Part 2

The third parable (lvi.-lxx.) recurs, with glowing eloquence, to the inexhaustible theme of Messianic glory, and again depicts the happy future of the righteous in contrast with the appalling misery of the wicked. It also records the supernatural control of the elements, through the action of individual angels presiding over the winds, the sea, hail, frost, dew, the lightning’s flash, and reverberating thunder. The names of the principal fallen angels are also given, among whom we recognize some of the invisible powers named in the incantations inscribed on the terra cotta cups of Hebrew-Chaldee conjuration.

Chapters lxxi. to lxxxi. contain the “book of the revolutions of the luminaries of heaven,” the sun, the moon, and the stars, controlled in their movements by the administration of angels. In commenting on this section of the Book of Enoch, Archbishop Laurence says, “This system of astronomy is precisely that of an untutored, but accurate observer of the heavens. He describes the eastern and western parts of heaven, where the sun and moon rise and set, as divided each into six different gates, through which those orbs of light pass at their respective periods. In the denomination of these gates he begins with that through which the sun passes at the winter solstice; and this he terms the _first_ gate. It of course answers to the sign of Capricornus; and is the southernmost point to which the sun reaches, both at rising and setting. The next gate, at which the sun arrives in its progress towards the east at rising, and towards the west at setting, and which answers to the sign of Aquarius, he terms the _second_ gate. The next, in continuation of the same course of the sun, which answers to the sign of Pisces, he terms the _third_ gate. The _fourth_ gate in his description is that which is situated due east at sun-rising, and due west at sun-setting, and which, answering to the sign of Aries, the sun enters at the vernal equinox. With this _fourth_ gate he commences his account of the sun’s annual circuit, and of the consequent change in the length of day and night at the various seasons of the year. His _fifth_ gate is now to be found in the sun’s progress northwards, and answers to the sign of Taurus. And his _sixth_ gate is situated still further north; which, answering to the sign of Gemini, concludes at the most northern point of heaven to which the sun arrives, and from which it turns at the summer solstice, again to measure back its course southwards.

“Hence it happens, that the same gates which answers to the six signs alluded to in the sun’s passage from the winter to the summer solstice, necessarily also answer to the remaining six of the twelve signs of the Zodiac in its passage back again.

“The turning of the sun both at the winter and summer solstices, the first at the most southern, the last at the most northern point of its progress, must have always struck the eye of those who contemplated the variety as well as the splendour of its daily appearance. The astronomy of the apocryphal Enoch was perhaps formed in this respect upon the same principles as the astronomy of Homer, who places the situation of the island Συρίη under the _turning of the sun_, ὅθι τροπαὶ ἠελίοιο (Odyss. lib. xv. 404).”

Chapters lxxxiii. to lxxxix. contain a vision of Enoch giving an allegorical forecast of the history of the world up to the kingdom of the Messiah.

Chapter xcii. records a series of prophecies extending from Enoch’s own time to about one thousand years beyond the present generation. In the system of chronology adopted, a day stands for hundred, and a week for seven hundred years. Reference is made to the deluge, the call of Abraham, the Mosaic dispensation, the building and the destruction of the Temple of Solomon—events which preceded the date at which the Book of Enoch was probably written: but when the author, in his character of a divinely inspired seer, extends his vision beyond the horizon of his own age, he discloses the vanity of his predictive pretensions, through prophecies which remain unfulfilled. If, however, the Book of Enoch had reached us through the Western, as well as the Ethiopic Canon, apologetic theologians would doubtless affirm that centuries are but trifles in prophetic time; and that the predictions of the great antediluvian prophet shall, sooner or later, attain miraculous fulfilment.

Chapters xciii. to civ. contain the eloquent exhortations of Enoch, addressed to his children, in which he follows Buddha in commending the “Paths of Righteousness,” and anticipates Jesus in pronouncing the doom of sinners and the joys of saints, and gives utterance to the most emphatic assurance of immortality which has ever flowed from human lips: “Fear not, ye souls of the righteous, but wait with patient hope for the day of your death in righteousness. Grieve not because your souls descend in trouble and sorrow to the receptacle of the dead; for great joy shall be yours, like that of the angels in heaven. And when you die, sinners say concerning you, ‘As we die the righteous die. What profit have they in their works? Behold, like us, they expire in sorrow and in darkness. What advantage have they over us? Henceforward are we equal; for behold they are dead, and never will they again perceive the light.’ But now I swear to you, ye righteous ... that I comprehend this mystery; that I have read the tablet of heaven, have seen the writing of the holy ones, and have discovered what is written and impressed on it concerning you. I have seen that all goodness, joy, and glory have been prepared for you.... The spirits of you who die in righteousness shall exist and rejoice; and their remembrance shall be before the face of the Mighty One from generation to generation.”[11] How profound the impression necessarily produced on the Semitic imagination by this impassioned language, uttered in an age of faith in inspired dreams and celestial visions by a supposed visitant of the unseen world, who had conversed with angels in the presence of the Lord of spirits!

The final chapter of the Book of Enoch records the birth of Noah, and the further prophecies of Enoch, addressed to Methuselah on the subject of the birth of Noah and the future deluge.

In attestation of the relationship between the Book of Enoch and Christianity, we now collate its language and ideas with parallel passages in New Testament scripture.

Transcriber’s Note:

The following readings were originally printed side-by-side, the Enoch reading to the left and the New Testament reading(s) to the right. They are transcribed in this e-book one after another, with the New Testament readings indented, so as to be readable on modern reading devices, which often cannot handle multiple columns.

En. lxiv. 4. “And a voice was heard from heaven.”

Matt. iii. 17. “And lo, a voice from heaven, saying.”

En. vi. 9. “The elect shall possess light, joy, and peace, and they shall inherit the earth.”

Matt. v. 5. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

En. l. 2, 4, 5. “He shall select the righteous and holy from among them; for the day of their salvation has approached ... and they shall become angels in heaven. Their countenances shall be bright with joy.... The earth shall rejoice; and the elect possess it.”

Luke xxi. 28. “Your redemption draweth nigh.”

Matt. xxii. 30. “In the resurrection ... they are as the angels of God in heaven.”

Matt. xiii. 43. “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

En. xciii. 7. “Those, too, who acquire gold and silver, shall justly and suddenly perish. Woe to you who are rich, for in your riches have you trusted; but from your riches you shall be removed.”

James v. 1. “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.”

Luke vi. 24. “Woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.”

En. xcvi. 6, 7, 25. “Woe unto you, sinners, who say, ‘We are rich, possess wealth, and have acquired everything which we can desire. Now then will we do whatsoever we are disposed to do; for we have amassed silver; our barns are full.’... They shall surely die suddenly.”

Luke xii. Compare the parable of the rich man whose barns were full, and who said to himself, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.”

En. cv. 26. “And I will place each of them on a throne of glory, of glory peculiarly his own.”

Matt. xix. 28. “Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

En. lxii. 11. “In his judgments he pays no respect to persons.”

Rom. ii. 11. “For there is no respect of persons with God.”

En. xxxviii. 2. “Where will the habitation of sinners be ... who have rejected the Lord of spirits. It would have been better for them, had they never been born.”

Matt. xxvi. 24. “Woe unto that man through whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would be good for that man if he had not been born.”

En. xix. 2. “So that they sacrifice to devils as to Gods.”

1 Cor. x. 20. “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God.”

En. xxii. 10, 12. (The angel Raphael addressing Enoch in the region of the dead:) “Here their souls are separated ... by a chasm.”

Luke xvi. 26 (Abraham addressing Dives from the region of the blessed:) “Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed.”

En. xxxix. 3, 4, 7. “A cloud then snatched me up ... placing me at the extremity of the heavens. There I saw another vision. I saw the habitations and couches of the saints ... with the angels ... under the wings of the Lord of spirits. All the holy and the elect sung before him, in appearance like a blaze of fire, their mouths being full of blessings, and their lips glorifying the name of the Lord of spirits.”

2 Cor. xii. “I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ ... caught up to the third heaven, ... whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell: God knoweth. How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”

Rev. xix. 1. “I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia, salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God.”

En. xlvi. 2. “This is the Son of man ... who will reveal all the treasures of that which is concealed.”

Col. ii. 3. “In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

En. ix. 3, 4. “Then they said to their Lord, the King: Thou art Lord of lords, God of gods, King of kings. The throne of thy glory is for ever and ever, and for ever and ever is thy name sanctified and glorified. Thou art blessed and glorified. Thou hast made all things; thou possessest power over all things: and all things are open and manifest before thee. Thou beholdest all things, and nothing can be concealed from thee.”

Rev. xvii. 14; xix. 16. “King of kings, and Lord of lords.”

Rev. iv. 11. “Thou art worthy O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are, and were created.”

Heb. iv. 13. “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”

En. xxiv. 11, 10. “I blessed the Lord of glory, the everlasting King, because He has prepared this tree for the saints, formed it, and declared that he would give it to them.... The sweet odour shall enter into their bones; and they shall live a long life on the earth, as thy forefathers have lived; neither in their days shall sorrow, distress, and punishment afflict them.”

Rev. xxii. 2. “On either side of the river was a tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

Rev. ii. 7. “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”

Rev. xxii. 14. “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life.”

En. lxxxv. 2. “And behold a single star fell from heaven.”

Rev. ix. 1. “I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth.”

En. lx. 13. “All the angels of power.”

2 Thess. i. “The angels of His power.”

En. x. 15, 16. “To Michael also, the Lord said, Go and announce his crime to Samyaza and to the others who are with him who have been associated with women.... Bind them for seventy generations underneath the earth, even to the day of judgment, and of consummation, until the judgment, which shall last for ever, be completed. Then shall they be taken away into the lowest depths of the fire in torments, and in confinement shall they be shut up for ever.”

Jude 6. “The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day.”

2 Pet. ii. 4. “God spared not the angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.”

Rev. xx. 10. “The devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, ... and shall be tormented day and night for ever.”

En. xxi. 56. “I beheld columns of fire struggling together to the end of the abyss, and deep was their descent. But neither its measurement nor magnitude was I able to discover.... Uriel, one of the holy angels ... said, This is the prison of the angels, and here are they kept for ever.”

Rev. xx. 1-3. “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit (abyss) and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the devil and ... cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut it, and sealed it over him.”

En. lxxix. “In the days of sinners the years shall be shortened, ... and every thing done on earth shall be subverted and disappear in its season.... In those days the fruits of the earth shall not flourish in their season, ... heaven shall stand still. The moon shall change its laws, and not be seen at its proper period; ... and all the classes of the stars shall be shut up against sinners.”

En. lxi. 9. “And trouble shall seize them when they shall behold this Son of woman sitting upon the throne of his glory.”

Matt. xxiv. 7, 21, 22, 29, 30. “There shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places ... great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.... Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven.... Then shall the tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.”

En. xlvii. 3. “He sat upon the throne of his glory, while the book of the living was opened in his presence, and while all the powers which were above the heavens stood around and before him.”

En. l. “In those days shall the earth deliver up from her womb, and hell deliver up from hers, that which it has received, and destruction shall restore that which it owes. He shall select the righteous and holy from among them.”

En. liv. “In those days shall the mouth of hell be opened into which they shall be immerged; hell shall destroy and swallow up sinners from the face of the elect.”

Rev. xx. 11-13, 15. “I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, ... and I saw the dead, small and great, standing before the throne; and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things what were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them.... And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

En. xl. 1. “After this I beheld thousands of thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand, and an infinite number of people, standing before the Lord of spirits.”

Rev. v. 11. “I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, ... and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.”

En. xlv. 3. “In that day shall the Elect One sit upon a throne of glory, and shall choose their conditions and countless habitations.”

Matt. xxv. 31, 32. “Then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another.”

John xiv. 2. “In my father’s house are many habitations.”

En. xlv. 4. “In that day I will cause my Elect One to dwell in the midst of them. I will change the face of the heaven: I will bless it and illuminate it for ever. I will also change the face of the earth: I will bless it, and cause those whom I have chosen to dwell upon it.”

Rev. vii. 15. “He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.”

2 Peter iii. 13. “Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”

En. xcii. 17. “The former heaven shall depart and pass away, a new heaven shall appear.”

Rev. xxii. 1. “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.”

En. lxi. 4-9. “The word of his mouth shall destroy all sinners, and all the ungodly who shall perish at his presence.... Trouble shall come upon them, as upon a woman in travail. One portion of them shall look upon another; they shall be astonished, and shall abase their countenances; and trouble shall seize them, when they shall behold this Son of woman sitting upon the throne of His glory.”

Matt. xxv. 31. “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.”

2 Thess. i. 9. “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.”

1 Thess. v. 3. “Then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.”

2 Thess. ii. 8. “That wicked whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his mouth.”

En. lxvi. 5-8. “I beheld that valley in which ... arose a strong smell of sulphur which became mixed with the waters; and the valley of the angels, who had been guilty of seduction, burned underneath its soil. Through that valley also rivers of fire were flowing, to which the angels shall be condemned, who seduced the inhabitants of the earth.”

Matt. xiii. 42. “And shall cast them into a furnace of fire.”

Matt. xxv. 41. “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”

Rev. xx. 10. “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.”

En. civ. “Now will I point out a mystery. Many sinners shall turn and transgress against the word of uprightness. They shall speak evil things; they shall utter falsehood.”

1 Tim. iv. 12. “The Spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, ... through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies.”

En. xlviii. 1-7. “In that place I beheld a fountain of righteousness which never failed, encircled by many springs of wisdom. Of these all the thirsty drank, and were filled with wisdom, having their habitation with the righteous, the elect, and the holy.”

John iv. 14. “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst: but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Rev. xxi. 6. “I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.”

En. xlviii. “He has preserved the lot of the righteous, because they have hated and rejected this world of iniquity, and have detested all its works and ways in the name of the Lord of spirits.”

Gal. i. 4. “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.”

1 John ii. 15. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.”

En. ii. xxvi. 2. “Behold, he comes with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon them, and destroy the wicked, and reprove all the carnal for everything which the sinful and ungodly have done and committed against him ... [who utter with their mouths unbecoming language against God, and speak harsh things of his glory].”

Jude 14, 15. “Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.’”

The bracketed words, in the last quotation from the Book of Enoch, establish its complete identity with the parallel passage in the Epistle of Jude—an identity of marvellous clearness when we consider that the original version reaches us through translations and retranslations from Aramæan, Greek, and Ethiopic, and now assumes the modern form of Anglo-Saxon. Archbishop Laurence, although convinced that the apostle cited the Greek version of the extant Ethiopic manuscripts, was not aware that the last sentence of his quotation is present in the text. We have discovered it in chapter xxvi. 2 of the Book of Enoch; and in thus perfecting the parallelism between prophet and apostle, have placed beyond controversy that, in the eyes of the author of an Epistle accepted as Divine revelation, the Book of Enoch was the inspired production of an antediluvian patriarch.

The attention of theologians has been concentrated on the passage in the Epistle of Jude because the author specifically names the prophet; but the cumulative coincidence of language and ideas in Enoch and the authors of New Testament Scripture, as disclosed in the parallel passages which we have collated, clearly indicates that the work of the Semitic Milton was the inexhaustible source from which Evangelists and Apostles, or the men who wrote in their names, borrowed their conceptions of the resurrection, judgment, immortality, perdition, and of the universal reign of righteousness under the eternal dominion of the Son of man. This evangelical plagiarism culminates in the Revelation of John, which adapts the visions of Enoch to Christianity with modifications in which we miss the sublime simplicity of the great master of apocalyptic prediction, who prophesied in the name of the antediluvian patriarch.

It is important to observe that it was not the practice of early Christian writers to name the authors whose language and ideas they borrowed. When we therefore detect the teaching and diction of Enoch in Gospels and Epistles, our conclusions are analogous to those of the orthodox theologians who identify passages of Scripture in the pages of the ante-Nicene Fathers, although frequently cited from unnamed sources, with an obscurity of expression more dubious in attestation of their origin, than the remarkable clearness with which the language of Enoch may be recognized in the New Testament. Biblical analysts may question obscure traces of evangelical diction in apostolic Fathers; but what candid and impartial inquirer can doubt the Enochian origin of the “Son of man sitting upon the throne of his glory”—the “new heaven” and the “new earth;” the “many habitations” of the elect, and “the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels”?