The Book Of Enoch (Enoch l)
Richard Laurence Translation
FROM THE INTRODUCTION
The Book of Enoch is now usually designated
I Enoch, to distinguish it from the later Apocalypse, "The
Secrets of Enoch" which is known as II Enoch. The former
is called the Ethiopic Enoch, the latter the Slavonic Enoch,
after the languages of the earliest versions extant of each
respectively. The Book of Enoch, like the Book of Daniel,
was written originally in Aramaic and partly in Hebrew. No
copy of the original language of either is known to be in
existence. Latin and Greek versions have only, in part, been
discovered but the Ethiopic Version has been preserved in
twenty-nine manuscripts.
The manuscript upon which this translation was
made was found in Ethiopia, in 1768, by the Scotsman, James
Bruce. . . .
. . . According to Canon R. H. Charles, the
various elements of which the Book of Enoch in its present
form is made up belong to different dates. Thus one can expect
a diversity of authorship, and of this there can be no shadow
of doubt. However, while there is not unity of authorship
there is, none the less, uniformity. Several scholars suggest
we should speak of the collection as the "Books"
of Enoch, not the "Book" of Enoch.
Some of the authors of the Book of Enoch (and
there were many) belonged to the true succession of the prophets,
and it was simply owing to the evil character of the period,
in which their lot was cast, that they were obliged to issue
their works pseudonymously. The Law which claimed to be the
highest and final word from God could tolerate no fresh message
from God, so when men were moved by the Spirit of God, to
make known their visions relating to the past, the present,
and the future they did so under some ancient name.
Not only does the Book of Enoch come from many
writers and almost as many periods, it touches upon every
subject that could have arisen in the ancient schools of the
prophets. Nearly every religious idea appears in a variety
of forms, and during the two centuries before the Christian
era, played an important role in the development in the Hebrew
theology. Conflicting views are advanced on the Messiah, the
Messianic kingdom, the origin of sin, Sheol, the final judgment,
the resurrection, and the nature of the future life. There
is an elaborate angelology, and demonology, and much space
is devoted to the calendar and the heavenly bodies and their
movements. . . .
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