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The Gnostics and Their Remains

By Charles William King

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The Book of Enoch

This most ancient (as it professes) of the Hebrew Scriptures being so frequently referred to as the highest authority by the Æon Pistis-Sophia, a brief summary of its doctrine seems to form the necessary complement to the preceding section. The Book of Enoch, though often quoted by the Fathers, had been lost ever since the eighth century (with the exception of a few chapters of a Greek version preserved by Georgius Syncellus), until Bruce brought back three copies of it from Abyssinia. In the canon of that Church it takes its place in the Old Testament immediately before the Book of Job. *

This book is divided into ninety chapters, and begins with the preface: "In the Name of God, the merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and of great mercy, and holiness. This Book is the Book of Enoch the prophet. May blessing and help be with him who loves Him, for ever and ever. Amen. Chapter I. This word is the blessing of Enoch with which he blessed the chosen and the righteous that wore of old. And Enoch lifted up his voice and spoke, a holy man of God, while his eyes were open, and he saw a holy vision in the heavens, which the angels revealed to him. And I heard from them everything, and I understood what I saw." After this follows the history of the angels, of their having descended from heaven, and produced giants with the daughters of men; of their having instructed them in the arts of war, and peace, and luxury. The names of the leading angels are mentioned, which appear to be of Hebrew origin, but corrupted by Greek pronunciation. The resolution of God to destroy these is then revealed to Enoch. These topics occupy about eighteen chapters. From the eighteenth to the fiftieth chapter Enoch is led by the angels Uriel and Raphael through a series of visions not much connected with the preceding. He saw the Burning Valley of the fallen angels, the Paradise of the saints, the utmost ends of the earth, the treasuries of the thunder and lightning, winds, rain, dew, and the angels who presided over these. He was led into the place of the General Judgment, saw the Ancient of Days on his throne, and all the kings of the earth before him. At the fifty-second chapter, Noah is said to have been alarmed at the enormous wickedness of mankind, and, fearing vengeance, to have implored the advice of his great-grandfather. Enoch told him that a flood of water should destroy the whole race of man, and a flood of fire punish the angels whom the deluge could not affect. In Chapter LIX. the subject of the angels is resumed, Semeiza, Artukaru, Arimeon, Kakabael, Tusael, Ramiel, Damdal, and others to the number of twenty, appear at the head of the fallen spirits, and give fresh instances of their rebellious dispositions. At Chapter LXII. Enoch gives his son Methuselah a long account of the sun, moon, stars, the year, the months, the winds, and the like physical phenomena. This takes up eight chapters, after which the Patriarch makes a recapitulation of the former pages. The remaining twenty chapters are employed on the history of the Deluge, Noah's preparations for it, and the success which attended them. The destruction of all flesh excepting his family, and the execution of divine vengeance on the angels, conclude the work.

 

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Footnotes
18:* An English translation was made by Dr. Lawrence, Bishop of Cashel, of which the third edition, with notes, was published in 1837. The best German translation is that of Dillmann, 1857. Cf. Schodde Book of Enoch, 1882.