Bible Students: The Book of Enoch?

Question

Some individuals have given credence to this book and believe it should be included within the Bible canon.
It's interesting to note that the tetragrammaton, God's holy name, was not mentioned once in this copy. All 66 books that make up the Holy Scriptures and inspired of God use his holy name, now replaced by LORD in many translations. The Greek scriptures allude to and quote from many of the Hebrew inspired books which mention God's Holy name.

Question: What other reasons do those who have read this uncannonized book and compared it to the BIble are convinced it is not inspired of God the Almighty?

nDoro, I assume you are not a Bible Student.

Hi Chris,

Thanks for mentioning that the tetragram was not mentioned in the book of Esther. Nor was the book alluded to in the Greek scriptures. I did some more research on why 'this book' was included within the canon ( I used the old English term from the Greek word kanon ) which you punned. I liked your humor!
I discovered that Esther is mentioned by Jerome, Augustine and Origen and also it is in the Chester Beatty collection. It does not appear that it's authority was ever doubted by the Jews or early Christians. In their Bibles the Jews place it after the Pentateuch and between the books of Joshua and Ecclesiastes and sometimes among the Hagiographa between Ecclesiastes and Daniel. Interesting that this book tells of fasting and a "cry for aid" on the part of the Jews, implying prayer. Very strong evidence of the books authenticity is the Festival of Purin commemorated down to this day and on which anniversary the entire book is read in their synagogues.

Furthermore, the fact that Mordecai strictly refused to bow before God's enemy Haman, who as an Agagite may have been a royal Amalekite, is evidence that Yahweh was worshiped by Mordecai.-Es 3:1-6; Ex 17:14

Reading the book of Enoch it doesn't appear to be in harmony with the rest of the canon. As Mark mentions the Jews did not include it as being a part of divine inspiration and so omitted it. Thanks guys.

Answer 1

I'm not sure I am directly answering your question, however...

Many books in the Bible make mention of other books that are not in biblical canon, such as the 12 books of the Apocrypha. The Book of Enoch was around during and prior to Christ. James mentions it in James. Also, it was considered during the times when biblical canon was being formed. It did, however, fail canonicity.

The authorship of the Book of Enoch was not Enoch. In fact, who penned the words is unclear. Further, the words were passed, supposedly from Enoch, through generations by verbal memorization. The words written in the Book of Enoch may be quite different from what was originally uttered.

Therefore, in this alone the Book of Enoch fails the first test of Old Testament canonicity, i.e. that the author had the authority of the lawgiver or the prophet or the leader in Israel.

Answer 2

Interesting question. There are actually two Books of Enoch. Enoch 1 is designated as Ethiopic, 2 as Slavonic.

Enoch 2 made its appearance as a Christian edition in the 7th century -- too late to be part of the competition for inclusion into the Canon.

Enoch 1 was definitely an early favorite, but fell out of popularity by the 4th century. It is an interesting mix of material. Scholars believe it contains fragments of a book of Noah (or Lamech) from the early 2nd century, some Apocalyptic writing pre-dating Daniel, and a welter of other disparate writings and theological ideas floating around in the 1st and early 2nd centuries.

Inspired by God or not, it seems to have inspired Hellenistic Judaism with its eschatological visions which subsequently became very popular among early Christians who were expecting the imminent return of Jesus.

A final historical note: Sometime in the 4th century, all the manuscripts for Enoch 1 seem to have disappeared. A manuscript of an Ethiopic translation was found in Abyssinia in the 18th century and the first English translation appeared in 1821. Several fragments of the book were discovered in the 1950s in Qumran, and this has led to speculation that perhaps it was in this Essene commnuity the book was written.

Answer 3

It isn't canonized for pretty much the same reason that Dan Brown's "the DaVinci Code" isn't considered a history text.

The Book of Enoch was probably written between 150 and 200 AD. It's partly a crib from Revelation, partly a compendium of some Jewish folk tales, and mostly a flight of fancy.

And for you Protestants:
A) The Catholic Church is the church which originally decided which of several THOUSAND books were inspired and to be included in the complete text of Holy Writ.
B) They selected 72, NOT 66.
C) What you call "apocrypha" are those Old Testament books which Martin Luther decided all on his own could not be inspired. He decided that because every one of them contained something theological with which he disagreed. So out with them. If they don't march in lockstep with HIS bright ideas, how can they inspired? After all, he and God are tight, right? yeah, riiiiight.

Hope this helped.

Answer 4

Due to the fact that most of the world today does not believe in the Bible I personally would just like to see the old King James Version left alone. I do not think the Book of Enoch is inspired, it has to be close to 6000 years old and I feel confident that somebody corrupted it along the way. The scholars of King James's Day were not convinced it was inspired and that is enough for me. We have all we need to get to Heaven. If you are saved you know that the Holy Spirit will guide you where you need to go in life anyway and all we got to do is just trust in Jesus. Praise the Lord for that. God is Awesome!!!

Answer 5

I haven't read the book of Enoch, so I can't say too much about it, but I do know that the book of Esther doesn't mention God's name, so I wouldn't count that as a valid reason.

The Bible cannon (sounds funny when you read it like that) had a list of qualifications that every book of the Bible meets, and mentioning God isn't one of the requirements. If you e-mail me, I will have more time to look it up for you if you're interested. I have it in my notes somewhere, but my notes take about five years to dig through, but I'd be more than happy to share information with someone that wants to know.

Answer 6

The Book of Enoch was not conducive to the motive of the compilers of the book. Pick and choose caused many Holy scriptures to be left out, and left the commoner in conflict!

Answer 7

Mainly, because when you read 1 Enoch it is difficult not to notice that about 65% of Revelations seems to have been paraphrased from 1 Enoch, and sometimes, directly copied.

Answer 8

This book isn't accepted by the church because it deals with Enoch's eyewitness accounts of God's advanced scientific knowledge that every one at that time could not understand to make any sense out of.

Answer 9

books that were cannonized had to meet certain gamtria criteria. the book of jasher isnt cannonized, but the bible talks of it. think this way- besides the torah- what did the biblical people read? there is nothing wrong with studying the 'lost books'. and really who is to say- the catholics have the apocropha- to the rest of us they are considered to be uncannonized......so who is right?

Answer 10

Poor Bibble Students.