by
William Blake, 1807 Three extensive
Apocrypha are attributed to Enoch: •
The Book of Enoch (aka 1 Enoch), composed in
Hebrew or
Aramaic and preserved in
Ge'ez, first brought to Europe by
James Bruce from Ethiopia and translated into English by August Dillmann and Reverent Schoode – recognized by the
Orthodox Tewahedo churches and usually dated between the third century BC and the first century AD. •
2 Enoch (aka Book of the Secrets of Enoch), preserved in
Old Church Slavonic, and first translated in English by William Morfill – usually dated to the first century AD. •
3 Enoch, a Rabbinic text in Hebrew usually dated to the fifth century AD. These recount how Enoch was taken up to
Heaven and was appointed guardian of all the celestial treasures, chief of the
archangels, and the immediate attendant on the
Throne of God. He was subsequently taught all secrets and mysteries and, with all the angels at his back, fulfills of his own accord whatever comes out of the mouth of God, executing his decrees. Some esoteric literature, such as 3 Enoch, identifies Enoch as
Metatron, the angel which communicates God's word. In consequence, Enoch was seen, by this literature and the Rabbinic
kabbalah of Jewish mysticism, as the one who communicated God's revelation to Moses, and, in particular, as the dictator of the
Book of Jubilees.
In Book of Giants The Book of Giants is a Jewish
pseudepigraphal work from the third century BC and resembles the Book of Enoch. Fragments from at least six and as many as eleven copies were found among the
Dead Sea Scrolls collections.
Septuagint The third-century BC translators who produced the
Septuagint in
Koine Greek rendered the phrase "God took him" with the Greek verb
metatithemi () meaning moving from one place to another.
Sirach 44:16, from about the same period, states that "Enoch pleased God and was translated into
paradise that he may give repentance to the nations." The Greek word used here for
paradise,
paradeisos (), was derived from an ancient Persian word meaning "enclosed garden", and was used in the Septuagint to describe the garden of Eden. Later, however, the term became synonymous for heaven, as is the case here.
In Classical Rabbinism In classical Rabbinical literature, there are various views of Enoch. One view regarding Enoch that was found in the
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, which thought of Enoch as a pious man, taken to Heaven, and receiving the title of
Safra rabba (
Great scribe). After Christianity was completely separated from Judaism, this view became the prevailing rabbinical idea of Enoch's character and exaltation. According to
Rashi [from
Genesis Rabbah], "Enoch was a righteous man, but he could easily be swayed to return to do evil. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, hastened and took him away and caused him to die before his time. For this reason, Scripture changed [the wording] in [the account of] his demise and wrote, 'and he was no longer' in the world to complete his years." Among the minor
Midrashim, esoteric attributes of Enoch are expanded upon. In the
Sefer Hekalot, Rabbi Ishmael is described as having visited the
Seventh Heaven, where he met Enoch, who claims that earth had, in his time, been corrupted by the demons Shammazai, and
Azazel, and so Enoch was taken to Heaven to prove that God was not cruel. Similar traditions are recorded in Sirach. Later elaborations of this interpretation treated Enoch as having been a pious ascetic, who, called to mix with others, preached repentance, and gathered (despite the small number of people on Earth) a vast collection of disciples, to the extent that he was proclaimed king. Under his wisdom, peace is said to have reigned on earth, to the extent that he is summoned to Heaven to rule over the
sons of God. ==In Christianity==