The Book of Enoch Fact vs Fiction | (un)ANSWERED

We've all experienced the odd occurrence in the Bible and was left with fringe questions.

Watch and listen as we leave no question unanswered.

There is a book that lives in infamy, that is shrouded in mystery.

Cryptic messages, heavenly visions, giants, angels, all of these things are wrapped up in a little package, one that has challenged

Christians and the scholarly realm at large. One in which people even think should be considered a book of the

Bible. But it is a book that has left many questions unanswered.

Did Jesus quote from this book? Did Jude actually quote from this book?

Does quoting from this book make it scripture? Did the other books of the Bible actually draw from this book?

We're going to get into that today as we dive into the Book of Enoch. The Book of Enoch is an apocalyptic narrative about the life of Enoch.

This is pre -flood information, but it also has revelations and prophecies of the coming

Messiah. It uses terms like the Son of Man and even Messiah. So this is an extremely important book.

Also, it talks about these beings called the Watchers who fell from heaven, saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, had intercourse with them, and it created these

Nephilim giant offspring. But we're not really going to talk about the Nephilim in this episode. We're going to leave that one for another.

The Book of Enoch consists of five different major sections and it was compiled between the years of 300

BC up into the first century AD. Many different authors, different sections compiled together.

It has dreams and prophecy. It says that these divine beings who fell from heaven taught the humans even things like metallurgy and astronomy.

This is extremely important things to understand because the claims are so great.

But the question is, what do we even know about Enoch? Well, let's look at the

Bible in Genesis chapter 5 verses 21 -24 and we'll start there. It states,

And Enoch lived sixty -five years, and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah.

And he became the father of other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty -five years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

Literally, that's all we know about Enoch in the Bible. He was taken up by God, similar to Elijah.

However, the Book of Enoch has five different sections and 108 chapters about the story of Enoch.

Very vast detail. So if it is true, we should want to know whether or not it's real.

But the claims are astronomical because many people think that the Book of Enoch actually influenced

Daniel and many of the other prophets. But is this true? Let's look at this now.

Many modern scholars date Daniel to around 200 BC. We know that Daniel lived from around 605

BC to around 535 BC. So how can these scholars claim that it was written around 200

BC? Well, the prophecies in Daniel are so accurate that if an atheistic scholar were to recognize that Daniel was actually written prior to 200

BC, it would probably send a chill up their spine because it's prophecy accurate by the

Word of God. But this is the thing. I don't take modern scholarly approaches in order to justify what can be actually found in the

Bible through its own internal evidence. Meaning this. Jesus himself states in Matthew 24 that when you see the abomination of desolation standing in the temple, he says, "...as

spoken from from the prophet Daniel." Meaning this. Daniel wrote

Daniel. Which means that Daniel predates 1 Enoch. Again, the

Book of Enoch uses phrases like Messiah and Son of Man which are found in Daniel.

And this is one thing I want you to get and grasp. This is extremely important. Is that Daniel also gives us a time frame for when the

Messiah was to come. Meaning that the readers of Daniel would have an expectation of the coming

Messiah but then coming judgment. Which would influence any writer who is writing an apocalyptic narrative around 300

BC. Let's take a look at that right now in Daniel. Turn with me to Daniel chapter 9.

We're going to be looking at Daniel 9, 24 through 27. It says, "...seventy weeks have been determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness."

Do you hear the messianic tones here? "...so you are to know and have insight that from the going out of the word to restore and rebuild

Jerusalem until the Messiah prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty -two weeks it will be restored.

Then after the sixty -two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary and its end will come with a flood, even to the end there will be war, desolations are decreed."

Do you hear the apocalyptic language in Daniel here? "...and he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will make sacrifice and grain offerings cease, and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate."

So notice that it says seventy weeks. Each week is a representation of seven years.

And it says this of when the seventy weeks begin. It says in verse twenty -five, "...you are to know and have insight that from the going out of the word to restore and rebuild

Jerusalem." So let's back up. King Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king in 587

BC, destroys Jerusalem in the first temple. Okay? Hold on to that. Later the Babylonians are overthrown by the

Persians and then there's King Artaxerxes and he reigned from 464 BC up to 424

BC. Well, in the reign of King Artaxerxes, he actually made an edict to go rebuild

Jerusalem. We know about that where? The internal evidence of the Bible now, Nehemiah chapter two.

It says in Nehemiah chapter two, verse one, "...now it happened in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes."

That's when it happened, in the twentieth year reign of King Artaxerxes. Remember, he reigned from 464

BC to 424 BC. So that means in 445

BC, he made the edict to go rebuild Jerusalem, starting off the 70 weeks.

Now there's the first set of seven, which would be seven years times seven equals 49 years to rebuild

Jerusalem. And then in book of Daniel, it says 62 weeks after that until the Messiah will be cut off.

So if you do the math together, that's 483 years for the 69 sets of seven, which is 173 ,880 days, equaling from 445

BC to 32 AD when the Messiah was killed. I know, it's a lot of numbers, a lot of things to think about, but get this, what

I'm trying to say is that since Daniel predates first Enoch, Daniel gives a timeline for the coming

Messiah, meaning that people are looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, especially those who wrote first Enoch.

Again, remember the apocalyptic language that is being used in Daniel, that the Messiah will be cut off and the desolation will come?

Think about it. The authors of first Enoch are drawing from Daniel. Daniel does not take from first Enoch.

It's the other way around. Quite amazing. And I get it. You can be like,

Andrew, yeah, I can see that. I can see that. But, you know, in the Bible, Jude actually quotes from first Enoch.

Here it is. We're going to Jude 14 through 15. But Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, also prophesied about these men saying, here it is, here's the quotation, supposedly, behold, the

Lord came with many thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment upon all and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds, which they have done in an ungodly way.

And of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. All right, that's

Jude 1, 14 through 15. Now let's look at the quotation from first Enoch here. First Enoch one nine, and it says, and behold, he cometh with ten thousand of his holy ones to execute judgment upon all and to destroy all the ungodly and to convict all flesh of all the works of their ungodliness, which they have ungodly committed.

And of all of the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. At first glance,

I mean, the two seem almost identical, right? But there are differences, and these differences are extremely, extremely important.

Notice, in Jude 14, it says, and Enoch prophesied. It doesn't say, as it is written.

When Jesus is quoting from scripture, when other authors are quoting from scripture, it says, as it is written, or thus sayeth the

Lord. That isn't here. Now, Jews had oral traditions that survived throughout millennia, and there's an example of an oral tradition that we have found in the

Bible. It's in 2 Timothy 3, 8. Let's turn there now. It states this, just as Johns and Jombras opposed

Moses, so these men also opposed the truth. Men of depraved mind, disqualified in regard to the faith.

The question is, who's Johns and Jombras? Well, according to the Jewish oral tradition, those were the magicians that opposed

Moses. You know, when Moses threw the staff down, it turned into a snake. Also, they did the same thing, and they were also trying to make magic happen.

Well, according to oral tradition, those were their names. We have examples of that in scripture. Also, there's oral tradition believed that Enoch prophesied.

We have an example of the fulfillment of this prophecy in Deuteronomy 33. Turn with me there.

And it says this in Deuteronomy 33, starting in verse 2. And he said, this is the blessing of Moses, talking about the coming of the law.

Supposedly, Enoch may have prophesied of this to come. There's an oral tradition that had survived. Better yet, when we really look at Jude, verse 14 through 15, there's a difference in theology.

Jude is talking about wicked and ungodly people, whereas in 1st

Enoch, it's talking about wicked and ungodly angels. Think about this. In 1st Enoch, it builds the case that sin entering the world is not necessarily the fault of men, but the fault of angels.

That's not what Jude is saying here. Actually, Jude would be very familiar with the Enochians, the people who were believers of 1st

Enoch at that time, and it seems like he's actually correcting them. He's saying, no, it's about people.

People are the ungodly ones. I mean, we see that throughout Scripture, where even Jesus himself corrects the false theology of the

Pharisees and the Sadducees by recorrecting them with Scripture. Even if this was a quotation, he changes it, number one.

Number two, just because it's quoted, it doesn't make it Scripture. And there's examples of that as well.

Turn with me now to Titus. Titus 1, verse 12. And it says this.

And the actual Greek form of the word prophet in prophesied in Jude 14 and prophet here in verse 112 is actually the same

Greek word. Very interesting. But really, this was a philosopher. He's not saying that the philosopher and everything he said was

Scripture. He's saying that he's right in this case. Paul does the same thing that's recorded by Luke in Acts chapter 17, where he's quoting pagan philosophers saying, aren't we children of God?

So it doesn't make what those philosophers said Scripture. Even the loosely quote from Jude doesn't make 1

Enoch Scripture. And there's other examples of it. Let me tell you one right now. 1 Enoch, I told you,

I gave you a clue. It was written in 300 BC, at least when it was started. Guess when that was?

That was at a time called the intertestamental period when God was no longer speaking to the prophets.

Turn with me to Zechariah right now. It's in Zechariah 13, starting in verse 2, which states. There's a time when

God no longer spoke to the prophets. It started in what is believed to be around 400

BC. We're even told in Malachi about John the Baptist, the forerunner who is in the spirit of Elijah, who would be the prophet to usher in the coming of the

Messiah. So there was silence until this person was to come. Isn't that interesting that 1

Enoch would have been written with regards to prophecy around 300 BC during the time when

God says that they are supposed to be silent, even if a prophet or someone who calls himself a prophet speaks that his own parents should do him in because he's not speaking from the mouth of God.

Well, you may say, Andrew, Jesus himself, he actually quoted from the book of Enoch. There is that claim.

Let's look at it now. It's in Matthew 22, verses 29 through 30. Let me pull that up.

Matthew 22, 29 through 30 states this, but Jesus answered and said to them, you are mistaken, not understanding the scriptures, nor the power of God.

So in this quote that I'm about to read, if it really is from 1 Enoch, Jesus calls it scripture, okay?

That's important. Here it is, for in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels.

It's argued that this section right here comes from 1 Enoch. Well, the context, real quick, is that Jesus is talking to the

Sadducees and they were Sadducee because they didn't believe in a bodily resurrection and they were challenging him with marriage.

Who in this new life after death, according to you, if you believe in a resurrection, Jesus, who would marry or have hand in this marriage?

And so he's going to correct them. But let's first see in 1 Enoch, what supposedly this quote is from.

It's in 1 Enoch 15, six through seven, which states this, but you from the beginning were made spiritual, possessing a life which is eternal and not subject to death forever.

Therefore, I made not wives for you because being spiritual, your dwelling is in heaven. Okay, number one, this isn't talking about people.

Again, this is talking about angels. Number two, the context in which the conversation is occurring with Jesus is he's correcting the

Sadducees saying there is a bodily resurrection. I mean, even King David talks about a resurrection. So what's happening here is

Jesus is correcting them not only that he's giving new revelation.

He's saying there is going to be no marriage in the new heavens in the new earth. He says, you're going to be like the angels in that sense.

It's not going to be needed. That's a new revelation. That is nothing similar to what is being told to us in 1

Enoch. When you continue on in Matthew 22, that's when he lays down the hammer and he quotes

Exodus, Exodus chapter three. And he says, God is not the God of the dead, but the

God of the living of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. How amazing is that? It is a long and far stretch to say that Jesus is quoting from 1

Enoch. When I read you supposedly what the quote is, it's not word for word. It's not even loosely quoted.

It has nothing to do with the same thing. But here's the kicker. I've been saving this because if you want to hold to the fact that you think 1

Enoch should be something that is considered scripture, well then you should read it in totality and understand what it's truly saying.

Remember, this is talking about Enoch and he gets prophecies and stories of a coming

Messiah, one who is the son of man, right? But guess who that son of man is in the book of Enoch?

I'll tell you right now. It's not Jesus. It's Enoch. Let me read to you the quote in 1

Enoch 71. It says in 71, 13 through 14, and the head of days came with Michael and Raphael and Gabriel and Phanuel and the thousands and ten thousands of angels without number.

And he came to me and greeted me with his voice and said to me, says Enoch, you are that son of man who was born for righteousness and righteousness dwells on you and the righteousness of the head of days will not forsake you.

Wow. If you are a serious Christian, if you are somebody who claims to believe in Jesus and that quote does not make your blood boil,

I don't know what will. Come on, guys. Who is the son of man? It's one of Jesus's favorite phrases for himself.

Why is that? Well, Daniel chapter seven says, I see one like the son of man who goes up to the ancient of days and to him is given a kingdom and a dominion that goes on forever and ever.

It's referring to Jesus. That quote alone should tell you that the book of Enoch is not scripture.

It is interesting. It is fun to learn about the things that are in there because you get an idea of what the mind was thinking as people were coming to anticipate the birth of the

Messiah in the judgment that was to come. But it's not scripture. That's just what it is.

It's apocryphal, right? It's pseudepigraphy. It's falsely ascribed literature.

It's not even written by Enoch. We have no manuscripts from Enoch. It's written by multiple people compiled during the time of the intertestamental period.

Guys, it's like a Bible adventure comic book. It's purely fiction. We need to think critically and we need to think biblically about these things.

If any extra biblical revelation details that the Messiah is anyone other than Jesus Christ, God in the flesh who died on the cross for our sins, we must reject it.

Like Zechariah 13 says, their own parents should stab them through. Wow.

So where are we at? Well, we analyzed the quotes from Jude and the supposed quote from Jesus in Matthew.

We went over the synopsis of the book of Enoch, the claims that are being made, the dating of the book of Daniel, the dating of the book of Enoch.

We can clearly see that the Bible didn't grab from Enoch. Daniel wasn't influenced from Enoch.

Daniel wrote Daniel and he gave us a time frame for the coming of the

Messiah and the judgment that was going to occur. And that fueled, right, the apocalyptic narrative of first Enoch.

I mean, we have it all around us today where people look at blood moons and they're trying to calculate the second coming of Christ.

First Enoch is no different than the Left Behind series. It is fiction. We need to think again biblically and critically.