The Book of Enoch the Prophet [Paperback]

R.H. Charles (Author), R.A. Gilbert (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 14, 2003

The Book of Enoch the Prophet is the oldest known existing mystical document and is referred to in the Hebrew Zohar, The Epistle of St. Jude, and other ancient books. Legend dates the text to antediluvian times, saved from the flood by Noah himself, while serious scholarship places its origin in the second century B.C.E, as old as ancient Sumeria and Babylon. It reveals a vision of a new age of heaven on earth that figures in esoteric and occult practices.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Weiser Books (October 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578632595
• ISBN-13: 978-1578632596
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 4.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #218,507 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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69 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Revival of fallen angel legends from c.200 BC, August 29, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Book of Enoch the Prophet (Paperback)

For those that are familiar with the Enoch literature this is a reprint of R.H. Charles shorter SPCK translation, not a facsimile of the full 1912 edition with all Charles' essays and notes. The extra pages are occupied with an introduction by R.A. Gilbert who has prefaced another half dozen similar genre reprints from the same publisher. That means this is 1 Enoch (Aramaic-Coptic Enoch), not 2 Enoch (Slavonic Enoch) or 3 Enoch (Hebrew Enoch). The 3 books, together with 'Jubilees' represent 4 very different versions of fallen angel myths. R.H. Charles' translations were ground-breaking at the time but for anyone with a serious interest in Jewish literature it is now no substitute for the scholarly translations of all 4 texts, among others, found in 'The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments (Old Testament Pseudepigraphia Vol 1) by James H. Charlesworth. Supplemented perhaps by Enochic material in the Dead Sea Scrolls (Vermes or Martinez editions).

For those that are not familiar with the Book of Enoch what we have here is a legend originating as a midrash on Genesis 6 (concerning the "sons of God and the daughters of men") in the time of the Maccabees. Although a lot of the midrashic material in the book is taken from elsewhere than Genesis. Such as the famous (or infamous) Jude 14 quote of from 1 Enoch 1:9, where Jude's quote is in turn a midrash based on Deuteronomy 33:2, i.e. words spoken by Moses and not the Biblical Enoch of whom no words are recorded. An account of the origin and growth of the Enoch myth in Second Temple period Judaism [aka "the Intertestamental Period"] is found in 'Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah: An Historical and Literary Introduction' by George W. E., Nickelsburg.

The myth's reception in both Judaism and early Christianity was mixed. The Pharisee author of Liber Antiquarum known as Pseudo-Philo, and several pre-Mishnah and pre-Talmud rabbis rejected the interpretation of Genesis 6 'sons of God' as being about the fall of angels and they were followed in this by Jesus of Nazareth who said that "angels do not marry" and equated "the sons of God" with "sons of the resurrection". But equally Josephus, also a Pharisee, and Philo seem to have accepted the basic premise of the Enoch story. The book's popularity is illustrated by the various copies found at Qumran.

Both Peter and Jude quote from 1 Enoch more than is commonly realised. Peter's description of "chains of darkness" is drawn on the angel Uriel imprisoning the 200 fallen angels in Tartarus. Likewise Jude's "Enoch the seventh from Adam" is itself a quote from 1 Enoch not Genesis. This has led many readers, including R.A. Gilbert the editor of this reprint, to assume that Peter and Jude accepted the book as scripture. Of course quoting a book only proves you accept the book if you then agree with it. Those making this assumption tend to skip over such comments as Jude saying Michael would "not even rebuke" other heavenly beings - when the central event of 1 Enoch is the complaint of Michael to God in the heavenly throne room against the 200 fallen angels which gives Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael license to imprison them. Anyway, buy a translation of Enoch, read Peter and Jude and make up your own mind about whether they consider 1 Enoch scripture or, in Peter's words, "cunningly devised fables". You might also note that all extant Greek manuscripts of Jude have "Enoch prophesied TO these men", not "ABOUT these men" as the KJV has it. Small word, big difference. After the early Christian period Enoch enjoyed a vogue in the period from Tertullian (a real Enoch enthusiast) to Origen. After which the development of a new doctrine for the origin of the Devil based on Isaiah made Enoch redundant and it was sidelined into Coptic and Slavonic Christianity. Jews largely rejected the fallen angel myth from Trypho the Jew onwards - and Enochic material was excluded from both Jewish and Christian editions of the Septuagint, the Vulgate (and hence the apocrypha of the modern Jerusalem Bible), Mishnah, and Talmud.

In the modern era Enoch has come back into fashion again, partly due to the discovery of copies in Africa and Israel, partly due to the evident appeal of a story which tells the gaudy details of heavenly beings' sexual relations with human women and the fall of the rebel angels on which the Bible is so disappointingly negative.

For those to whom this story has less inherent appeal it is also interesting - if only to show what the NT writers were competing with.

32 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The scritpure that Satan and his church didnt want you to see., January 4, 2006

By 

K. Cernik "kc" (Earth) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Book of Enoch the Prophet (Paperback)

According to the biblical narrative (Genesis 5:21-24), Enoch lived 365 years, far less than the other patriarchs in the period before the Flood. Enoch allegedly walked with God who turned him into the archangel Metatron.

He called the people back to his forefathers' religion, but only a few listened to him, while the majority turned away. According to the Talmud Selections when the people went astray, Enoch who lived a pious life in seclusion was given prophethood. He came among the people and by his sermons and speeches made the people give up the idolatory and obey the Command of God. Enoch ruled them and during his reign there was peace and justice.

Prophet Enoch and his followers left Babylon for Egypt. There he carried on his mission, calling people to what is just and fair, teaching them certain prayers and instructing them to fast on certain days and to give a portion of their wealth to the poor.
Enoch was the first to invent books and writing, much like Thoth the scribe.
The ancient Greeks declare that Enoch is the same as Mercury / Hermes Trismegistus writing the Emerald Tablets of Thoth.
Enoch 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.

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.
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 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. Only the students of the Merkabah in Babylonia possessed the key to the Enochian mystery.
The Book of Enoch is a pseudo-epigraphal work that claims to be written by a biblical character. It was not included in either the Hebrew or most Christian biblical canons, but could have been considered a sacred text by the sectarians. The original Aramaic version was lost until several Dead Sea Scroll fragments were discovered in Qumran Cave 4 - providing parts of the Aramaic original.
The Book of Enoch was first discovered in Abyssinia in the year 1773 by a Scottish explorer named James Bruce. In 1821 The Book of Enoch was translated by Richard Laurence and published in a number of successive editions, culminating in the 1883 edition.
Enoch acts as a scribe, writing up a petition on behalf of the fallen angels, or fallen ones, to be given to a higher power for ultimate judgment.
Christianity adopted some ideas from Enoch, including the Final Judgment, the concept of demons, the origins of evil and the fallen angels, and the coming of a Messiah and ultimately, a Messianic kingdom.
The Book of Enoch was removed from the Bible and banned by the early church. Copies of it were found to have survived in Ethiopia, and fragments in Greece and Italy.
Enoch is the supposed author of 366 books, collectively termed Enochian literature. The most famous writings bearing his name are the First, Second, and Third Books of Enoch, ranked among the large body of literature termed apocryphal and pseudepigraphical, meaning that they are noncanonical (not accepted into the body of recognized books of the Bible) and are-in the case of the pseudepigrapha-attributed to some person of note and written in the style of genuine biblical books. Most interesting of all the legends is the one in which Enoch was transported to heaven and there transformed into the angel Metatron. Once there, he was, with the divine flourish, made into Metatron, the angel of the face, high priest of the heavenly temple, and one of the supreme angels in all of the celestial hierarchy-not to mention the tallest of angels, with 36 wings and 265,000 eyes.

The three so-called pseudepigraphical works were allegedly written by or under the influence of the antediluvian patriarch Enoch, who was taken up to heaven by the Lord, an event described in the Book of Genesis (5:24); pseudepigraphical writings are those that are noncanonical (meaning not accepted into the body of biblical books) and were composed in a style intending to resemble or appear as authentic biblical literature, often assuming the title of some personage known to the audience. In the case of the Books of Enoch, the actual writers or compilers chose a figure who was the source of many legends and tales, the most notable being his transformation by God into the truly powerful angel Metatron. While decidedly uncanonical, the three books remain fascinating and colorful reading, as well as treasures of detail and fanciful images concerning angels.
1 ENOCH-Known also as the Ethiopic Book of Enoch from the fact that the only surviving complete manuscript of it is in Ethiopic , this is the oldest of the three Enoch books, dating to the mid-second century B.C., although it actually comprises various sections, each dated differently: "The Book of Noah"; "Similitudes"; "The Dream Visions"; "Apocalypse of the Weeks"; and "The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries." Aside from material on Gehenna and heaven and the nature of evil, the text is full of stories and accounts of angels. The writer covers the fall of angels, the names of the archangels, and the fire of the luminaries of heaven. The reader thus encounters such angelic personages as Raguel, Uriel, Gabriel, Raphael, Michael, and Saraqael.

2 ENOCH-Known also as the Slavonic Book of Enoch because the only extant version is a Slavonic translation of the Greek original text, this specific edition dates to the seventh century A. D., although it is based on a much older Jewish text of the first century. A.D. While similar in some ways to the first book of Enoch and perhaps using it as a source, the Slavonic Enoch details Enoch's journey through the seven heavens, the life of Enoch's successors, especially Methuselah, and then gives a forecast of the Great Flood that encompassed the world in later generations. There are descriptions of angels residing in the heavens.

3 ENOCH-Also called the Hebrew Apocalypse of Enoch, this is a Jewish writing dating probably to the second century A.D. It was allegedly written by the noted Rabbi Ishmael, a brilliant scholar of Palestine during the early second century A.D. He reputes to recount his journey to heaven, where he beheld the very throne of God, along with the hosts of angels. His information was granted to him by the archangel Metatron, the onetime patriarch Enoch. This work remains perhaps the single greatest compendium of angelic lore, including a comprehensive assemblage of angels, archangels, and holy creatures, such as the watchers and holy ones.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Book of Enoch The Prophet, September 9, 2009

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Book of Enoch the Prophet (Paperback)

This Book is full of mystical revelations; however, the font is so small that it strains the eyes to read.

Great knowledge, but need to be presented with more consideration for all who might invest in it.