There is one book in the whole history of mankind that has answers to every question you could ever ask about the origin of the universe, and because of those answers, this book was banned and then lost for more than 2,000 years.
The Book of Enoch remains one of the most controversial books in the whole of mankind. It makes books like “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka or “The Satanic Verses” by Salman Rushdie look like child’s play.
We first learn of Enoch in Genesis 5, and all we know is that he pleased God so much that he didn’t die; he was given an all-expense-paid trip to heaven. But this single act left us with more questions than answers. Who was this man who was so righteous that God had to keep death away from him, a special, mysterious character that no one knew about?
Why Was The Book of Enoch Removed From The Bible?
Church fathers from the 2nd and 3rd centuries, such as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Origen, and Clement of Alexandria, all mentioned the Book of Enoch. The Epistle of Barnabas from the early 2nd Century made use of the Book of Enoch a lot. The ancient Roman philosopher Tertullian even called the Book of Enoch “Holy Scripture.”
For the first 300 years after Christ, a lot of people knew about and read the Book of Enoch. It was as popular as reading the Harry Potter series, up until the Council of Laodicea deemed it wrong and controversial.
As a result, the Book of Enoch lost its credibility and was banned, which is still in effect today. Your Bible doesn’t have the Book of Enoch; that’s how effective the ban was. With the ban, the public stopped using the book, and slowly and slowly, the book got lost in the seas of time and was hardly spoken of until the 1400s.
An interest in the Book of Enoch resurrected around the time of the Protestant Reformation. Somewhere by the late 1400s, whispers started to spread that the long-lost Book of Enoch might still exist, but also some people banked on people’s hunger for the truth and released forgeries of many books that said they were the long-lost Book of Enoch, until a Scottish Explorer by the name of James Bruce found the original Book of Enoch in Ethiopia. He found the old manuscript in the holy collection of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
Luckily, the church preserved this text despite it not being part of the Canon of the Bible. The text James Bruce found is written in Ge’ez, which is an old Semitic language that the people of Ethiopia speak. It is believed to have been written between the 3rd and the 1st centuries BC. The text James found consists of five parts, and each shows a different aspect of Enoch’s life, such as his encounters with the Watchers, his trips to heaven, and the End of the World Visions he had.
James Bruce came back with three copies of the Lost Book of Enoch, originally written in Ethiopian. Richard Laurence wrote and released the first English translation in 1821. Then, in 1912, we saw the release of the famous R.H. Charles version. 28 years later, other versions of the book were found in a cave popularly known as Cave 4, and with it came more stories.
The Book of Enoch might have been the first written account by humans and could also have been the inspiration for the Book of Genesis and even the Bible, both the New and Old Testaments; that is how old it is. Some Apostles of the Bible have been said to quote Enoch when preaching. The one famous direct quote in the New Testament is by Jude.
Jude 1:14-15 quotes Enoch 1:9: “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.'” So that means the author Jude knew Enoch and respected the verse enough to quote it.
Another comparison is between Genesis 6:1 and 1 Enoch 6:1: “And it came about that humanity began to multiply upon the face of the Earth, and daughters were born to them, and the angels saw that the daughters of humanity were good to behold, and they took for themselves women from whomever they chose.”
And: “And it came to pass when the sons of men had increased, that in those days there were born to them fair and beautiful daughters, and the angels, the sons of Heaven, saw them and desired them. And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us choose for ourselves wives from the children of men and let us beget for ourselves children.'”
The Secrets of the Book of Enoch
Some people believe the Book of Enoch revealed a lot of secrets that have been kept, and still kept secret, for centuries. The book goes into a lot of detail about many of the events that were summarized in Genesis 1:6. It has Enoch’s tours of hidden and secret places on Earth and in heaven, such as Sheol (the Jewish afterlife), the abyss, the holy mountains, the 10 Heavens, the Gates of Heaven, and the homes of the Angels. The Book of Enoch is so profound that it is said to record Mankind’s first encounter with aliens.
I am not kidding. The second Book of Enoch talks about Enoch’s encounter with beings that were not human; they are simply known as the Watchers. These beings are said to have come down from the sky and interacted with humans.
While I was alone in my house, “two men of enormous stature came before me; their faces shining like the sun, their clothes and voices beautiful,” was Enoch’s description of the Watchers. Researchers like Erich von Däniken, a Swiss author of several books that make claims about extraterrestrial influences on early human culture, believe these beings described by Enoch could be extraterrestrial, a.k.a. aliens.
Another interesting aspect of Enoch’s description is the means of transportation the Watchers used. The Watchers are described as riding “Chariots of Fire” with wheels that spin so fast that they look like they are on fire. The sound of the Chariots is described as “Thunder,” and they move at incredible speed.
These descriptions sound a lot like current accounts of UFOs. A lot of people have given accounts of seeing strange flying machines that move very fast and make noise like thunder, just as described by Enoch. These people are not Christians or strong Believers, and even if they were, 60% of Christians are unaware that the Book of Enoch even exists, so the accounts are pretty trustworthy.
In such, the first record of aliens visiting our planet comes from the Sumerians, and they sound exactly like what Enoch described. The Sumerians were an old people who lived in Mesopotamia. They were the first people to write down their language, and some people think they were also the first people to study the stars.
Mythology among the Sumerians says that “Gods,” who were also called “alien beings,” came down from heaven or the sky and taught them about many different subjects, which is similar to what was described in the book of Enoch.
That would also explain how different huge buildings built by our ancestors in different parts of the world were perfectly lined up with the Stars. The alien beings were called “Anunnaki” by the Sumerians. Enoch’s descriptions and Sumerian texts of their encounter described the aliens or “The Watcher” as beings “From Another World,” huge creatures, and were called “luminous beings.”
In such, the ancient Egyptian Chronicle “King” actually says that Enoch helped build the Great Pyramids. This means that the book of Enoch’s explanation for the knowledge the Watchers shared with humans could have come from a contact or connection between them and a very Advanced alien civilization, just like the Sumerians thought.
These beings were also said to have taught Humanity a lot of things, from weaponry to astrology, enchantments, constellations, knowledge of the clouds, the signs of the Earth, the signs of the sun, and the course of the Moon.
These Watchers were responsible for the advancement of humanity. Now you might say, “What’s wrong with that?” One word: Hiroshima, or the present war between Israel and Palestine. Imagine you give a Ferrari to a kid; he is going to wreck it and be very hurt badly. Humanity is the kid in this scenario. People began to abuse their information, which resulted in corruption and pride.
Now, while some people still believe Enoch met aliens, most biblical Scholars, or anyone with a Bible, believe what Enoch met were Angels. These Watchers were Angels who had just one job, and it was to watch over humans, probably why they were called the Watchers.
There was to be no sort of interaction with humans whatsoever, and that is where they failed and disobeyed God. The Watchers not only interacted with Humanity, but they also left heaven to come down to earth to fulfill their lust for women.
At the persuasion of their leader Semjaza, they slept and married the women of Earth and gave birth to children called Nephilim. These children were half angel, half human giants, a monstrosity. Nephilim were huge beings with a lot of physical power who caused a lot of damage. All they did was plunder and eat, and when there was no more food on Earth for them to eat, they began attacking animal life and later humans.
This could be where the Greek mythology of Cyclops came from. In fact, according to the story told in the “Theogony” of the Greek epic poet Hesiod, the Cyclops were the sons of Uranus, the sky God, and Gaia, the Earth Goddess, which loosely resembles the union between Watchers (representing Uranus) and the women (representing Gaia).
The Nephilim messed up Earth’s natural order, and there was always conflict. The only option left was to hit the reset button, a.k.a. the flood. The flood was the punishment for the Nephilim; they were an Abomination and needed to be wiped out.
Their presence alone brought an influx of sin and depravity the world had never seen. The flood was the option left. There is actual evidence of giant skeletons that have been found in different parts of the world, really huge giant skulls and skeletons that were clearly not human, and just prove that at one time on Earth, there was a race of giants.
Now you might say, “It’s all really good stories,” you might be right, but what about the prophecies that came true? Aside from descriptive encounters, there were prophecies from The Book of Enoch that happened. The section known as “the book of dream Visions” talks of visions and prophecies, even from the very inception of Israel as a nation all the way to the Revolt, which happened around 634-642 BC according to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
The book of vision was written before the famous Genesis Flood, the same flood that is recorded in every culture. So, centuries before, before the events happened, and in case you are wondering, Enoch also foretold the flood: “Go to Noah and tell him in my name, ‘Hide thyself!’ and reveal to him the end that is approaching: that the whole earth will be destroyed, and a deluge is about to come upon the whole earth, and will destroy all that is on it. And now instruct him that he may escape and his seed may be preserved for all the generations of the world.”
The word “Deluge” means severe flood or massive flood, the same flood we believe to be the Younger Dryas era that happened 14,000 years ago when the Earth was submerged in water. So Enoch saw the visions of the flood and had to protect his great-grandson Noah and his Generations.
The Book of Enoch has everything to stand the test of time, but despite its solid interpretation of the events Enoch encountered, the quotation by prominent members of society at their respective timelines, and the book being used before it was banned, the book of Enoch Still Remains shrouded in both Mysteries and controversies. One of such controversy is why the book was banned and removed in the first place from the Bible.
You don’t understand, the Book of Enoch was a big deal in the past; it was read by a huge number of people in ancient times, so what was so controversial about the Book of Enoch that made the higher-ups say no to it, even to date?
Only the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox churches recognize it as a holy book. Well, there are two reasons the first reason is that most of the books of Enoch were not written by Enoch himself. Yes, you heard that right. The Book of Enoch wasn’t written by Enoch himself. The Book of Enoch is thought to have been written at different times and by different people, with the most recent parts possibly dating back to 300 BC.
I guess, so all what I have said from the beginning of this article could be nothing more than a good bedtime story. This was ghostwriting at its finest. These writings are known as “pseudepigrapha” – pseudepigrapha are ancient writings that falsely claimed to be written by a Biblical character. This kind of writing was very common in the ancient world, especially between 200 BCE and 200 CE, which is when most of the writings that make up the Book of Enoch are thought to have been written, meaning the writings took place 3 to 4,000 years after Enoch was alive.
In the case of the Book of Enoch, these writings claim that Enoch wrote them, but no actual scholar thinks that the patriarch Enoch in the Bible actually wrote the book, which means 70% of what is in the Book of Enoch could be a work of fiction, like “The Lord of the Rings.”
The second reason for the rejection was that the Book of Enoch was riddled with inconsistencies, which added to it being less authentic. Say what you want about the Bible, but the Bible is one accurate, thought-out book from Genesis to Revelation; every word is like a hyperlink to another verse.
The Book of Enoch didn’t have that level of accuracy. For example, from Genesis to Revelation, the one bad guy was the devil or Satan or Lucifer – different names but one being. That doesn’t mean there aren’t other demons; it’s just that they’re not named or even given as much attention as the devil was. But in the Book of Enoch, God blames a demon named Azazel for everything that is wrong with the world, which highly contradicts what the Bible said about Satan being the root of all sin and evil.
The Book of Enoch 13:5-6 also seems to say that the Fallen Angels repent of their sins, but the Bible says that Satan and his angels will go to hell and be tormented in Hell forever. These differences raised quite an eyebrow, and coupled with the fact that it was written by multiple people, made it hard for Scholars to really and truly know the intention behind the writings.
One thing is certain about the Book of Enoch: it certainly helped us understand ancient history. If you read The Book of Enoch and some other ancient manuscripts based on their mythology, you start to see similarities, and it makes you wonder if these stories are not just stories but actual events told by different people.
There are connections from Enoch that lead to Greek mythology, with the belief that the Greek gods, Egyptian gods, and the gods of so many cultures were fallen angels. We all know the story of Zeus and his lust for women; that is a lot of coincidence if you ask us.
The only downside of the Book of Enoch is that because it was written by various people, it is open to so many interpretations and theories that can be misleading. It’s important to approach this book with a discerning mind. One thing is certain, whether it’s a work of fiction or not, the Book of Enoch is very important. Anyone who wants to know more about our universe should read the book. It makes you understand and appreciate how connected we are as a species, be it true or false.
References:
- The Book of Enoch (R.H. Charles Translation, 1912)
- “The Book of Enoch” – Introduction from The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (R.H. Charles, 1913)
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