The Curious Enigma of Enoch’s Book
A Devotional Series from Genesis
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
5/18 Reading Portions: Numbers 27; Psalms 70-71; Isaiah 17-18; 1 Peter 5
Genesis 5:21
When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah.
APOCRYPHA
We’ve already encountered Enoch in our reading of Genesis, as he was Jared’s son (Gen 5:18-19). He was the seventh generation from Adam in this lineage (Gen 5:1). The judgment of death had fallen upon mankind because of Adam’s disobedience (Gen 3:19); and this was certainly evident by this repeated compound word in Hebrew, וימת (vay-ya-MŌT), translated six times into English: “and he died” (Gen 5:5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20). Enoch’s life interrupted this pattern; and the grace and mercy of YHVH God was exhibited by Enoch’s account, as he did not die (Gen 5:24, which we will explore on another day).
Today, I wanted us to consider the “Book of Enoch,” an apocryphal writing penned some 2,000 years after Enoch’s biblical existence. Apocrypha means “hidden,” and these writings were rejected as authoritative Scripture by the Israelites of the Old Testament, as well as by the early church fathers of the New Testament era. There is no mention of Enoch writing a book anywhere in the Hebrew canon of Scriptures, which is contrary to books that were mentioned, yet do not exist today, viz., the Book of Jashar (Josh 10:13; 2 Sam 1:18); the Book of the Wars of the LORD (Num 21:14); or the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel (1 Ki 14:19); et al, & etc. Because these latter books were mentioned in holy Scripture, they were useful and authoritative at the time, but once they were no longer needed, our good God, in His holy and sovereign providence, did not preserve them as He did with the writings that we know as our Bible today.
The Book of Enoch is problematic because it contains doctrines that oppose the God-breathed word of Scripture, and more than that, contains doctrines that oppose the gospel of Christ. We will address a few of these antigospel and Scripture-defiant Enochian doctrines as they arise in Scripture (one of those places being Genesis 6).
If you are unfamiliar with the Book of Enoch, World Politics on Substack had published a pretty good overview of this apocryphal book. You can read it by clicking here.
