One of the interesting things about the את Cepher scriptures is its inclusion of the Cepher Chanoch (Book of Enoch). For those who know of this book, you know that there are actually three books of Enoch. First is the Cepher Chanoch (Book of Enoch) as found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which is set forth in the Ethiopian bible and included in the את Cepher scriptures. This book is also called the First Book of Enoch, or Enoch I. There is also a Slavic Second Book of Enoch attributed to seventh century authors in the Eastern Orthodox world. Finally, there is a Third Book of Enoch which appears to be from the First Century, but more likely is a pseudepigraphal work from the 15th century which can be attributed to certain authors in Spain during that century.
Many people question whether the Book of Enoch (the Cepher Chanoch) should ever be included in an enclosed roster of scripture, as it was never canonized by the Roman church. We will discuss this issue here as we review some of the difficulties with Enoch.
The book of Enoch has not had an easy go – it became disfavored in Roman circles around the time of Pope Damasus and his conclusion of the matter regarding what would be accepted as the New Testament. The Muratorian Fragment of the fifth century gives at least initial credence to this claim. However, the New Testament itself would not be canonized until the 16th century at the Council of Trent, where the Roman Church canonized the 27 books of the New Testament, the 39 books of the Old Testament, and the 13 books of the Apocrypha (yes, these books were also canonized). The deuterocanonical texts held as canonical for the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church are:
Tobit
Judith
Baruch
Sirach
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
Wisdom
Additions to Esther, Daniel, and Baruch:
Esther:
Fulfillment of Mordecai's Dream (Esther 10:4–13)
Interpretation of Mordecai's Dream (Vulgate Esther 11)
Conspiracy of the Two Eunuchs (Vulgate Esther 12)
Letter of Aman and the Prayer of Mordecai to the Jews (Vulgate Esther 13)
The Prayer of Esther (Vulgate Esther 14)
Esther Comes into the King's Presence (Vulgate Esther 15)
Letter of King Artaxerxes (Vulgate Esther 16)
Daniel:
The Prayer of Azariah
Song of the Three Holy Children (Septuagint Daniel 3:24–90)
Susanna and the Elders (Septuagint prologue, Vulgate Daniel 13)
Bel and the Dragon (Septuagint epilogue, Vulgate Daniel 14)
Baruch:
Letter of Jeremiah (Baruch 6)
Canonical only for the Eastern Orthodox Church:
Prayer of Manasseh
1 Esdras*
2 Esdras*
Psalm 151
3 Maccabees
4 Maccabees as an appendix
*Included in the Coverdale Great Bible of 1539; the 1560 Geneva Bible, and the 1611 KJV-AV
We do not see the Book of Enoch listed here. And the Pope and other Intelligentes aetatum denounced the book thoroughly. Critics in the modern age argue vociferously against the book citing several things.
First, they claim that scholars have determined the book was written no later than around 300 BC. As we all know, these “scholars” also give us a world that is 10s of millions of years old and have wrongfully carbon-dated virtually everything in history. We know, for instance, that there is no evidence of any scripture anywhere in the world that predates the Dead Sea Scrolls (where multiple fragments of Enoch were found). Can we therefore reach the same conclusion about Genesis or Isaiah? I guess it depends upon which axe you have to grind.
Second, Enoch was not approved by church leaders who were and are the final arbiters of those writings they believe to be inspired and those they don’t. Currently, the roster is 66 books, but give it a decade or two, and we will be down to a few psalms, the gospel of Matthew, the epistles of Paul, and one chapter from Malachi concerning the tithe.
Third, it is claimed that the discussion of the Watchers, their teaching and demise, as found in the Book of Enoch is in disagreement with the canonized 66-book version of the bible, although Jude quotes directly from it, and both Peter and Paul reference this discussion in particular. It looks like religious leaders of today are correct, and Jude, Peter, and Paul were incorrect.
Fourth, there is a claim that the Jews rejected Enoch. This is true. Rabbi Yochai – the rabbi who included the claim that it was approved for a Levite to marry a three-year-old in the Talmud – called the book heretical. Apparently, he had a disagreement with the concept of unapproved marriages. However, before the usurpers created the Talmud, the writers at Qumran had already “canonized” Enoch, including more copies of Enoch and Jubilees than copies of Isaiah or even the Torah of Moshe.
Fifth, the claim is that the book was rejected by the Septuagint gatherers, since it is not included in the roster that has been formalized for modernity. However, Origen of Alexandria, who first compiled the Septuagint in his Hexapla, had this to say concerning Enoch:
"'I have walked on even to imperfection;’ which expression I consider may be understood in a similar manner, viz., that the mind of the prophet proceeded in its scrutiny and investigation of visible things, until arrived at that first beginning in which it beheld imperfect matter existing without ‘qualities.’ For it is written in the same book of Enoch, ‘I beheld the whole of matter;’ which is so understood as if he had said: ‘I have clearly seen all the divisions of matter which are broken up from one into each individual species either of men, or animals, or of the sky, or of the sun, or of all other things in this world.’”
In fact, the Epistle of Barnabas, young Origen, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian all considered 1 Enoch to be Scripture. Tertullian wrote in Concerning The Genuineness Of The Prophecy Of Enoch:
“I am aware that the Scripture of Enoch [Chanoch], which has assigned this order (of action) to angels, is not received by some, because it is not admitted into the Jewish canon either...”
“But since Enoch in the same Scripture has preached likewise concerning the Lord [Mashiach], nothing at all must be rejected by us which pertains to us; and we read that 'every Scripture suitable for edification is divinely inspired.' . . . To these considerations is added the fact that Enoch possesses a testimony in the Apostle Jude.” [Tertullian, On the Apparel of Women, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Fathers of the 3rd Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen, Parts First and Second, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, trans. S. Thelwall, vol. 4 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885).
Sixth, the claim is made that the Christian church rejected Enoch as “uninspired.” I always find this claim interesting, since we have never seen a roster of those things constituting an inspired work other than “that’s the list we came up with.” For instance, what criteria was used to admit Philemon as an inspired work? Nonetheless, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church consider the work inspired and have always included it in their scriptures – which by the way preceded Origen’s Hexapla, and the Greek New Testament. And, by the way, the claim that the Christian church always rejected Enoch is an interesting claim since it only appeared in the Ethiopian language until it was translated into English for the first time in the 19th century, and that any such rejection occurred before multiple copies were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls proving early acceptance as doctrine. This is only further buttressed by the 56 references in the New Testament and the direct quote from Jude. Some say Jude quoting from Enoch is insufficient to warrant the claim that the book is inspired. I will await the criteria for what constitutes an inspired book, and we will see how that fits with 1 Chronicles, Philemon, Nehemiah, Job, etc.
Finally, the claim is made that the New Testament inspired Enoch, and not vice versa is made to denounce the book. Atheists have readily made this claim also about the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and other prophets, claiming their prophecies were after the fact and represented constructs of latter writers. Who is to know, given that there is not a single original writing of any of the books accepted as Canon inside the Christian faith. Not one book of the New Testament was found at Qumran, yet five sets of fragments of the Book of Enoch were found there. Hmmm. One wonders if someone is making something up as they go.
What does it mean to canonize a writing? What is canonicity?
A canon is a Roman rule. It is not a Jewish rule. It is not a Greek rule. It is not a German rule. It is not a Protestant rule. It is a Roman rule. We would call a canon a statute, or a code, but in the Roman Church they were called canons. So, if a book was canonized, it was adopted by rule – Roman rule. If Rome was not the authority making the rule, then regardless of the group or entity designating the work (or person) by their rule, the work was never canonized until it was adopted by Roman rule or canon.
If usage were the rule, then we know that when it comes to the Book of Enoch, it was canonized by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, by the Eritrean Orthodox Church, and by the Qumran community, and was so widely accepted that it was adopted by the disciples in their own writings, even quoting from it directly.
The bottom line is that whether a writing is “inspired” was determined by men who placed themselves in positions of authority – the same positions of authority that would allow them to burn hundreds of thousands of people at the stake, to torture and destroy millions of persons in inquisitions that were without such canons or other elements of meted justice, and to otherwise wage war with others who may have come into the slightest disagreement with someone donned in a scarlet, purple, or white dress, and whose propensity was to wear the fish head hat of Dagon – the same group who imposed non-marriage rites on its priests (celibacy implies no sex which of course was never the case), who insisted on their priests being called “father” when such a title is expressly verboten in the “inspired” text, and whose delicacies of interpretation had no difficulty with including the fertility goddess Easter, the sun god Mithras whose day of worship was Sunday (the day of the sun), and of course the fish god Dagon who would require the consumption of fish on Fridays.
There has always been disagreement in the dogmas of canonicity. The Eastern Orthodox Church also adopted texts which were not accepted by Rome, and further, adopted an order not accepted by Rome, even of the New Testament. The Eastern Church refused to accept the Gregorian Calendar even through the 19th century, and the Syriac tradition, the Coptic tradition, the Ethiopian tradition, and the Eritrean tradition were also at odds with Rome. Suffice it to say that if your collar and leash belong to Rome, your canonicity does as well.
Yet it is alarming that the modern Christian church accepts only 66 books when Rome clearly canonized 79. Doesn’t your scripture say you shall not add to nor take from? Who took those books away, all of which were found in the foundational English bibles? Do you know or care? Or is your agenda simply to ensure that Enoch is never read because your theology has concluded something other than that the fallen watchers came to earth and bred giants? Why is there no criticism of those who redacted the KJV-AV?
It just might be worth your time to research the Westminster Confession and discover exactly why these books were deleted, and who insisted on their deletion. You might be surprised to find yourself aligned with free masons and illuminati about which you know little. There is much more to this equation than meets the eye.
For further reading ...
What is Canonization?
Canonicity: The Septuagint – Part 1
Canonicity: The Ethiopic Bible – Part 2
Canonicity: The Synod of Jamnia – Part 3
Canonicity: The Council of Nicea – Part 4
Canonicity: The Council of Laodicea – Part 5
Qs and As on the Cepher Chanoch (Book of Enoch)
The Cepher of Chanoch (Book of Enoch) - its structure
The Cepher of Chanoch (Book of Enoch) - its credibility
Cepher Chanoch: On the veracity of the Book of Enoch
Cepher Chanoch: Understanding the Book of Enoch