, reference will be made to the contents of this book in the firm belief that in the original Hebrew form it is a neglected part of God's Word.
However, the recovery of the original script is far from complete as we have seen from its description above. Due to the diligence of Mr. R.H. Charles we have an incomplete version in English using the many Greek fragments which were no doubt translated together with the rest of the Hebrew scriptures, at the time when the Septuagint translation was executed at Alexandria in the third century before this Christian era. It is rumoured that in the area of the states that occupy the Horn of Africa, there has been seen a complete scroll of the Hebrew Book of Enoch.
In 62ad the apostle Paul under God's mandate, met with the Judahites in Rome to attempt to persuade them concerning...
Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets from morning till evening, and some believed the things which were spoken and some believed not. And when they agreed not among themselves they departed. After that Paul Acts 28:23
This act of God has not yet been repealed [see Isaiah 35:4-5] and beacuse of it we cannot expect any Spiritual discernment of this Hebrew book to be contributed by the Judahites today. Mr. R H Charles' comment upon this situation is as follows:
I cannot help expressing here my deep regret that Jewish scholars are still so backward in recognizing the value of this literature of their own history. Apocalyptic is the true child of Prophecy, and became its true representative to the Jews from the unhappy moment that the Law won an absolute autocracy in Judaism, and made the utterance of God-sent prophetic men impossible except through the medium of Pseudoepigraphs, some of which, like Daniel, gained an entrance despite the Law into the OT Canon. It is true that eminent Jewish scholars in America and elsewhere have in part recognized the value of Apocalyptic literature, but, as a whole. Orthodox Judaism still confesses and still champions the one-sided Judaism which came into being after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., a Judaism lopped in the main of this spiritual and prophetic side and given over all but wholly to a legalistic conception of religion. It is not strange that since that disastrous period Judaism became, to a great extent, a barren faith, and lost its leadership in the spiritual things of the world.
The Dream Visions of Enoch
In the later part of the book, Enoch records three apocalyptic dreams:
First Dream-Vision on the Deluge[Enoch 83:1 to 84:6]
Second Dream-Vision The history of the world to the founding of The Messianic Kingdom [Enoch 85:1 to 90:42]
Third Dream-Vision The Apocalypse of Weeks [Enoch 93:1 to 93:11 and 91:12-17]