The Book of Enoch & the BibleShembull

Enoch In The New Testament - Part 1 Jude, the second to last book of the Bible, is a short and interesting letter only 25 verses long. He covers the subject of apostasy (those who have turned from biblical faith in God). The letter jumps between time periods often, covering many events of spiritual and supernatural significance. These events are so short and summarized that Jude clearly expects his reader to know what he’s talking about. Several parts of his letter allude to the Book of Enoch, and he quotes directly from it. In verse 13, Jude compares apostates to “wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” (KJV) No verses in the Bible explain why a wandering star would be condemned to eternal darkness. This is a reference to the Book of Enoch: “This place is the end of heaven and earth; this has become a prison for the stars and the host of heaven. The stars that roll over the fire are those who violated the commandment of the Lord at the beginning of their rising, because they did not come out at their appointed times.” (En 18:14-15 MSV) If you wonder why God would send a star to hell, remember that this is poetry. We have to understand that the Bible often compares stars to angels, using them interchangeably. As in the Bible, the book of Enoch describes hell as a place of darkness and fire. As Jude thinks of these verses, he immediately follows with a direct quote from Enoch in Jude verses 14-15. Looking back at verses 6-7, Jude talks about angels who left their home in heaven. He then compares them to the sexual sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, declaring they “went after strange flesh.” This refers to the angels in Genesis 6:1-7 that we touched on last time. These sons of God took human wives and had children who became giants. The Book of Enoch covers this in chapters 6-9. We read: “They have gone to the daughters of men on the earth; they have slept with the women and defiled themselves, and revealed to them all kinds of sins. The women have given birth to giants, so the whole earth has been filled with blood and unrighteousness.” (En 9:8-9 MSV) These references by Jude, both casual and crucial, make clear his expectation of the reader to know the Book of Enoch. Next time, we’ll look at what the Apostle Peter has to say about the content of Enoch.