Book of Enoch
Also known as: 1 Enoch, Ethiopic Book of Enoch, Enoch (Ethiopic), First Enoch
A Second Temple Jewish apocalyptic compilation attributed to Enoch that narrates the fall of the Watchers, Enoch’s heavenly journeys, cosmic law, historical allegories, and final judgment, preserved fully in Ge’ez.
Description
The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch) is a composite apocalyptic scripture of the Second Temple era, attributed pseudonymously to the patriarch Enoch. Its core sections include the Book of the Watchers, Astronomical Book, Book of Dream Visions (Animal Apocalypse), the Parables (Similitudes), and the Epistle of Enoch. Through visions and angelic instruction, Enoch learns of the Watchers’ transgression, cosmic architecture and calendars, and the moral order underpinning creation. The text anticipates a messianic “Son of Man,” cosmic judgment of rebellious angels and kings, and a renewed world for the righteous. Known in Aramaic fragments from Qumran and preserved complete in Ge’ez, 1 Enoch deeply influenced later Jewish and Christian apocalyptic imagination.
Historiography
1 Enoch survives complete in Ge’ez manuscripts within the Ethiopian Orthodox canon; Aramaic fragments from Qumran (c. 2nd–1st century BCE) attest to its early Jewish circulation. Greek and few Latin remnants show wider diffusion, while the Similitudes’ textual history remains debated. The work was “rediscovered” for Western scholarship via manuscripts obtained by James Bruce in the 18th century and edited/translated in the 19th–20th centuries. Modern study emphasizes its composite formation, calendar polemics, and impact on early apocalyptic and messianic thought.
Date Notes
Composite Second Temple work: Book of Watchers (3rd–2nd c. BCE), Astronomical Book (3rd–2nd c. BCE), Dream Visions/Animal Apocalypse (2nd c. BCE), Parables (1st c. BCE/CE); preserved complete in Ge’ez with Aramaic fragments from Qumran.
Major Characters
- Enoch
- Azazel
- Shemhazai
- Uriel
- Raphael
- Michael
- Gabriel
- Noah
- The Most High
Myths
- Descent of the Watchers
- Enoch’s Heavenly Journeys
- The Astronomical Book
- Dream Visions and the Animal Apocalypse
- Judgment of the Watchers
Facts
- Composite work often divided into five sections: Watchers, Parables, Astronomical Book, Dream Visions, Epistle.
- Aramaic fragments of multiple sections found among the Dead Sea Scrolls attest to early circulation.
- Complete text preserved in Ge’ez within the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo biblical tradition.
- Influenced later Jewish and Christian apocalyptic motifs, including angelology and the “Son of Man” figure.
- Narrates an etiological myth of illicit heavenly knowledge as a cause of antediluvian violence.
- Features detailed cosmology and calendar polemics tied to 364-day schematic reckonings.
- Animal Apocalypse allegorizes Israelite history from patriarchs to eschaton using zoomorphic figures.
- Azazel and Semjaza exemplify distinct strands of Watcher transgression and judgment narratives.
- Western scholarship reengaged with 1 Enoch after James Bruce brought Ge’ez manuscripts to Europe in 1773.
- Regarded as scriptural in the Ethiopian canon but non-canonical in most other Jewish and Christian traditions.