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CHAPTER THREE The Ethiopic Enoch
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16 • • • Fallen Angels Some of these books were included in Greek manuscripts of the Bible, and thence were taken over by the Catholic Church as sacred scripture. They are known as the Apocrypha ("hidden books'*); in Jewish tradition they have no more status than the bulkier literature which was rejected by the Catholic Church as well. Some of the latter writings (such as the Book of Enoch, to which we shall come at once) exercised considerable influence on early Christianity; but then they were discarded and were preserved only in such ecclesiastical backwaters as the Coptic and Armenian Churches. Most of these books, though written by Jews, represent a type of Judaism off the main line of Jewish religious development. In some cases there is doubt whether the book is of Jewish or Christian authorship. Few of the Hebrew originals have survived—in tattered fragments recovered from the attic of the old synagogue in Cairo. The rest are known to us only in translations and in translations of translations—from Hebrew to Greek, and thence into Latin, Syriac, Ethiopic, Slavonic, Armenian! These versions were made by Christian scribes; many contain manifestly Christian insertions. There must be other instances that have not been detected. Moreover, when a text has passed through the hands of several Christian translators, its tone and flavor may have been considerably modified. Despite much careful scholarship, the text and interpretation of many of these writings is still far from certain; and there is often sharp disagreement as to their respective dates and their relation one to another. They are indispensable for our inquiry, but we must approach them with a somewhat skeptical humility. CHAPTER THREE The Ethiopic Enoch 0; Iver a century ago the explorer Bruce brought back to England from Abyssinia three manuscripts of an Ethiopic work called the Book of Enoch. It has now been established that the original of this work was composed in Palestine , in Hebrew or Aramaic—or perhaps some sections in one The Ethiopic Enoch • • • 17 tongue, some in the other.1 It bears the name of Enoch, the ancient worthy, of whom we are to hear a great deal. Concerning Enoch, the Book of Genesis gives a brief but interesting account: He lived three hundred and sixty-five years—much less than the other antediluvians!—a figure that suggests some connection with the sun and sun myths. Then "Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him" (Gen. 5.18-24)—a cryptic remark that was to inspire a whole cycle of Enoch-legends. The present Enoch book (sometimes called I Enoch, for there are two others) consists largely of visions in quasi-biblical style, dealing with the end of days, punishment for the wicked and reward for the righteous, the Messiah, and similar themes. But it is far from a unit. It even contains a section on astronomy and the calendar that is almost scientific in tone. It is a collection of documents different in content, spirit, style, and date. Following the most diligent student of I Enoch, the late Canon Charles, we shall begin with some sections in which Enoch plays little or no part, and which Charles believes came from an ancient "Noah Book."2 These sections bring us at once to our central theme. The angels, the children of Heaven,8 saw the beautiful daughters of men and desired them as wives; but the chief of these erring angels, Semjaza, feared that they would not dare to carry out their desire and would leave him to pay the penalty of sin alone. He therefore bound them by an oath to fulfill their resolve. They descended to earth in the days of Jared (Gen. 5.18; from yarad,"descend") and alighted on Mount Hermon, which was named for the oath (herem) they had sworn. These angels, in the number of two hundred,4 each took a wife to whom they taught charms and enchantments, root cutting and knowledge of plants. Soon young were born to them, who grew to be giants three thousand ells high. The giants consumed all the possessions of mankind; then they began to feed on human flesh and, at last, to eat one another. They also began "to sin against birds, beasts, reptiles, andfish."5 The earth made accusation against them and the cry of men went up to heaven.6 The outcry of suffering mankind reached the four principal angels, who interceded with God. In their complaint, they mentioned Semjaza...